Ships and the Sea

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 129, 4 June 1927, Page 28

Ships and the Sea

AN EASY WEEK

LITTLB WATKIU'IiONT

ACTIVITY

Added to the Biniill uumbrr of overseii.s ships in port, thin week, Uio heavy ram Ims on Hoveral uccmtoiia uonsldci'nbly Immperod what little ivaleifiout activity tliero whs. Onjy small cargoes havo been dealt with-during the week, and many of tlio wtttersideis hiivo iound very little work.

First to arrive was tho Canadian BmiHhor fi'om -tho South, but, sho only had a little cargo to load, and Bailed again on Tuesday for Auckland to Jill up for New York, Boston, ami Muiitreal. Tho lUiinuron.cnmc in on Tuesday morning from Sydney, and, besides her usual number of passengers, brought 080 tons of cargo, including a largo quantity of fruit. Fruit imports havo showu a big increase lately, aa several steamers havo come in with quite large quantities. •

Tho Itamnga also Bailed on Tuesday for I/onclon, and'just prior to her departure four stowaways ■were found on board. This brings tho total for recent wcoks to thirteen.

Tho Waiotajm arrived tit Wellington on Wednesday morning from Ban lfrn.iiciaco, vi. Auckland and Napier, With a total of 1370 tons to unload from tho l'acitic Coast. This cargo included large quantities of refined and fuel oila and paper. . i

_ Another passenger steamer that ar rived this week was the G'orinthic from Home. Fine weather wan reported throughout the voyage, and she has 3900 tons to unload hero 'oeforo proceeding to Auckland to complete discharge.

The relieving ferry boat Mararoa commenced running in tho WellingtonLyttelton service on Monday, arriving hero on Tuesday morning. She was not in ,tho service long, however, as it was found that tho hydraulic equipment was defective, with the result that she was unablo to satisfactorily handle cargo. A ferry boat that cannot properly work cargo is pretty useless, and so tho Manuka was put on in her place. She will niako* her first run in this capacity to-night', after several months of inactivity at tho Patent Slip. Tho Mararoa proved that sho still has a fair turn of speed, however, and tho first trip from Lyttelton on Monday night was done at an averago speed, of 14.7 knots; whilo on Wednesday night the average was 15 knots. The old ship', was well on time on each occasion.

The Kauri, Union Company collier, was paid off at Wellington this week as a result of the trimmers' st"ike in Australia. This is the second time lately that the coal service between Newcastle and Wellington ( has been interrupted. ■

H.M.S. Woodcock.

It is interesting to recall that the old gunboat, 'Woodcock,' which was lately in action on the Yangtse River, was the first vessel of tne British Navy to navigate the Sfangtse'Gorges between Ichang and Chungking. She was built by Messrs. Thornycroft' at Chiswick 30 years ago mid was- a sister vessel of the "Melik," which was built tor Lord Kitchener's Kartoum Expedition, and led the river attack,, bombarded- Kartoum and destroyed tho Mahidi's tomb. A very shallow draught was obtained oy using screws in tunnels, and the plating of the upper part of the vessel and superstructure was only about 3-16 in. thick, but was nevertheless capable of resisting ordinary rifle bullets owing to tho fact that it was composed of specially heat-treated alloy steel. This was tho iu'st case of the employment of this material for anything other than small gun shields. Tho hull was built- in a. number of watertight sections to facilitate re-erection abroad. It speaks well for the design and construction of the vessel that, after 30 years the Woodcock is still an effective naval unit. . •

Replacing the Ormuz,

The new 20,000-tonner Orford is to replace the Orient steamer Ormuz in tho Australian mail service. The Ormuz, which was recently sold by the Orient Company, was formerly the German steamer Zeppelin. She was taken over by tho British Government after the war as part of the indemnity due by Germany for war damages to British shipping. With tho aHvent of the Orford—sho is due to leave London on October 29— tho Orient Co. will havo four palatial 20,000-ton steamers in tho mail and passongor service, tho other ships being'tho Qrama, Otranto, and Oronsay.

A Long Time Building.

After being building practically ever since the war the 30,000-ton Holland American liner Statendam has beou transferred to tho allied lied Star Line, and will run on their express service between Antwerp and New York. The Statendam was laid -down at Harlrind and Wolff's yard at Belfast to repJaco a ship of the' samo namo which was launched just before the war, and was completed by tho British Admiralty as the transport Justice.

For the Australian Service.

According to officers on tho GermanAustralian Lino motor ship Magdeburg, which arrived at Sydney recently, four now vessels are now building for tho Australian service. Two of the new i vessels will bo motor ships and tho other two will bo fitted with turbines. They will have passenger accommodation for 30 or 40 passengers, and will be specially built for the wool trade. It is expected that the first will be in Australian waters within six months.

Tho Dutch company, the Rotterdam Lloyd, is also building new ships for the Holland Australia service. Officers on tho steamer Tapanoeli, on her maiden voyage to Australian ports, said that their company was constructing four new motor ships of about 6500 tons gross register and with accommodation for 40 passengers. These vessels would also be soon in Australian ports shortly.

Southland on Trial,

The twin-screw motor vessel Southland, designed and constructed by the Dublin Dockyard Company Messrs. Vickers (Ireland), Limited to the order of the Bluff Harbour Board, carried out highly successful trials on the new measured mile at Kingstown in April. She is 143 ft. in length overall, with a beam of 30ft and a depth of 12ft. 6in. to the main deck, and is so designed that she may be used either as a tug, pilot vessel, for salvage work, or as an excursion steamer there being accommodation for 285 deck passengers. . The propelling machinery is tho highest powered installation of its type yet fitted in any vessel, and consists of a twin-screw set of "Vickers-Petter" new model heavy oil. engines capable of developing a total b.h.p. of 1200 at 270 r.p.m. in two six-cylinder units The vessel should be of considerable interest to tug owners and harbour authorities in view of the flexibility of the engines and the ease with which the vessel may be manoeuvred in a confined area. ' The builders have at present under construction a twin-screw insulated cargo and passenger vessel for the New Zealand Government Pacific Island Administration this vessel being fitted with machinery similar to that installed in the Southland.

Tasmanian Service.

The winter programme of passenger sailings between Melbourne and the northern Tasmanian ports, was put into operation a fortnight ago. Since the Christaaa ,tqurisi L season ,<Badfidg the

iiloamcr Nnirann haa been running three times a week between Melbourne and Latmccston. The smaller passenger Bteiimef Oonah lias been making two trips a week to Bnrnic and Devonport. ■'i'lio traffic, which was largo enough over tho holiday season to warrant ihiiiy sailings to Launccston, has been gradually decreasing as winter approached, and it is now considered that a srrvico twice a week to Launccston will be sufficient during the winter months. The Nairana will be taken off tho service, and will be laid up until