SHIPS & THE SEA "A GREAT PLACE, AND NO MISTAKE."

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 74, 28 March 1914, Page 12

SHIPS & THE SEA "A GREAT PLACE, AND NO MISTAKE."

The Firth of Forth is to be a great place, and no mistake (says a writer in Fairplay). if all its promises are fulfilled the Clyde will not be able to "haud a caunle" to it for forts and fortifications and big guns and naval arsenals. The War Office and the Admiralty are — one or other or both of them— to erect three new and powerful batteries, one at each end of the Forth Bridge and one on the Island of Inchgarvie, which lies right in the middle of the firth and in the shadow of the middle cantilever of the bridge. These are_ to have larger guns than any of those 111 the present batteries at the same places and these guns will be capable of sweeping all the upper firth and sinking anything within range. Then the Admiralty engineer on the job at Kosyth has been telling that the new basin is to be 54 acres in extent and will accommodate 22 big battleships, while the three dry docks will be sufficient to keep 00 battleships in repairs and overhauls. ?? m n ay 80on tnere will be a population ot 30,000 people at Rosyth, not to speak of from 16,000 to 20,000 men attached to the ships. A MARITIME EXHIBITION. An International Maritime 'Exhibition wae to have been opened this month at Genoa, ite pbjec£ being to illustrate the present position of the shipping industry in connection with the newest technical achievemen te. To this end it is divided into the following sections: (1) the mercantile marine; (2) modern harbours; (3» ™H £ U $ mi * na e e m?nt; (4) aquatic sporti and hydrop anes ; (5) telegraphy with and without win*. «) hydrography and meteorology; (7) the fisheries A special section to illustrate the Italian emigration traffic was also to be organised, and a pavilion was to be erected to contain specimens of everything connected with marine hygiene. The programme also in«,f^iija «T? PP lem eatary department to be entitled "Italian Colonial Exhibition," the object of which will be to show what Italy has achieved in the- way of colonisation, with especial reference to the introduction of civilisation and culture in her new/y-acquired North African colonies. OLDEST STEAMER LOST. j The mews of the wreck of the oldest steamer in Lloyd's Register was reported ! at Lloyd s on the 28th January from Iltracombe. This was the Bristol steamer Collier She struck Rockham Shoal. Morthoe, and was beached close to Bull Point lighthouse. Her crew were taken oft by the Ilfracombe lifeboat. The Collier, 249 tons gross, was launched m January, 1849, by Reid and Co., of Port Glasgow, and has been in active service ever since. In the Register book of 1850, where she first appears, there are only 111 steamers, the largest being the City of Glasgow, 1087 tons, trading from Glasgow to New York. The next in order of tonnage is the Princess Royal, 687 tons owned by the General Steam Navigation Company. TRAINING SHIP MERSEY. Of the training ships maintained by some of the large steamship companies for the purpose of training lads for the position ( of officers, the White Star Company s Mersey, is perhaps the best known m Australian waters. This vessel is in annual visitor to Australia, sailing from London about September, and arriving in Port Jackson in December During her stay at the Australian port she is a constant source of interest to the thousands °v- ler^i P assen &ers who daily pass the ship. She carries fifty or sixty cadets, rribst of whom hail from England, and is commanded by Captain Corner, R.N.R., who was formerly on the Macquarie. The daily routine of the ship both at sea and in port covers every branch of education necessary for the future of the boys, as well a» instruction in every detail of seamanship and navigation by an efficient staff. . When visiting Sydney recently the Missioner to Seamen in Wellington, Mr. W. E. Cocks, was invited by the Chaplain to conduct the farewell service prior to the ship Bailing for London. "This," says Mr. Cockß, "was a unique and impressive occasion, such as only a service at sea can be. The whole ship's company were present, and the manly robust voices joining in responses, hymns, and prayers left an impression not soon forgotten." The Mersey is now on her way Home, being due in London early in May next. THRILLING TALES OF THE SEA. Thrilling stories of five days' experience in a terrific gale, in the Liverpool ship Dalgonar, of 2665 tons burthen, wpre told by the survivors who were landed at Dover on 6th January The captain *nd three men lost their lives in the disaster, which occurred in the South Pacific, 26 hands being rescued, after suffering great hardships, by the French sailing ship Loire* bound to Dunkirk. Six of tho crpw were transferred on 18th November to Hie French sailing ship La Fontaine, bound for Falmouth. The survivors lost all their belongings in the wreck. When the gale sprang up on 9th October the ship rolled so heavily that the ballast shifted, and she heeled over so fJr that her decks were almost perpendicular, with her keel out of the sea. The captain gave orders for the boats to be got out, but in each case • the boats had their sides torn out, wvery 'one being thrown into the sea. Then came an awful struggle for life, but, fortunately, the overhanging masts were bo close to the sea that many were able to grip hold of them. It was during these attempts to launch boats that Captain Isbestcr, Sailmaker Cousins, Able-Seama-n Confrere, and Cook Anger were drowned, being hurled against the ship by the heavy seas and injured. The French ship Loire, which had fortunately sighted the wreck, bore down as close as possible, but t^e gale was so bad that she could get no boats out. "The gale continued with great fury for four days," said one *>f the survivors, "and wo did not expect the wreck would ride it out ; in fact, 1 * we frequently feared she would capsize entirely as the terrific seas struck her. It was a time of great hardship for everyone, but the French ship kept us company splendidly throughout the storm. On the 13th, which was the first possible opportunity to launch boats, the Loire sent two of her lifeboats to us, and we all got 6afely aboard her. Five days later we fell in with the French ship La Fontaine, from which we obtained provisions, and six of our crew were transferred to her — Seamen Kenner, Mattson, Millaney, Ellison, Rockwell, and Singl — who were to be landed at Falmouth. The Frenchmen were exceedingly kind to us on the voyage, wkich has lasted nearly three months." SWEDISH VESSEL POSTED MISSING. The Swedish-owned ore-carrying steamer Malmberget has been posted as missing, this being the first vessel of that nationality to be thus posted since the steamer Lmnea was lost in 1905, while on a voyage from Wales to London. Particular (interest attaches to the Malmberget on account of the fact that she was in wireless communica- ' tion the day after leaving Narvik, on the 27th November, bound for Rotterdam, and beyond the finding of wreckage and one of the Vessel's boats, no tidings have been 1 received from vessel or crew to shed any light on the disaster. Heavy gales set in soon after the Malmberget left her Norwegian port, and it is surmised that she was wrecked on one of the numerous islets on tne coast soon after leaving port. Owned by Rederiaktiebolaget Lulea-Ofoten (P. A. Welin manager), of titockholm, the Malmberget was launched just about a year ago at Hebburn-on-Tyne. She represented a special type of ore-carrying steamer. The vessel was about 440 ft long, and was the fourth ship of that class to be constructed by the builders, Messrs. Hawthorn, Leslie anu Co., for the Stockholm firm. Built lo <he highest class of the British Corporation, the &teamer had a deadweight capacity of over 11,000 tons. She was constructed with four double and foui single ore pockets, or holdß, on the self-discharging principle, and was, in regard to design, about the last word in orecarrying ships. The propelling machinery, consisting of triple-expansion engines of 402 n.h.p., was placed aft. On deck she had eight hydraulic cranes for handling the ore. The missing vessel, which bailed under the command of a shipmaster named Strom, had Stutkholiu mt her port of reI^ik J