HARBOUR DREDGE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 152, 24 March 1938, Page 13

HARBOUR DREDGE

Kerimoana Leaves The Clyde LONG PASSAGE TO WELLINGTON A long passage lies ahead of the Wellington Harbour Board’s new dredge Kerimoana, which departed from the Clyde on March 15, and is steaming out to New Zealand by way of the Suez Canal. In his address at the annual meeting of the board last night, the chairman, Mr. D. J. McGowan, said advice had been received by cable from Clift and Company, the board’s agents in England, that the new dredge Kerimoana —a name meaning “to in the sea” —which was ordered from Ferguson Brothers, of Port Glasgow, in June'last, sailed on March 15 from the Clyde for Wellington, via the Suez Canal, and was expected to arrive in Wellington harbour during the latter part of June. The dredge is a steel self-propelling single-screw vessel with a hopper amidships. Her principal dimensions are as follows :—Length (between perpendiculars), 104 ft.; breadth (moulded), 27ft. 6in.; moulded depth, 10ft.; dead-weight in hopper, 200 tons. Mean draught in salt water, fully loaded, Bft. Speed, under favourable conditions, 8 knots. The vessel has been constructed to Lloyd’s special survey requirements and is classed 100 A.l grab hopper dredger. The bottom of the hopper is fitted with doors for discharging dredgings. The dredge is fitted with one coal-burn-ing boiler working at 1401 b. pressure. She is propelled by a set of inverted surface-condensing two-crank compound reversing engines arranged for driving a single screw. Electricity for lighting the vessel is generated by means of an independent steam engine direct coupled to a dynamo. The dredging crane is of the “Priestman” universal grab type, mounted on the fore-deck of the vessel and arranged to take steam from the main boilers and return the exhaust to the condenser. The crane, which has been supplied by Priestman Brothers, of Hull, is fitted with three working grabs, the largest grab being for sand and silt. The total grabbing load is six tons, and the maximum radius of the jib is 27 feet. The crane is capable of dredging to 50ft. below water level. Both vessel and crane are of modern design and first-class workmanship.