SHIPS & THE SEA

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 78, 1 April 1916, Page 10

SHIPS & THE SEA

A PROFITABLE, DEAL.

•■ A few.-- months• back■-tho ■Ho -Hong Steamship* Company,,. Ltd., of: Singapore, t secured. :tlw .old P and 0.-liner Oriental, which had been running to.tha.Far East for many years, for trade-• between- the ' Straits and China. Tho purchase price :j was £32,000. The vessel was renamed tho Hong-Kheng. »Ia consequence of the - great scarcity of shipping certain authorities recently approached tho firm and entered into negotiations for the purchase of. the-ship, and. these, it ie ■• understood, -Have been completed, .with theoresult that, the Hong.,Kheng,. again . ohanges. .hands, ,th©rHo,-'Hong, Steamship Company .reooiving £65,000 as th©: purchase price The vessel wasrbuilt in 1889,, and ha-d a. net tonnage of 3085. AN ADVENTUROUS CAREER. Mr J.i E.,'-Broeckel, 'wireless .operator of the torpedoed Dutch -liner' Tubantia, is- well-known in Sydnoy (says an 'Austra-lian.-paper- to hand)- Ho is a young Belgian; 27.yoa.rs of-'age,-1 and-haa had eomo % thrilling:, exporionces.-:' When ,the Titonic ■ 'jmet i with.r;:<lisastor, ,Mr ..Broeckel iwaswireless :Opei;atoi; on: board-the. steamer .which,.first ,piqked; up the, .signals of distress, .. and arrived eailie6t. on. the tragic Bcene ' -He was ■ operator on tho' Tasman when-that steamship .ran. aground near Thursday;'lsland■ UTO,years ago, and, succeeded, -aftej-'-eomo days- in ' getting; his message- -of - distress answered •by -a Japanese .-steamer, -that afterwards; pulled, the lasman-. into deep water " For -the- laßt jiear, he. haairbeon;,operator.-on.-tho Tuban.tia,;and has .seen',. his'own1' vessel- sink, although, it is highly probable • that .ho got tho-message".awayr that, brought the assistance, , which'-accounts for- the fact that-no loss of .Ufa among the passengers and- crew - AvRAGEiFROMiSYDNEY^TO THE' PACIFIC' COAST '■ A- very -fine i sight v was 'Witnessed at South!-. Head:, a.few.- days ago (says the Sydney Shipping List), when no less than - four ■American - schooners cleared the port'bound for = the" Paoifio Coast During.'. the . last. . nine .. months, many American schooners have arrived at Sydney. - lumber-ladeu, and when they have left .again it has .generally'been-one or two- a day- and. rarely three, so Saturday's departure- of' four, was k record - for ■ Sydney . Tho; first vessel to clean1 the Heads SV3.B tho -.Forester; at .9.2.,5um. j laden with a,., cargo of v copra ..for San Francisco. Them at. 11. a.m the- livo-raasted schooner Snow, and.B-urgessj laden with a, cargo of cokos also-cleared for >3an.-Francisco r At 4.1? p.m.,, the ' Stimson cleared the port in-ballast-for Puget ■ Sound, and at. 4:40 p.m.-. '-the ■ Meteor . passed through tho Heads,'; bound' for Eureka in- ballast. With the. wind strong from the southivost,! the: vessels- had' as. good; start and an,interesting race-to tho Pilxafic Coast is expected. , Some. wonderful-: repair -jobs-, are- sometimes iexecuted.at,sea,l and,amongst,thorn that performed by the ■ engineers of • the' s-s. Ulrikem'certainly .deserves a place.. The vessel "was on- a voyage from the Tyne tor Sydney, Canada., and failing to reach- her:■ destination after, the- usual margin '-for- bad -weather -she- figured on theio.verdue, list.'- What had-happened: to herl .was that.she had lost her,propeller. Fortunately,-, she' had, a , spare ' one on board.! Presumably -this .was-.-not,,ias is : sometimes-the,case..with spare propellers, stowed * underneath . tho oargOj ant) the engineers after protracted wo-rk. succeeded in. .VKying it. To do .this it'was necessary to tip, the.. ship; and this" operation was successfully -performed in- spite 'of bad weathe. Ultimately the voyage was-re-suuied,-: ahdi' the;:ship reached her port ; after a voyage of 41>days. ■■'■ Officers- '*nd crew received £600 from tho insura-nce : company concerned as an appreciation of their.'services, and it would bo interesting to learn how the engineers came out on the division. ' THE OLD CITY OF SYDNEY. . The old steamer City . of. Sydney, 3017 ton&■ register; which- was- built; of iron 41 years . ago at Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., ,by Messrs., J. 'Roach and Co., and:,wasiowned.by;the Pacific Mail S.S. Co.;. and- is- at present laid up at! San Erancisco,/..has been- sold.. She,is to- be converted into a .six-masted schooner,' gind will probably, be employed in the canning trade of the Bristol :Bay Packing , Co., or. may be placed in the lumber I trade between the Pacific' Coast and Australia. INTERESTING SALVAGE CASE. In.-the Admiralty Court at-London • last month,. Mr. ■ Justice Bargraye Dean der cided the claim brought, by the owners, master, and crew of the steam tug. Aid and the coxswain and crew of the-Ranis-gate lifeboat; the owners of. the steam tug' Athlete^ of' Hull, 'and tho Dover Harbour -Board,-owners, master; and crew of the> steanvtug Lady Duncannon'- against the owners of :the Italian .ship Loch Garve inVrespecii: o£ salvage services^ rendered- to that v«;sel on Ist, 2nd, srd, '4th;j andi sth November last.in the North Sea and in the. River' Thames.'; The, Loch Garve (1784 tons net) got _ into 'difficalties ' near the Gull Lightship in bad weather, aitd she t was,, eventually got- into.- Ramsgate Chrnin-el and afterwards to Gravesend, ovtjng' to the assistance of the plaintiffs' vessels. The value - of, the Loch Garve, laden with coal from the ,Tyne to Genoa, was.,stated to.be £8800, but- that; the damage she ■ hud sustained brought that value 'down to £6635. His Lordship awarded the-Aid and the1 lifeboat £800; the--tug-. Athlete, -£400;- and the Lady Duncannon, £550—total j -award, '£1750. Th-a :Loch Gsarve' was the ship that, made the: long passage from- Marseilles, to New. Zealand; unth. after- a long-detention-in the . Dominion'_ proceed e-d to Newcastle,, and' ■vrhile loading coal there was-in col-! lision, -winch caused another long delay-. After all her troubles she -eventually sailed .{or-the West Goast'onitho 21st. May,' »1914, and. from there she went to Portland and loaded'for Hull,, whore she arrived last August. FROM-SAIL TO! DIESEL. The Texas Company has bought the five-masted steel fohoorie-r' Kineo, and will install Diesel- engines-in the- vessel The Kineo. is--, one- of' tlie largest American, schooners afloat, bemg-'of-1876 tons." She. is. a ,£€-.mi-taiil>er, ■ having; -tanlc space- for ;8000 barrels of'oil. T.heivineo. soihe years ago'made a voyage to Brisbane and, thon wont-on- to, Newcastle and loaded coa.l for one. of the American norts.