SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. PORT OF AUCKLAND.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVII, Issue 4344, 18 July 1871, Page 2

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE. PORT OF AUCKLAND.

Eiau Watkr This Day.— 7. 10 a.m.; 7.31 p.m. SuNitisE and Sunset This Day. — Morning, 7.13; evening, 4.58. Wind ant> Weather. —July 1C : Wind: westerly, strong. Weather, showery. Phase of the Moon. — New moon, July 18, at 5,6 a.m.

Arrivals. EU. Cleared Outwards. Golden Isle, schooner, 78 tons, Malzen, for Russell.— J. Roberton, agent. Bella, cutter, 16 tons, Turner, for Opotiki. — Master, agent. Departures. Duke of Edinburgh, for Whangarei.

The p.s. Duke of Edinburgh, for Whang arei, took her departure yesterday afternoon. The p.s. Golden Crown will leave for the Thames this afternoon at. 2 o'clock. The s s. St. Kilda is announced to leave the Manukau for Whangantii this morning, at 11 o'clock. The Colonial Government p.s. Luna will leave for Southern ports to-day. During the westerly gale blowing yesterday morning, the s.s. Keera dragged her anchors from her usual moorings to off the Queenstreet Wharf, where she is now lying at anchor. The schooner Excelsior is now receiving cargo for Tonga and the South Sea Islands. The schooner Tawera brings the following cargo from Poverty Bay : 4 bales 2 bags wool, L. D. Nathan and Co. ; 200 bags grass seed, order ; 30 bundles skins, Ireland Brothers ; 1 parcpl, E. and H. Isaacs ; 1 truss, C. Graham ; 10 bags maize, Me Arthur, Shera, and Co ; 15 bales wool, 8 bags maize, 2 pigs, Lewis Brothers ; 13 casks pork, 12 bags maize, 2 cases lard, J. S. Macfarlane ; 39 pigs, 12 bags maize, Peachy; 12 pigs, Hunter ; 23 pigs, Owen and Graham. The schooner Meteor, from the East Coast, brings a cargo of 150 boxes soap, 50 boxes candles, 40 hides, 9 bales wool, order ; 50 bags maize, 6 casks pork, 4 caska beef, 42 pigs, Trimmer; 9 casks mutton hams, 2 cases sausages, order. The schooner Golden Islo will sail for Russell to-day. The cutter Bella, for Opotiki, takes the following cargo :—5,000: — 5,000 feet timber, 5 tons flour, 2 tons 3iigar, 1 ton sundries. The following is the cargo of the cutter Mary Eliza, for Tauranga :-- -15 tons coals, J. S. Macfarlane ; 3,000 bricks, Ptoberton and Co. ;4 packages trees, 2 bags oat, 2 bags potatoes, Grace ; 20 bags biscuits, J. S. Macfarlane ; 40 bags flour, Tonks ; 35 packages, 300 palings, 2 tons flour, Harrison ; 6 casks beer, Seccoiabe; 8 packages furniture, Winks and Hall ; 3 casks beer, Whitson ; 3 cases brandy, 2 cases gin, 2 cases old torn, 1 case schnapps, 1 case sarsaparilla, Macky ; 2 cases' gunpowder, 7 oases shot, Barber. Steamboats and Scotch, engineers are all the world over. An ancient chronicler, now resting "wi the mools," but who lived contemporary with the first British steam vessel, relates that "Ac day as the Comet was paiddlin' doon the water, she o'ertook a fly (passenger fast-boat) that was taigled wi a cross wind. As the steamer was sliding cannily past, her crew beg.in to jaw the captain o' the fly, and facetiously to order him to come along wi 1 his lazy craft. 'Get oot o' my sicht,' was the indignant answer, ' I'm jist gaun as it pleases the breath of God, and I'd ne'er fash my thoom how fast ye gang wi your blastit devil's reek.' " The "reek" has triumphed o'er the " bonnie breeze and the flowing sheet," and given to Clyde ironworkers a world-wide reputation. Bilge-water. —We make the following extract describing an improved mode of collecting bilge- water in ships, from a paper by Heriot Currie, F.K.S.S.A., Chief Engineer N.L.S. Pharos: — "The improvement I am. about to describe is so simple that, were it not for its importance and the generality of the grievance requiring to be remedied, I would almost shrink from laying it before the members of this honourable Society. It is a well-known fact to all employed at sea, and to others who by force of circumstances are obliged to take this mode of conveyance, that the bilge- water or all vessels is a great nuisance, for these reasons, viz : the bad odour it admits, the noise it creates, and the unsteady motion it gives a vessel when gathered in any considerable quantity. This accumulation usually occurs when a vessel is heavily laden, when labouring in a rough sea, or when overtaken in a storm ; how it gets into a v«ssel is sometimes difficult to discover, as on examining a vessel in harbour 1 or dry dock it may appear so tight that one would think that no water could get in or gather in the bilges, and so cause trouble and danger ; yet from all experience it is found that most seaworthy ships make large quantities of bilge-water. Prom my own experience, now extending over a period of nearly twenty- three years, and, I may also add, that of all connected with ateam iron ships, either paddle or screw, that they also mak« bilge-waterless or more, partly from leakage through straining, and also from the leakage of cocks, bad joints, Ac. What I now propose as a cure for all the grievances arising from bilge-water is no mere theory, but a tried remedy now in use to a limited extent in the N.L.S. Pharos, and may also be by other* (to whom I have described the plan) who were troubled, aa I have been, with the bilge-pumps not being able to catch the water when the ship rolled. During last winter I fitted a piece of l-16th sheet iron to |in. tube between the framed, hinged at an angle of 45deg., so as to fall by its own weight on the points of two bolts screwed into the frames, and going into the ends of the tube, and acting, like a valve or sluice on hinges, opening by the water as the ship rolls. The valves are placed 4ft. on each side of the keel, and the water opening and passing under the one valve shuts the other ; thus the water is gradually collected between ' the two valve* — which prevent it from ranging across the ship's bottom, and, if not immediately pumped out, it acts as waterballast, by being confined in midship. The plan has answered beyond the expectation of myself and many others who hare examined and approved of it as a practical and useful improvement. The plan is thus proved to possess the following advantages : — Ist. Safety to the vessel, by affording a sure means of knowing the exact quantity of bilge-water in the ship. 2nd. To collect the water in such a position that the bilgepumps can have command of it. 3rd. Pro- i tection to the cargo from damage by bilge- j water. 4th. By confining the bilge-water to the centre of the vessel, it thereby acts as water-ballast, and assists the vessel to right herself. sth. To save the vessel from the internal wear and tear caused by the hard substances carried to and fro across the ship's bottom by the bilge-water, and thereby grinding the rivet heads off and cutting the plate-landings. The extreme iimplicity of the plan, its easy adaptation to either old or new vessels, the very small

cost, combined with its durability and little chance of getting out of order, will, I hope, recommend the proposal to the favourable consideration of this Society and the notice of the mercantile marine aervice, in whoso safety we are all interested."