IDLE AUSTRALIAN VESSELS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 30, 4 August 1923, Page 14

IDLE AUSTRALIAN VESSELS

In addition to the 14 steamers of'tha Commonwealth Government Hnf which are idle in Sydney Harbouivthere I » considerable tonnage of steamers and sailers belonging to other owners which' is continually encroaching upon the open spaces of some o f the besfbavsofthe harbour. The position recently had been ™Xl c I SS filled witH idle vessels > fSrH »U°T ,° i he ope° roadstead between Garden Island and Pc*i Piper was similarly occupied. Hose Bay is not customarily used by shipping, and for this reason has been set aside by the Harobur • Trust as an anchorage ground for steamers carrying explosives where they may discharge or load dangerous cargoes with which they are not allowed to proceed to a berth. Owing to the amount of idle tonnage in tne bay. it has been lately impossible for vessels to uso the powder ground and steamers have been known" to use the "stream" for this purpose. 'Each idle steamer needs a swinging 6pa ce with a radius of about 250 feet, and in Rose Bay the whole of the space available m safety has recently been taken up by 11 steamers, the naval trainimr ship Tinjrira,;the seven-State trawlers;" and other space has been occupied by launches and yachts, As"each steamer swinirs to each variation in the wind,- her- two anchor chains' gradually' become so entwined that when undue strain is placed upon the mooring cables by a' gale, steamers have dragged moorings. When "the steamer is required for trade, it is necessary therefore to use two or three tugs to swing the steamer for a couple of hours until the mooring is free. This has involved considerable expense. It has been decided for purposes of economy to place the steamers in group anchorages, thus reducing the number of caretakers required and obviating the swinging of the ships at anchor. The practice has been adopted of anchoring two steamers together, headed stein to ■ bow, so that they cannot swing, and thus halving the number of watchmen.