SHIPS AND THE SEA.

Evening Post, Volume LXXII, Issue 66, 15 September 1906, Page 12

SHIPS AND THE SEA.

The first really large lurbine steamer built in the United Statos has just been launched — namely, the Governor Cobb, 300 ft by 55ft by 20ft 6in. Eight other .turbine steamers are at present being built in America. "When the Government works of •dredging and excavating in the outer harbour of Port Adelaide are completed it is stated that vessels drawing up to , 30ft will be able to get alongside the I wharf at any state ot the tido. This, however, will still be much inferior to the accommodation available afc Hobart, which is claimed to be the premier deepwater port of Australasia. Commander Rudolf Waller Bentinck, late flag commander to Admiral Sir Gerard Nool on the China- station, has been appointed to the command of H.M.S. Prometheus, on tho Australian station, on recommjssioning. Commander Bentinck joined tho service in July, 1881 ; was promoted lieutenant in 1890, and commander in 1901 ; and was latterly employed as flag commander to the vice-admiral commanding the China fleet. When first lieutenant of the Sandfly he was engaged in the operations at Tokar, Eastern Soudan, IS9I, and reccivod the Khedive's star*A veteran in sailing-ship navigation arrived in the Swedish harbour of Nykoping recently. It was tho galcasso De Tvende Brodre, Captain J. C. Boye, of Maretal, with a cargo of coal from England Sho was built at Marstal in 1786, and is consequently 120 years old. During that long period the whip has only had ( five captains, all descended from the samo family. The first one navigated her for twenty-nine years, the second one twenty-two years, the third twenty years, the fourth thirtytwo years, and the present captain has already been seventeen years in command. Not much of the original timber remains in tho vessel, " and she ia still staunch nnd soav/orfchy, and capable of carrying a cargo of any kind oversea. ttt?? 16 ,^ 01 ' 4 ' 11 Gorman Lloyd liner Kaiser Wilholm der Grosse, tho first of the four express mail steamers placed by the company on the service from Bremen.to,N <*w York, which was built by the .Vulcan Shipbuilding Yard at Stettin m 1897, has recently completed her hundredth voyage from Bremen to Now York. It is interesting to noto that Kn nn vessel carried during her time 57,908 first-class passengers, 43,62b socpnd-class passengers, and 115,697 third-class passengers, or in all 217,230 passengers, being an average of over 2000 passengers per trip. The average Bpesds attained were: From Bremen to New York 22.27 knots per hour, and wu m York to Bremen 21 -71 knots. Iho coal consumed on those trips amounted to 751,706 tons.. The value ■» ..Me previsions for the passengers was £310,000. The extent to which British shipowners dispose of old vessels to foreigners is shown in statistical tables published in Lloyd's Register of Shipping. The tonnage cleared off in this way last year was 512,701 tons, comprising steamships of 422,395 tons and sailing vessels amounting to 90,306 tons. By theso sales, which aro the largest since 1900, Germany acquired 101,903 tons, Italy 78,671 tons, Japan 66,328 tons, and Norway 59,702 tons. It must bo a very considerable advantage to have a market like this for secondhand vessels. Tables which are included in the Registrar-General's returns indicate' that about 18 per cent, of the tonnage removed from the register because of foreign transfer was built before 1880, nearly "43 per cent> Defore 1885, 62 per cent, before 1890, 78 per cent, before 1895, and over 90.6 per cent, before 1900. In addition to the second-hand tonnage transferred to foreigners 52,464 tons wore transferred to Britisn colonies during 1905, compared with 37,464 tons in 1904, 62,907 tons in 1903, and 32,603 tons in 1902. When moving the adoption of the report and baknee-shee* at the half-year-ly meeting of shareholders in the Melbourne Steamship Company, the chairman ot directors said the prospects of the shipping trade were not very encouraging. In the first place, the expenses connected with the owning of vessels had increased very much during the last year. Melbourne was nob* by any means as cheap a port as it ought to be. Within the last two years tho wharfage dues had been increased by about £20,000 per annum. Sydney had followed euit with increases, while the Melbourne Steamship Company had to pay away more than a quarter of their freight charges on the last vessel that was sent to Tasmania. Then there were strikes threatening in all directions. They had the labourers crying out for higher rates of wages, as well ns officers and seamen. Above all was the threatened trouble at the' Newcastle coal mines, which would greatly affect Victorian industries. Fortunately, tho Melbourne Steamship Company were in the best position to stand such a state of things. When tho company was formed it was determined that the employees, who, by their industry, character, and sobriety were worthy *of promotion, should be allowed shares. He vnderstood that something 'like one-third of the shares of the company were allotted to their leading men. The result was that, while strikes were carried on, the company's business continued without the intermission of a single day. He commended the experience of the company to other employem of labour throughout the Commonwealth as the best jieans of settling differences between the "haves" and the "have nots." Information of a very interesting character concerning the question of Australian naval defence was brought by a J recent English mail to a gentleman now resident m Melbourne who is in touch with the inner side of British politics (says tho Age;. The correspondence received by this gentleman indicates very plainly that notwithstanding the adverse character of the Imperial Defence Committee's official report, individual members of the Liberal Government in England are endeavouring to induce the British Cabinet to meet Australia's desire for a navul force of her own for coastal defence purposes. The news of the dissatisfaction of Australia with the naval portion of the committee's report on naval defence has caused Lord Tweedmouth to take the niatter in hand personally. Admiral Fisher had a long interview with Lord Tweedmouth on the subject, with the result that the First Civil Lord saw that all that th& admiral wanted was an assurance that Australia's separate flotilla would in an emergency combine with tho Imperial Navy in operations in Australian wa- £ rs \j . s Eecurcd the question of who should buy and own the flotilla was one fot politicians. This much gained, Lord Iweedmouth is understood to have stated in certain quartern that if the Commonwealth Government would cay straight out that Australians were determined upon an Australian, navy, then his influence would bo' upon their side. Further than that, Lord Tweedmouth is said to have hinted that if the Commonwealth decided on a navy for coastal defence, his advisers would recommend Australia to puurchaso "cruiser destroyers" — the very type of vessel lccommended by Captain Cresswell. "Apparently, therefore, all that tho Deakin Government have to do," comments tho paper, "is to decide the question of naval pol-tor-to take the vivas*"-