HANDY TUG FOR BLUFF.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 136, 11 June 1927, Page 12

HANDY TUG FOR BLUFF.

SOUTHLAND'S MAIDEN VOYAGE TOW-BOAT AND PASSENGER FERRY A most interesting craft, the Bluff Harbour Board's new motor tug, Southland. is now on her leng maiden voyage to New Zealand, having sailed from Dublin on May 11. The service which the Southland will undertake is unique. For about six months of the year she is to be used n« an excursion steamer, running to and from Stewart Island. Seating accommodation has been allowed for 28."> passengers. At the end of the summer season the vessel is to be withdrawn from the passenger service and will act as a tug and pilot boat for the Bluff Harbour Board. In addition, she will be nsed for salvage work whenever the occasion arises. On account of the widely varying nature of her employment, the tug required careful coin promise in her design and equipment. The builders of this unusual craft, arc the Dublin Dockyard Company, of which Messrs. Vickers (Ireland). Ltd.. are the proprietors. On her trials the Southland averaged slightly le>s than 12A knots. Eighty tons of fuel are carried in a deep tank forward of the engine room, while a hold is provided for the carriage of general cargo. Cabins are arranged forward for the accommodation of five officers, and the crew of ten have bunks and a mess room aft. There are four 18ft lifeboats. The tug's salvage gear includes a centrifugal pump with a maximum capacity of 70,000 gallons per houi.