SHIPS AND THE SEA.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 24, 27 July 1907, Page 12

SHIPS AND THE SEA.

The two new Cunarders are the first voasels to exceed the Great Eastern in baam. They are 80ft. wide, as against the 83ft. of tho kviathian of fifty years ago The oceangoing tleeh of the HamburgAmerican Line numbors 149 vessels, which is about 7 per cent, of th© total mercantile marine of Germany. Its capital is £5,000.000, and its employs no fewer than 18,000 hands. Syren and Snipping gathers from what Lord Pirrio said recently that the Adriatic is by no means the lns-t word in size. Ho wes glad to loam that Southampton intended to continue increasing the depth of .vater, for harbour accommodation alone limited the size of the new ships. , Ihe stenmers Kildale and India left Valparaiso, on the south coast of America, within an hour of one another*, and their arrival at Auckland was separated by only seven ijours. The tiro Gfenuiers left the American port on 4th Juno, the Indra having a start of about an hour. The next day she was overhauled by the Kildale, and subsequently the vesecls passed, and re-pusscd one another. The steamer Adriatic of the White Star line requires each trip 3500 quarts of milk, 69201bs of butter, 50,0001bs of meat, 3500 head of poultry and game, 30 tons of potatoes, 20,000 oggs, 47,000 lbs of flour, 12,0001bs of bacon and ham, 30,000 oranges and apples, 21.D00 bottles of ale and stout 16,000 boltks of minerals, 8000 bottles of wines and spirits, 30,000 cigars, and one ton of tobacco. Mr. S. Mauger, M.H.R., who has been visifing tho Northern Territory with tho Governor-General'^ party, in a letter writfon to a resident of Footscray (Vie.) comments as follows on the solitude of tho lighthouso keepers on tho coast: — "When th-n federal Government takes over the lighthoui-.es, something will havo to bo done to mako brighter and more tolerable tho lives of the lighthouso keepers. Tho pilots tell mo the boats they are visited by are not seaworthy, and that eorno communication ought, to bo established. Within the last few months tho keeper of the Lady Elliot committed suicide, and, more appalling still, tho Keeper of Port Douglas, Low Island, took two beautiful children of hk own into a flat-bottomed boat in the middle of the night, in a mad fit, and has never been heard of since. All these social questions must bi> faced and dealt with." At .the meeting of the South Austra-f lian Marine Board held recently, WardeiA Uibbon moved on behalf of tho Underwriters' Association, "That on and lifter let September, 1907, all ships loading or discharging cargo at ports in South Australia must, when working at night, uss electric light or cloEed-in lamps; flareups or other naked lights to be strictly prohibited." Tho motion was seconded by Warden Frieker on the understanding that Coal and coke vessels 'wero exempted. The proposition did not meet with tha waim, approbation of the majority of wardens. Warden Rankin desired the 'mover to suggest what class of lamps should bo used. While most modern steamers were fitted with electric light, others were not, and in respect to closedm lights he contended that very often the glasses became so smoked as to be absolutely useless for illumination. Warden Vessy questioned the board's powers to discuss the question at all, but the President intimated that tho Crown Solicitor had .answered that query in the affirmative. Tho secretary stated that he had written to the authorities in the other State 3 for the practice in , vogue, but had received no replies. After further discussion ifc was decided to adjourn consideration of the mutter. Perhaps from & shipowning point of viow (says Fair Play) the most important provision in tho recent Merchant Shipping Act is Section 28,, which deals with the relief and repatriation of distressed seamen, and seamen left behind abroad through desertion or other cause. From and after the Ist Juno the master has to enter in his official log-book a statement of the effects loft on board by ths seaman, and on the termination of the voyago gender a- delivery and reimbursement) account of- same \o the proper officer on tha discharge of crew. The 1 section shall not apply in the case of an absent seaman : — (a) Where a master of the ship satisfies the propsr officer that none of the effects have been left on board and that he. has paid all ihe wages due to the seaman, or (b) Where the amount J)f wages earned (after deducting for advances and allotments) appears" from the agreement to bs less than £5; or (c) Where the master satisfies the proper officer that the net amount due to tho seaman on account of wages (after making all deductions) is loss than £3, or (d) Where the question of the forfeiture of wages and effectß of tho seaman has been dealt with in l«gal proceedings lawfully instituted before tho termination of the. voyage, or within 48 hours of the ship at the port at which the voyage terminates. Arrangements have been made by the B6ard of Trade with the various Mercantile Marine Offices .for the due enforcement Of this part of the Act forthwith. In the construction of turret steamers beauty of outline has been sacrificed to utility, and whatever claims' are em' braced in tho latter, term they relate almost solely to thoir money-earning , attributes. The principal rccWimendatioJU of tho turret steamer are lightness combined With strength in construction. Being lighter than a vessel of similar dimensions, she can carry moro cargo on a given displacement. Her shapo, designed to meet a very low registered 'ionn,age, enables her to earn more in freight with a minimum'of expense, especially in Vogard to vessels using the Suez Canal, where they score heavily over'the ordinary type of vessel. Under present rule* for computing a vessel's carrying capacity, the turret steamer has much the best of it, in addition to which her* peculiar incurved top&ides add materially to her stability and longitudinal strength. On the other hand, they are said to be dirty vesels in a seaway, and for this reason are- not in very Jiigh favour with seafaring men. One of the most harrowing sea tragedies of the last quarter of a century is recalled by the death quite recently in Falmouth of Mr. John Burton, proprietor of a curiosity shop in that town. In 1884 the yacht Mignonetto sank at seai and the crew, after being in an open bout nineteen days without' provisions, cast lots among themselves who should be killed to afford the .others sustenance. % It fell to the "lot of a boy named Parker to be tacrificed, and he was accordingly killed and eaten. „ When tho crew landed at Falmouth they were arrested and charged with murder, being committed for trial ut tho assizes. • John Burton en mo forward as bail for H.he accusod men, '£400 for Captain Dudley, £400 for Mr. Stephens, tha mate, and £200 for Brooks, the seaman— £looo in all. For this act he was presented with a gold snuff-box by the citizens of London — a moinonto which he was extremely proud of. The captain nnd mate were sentenced to death at the Central Criminal Court, London, but the eentonco was mbwquently commuted to one of six months imprisonment. Brooks, tho eauinan, who turned Qvicou'a .evidence HIM "l£O.Uittflcl» • • •*'.--