SHIPS AND THE SEA.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 09, 11 January 1908, Page 12

SHIPS AND THE SEA.

It has been announced at London that the Salvation Army is ambitious to possess a fleet of steamers, and ha 3 already chartered ten vessels for next season's emigration. A contemporary remarks that cf course hostility from the steamship companies is only to be expected. Plenty of efficient men from tho captain downwards could be procured (says an officer of the Army), and no swearing in the stokehold. All would be good Salvationists. The vessels would be primarily intended for passenger traffic, but would carry freight as well. Now that the Lusitania and Mauretania are actively* employed in tho Cunard service, there is a good deal of speculation (says the London Shipping World) as to what the Cunard Company will do with tho liners which these vessels have displaced, namely, the Etruria and Umbria. It is significant that at the present time they are "lying up" at Birkenhead. Had there been prospects of immediate employment, they would probably have been at onco put in hand for the annual overhaul, which is generally undertaken at this period of tho year. Th? report that they haye been sold to the C-P.fl- is without foundation. The N.D.L. liner Prinz Fredvich Wilhelnij which has recently been, launched and which will, during the busy seaBon, enter the Australian' trade, has a gross tonnage of 17,500 tons, is 613 ft. in length, her depth is 3l^ft, and she will displace 25,500 tons. She is to be provided with two sets of quadruple expansion, engines, balanced on tho Schleck system, and capable of developing 14,000 h.p. She will have accommodation for 425 first, 333 second, and 1550 third-class passengers. As will be Been, tho vessel will be easily the largest that has ever been in Australian j waters. The vessel will just get through the Canal, and draw about 31ft ; loaded, but it is expected she will draw about 29ft coming through the Canal. Sho will be a magnificent ship, the most magnificent ever employed in the Australian service, and one of the most magnificent in the fleet. Thero will be a Vienna cafe on board of tho typo that has proved so popular in the New York express steamers. There will also be several private suites of rooms, and in addition a number of cabins de luxe. Her fittings will \>a of the most sumptuous character, comparing with those on the big Atlantic steamers." It is interesting to note that the aggregate gross tonnage of the White Star fleet represents about 370,000 tons, th© smallest vessel of the Mne being the Bovic, 6583 tons. The expense of running the new giant Cunarders is the subject of an exhaustive articlo in fho Liverpopl Courier. Tho question of interest on money advanced by the Government, officers' pay, coal consumption, and other expenditure is gone into in .detaij, and Mic following summary >s 'given as representing tho cpst pf a single run iroin port to port Jor' the Lusitania oi ; the Mauretania : Interest represent?,' £1120 ; re-paymenfc pf capital, £2050; wages, £2000 ; establishment charges, ' .SlOCK) ; coal, £5Q00; victualling, £4000; harbour duos, £1000; water, oils, breakages, etc., £600; and insurance, £1220. This makes a total of £17,000. Tho income is given as follows :— Passage I 'money, £28,000 ; cargo, £500 ; profits on wines and cigars, £500; proportion of ; subsidy, £2350 ; total, £31,350. Taking this as a rough estimate there, wouljl appear to be a profit of about '£l3,oCo on each voyage. Great interest was evinced in naval engineering circles in esperim^nts^whicb were earned put on board the gunboat Sharpshooter at Devonport wifh the' otj--ject of proving the possibility of the 1 application •of mechanical stoking to marine boiler 3. On land it has been demonstrated that tha employment of a revolving grate with automatic feed supplies is all that is needed in the systematic and careful' stoking of watertube boilers. Want of space in the smatlers vessels suoh as torpedo boats, however, has precluded tho adoption of this appliance on ships.' The device comprises a set of hqppers with mechanism for regulating the supply and depth of fuel, and a small engine geared to ,an eccentric and piston which keeps the firebars in continual motion. The movement of the bars is from front to i;ear and return, tho travel being about 18in each way. \ Certain of the leading steamship lines havo of late taken steps to ensure themselves a supply of junior officers. Notably is this the case with the P. and O. Company, Who have an agreement under which a number of boys aro now undergoing training on the Worcester. Tho Royal Mail Steam Packet Company also have a srhenie for fclie en."rolmont of cadets. The, company receives into its service, for training as executive officers, a limited number of lads from 1 the Worcester and Conway. Yet apother important steamship company which encourages the cadet system is tho Biitish India, w,ho also take Worcester and Conway boys as premium endets, under a. tljrpe year*' indenture. The practical course of instruction, obtainable on the Worcester certainly affords an excellent start for a lad who is intending to follow the sea. Whiph of the maritime nations is destined to bo supreme on the Pacific? According to Mr. Shiraishi, manager of the Oriental Steamship Company of Japan, the future control of that ocean is more likely to rest with Japan and America tfyan with England, Germany, or France. Certainly the Japanese are extraordinarily active. The Japanese have their own servicos to the United State,s, Australia, and India. They havo' lately tapped the trade of South America, which they find more lucrative, so they assert, than with any other part of the world. The Japanese flag had the advantage last year of subsidies to the tune of £785,000, and another £73.000 was contributed as subventions to shipbuilding. As our allie3 can both b.uild and run steamers more cheaply than the United States owners, the destiny of the Pacific is not much in doubt. One or two little, points mentioned in the annual report of Lloyd's Registier afford striking proof of the extraordinary development of modern shipping (says a Sydney exchange). Tho vessels engaged in the frozen meat trade have to-day a total cargo capacity of about 12,000,000 carcases of mutton. Yet this trade only began in 1880. Again, iis bhowing tho extraordinary size ox present-day ships and the necessary increase in the strength of their holding gear, it is remarked that each link in the chain cables of Uig Lusitania and the Mauretania weighs l^cwt. The biggest dredger in the world is pow under construction for the Mersey Docks and Harbour ( Board. She will havo approximately a gross register of 8300 tons, will be 463 ft. in length, and will bo able to pump up 10,000 tons of sand in 50 minutes. Two steam trawlers bigger than any afloat are now being built, and a couple oi steamers of 3880 tons each, for the Canadian Pacific railway, have been so constructed that they can be cut in two when they reach Quebec, in order to pass through tho locks which lead to the Gu^t Lakes.