SHIPS & THE SEA

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 109, 9 May 1914, Page 12

SHIPS & THE SEA

DETAILS REGARDING THE P. AND 0. COMPANY. The most recently issued list of the fleet of the famous P. and O. Company contains some interesting details. Tho total tonnage shown amounts to 546,000 tons gross register, contained in some ninety-eight bottoms. But of twenty-eight craft, totalling 3448 * tons, consist of tugs and tenders, of which tho largest is the 1061 tons Rarlington, occupied in carrying coals and cargo between the north-east coast of England and the Thames. The next important of these vessels in point of size is the Dewan, of 282 tons, stationed in Bombay, whilst there are launches and such like craft down to a mere eight tons register with engines down to as low as 3 h.p.nominal. Tho ocean-going fleet — after deducting these little craft — is of 542,553 tons, and of 571,000 h.p. Eight of these vessels, however, -are either building or completing. These include the first-class mail steamer Kaiser I. Hind, of 11,400 tons gross register, six other "X's" of 9000 tons and 9000 h.p. each, and the Branch liner Borda of 11,100 tons and 9000 h.p. for the London-Cape-Australian, service. When the > last named is in commission the Branch lino will have seven vessels engaged in it, and all of the twin-screw type. For the' P. and O. business proper — that is the mail service — there are fiftyeight vessels of 402,033 tons register, and of which no less than thirty-eight are twin-screws. There are ten vessels of tho "M" type, such as the Medina and Maloja, ahd eight of the slightly smaller N. class, all of which have been added in recent years. Meanwhile, of the seventeen single screw vessels still shown in the list, rapid disposal is being made, a whole class comprising the PaJawan. Borneo, Sundra, and Sumatra, of about 450p tons and 35Q0 i.h.p. having beon sold since the fleet list was compiled. All the vesbels named were constructed on the Clyde by Messrs. Caird and Co. and A. Stephens and Co., in 1895, and have been acquired by Japanese or Indian firms, who require palatial craft in their respective businesses. STRESSES AT SEA. It is interesting to trace the effect of waves upon the stresses to which ships are subjected at sea — from the effect produced by a ripple to that of very large waves. The stresses are a maximum when the length of th© wave is equal to that of the ship. In ocean-going steamers, on account of their lading,, the stresses are greater when on the crest of such a wave than when in the hollow._ The effect of bodily heaving of the ship into, or out of, the wave is to reduce the stresses on the crest and increase those in the hollow. Tho cfiect of pitching is to increase the stresses at the ends of the ship. The sizes of waves at sea depend upon the stretch ot water along which the wind can blow In the North Atlantic 600 ft seems to be a very long wave, and the height occasionally reaches 43ft. It is very doubtful if a 6hip as large as the Imperator would ever meet waves of her length in the Atlantic, bo that the stresses calculated upon the Usual assumption of a wave th© length of the ship and height equal to one-twentieth the length would bo much greater than the actual state ot affairs. That the theory underlying these stress calculations i 6 spnnd was proved by tho experiments carried out some years ago , on the torpedo-boat destroyer Wolf at Portsmouth. THE OLD WELLESLEY BURNT. The old training ship Wellesley, such a familiar landmark on the Lower Tyne off North Shields, has ended her days, and now lies in 30ft of water a broken, gutted, ahd fire-twisted wreck. The outbreak of fire which destroyed tho .old vessel occurred on j 11th March, and is said to haye < originated _in the drying room, adjoining the boiler room, _ and deep down in the hold. Perfect discipline prevailed, and tho_ 298 boys and 28 officers were rescued without mishap in spite of the blinding smoke and the exoitemont incidental to a disaster of this kind. The destroyed vessel was the old line-of-battle ship Boscawen, built at Woolwich, ana! launched on 3rd April, 1844\ She originally carried 74' guns, and was last employed on foreign service on the Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa station, as the flagshib of the Hon. Sir F. W. Grey, K.C.B. She was one of the last of England's old "wooden i walls," and was paid off to be discarded as obsolete at Devonport i in 1860. She was dismantled and lay idle until 1873, when the committee of the Tyne Training Ship obtained her as a g_ift from the Government. She was practically only; a hulk, but the money necessary for equipping her as a ship suitable for the training of boys, something over £4000, was successfully raised, and the vessel put into service. STATE-OWNED STEAMERS. Certain traders in Canada (says Fairplay) are still complaining of the rates of freight in the Can&dian trade. The Associated Board of Trade of Ontario have decided to memorialise the Dominion Government to subsidise fifteen or twenty cargo steamers at a cost of £1,000,000 in order to break the steamship "combine," while a recent deputation, representing the Dominion Millers Association, etc., waited on the Dominion Government at Ottawa recently to urge that the Government should spend £1,000,000 to build a. line of Government steamers to compete with the steamers at present in the trade. According to one report, the Associated Boards of Trade maintain that Bince 1911 freights have gone up 100 per cent., while according to the deputation they have only increased 40 to 75 per cent. The experience of the Russian Government is quoted to justify the Canadian Government going into the steamship business, but history has proved that Government-owned steam* ers are never successful. The Premier, however, was not at all impressed with tho idea that the Government should run a line of steamers, and suggested that tho millers and farmers should co-operate, and themselves form a steamship line. CURE FOR SEA-SICKNESS. Captain T. Gordon, who is just retiring from the command of the P. and O. R.M,S. Moldavia, after 40 years' service ' under tho flag, told an interviewer ori the homeward run how he came to regard t sea-sickness as the product of the imagination. "I always tell people seasickness is the result of their own imagination. My first night out I was suffering badly. I was sitting in the lee scuppers, cold and miserable, when there came along the second mate — once boatswain of the Confederate cruiser Alabama. 'What's th© matter with you, boy?' 'Please, sir, I'm sick.' 'Seasick, shouted the eecond mate. 'I'll sea-sick you,' and the_ words were accompanied by a kick, which landed me half-way across the deck. A epeedy flight up the rigging to the maintop placed some distance between us, and when I came down the second mate wa_6 gone ; the eea-sickness was gone, and it never returned. I recommend that treatment as_ a perfect cure, but no one seems anxious to try it !" The /first steamer to cross tho Atlantic was the Savannah, in 1819; she was 145 ft over all, 26ft beam, and was designed to steam at 6 knots. She actually crossed under sail. From this time to 1869 the speeds increased to about 12 to 13i knots. In 1869 they rose to 14£ and 15 knots; in 1893, to 22 knots ; and lit the present day the Lusitania and Mauretania reach practically 26 knote.

After years of experimenting a young Florentine chemist named Guido Fei claims to have discovered a nameless powder which causes no erosion of the tubes of even the largest cannon. He says it is superior in carrying power to any other powder. In an experiment in the presence of scientists and representatives of the army in a room which had been completely darkened Fei fired a revolver which had been loaded with his powder, and there was not the slightest flash. During the last ten years 46,689 men deserted from the United States army, Becruits are chosen with care, for, out of 150,000 who applied for enlistment in 1912, only 26,000 were accepted.