SHIPS AND THE SEA

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 41, 18 February 1911, Page 12

SHIPS AND THE SEA

MERCANTILE DREADNOUGHTS. The blue ribbon of the Atlantic 1b awarded for high speed, and as none of the leviathans now in contemplation aro intended to vie with the Lusitania and the Mauretania in fast steaming, ths honours will still remain with the- Ounard Company. It is as well, perhaps, that tho basis of calculation is definitely established, for we are apparently approaching a period when, in other directions, one or two of the new big ships will create records The new Cunarder, for example, will, it is stated, be 4£ffc longer than any rival. The new Hamburg-American liner Europa, for her part, will be 4ift broader than any other vessel afloat. At the same time she will be lift shorter than the Olympic. Always supposing, then, that calculations which resolve themselves into a matter of inches may be taken as absolutely accurate, the Cunard Company v ill have tho longest steamer and Germans the vessel with the greatest beam. It still remains in doubt whether the British or the German flag will be able to boast possession of the biggest ship. Tho Hamburg-American boat has usually been described ac of 50,000 tons. The new Cunarder is spoken of in similar terms. Bud a Reuter telegram from Berlin referred to the Europa as a 60,000-ton ship. Probably it is her displacement which is referred to, -since the vessel has ahvavs been spoken of by ihe Hamburg-American Company as of 50,000-tons register. Whether the German liner will or will not be the biggest ship we must wait and see. One thing is at least certain— not for longwill the Olympic and the Tilanie hold prteminence. An interesting fact about the new Ounarder is the contemplated provision ior the carriage of oil fuel. There is apparently no intention of using ii for bteain raising immediately, but it is conceived that circumstances may presently admit of such a step. This, perhaps, is looking some distance ahead, but the Cunard people have a broad outlook, and may ultimately Eec their way to effecting great economy. The turbine, as might be supFi? ' to ,-, be relied on in the new lfivia- • ?u? v . n ' ., he Germans have also plumped for V\, e m- ase of the Europa. The Olympic and the Titanic, on the other hand, are to be driven by a combination of reciprocating engines and. turbines. There will be no great difference between the speed of the German and the White Star boats ihe Cunarder. with 25 knots, will be about a couple of knots faster.— London, -telegraph. SUBMARINE UPHEAVALS. An appearance of a new island not nftf 1 a ?u ° U th - 6 , coa^ - of Alas!ca calls to mind other rapid uprisings of land in the ocean. An island suddenly came to light oil .he coast of Sicily, remained for two months, and as quickly disappeared, babnna, near the Azores, retired from pubho life beforo it had been fairly charted. The Gulf of Mexico has witnessed the advent and subsidence of small islands. These upheavals of the- bed of the ocean suggest all sorts of mysteries connected with the unknown depths. A British vessel once had an uncanny experience in this connection. The vessel was out twenty-three days from Manila to the Hawaiian Islands. It was a 3ilent, dead black night. " The lead showed deep sea. Suddenly those on board folt as though they had grounded. Daybreak revealed a low and misty sky. Th© Britisher lay as if becalmed in the midst' of an oily sea jstrangely discoloured in patches. Suddenly the water, to use . the words of the master, "trembled." The ship rolled, and in the distance rose a huge, balloon-shaped mass of vapour, steam or smoke. There was not the slightest sound, but a long line of chafing water stretched across the 6treaky calmness. Then the vapour settled over all, and the ship's company could hear but not see the seething and pouring" water all about them. Tho captain ordered a bucketful to be drawn up. It was hot, and srnelled like the product of a gas .works. Whereupon tho captain remarked that "a new continent was being poked up," adding that he- >vished himself well out of the way. The air grew more oppressive every moment. The vessel gave a gentle side roll, and word went round that the ship was aground. Over went the lead and came up _ covered with blue, oozy mad. The Britisher was wallowing in sludge, the darkness was pall-like, and the atmosphere suffocatingly close. Then the air was rent with reports dreadful to hear in that darkness. There were three of these blasts and all was aeain still. When the lig-ht came, red and unnatural, a strange sight met the eyes of thoso on board. It was as if _ the bottom of the Pacific had been laid bare. They were helpless in a sea of thick mud. The sulphur fumes were choking, and all had to seek refuge below. Hour after hour they gasped, facing the probability of a death by suffocation. Suddenly they felt that they were afloat The bank oi mud that held them had disappeared, and after a time the Britisher made her way out of the gruesome spot. When Honolulu lvas reached the crew deserted, for they held that there was no luck in a ship that had "seen the bottom of the sea." ANOTHER TYPE OP VESSEL. Messrs. Osborne, Graham, and Co., of Hylton, Sunderland, who were the builders of the Monitoria, the patent vessel with grooved sides, have received from Meesrs. A. Gronquist and Co., of Nowcastle, a contract to build a vessel on a new system of construction. The steamer is to be 252 ft extreme by 34ft oin in breadth, with a draught of water of 16ft, and the system of construction to bo followed is that patented by Messrs. A. L. Ayre and Maxwell Ballard, two young naval architects of Newcastle. In the Ayra-Ballard type of ship-construction the structure takes the form transversely of an arched trunk super-imposed upon the normal moulded depth, and constituting an integral part of the hull.. Tho deck is to be lifted to a higher level, while the corners of the arch, in conjunction with other structures specially provided, form rigid termination of tho vertical and horizontal spars of the transverse girder. Arched brackets, while efficiently binding the sides (a reverse ib fitted on the face), obviate the necessity for pillars or strut supports. It is claimed that the arched form of tho structure over and above the hull proper will increase internal volume and the reserve buoyancy, or, in other words, will increase the size and capacity of the vessel with reduced expenditure of material. The smaller dimensions and displacements will permit machinery and less power to bo installed for a given seaepeed, with reduced coal consumption and bunker sjoace. Further, the new type of vessel will be self-trimming to a very satisfactory extent. VOLCANIC SEA WAVES. Occasionally there appears a great wave sweeping across the calm surface of the ocean in the fairest weather and when no wind is blowing. There are few perils of tho sea to be more dreaded than eucli a wave. Fortunately these are very rare, yet more than once a ship has encountered one. Only a short time ago a vessel of a British line was met by a wavo of this kind, and, breaking agains.t her sides, swept' the deck with irresistible force, killing one sailor and seriously injuring others. _ The cause of these singular waves is believed to be some disturbance of a volcanio nature at the bottom of tho sea. Volcanoes exist in'tlfe ocean as well es on land ; in fact, nearly all tho volcanoes known are on or near the sea coast. It is easy to see that an upheaval at the sea bottom may start a billow at tho surface of the water, when we remember that huge waves have beeii sent clear across tho Pacific Ocean to San Francisco by volcanic shakings of the earth on the borders of Asia. Tho world under water is not only three times as extensive as that which is eo\ered only with air, but it possesses many of the same great natural phenomena on a hcale which is perhaps proportionately vast, but of whose existence we are madu awaru only bj r such indications as the volcanic waves that ships occasionally encounter.

li, has been stated that when butter whs selling at 110s a cwt. in England ]«ul year, ISO? could havo been obtained in Germany.