THE NEW MOOLTAN.

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 126, 24 November 1923, Page 16

THE NEW MOOLTAN.

A ship in the trade from Home to Australia, via Suez, that can house, dine, and sleep in approved comfort six hundred and fifty-six saloon passengers, on levels two tiers or more above the main deck, must be, in size, above the average to which the trade is accustomed. Such a ship is the new p and ' O. liner Mooltan. She is Messrs. Harland and Wolff's latest finished production and is, in fact, the largest chip in the trade, and the largest designed to pass throuzh the Suez Canal; She is a noble-lobkng vessel, and reproducesin . her visible hnes that roundness or softness of contour which, as old travellers to Sydney remember, so notably distiheighties the Arcadia and Oceania. A notable feature of the Mooltan is the excellence of her second saloon accommodation, winch shares the advantages of the first saloon m that all cabins are &i fi e r R calT' £ nd that the broad «n. tm? h h a ! ft spaces on t^ bridge and shelter dedarare^occupied by rowa of bathrooms and offices. The great from the MeoWs huge tonnage ha! rendered possible' a very compact, roomy and convenient arrangement of her passenger accommodation, and full advantage has been taken of this in. the ship's design. On the promenade deck there is a range of single and two-berth cabins four suites of which are panelled m sycamore, and furnished in Louis XVI style, each with a private bathroom adjoining Also on this deck there is ths first saloon reading and music room and aft of this room is.the first saloon lounge and divan. Eleven bie French windows open on the deck, fnd from this room.a stained-glass ceiling extends up twenty-two feet. The smokeroom, large and lofty, is' surmounted by ail elaborately decorated stained-glass dome and French windows are also provided! Access. v is had at the after end of th« ' smokeroom to a sheltered verandah with seats,.tables, and wicker furniture, 'which is expected to prove one of the main attractions of the vessel. The cabins are in keeping with the general high standard maintained in the P. and O liners An efficient system of telephones enpares prompt communicatfon between all parts of the ship, and electric heal- « era are fitted in afl public portions of the vessel. ' ,

_ The^Mooltan, like other vessels of the fleet, has large mail, baggage, and bullion rooms, and her holds also are insulated for the carriage Homewards from 4?? tra"* o£ large quantities of .produce. Altogether, she is a remarkable vessel and her advent, and that of her sister ship, the Maloja, in Eastern and Australian waters will be awaited with a great deal of interest.

THE WHITE STAB PENNANT. The red swallow tail with five-pointed star .which now. flies at the masthead of great steamers up and down the oceans ol tne world'had its origin in those romantic yeare when the discovery of cold in Australia.(lßsl) followed hard upon the heels of the finding of gold in California in 1848: The first Australian gold reached London in the February of 1852, and a.few weeks later a consignment of gold bars came into Liverpool The arrival .of these tangible evidences of the reality of the Australian gold rush caused such ..Thames shipowners as Ureens, Money Wigram, and others to take-their vessels off the India trade and hurry them out to Melbourne. Liverpool shipping firms, immediately chartered American ships-for the same run; Liverpool became the centre of the shipping rush to Australia, such names aa James Barnes, Baiues and Co., Pilkinßton and Wilson, and others being proBlack BaU Line, the Fox fine, and the Bed Cross Line carried thousands of gold-seekers on the 13,000-mile voyage to far-off . Australia. • Admittedly, at first, the Black Ball, Line stood pre-em-inent, but two young Liverpool shipbrokers, John Pilkington. and Henry T. Wilson, made a strong bid. for the Australian trade, and putting on the Ben Nevis, Guiding Star, and other softwood ships built at St. John, N. 8., gained headway even against the beautiful Black Bailer Marco Polo. By 1854, James Baines and Co. (Black Ball) had'euch lovely craft as lightning, Champion of the Seas, and Donald fil'-Kay running. Pilkington and Wilson chartered Chariot of Fame, Red Jacket, and Blue Jacket,. all New England built. The White Star Line has reproduced the sailing-bill of the Red Jacket, -from which it, can be seen that it represents an Indian chief (after whom the famous clipper was named), whose bosom is adorned by. a white star. Here, then, is to be found the actual origin of the symbol which was embodied in Pilkingten and Wilson's house flag, and caused the name of their firm to be ordinarily known as ''The White Star Line." Bed Jacket crossed from Sandy Hook To the Mersey in February, 1854, and apart from the figure of the Indian chief carved as her. figure-head, her handsome- lines created quite a sensation. She went out to" Melbourne in 69 days and returned in 73 days, being delayed by ice and bergs off Cape Horn;, she brought 45,000 ounces of- gold, and on her return-to Liverpool was bought by Pilkington and Wilson for £30,000, remaining in the Australian trade /or some years. It is often painful to ioU low the career of a crack clipper, after her palmy days are over. In the. case of Red Jacket, she came down to tim-ber-carying, and when last heard of was a coal hulk at Cape Verde.. . " .