SHIPS AND THE SEA.

Evening Post, Volume LXIII, Issue 87, 12 April 1902, Page 4 (Supplement)

SHIPS AND THE SEA.

* f In CdimcL'tion with the Cu.iuli.in-Aus-truliaii .mail service, it is lepoitcd that upon tho completion of the steamer now building on the Clyde for tho Union Steam "hip Company, the new vessel will replace ono of tho thieo steamers at preBuut ou the line on the uin to Viui'inuver, and it is likely that the Union Company will pick unolhur f^t steamer from among tho sixty odd vessels it controls to take the place of the Miowera. The Moanu is speedy enough to hold her own with the new vessels, and with tho commission of the latter tho sailing time between British Columbia and Sydney, it is expected, will be substantially reduced. A story of tho sea comes from San Francisco by tho American mail. The French barque \ Les Adelphes wna towed into Seattle, AJaska, on February 26th, 162 days out from Madagascar," bound for Portland., For sixty days tho officers and crow hud lived on salt pork and biscuits, and for twenty-four days they had nothing but biscuit and water caught on tho ship. The crew 'of seventeen wore all afflicted with scurvy, and only six were ablo to got about. The cook died on January 7th. Tho mate was lying at tho point of death, and the captain was frightfully disfigured. The bodies of most of the men were swollen and blackened. The captain of tho Lucy transferred to the burque iood, which the men devoured like wolves. Tlip following extract from a letter from Captain W. N, Goalcn, an Admiralty hydrographic surveyor, of ' the British Navy, will bo of interest. It is valuable testimony 4 o the accuracy and thoroughness of the work done by Flinders and hi» staff 100 years ago in South Australian waters. Having expressed regrot that he would bo prevented from being present at tho uweiling of the memorial tablet to Captain Flinders at Mount Lofty, he adds: — "For myself, I m«y say tluvt 1 honour tho memory of Flinders, both for the sterling honesty and simplicity of his character, and for his great ability yinv in that part of the naval profession which ho chose to follow. Of this last I can, of course, speak with some authority, having myself been an Admiralty bydrogi aphic surveyor since 1861, and having had the advantage of going over tho greater part of Flinders' work during the eleven years in which I assisted in the hydrogruphic survey of the coast of this State. I hope that the function will bo a groat success, and that the name of Flinders will always be one honoured and revered in South Australia." One of the Noumea papers has a severe article on tho new Federal Customs regulations levying duties on the art ides consumed on board vessels between Australian ports. The eifect of theso regulations, it is said,) will bo to create for Australia that "splendid isolation" which w the prido of England, but at the saino time her vulnerable point. These dutict), it in pointed out, add much to tho cost of navigation, and it is but natural that tho steamer companies ohould keck to avoid them. The ousiost way is thai which it in asserted the Mvsungerics Muritimes is now considering, namely, to tako another touto, and leave Australia to tho isolation it auns tit. Tho new route would only be varied *after Colombo Instead of going to Noumea by way of Fiemantlc, Melbourne, and fcjjdney, the vessel* wou>d go by Singapore and Butuvia — a moro agreeable passage thuu through the heavy seas of South Australia. Possibly the steamers might call at Brisbane, if sufilcient inducement were offered. Whothcr thoy did so or not, tho .NJessageries Maritimes would not lose much by changing the route, but, on thu contrary, have everything to gain. The new passage routo fiom Marseilles tv Noumea might, it its added, bring fresh support, which would advantageously replaco that of tho English, who abandoned the Messngeriea to the benefit of tho German lines. To dip from 24 to 36 Lours frotn tho record time for crossing the Atlantic is tho promise of the New York and European Steamship Company, a new Transatlantic line, which offers assurances of an curly fulfilment of its pledge (says tho Now York Tribune). This company, which has already applied for pior privileges in Now \'ork and has formulated j the larger part of its plans,, expects, by tho substitution of the turbine- engine for that now in mo, tv secure a coustaut ppced of 30 knot» an hour in its new boats. Such a speed will mean that passengers can be curried from America to Europe in a little moro thau four days. Tho success that has attended the use of the turbine engine in Europe, and especially tbe remarkable speed that has been secured thereby, has naturally ruised tho question as to its adaptability for Transatlantic steamers. Tho Union Castle Mail Steam Ship Company huvo launched another twinscrew steamer — one of two similar ones — which completed' her ?rial trip on tho Clyde on January 23rd. The new vessel is culled the Berwick Castle, and hat been built specially for the company's extra cargo service to South Africa, with v carrying capacity of 7000 tons on n moderate draught of water and a good sea speed. The workuig of certain of the sections of tho American Navigation Act is well exemplified in two recent decisions of the Customs authorities at San Francisco. Tho Occidental nud Oriental Steamship Company wus fined lOOdol. by tho Collector becnuso the Doric, which arrived on 25th November, brought up a stowaway from Honolulu, who the vessol unknown .to the captain and crow, and escaped soon after arrival, thotiyjh measures had been taken to detain him. The other case was that of the master of tho Sierra Bianca, which Vessel arrived from San Diego on 15th December. Captain Corkbill brought up with him as his guests his affianced wife nnd her daughter, and was fined 400dol, for carrying passengers from one port of the United States to another. — Fair Play. In reference to the missing steamer Basuto, of the Bucknall Steam Ship line, which was. engaged ia tho Persian Gulf trade, tho Orkney Herald says: -—"She loft Manchester on December 9 for Brssorah, and as sho was not reported passing Gibraltar, some anxiety arose as to her fate, and as much as 95 guineas wa« paid' for re-insurance a week ago, after which she became uninsurable. The ship had a flno cargo, valued at £100,000, and it is very rarely that a vessel so loaded ia Unaccountably lost — they *re either run aground or sunk in collision. There is a bare possibility of a collision to account for the loss, but tho two vessels lost (tho other steamer Frauklin. of Glasgow, which left Penarth for Malta, (December 11, and has not since been heard of) wt-ro bound on the tame course practically as far as Malta." Mr. James Williamson, tho chief ofljeer of tho Basuto, was well known in Australia, and was at on# tima officer of the Kaffir, of the same line. In their report at the end of January, tho Liverpool Underwriters' Associinion state that tho steamer Gibraltar had beon in company with the Franklin and Bnsulo on December 33, when entering lite Bay of Biscay, and encountered a fearful gale, which the captain described ns the worst lie had ever experienced. On the 14th the Gibraltar lost compnny of the Bastito nnd Franklin, and neither of those vessels was again seen. Tho Basuto had a splendid executive in Captain Drummond, and Mcssts Williamson, Lning, and Fidlef, ehiof, second, and third officers respectively.