THE TIDES.

Press, Volume XVIII, Issue 2687, 9 December 1871, Page 2

THE TIDES.

High water at Lyttelton for the month of December: — Date. a.m. p.m. 9 ... 1.09 ... 1.37 10 ... 2.05 ... 2.35 The schooner Canterbury cleared the customs yesterday for Picton. The s.s. Rangitoto sailed for Dunedin yesterday at 1.30 p.m. The ketch Emerald cleared the customs yesterday for Wellington. The barque Indus, Captain Coll, cleared the customs yesterday for Newcastle, aud will sail the first fair wind. We (Australasian} have been shown by Dr.* J. L. Cunningham, of Drysdale, late of the Royal Navy, a model and plan of a new life-boat or yacht inveuted by him. Tbe . principal novelties would seem to consist in her having a rounded deck, without bulwarks or deck hamper, and in her being nearly flatbottomed, a transverse midship section showing her form, without her keel, to. be oval, or near that of an ellipse. Instead of carrying her ballast on the bottom, it is proposed to stow it away at the sides, where there is plenty of room for it, in addition to casks or caissons filled with air, to give her greater buoyancy. It seems to us that, with some further precautions for the safety of the crew in a heavy sea, there is every reason to believe that she would not only be a good sea-boat, her dimensions and internal arrangements being calculated to ensure buoyancy, but that she could hold her own against many of our colonial craft. Below tbe water-line in • fact, the model is nearly the same as the once celebrated crack cutter, the Paddy from Cork, 100 tons, of the Koyal Cork Yacht Squadron, a craft in her day, forty years ago, able to hold her own against all comers, till the America and other flyers caused such revolutions in yacht building. The Paddy was built by a Mr Beamish, a gentleman of means in the vicinity of Cork, and when her day was over, she was sold to the Government, arid employed as a revenue cutter for years after. There can, therefore, be no doubt whatever about the ability of a cutter or schooner constructed on Dr Cunningham's principle to ride a sea way with comparative ease. Running a point free, with a fresh breeze, nothing can touch her. Well handled, with her deep keel, she should also be able to beat to windward. We should be glad to Bee the principle tested.