SHIPS & THE SEA.

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 86, 9 October 1915, Page 10

SHIPS & THE SEA.

PURCHASE PRICE OF MARITIME. In discussing reports from abroad indicating that there is a belief in some quarters that tonnage values are at 'the highest just 'now, and that a drop is imminent, . the Sydney Shipping list makes mention of tho case of the Maritime, recently secured by the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand. Just after the outbreak of war this vessel was secured by the Thomas's for £65,000 — she being- a German capture, and known as the Schlesien. That she was a fine vessel, everyone associated with the water front will admit, but at ordinary times £50,000 would have been a fair figure. That by the way, however. She ran some time for the Thomas firm, and then was sold to the Australasian Company. The exact price never transpired, but sufficient has been learned to allow it being stated that a cool £10,000 at least was made by the purchase. BRITISH MOTOR SHIP , The approaching visit to Australia of the British motoi ship Hermes must be looked forward to with interest (states a Sydney paper). The vessel is under the "Red Ensign." This cleaa-ly indicates that, despite the trouble accruing from the war, the British owner has not lost sight of the advantages the motor chip holds out. If the advantages are so great as are claimed for this class of vessel, Great Britain could not afford to be behindhand in their use, for economically Tun craft means lower freights, and when this war is over the vessel most profitable to run will be the one to secure business. The Hermes, owned in Great Britain, is a new vessel, haying been launched last year, and is corning out to Australia on behalf of the British Imperial Oil Company. Her gross tonnage is 3650 tons. BROKEN UP AND DISMANTLED. Excluding war losses one of the most common terminations^ of a vessel's career is by breaking up, dismantling, etc. (not in consequence of casualty). According to a summary published by Lloyd's Register, the amount of tonnage so dealt with in 1914 was 128,978 tons, this being 20,183 tons more than that for 1913. Sixteen per cent, of the steamers and 16.8 per cent, of the sailing vessels removed j from the merchant fleets of the world in the course of 1914 are accounted for in this manner. Of the total +onnage of such cases 34.3 per cent, is represented by United Kingdom vessels, THE ÜBIQUITOUS WIRELESS. Wireless telegraphy has again proved its value. When the steamer Bradford was bound from Tuxpan, Mexico, to Philadelphia, one of the crew was taken ill. No physician being on board, the wireless operator swept the sea with his wireless in search of one. A British warship answered, but refused to give her location, and said she could not leave her post. The sick man's symptoms were therefore wirelessed to the warship's doctor, who diagnosed the .case as pneumonia, and wirelessed a prescription to the Bradford. FRENCH CAPTAIN FINED. At Penarth the master _of a. French steamship was charged with disobeying the orders of H.M. Examination Service in the Bristol Channel. Lieutenant T. J. Catterson said it was necessary to fire across the bows of the vessel before the defendant stopped the engines. Witness boarded the vessel and told the captain to fly certain flags. A few minutes after the examining vessel left the captain pulled down the flags in order to signal to Lloyd's Station, and did not put them up again Commander Nicholl, R.N.V.R., stated that they had nothing to do with Lloyd's, and if the captain wished to signal to them he should have used one of the other halyards. Defendant was fined £2. IMPORTANT REPAIR CONTRACT. An important ship-repairing contract is now (says a Home exchange)" being completed by Messrs. Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson, Wallsend-on-Tyne. The Liverpool steamer Delmira, which had such an adventurous career going ashore at Cherbourg after having badly damaged herself, and doing further damage when she stranded, will be converted into a molasses carrier from the ordinary carrying vessel. Such a big repairing contract has not been carried out in the upper reaches of the Tyne for some time, but the vessel will probably proceed round to Sunderland to complete machinery fittings, where she was originally inspected for tendering purposes. The Union Iron Works, of San Francisco, have (says The Syren and Shipping Journal) secured from the Standard Oil Company of California a contract to build a tank steamer which is to cost a quarter of a million sterling. Shft will have a capacity of 85,000 barrels, and will be 440 ft long, with a 58ft beam, and a depth of 41ft. In order that the proper kind of lumber for the construction of piers and docks may be available at Port Nelson, where tha Canadian Government is building a railroad and steamship terminal on the shores of Hudson's Bay, it has been found necessary to send a steamer round the greater part of North America (states a Home Exchange).' The Durley Chine will cover approximately 10,000 ! miles to land her cargo of Douglas fir at Port Nelson, which is only about 1200 miles distant from Vancouver in an air line. The steamer goes through the [ Panama Canal. ■ / At Hull the captain of a^steamer was summoned for having live sheep on his vessel when she arrived from Malta The case for the defendant was that lascaxs in his crew would not eat meat- slaughtered in the ordinary way, and insisted on killing the sheep in accordance with their religious rites. The magistrates imposed a nominal fine of one guinea, and agreed to state a case. The Clan Line, of_ Glasgow, axe among the first of the shipping companies to institute a regular steamship service to ports in what has been described aa "Britain's .latest colony." Recently the Clan Line announced that their steamers, the Clan Memies and the Clan Sutherland, leaving Glasgow in August, would call at Luderitz Bay and Swakopmund, in what was. formerly German SouthWest Africa. For the first time since its completion, the Panama Canal has been used_ by large battleships, the vessels in question being? the American dreadnoughts Missouri, Wisconsin, and Ohio, which passed through the waterway on 16fch July. In order to test the endurance of the United States submarines, it is announced that four underwater craft will be sent under their own power from San Francisco to Honolulu, a distance of over 2200 miles. The journey will be attempted without stops of any kind. It is reported that the Western Australian Government has bought from Harland and Wolff the steamer Lalandia, to take the place of the Western Australian in the north-west trade. The Lalandia has Diesel enginesj and it is stated that the cash price is £140,000, but arrangements have been made by fTie Government with an insurance company to finance the purchase on £175,000 inscribed stocks at 4 per cent, bonds. News has been received to the effect that the s.s. Lord Lonsdale, once well- | known in the Australian trade, has just changed owners. Her sale reflects the real state of the market possibly better than many recent sales have done (remarks an exchange). About five .years ago she was built at a cost of £47,000, and the price the new owners paid is exactly £85.000. The Australian Steamships new InterState cargo carrier Chronos is not to settle dowti in the Commonwealth 'business just yer (•stales ihe Sydney Shipping List). Arrangements have been made for the vessel, which recently arrived from the builder?'' yards, to make a deep-water {rip. and in consequence she will begin loading- ai Brisbane about the middle of this month, and at, Sydney soon afterwards, for London The Chronos will tqjic (he br»rf-h qp Vjche-If of th« Common1 tvc&lth *ad Powuuoa Lin*.