SHIPS & THE SEA

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 132, 5 June 1915, Page 13

SHIPS & THE SEA

TO COMBAT SUBMARINES. In" a letter to the London Times Sir Wm. B. Forwood stated that during a trip in a White Star liner from Teneriffe to London, the captain, of the vessel, while he had no wish to see a submarine, said : — "I am not going, if attacked, to take our fate lying down. We have two 4.7 guns on the poop served by a trained crew. We have a strong prow, and I can manoeuvre my ship very rapidly, and I think if we are attacked it may be worse for the submarine, and if we are torpedoed, I calculate that our watertight compartments and our cargo will keep us afloat some hours' .at least and enable us to get into a place of safety." "My object in writing this letter," states Sir William Forwood, "is to urge that our cross-Channel steamers and our liners should be armed with a gun— fore and aft. The submarine fears nothing so much as a-gun. He knows that his craft is very frail. As he ranges him self up alongside a ship, as he must do to fire his torpedo, he must present an excellent target, and the chances are if the ship attacked is armed, the submarine will be sunk. He never attacks a destroyei or a gunboat, because they are armed. Our ships mighr_ also be fitted w ith temporary telephonic receivers, which they could suspend over the side when in a zone danger. I think this idea is one capable of being worked out by a practical electrician. A submarine submerged turns slowly and with difficulty, and if a ship is warned she ought to be able to get out of the way." ARREST OF STEWARDS A cablegram received in London recently from New York stated that sixty-nine men and eight women, praptically the entire force of stewards and stewardesses of the steamship Kroonland, were arrested by immigration officers. A warrant was served on the captain, charging the owners of the vessel with violation of the Alien Contract Labour Law It was alleged that the stewards were brought from England on board the Finland in January, and were transferred at New York to the Kroonland. thus violating the law "If convicted, the steamship lino is liable to a fine of 1000 dollars for each steward and v stewardess,"' concluded the message. ANNAM— A PRIZE OF WAR. An interesting prize of war has just been brought into Hull which is, incidentally, the largest motor' vessel that has entered the -port (says the Hull correspondent of the " London Shipping •World). She is the Danish motor ship Annam, 5296 tons gross, \^iich was cap* tured by the British FleW as she was carrying a cargo, including large quantities^ of wheat, from San Francisco to a Continental port .. The vessel is lying in Alexandra Dock, and is the subject of much interest to local shipping people. The Arinam, it will be remembered, was the first motor ship to visit Australia, and aroused great interest among shipping people. AWAKENING OF CHINA. According to the North China Herald, the Chinese merchants in Shanghai have mooted the idea of forming a large mail steamship company for the transport of Chinese produce and manufactures, and a scheme was submitted to the Ministry of Communications. _ The Central Government has now signified its approval, requestimj the Chinese merchants of Shanghai to proceed with the promotion of the eqmpany It is said that the outlino of the plan is. as f ollows ; — I— The authorised capital to be 50,000,000 dollars, all to be subscribed by Chinese shareholders—the Government to take up twofifths and the remainder to be offered to Chinese capitalists in the interior and abroad for subscription. 2— A fleet of 60 "steamers of various tonnage to be acquired, either by purchase or construction, to run (a) between Asia and Europe, (b) between Asia and America, (c) between Chltm and the Southern Archipelago, and (d) between coastal ports of I China. 3 — To inaugurate inland steamlaunch lines as far as possible. The company is to be called the China Mail Steamship Company. To encourage people to subscribe to the capital, the Government *is to receive no interest on its shares. _ - , . _ « . SHIPPING RETURNS. Tho shipping returns for the three months ended 31st March, 1915, issued by Lloyd's Register, are of more than ordinary interest. The returns covor from the beginning of the fifth to nearly the end of tho eighth month of the war, from tho commencement of which the energies of the shipbuilding industry in Groat Britain have been mainly concentrated on naval work. Tho figures, which only take into account vessels of 100 tons and upwards, the construction of which has actually begun, show that, excluding warships, there were 471 vossdls of 1,587,467 tons gross register under construction in the United Kingdom at tho close of the quarter ended 31st March, as compared with 462 vessels of 1.627,316 tons during the previous throe months, and 535 vessels of 1.890,856 tons during tho quarter ended 31st March, 1914 During tho period under review, tho construction of 140 vessels of 292,421 tons was started, and 125 vessels of 267,612 tons i\'ore launched. I Of the vessels under construction, 185 aro steamers of from 3000 to 10,000 tons register, twenty-two of from 10,000 to 40,00 tons register, while one — the Britannic— is upward of 40,000 tons. Up to 15th May, that is to say. after more, than nino ; months of war, 460,628 tons of British merchant shipping had been sunk or Captured by the German^, but Lloyd's Register returns show that this wastage will bo j more than made good by the vessels commenced or launched the March quarter alone. Apart from their ordinary purposes,, Lloyd's Register returns are interesting as snowing the utter futility of Germany's submarin& -warfare against British shipping. THE FATE OF A FAMOUS SHIP A correspondent writes: — The Thermopylae, one 'of the famous clipper ships of bygone days, \vhich_made a name 'for herself in the Australian trade for her many remarkably fust passages, ended her career under remarkable circumstances. Up till recently she fulfilled duty as a training ship on the Reiver Tagus, and was ' Jjhen discarded, being too old and small for further service. The , authorities did not like to sell a. \essel with such a reputation, and' it was, therefore, decided to tow her to sea and give her a naval funeral by sinking her, which was accordingly done by two I Portuguese men-of-war. So ended 'the career of one of the finest and fastest Sailing ships that e^er sailed the ocean. It is interesting to recall that the Thermopylae, oil her maiden voyage in 1868, under the command of Captain Kemball, dropped anchor in Hobson's Bay 61 days out from London Docks, a record never beaten by any sailing ship between those ports. The nearest approach to it was the 62 days' passage, of the Ben Voirlich in 11375. It is reqorded that on her maiden voyage to Melbourne .the Thermopylae, on 4th 'January, 1869, logged 336 knots in 24 hours. On her second trip to Melbourne sne did even better by reeling off 342 knots in 24 hours. After that the Thermopylae proceeded to Newcastle, thence to Ohina to take part in the annual race to the Thames with tho new season's teas. She covered the distance from Foochow to London in 91 days, up till then a record for the, race, but it was broken a few days later,' when the Sir Lancelot tar-rivedt ar-rived 90 days out from tho same port, and proved to be the winner of th-e blue ribbon of the ocean in that particular year