LONG VOYAGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 235, 3 October 1936, Page 10

LONG VOYAGE.

105 DAYS OUT. MOTOR SHIP FROM GLASGOW. RANGINUI IN AUCKLAND. Having taken 105 days to travel 13,000 miles from Glasgow to Auckland by way of the Mediterranean, the small motor ship Ranginui, built on the Clyde to the order of Mr. Geo. Niccol, of Auckland, for the coastal trade, arrived at Auckland this morning. Captain A. H. Burgess, formerly master of the Melanesian Mission yacht Southern Cross, is in command. Although built of steel, and at the other side of the world, the Ranginui strongly resembles, in her general appearance, the wooden vessels that Mr. Niccol himself used to build for the New Zealand coastal trade before he closed down his shipbuilding yard at the foot of Nelson Street a few years ago. She is about the same size, too, as the general run of them, being 100 feet long over all, with a beam of 22 feet, and a maximum draft, when fully laden, of 6 feet. Her engines, two Fairbanks Morse Diesel motors, each developing 125 horse power, are situated right aft, and her bridge, with accommodation for the master and mate under it, is close forward of the funnel. Betweon the engine room and the crew's quarters in the fo'c'sle, she has one long hold, with two "hatches, orie forward and one aft .of the heavy on)swhich are capabla of "a lift of seven tdns. Sheltered at Aden. Nine knots was the speed she attained on trials on the Clyde, where she was launched from the yards of Scott and Son, at Bowling, but on her voyage to New Zealand her speed was usually a couple of knots slower than that. With a complement of ten men all told, the Ranginui left Glasgow on June 20. Her first port of call was Gibraltar, where she stayed only long enough to refuel. At Port Said, also, she made only a brief call for fuel, but when she got as far as Aden she had to shelter for a fortnight fr6m the monsoonal gales. While she Jay there several Italian transports, laden with men and munitions for Abyssinia, also put in for shelter, being no more able to face the weather than was, the little Ranginui, which the Italian ships could almost have carried on their davits as one of the lifeboats. No "incidents" occurred, as far as the crew of the Ranginui knew, while the Italians were there. The weather had abated but little when the Ranginui, strongly against the advice of the Aden port authorities, pushed out to sea again, leaving the big Italian transports still sheltering. Captain Burgess had, however, every confidence in the vessel, which, he knew, had been particularly strongly built for trading to bar harbours on the New Zealand coast, and which, moreover, had already proved herself a splendid sea boat, having crossed the notorious Bay of Biscay—not at its worst, but bad enough —without wetting her decks. Battling against strong head winds all the way across the Indian Ocean, the Ranginui made a slow passage to Singapore, her next port of call, where again she stayed only long enough to refuel 'before sailing for Townsville. Her bunkers were again refilled here, and the Ranginui sailed for Auckland . Once clear of the Great Barrier Reef, she encountered a heavy south-east roll, though the winds were moderate. What trade the new vessel is to enter has not yet been announced, her owner, Mr. Xiccol. being at present in Australia. He is expected return to Auckland next Monday.