SHIPS AND THE SEA.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 148, 23 June 1906, Page 12

SHIPS AND THE SEA.

The master of a sailing-ship who had been instructed to engage a crew pf Britishers, shipped a crew at Liverpool recenl/ly for 3, Colonial voyage, and wrote to his owner thus : "Y/e shipped the crew this morning and got a good crowd, although, not all Britishers, as it was impossible to do this." Thß wealth of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers continues to increase proportionately with its membership. Tho membership is now 100,098, and a quarter's increment of the funds is still to be taken account of ; but on Dec. 31 the membership was 98,666, and the total funds amounted to £641,459 9s. ljd. If the number of seamen shipped within a given period may be taken as an index to the prosperity or otherwise of the shipping industry, says an English paper, the first three months pf this year were marked by a decided boom. At only two out of the seventeen chief shipping centres, in the United Kingdom was there a falling off as compared with the corresponding quarter of 1906. The 'ports in question were Sunderland and Swansea. The barque Elizabeth Graham, purchased recently by the Melbourne S.S. Co., Ltd. is to end her career as a coal hulk &t Melbourne, The Elizabeth Graham was one. of the first composite vessels built, and the facf, that although she has been trading here for 37 year£ she 6till retains her plass in Lloyd's, is evidence of her substantial construction. Many years, ago she was an oversea trader of repute, and she was acquired about 12 years ago by Messrs Nelson and Robertson, of Sydney, from Captain Hodge, of New Zealand. Her last voyage, completed pn the 2nd ult., was from Kaipara, New Zealand, with a cargp of timber.' The Elizabeth Qraham was bpilt in MiddJesborough »n 1869, and is a vessel of 698 tons net. A 97Q0-ton twjn-screw steel steamer, built at Danzig for the Norddeutscher LJoyd, was Uunchqd at tfre pnd pf last month, and named the York. She will accommodate 106 first-class and 113 second-class passengers, besides 1450 'tween-deefce^s. The Roland-Linie Akt. Ges., Bremen, has purchased from the Norddeut^ysr £.loyd the sister boat? Frieburg aad Marburg. They are eaph 5966 tons gross, built of steel at West Hartlepool in 1900 by Messrs Furnoss, Withy, and Co., Limited. The Germans by the recent construction of a huge five-master auxuljary barque, have attempted to 6how that it is possible to take advantage of the two ship-propelling powers, wind and steam. The R, O. Rickmers is in many respects a notable craft. In the first place she is the largest deep-water sailing ship afloat, for with her gross tonnage of 5400 tons she takes precedence in regard to size of that other vast fivemaster, the West Ooast trader Preussen. The R. C Rickmers, which as her name denotes, has been built by the Rickmers Akt. Ges,, is described in Lloyd's Register as a steel screw five-masted auxiliary barque ; that is to say, she will carry a big spread of canvas on her square yards on four of her masts, while on her niizen she will have the usual spanker and gafltopsail. One would have thought that the sailing performances of the Preugsen might have had an influence iv demopstratmg the possibility of smart passages under sail alone," yet in the latest Rickmers bpat we find an auxiliary means of propulsion is supplied, the vessel being equipped with a set of triple engines 01 125-n.h.p. Compared with her large dimensions, this may not seem a very powerful steam equipment, but it will doubtless prove of good service in very light winds, or in the equatorial calmbelts, and will proba.bly be sufficient to drive her through the water at a speed of about six or seven knots. The R. C. Rickmers would thus seem to express a strenuous effort to reap the full advantage of the free winds of tho ocean, combined with good mechanical powers, to enable her to obviate the weary delay which the sailing ship, dependent merely on masts and canvas, mpfifc P? necessity at times, experience. It is stated in a recently issued quarterly review of the Mercantile Marine Service Association that at the suggestion of several sea-going members of the Association the Council asked the consideration of the Board of Trade to a proposal to add another column to the continuous-discharge book. It is, it was urged, well known to the Board of Trade that shipmasters have frequently to deal with seamen incapacitated from sickness in some form or other, either caused by chronic diseases or brought on temporarily by over-indulgence in intoxicants. Shipmasters have also to contend with tho "professional malingerer," a man who, from some real or imaginary complaint (usually very trivial) is constantly on the sick list, and by this action throws increased work and responsibility on the officers and remaining members of the crew. Under the present circumstances a master or officer has no record of a man's physical condition, but must judge by appearances only. It was suggested that if a column was provided in the dis-phargp-bopk for "off-duty" frpm any cause, it would be a great advantage to masters and officers in selecting capable and sober men, as many entries in such a proposed column wpuld lead to particular enquiries before engaging. The Board of Trade replied stating that section 129 of tho Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, did not contemplate such a, record, and that they hnd no power to make the condition suggested. A_ shipmaster writes as" follows to "Fairplay" -. — Underwriters beware! Of course, you are guided by what you deem reliable information concerning the typo, class and general safety, "factors of safety," in or on the ships you take premiums upon ; and I venture to place a few items before you — reason, common humanity, and a desire to sco "fairplay" — all possible. Personally it matters very little, as I am a man well advanced in years ; forty of them a practical joker — soon to quit. There is a type obtainipg — broad beam, comparatively small draft, lai'go carry, the builders' "modern tramp" — the forced product of competition and legislation, wise or otherwise. These vessels of, say, 6,000 tons deadweight, beam 50ft. to 54ft. on a draft of 21ft. or so, arc a queer sight to a sailor. Our scientists and Board of Trade people have been worked up to pass this kind of thing with 4ft. 6in. freeboard, and draw pretty curves of stability, wave- face and form, which are completely at variancq with anything "practical," and for the following reasons: — First, that tho "tramp" is "too stiff" (unless with a 20ft. deckload), and will roll back and forth under pearly all and every condition of loading in seven to nine seconds, quite irrespective of the form or length of the disturbing wave. It may very simply be reduced to the times of tho swing of tho pendulum, "length of righting levers." And, second, tho dangerous wave, whose pranks you pay for, is not the sweetly continuous curve it seems to be the general idea to imagine it, but is a steep-fronted and often overhanging "cliff" of water, at times 30ft. high, travelling 400 ft. in twenty seconds, as Atlantic combers frequently do, and meeting the 4ft. 6in. freeboard ship, which is just as likely to be rplling towards us away from it, means simply a "wipe out," "overdue," "never heard of." Of course, we are told "heave to" in time, etc. ; but no man can possibly tell when the dangerous "cumulative" j waves of any and every storm will pass, and it often has to happen that there is only just enough coal to reach port — nothing to hang around two or three extra days on, to cope with a succession of dangerous gales^