Ships and the Sea

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 110, 5 November 1927, Page 30

Ships and the Sea

THE WEEK'S WOEK

WELLINGTON SHIPPING Freights inward and outward at the port of Wellington this ivook have been fairly busy, and there has boon a steady demand for labour on the waterfront. Four overseas vessels commenced unloading on Monday morning, two of them, the West Nivaria from the Pacific Coast, via Auckland, and the Tremeado\v, from New York, via Auckland, arriving late on Saturday afternoon; and another, the Tongariro, from Liverpool, via Auckland, on Sunday morning. The Manuka arrived at Wellington early on Monday morning with (576 tons of cargo from Melbourne direct. She sailed again on Tuesday night for Melbourne,- via Southern ports. The only other ship from overseas with cargo to land was'the O. A. Knudson, which arrived at Wellington on Wednesday afternoon from San Luis I with fuel oil in bulk to land at Miraniar. , The ; Kia Ora came in to-day from ■New Plymouth to take in cargo for Home before proceeding to Auckland to complete loading. "Vessels outward bound included the Corinthio for Auckland to unload the remainder of her Home shipments, anfl the Tfemeadow and the Tongariro on Thursday and yesterday respectively, both for Lytteltoh to continue unloading. The Pakeha sailed yesterday morning Homeward bound, via Cape Horn. • x _ Christmas shipments for the Dominion from overseas are now .beginning to mount up, as will ba seen from examination of the list of steamers on their way to New Zealand. The number is far larger than usual. New Liners. '< The Norddeutscher Lloyd Lino steamer Mam, which arrived at Melbourne recently on her maiden voyage to Australia, is the second of a series of seven new vessels to be built specially for the Australian trade of that line. The first to arrive was the Aller, which took a large cargo of about 20,000 bales of wool from the Sydney sales." The Main, which is a vessel of 7626 tons, is under 1 the command of Captain li. Dieck, and is a similar typo of vessel to the Aller. It is understood that live more vessels of a similar typo are under construction in German shipbuilding yards (states the Sydney "Daily Telegraph"). . They are to be named after German rivers, and it was expected that the last would be launched by March. By the middle of next year the vessels would be carrying on a monthly service between Australia and German ports. A Popular Service. The White Star liner Baltic, which hitherto has carried first, second, and third-class passengers in the company's Liverpool and New York' service, via Quenstown, will, a's from her voyage on 29th October, carry cabin, tourist third cabin, and third-cla&s passengers. Towards the end of last year the White Star Lino inagurated a new service for these denominations with the Cedrio and Celtic, each 21,000 tons, and the support given to it by trans-Atlantic travellers has been so gratifying that the Baltic (24,000 tons) will henceforth bo associated with the steamers named in its maintenance. The Baltic will be the largest cabin ship in the world, and the largest tourist third cabin ship from Liverpool and Queenstown. Popularity of Motor-ships. Trials were recently carried out by the largest and highest-powered motor passenger liner yef completed. This is the Saturnia, which was to have sailed from Trieste to Bue ( rios Aires on her maiden voyage on 21st September. Built at Monfalcoue by the Cantiere Navale Triestino for the Cosulich Line, Trieste, she is a twin-screw vessel of 23,500 tons gross, and a sister-ship, Urania, due for delivery about the end of next month, is building at the same yard for the same owners. The Saturnia carries 2500 passengers in four classes, and, her propelling machinery consists of two sets of eight-cylinder .four-cycle double-acting engines of the Burmeistor and Wain type, built by the Stabilimento Tocnico Triestino, the total horse-power developed being about 24,000. There are, in addition, six Diesel auxiliary engines, developing altogether 9300 i.h.p. She'will be followed in November by a still larger vessel, the Augustus, whose gross tonnage is nearly 33,000. Eeviewing the question of the future possibilities of oil-engined liners, the "Motor Ship" points out that there are 15 such vessels now in service of from 9000 tons gross u.p to 22,000 tons gross, and, with one exception, all the owners of these ships who have further tonnage under construction are again,pitilising internal combustion machinery in their new liners. At the present time there are 26 motor passenger ships being built, and these range from 9000 tons gross up to 33,000 tons gross. There does not seem to be any doubt that this number is greater than that of steam-driven passenger vessels, of equal tonnage, although it is 'only a comparatively short time since tho first large oil-engined liner was built. * Cast Steel Chain. The Beardinore Foundry at Glasgow has put to the credit of, the vast business of which it is a part, an achievement of much more than ordinary importance. In recent years engineering developments have laid obligations on steel foundries to manufacture and supply, under increasingly rigid tests, products which had previously been exclusively the work of the forger. Chains in iron have, for example, been known practically since that material was first forged, and have all, as a matter of course, suffered from the handicap that in the weld necessary in every link the human element played a part. The softness of the material, to ensure as perfect a weld as possible, considerably affected their useful life. Proposals submitted from time to time to manufacturers that these chains should be made of cast steel eventually interested the Admiralty, and at its suggestion various firms attacked the problem experimentally. In the end Messrs. Beardmore succeeded in producing a finished cast steel chain which passed the rigid test requirements laid down. The specification called for a 12} fathom 3in cast steel stud link chain with the necessary shackle. A testing length was to be selected by the inspector anywhere from the finished chain and subjected to the following test:—Shock test—two single links each to stand 15 blows with a one-ton tup without sign of fracture, .viz., two blows at 10ft, two blows at 15ft, and eleven blows at 20 ft. A three-link sample from the test length was to stand without sign of fracture a proof load of 204 tons, the overall elongation not to exceed lin at this load. The sample was then to be loaded till fracture occurred, and to give a breaking load of not loss than 306 tons. Thereafter, tho whole chain was to stand a proof load of 204 tons. The high standard required - ill bo appreciated when these figures are compared with the tests required in the i case of a standard 3in wrought iron cable chain. These are:—Tup tost, [ nil; proof lead, 145.8 tons; breaking load, 218.7 tons. The proof load stipulated for tho cast steel chain is, it will be observed, tho breaking load accept■ed= -foE the wrought iron chain.

New Canadian Service. The' White Star Line has decided toinaugurate a new service of freight and passenger steamers from London via Havre and Southampton to Canada, commencing on the 24th March next, with the- t.s.s. Megantic, 15,000 tons, which, in eon junction .with the t.s.s. Albertie, 19,000 tons, the largest steamer proceeding to Montreal, will provide a regular fortnightly service^ carrying cabin, tourist third cabin, and thirdclass passengers, states "Fairplay." AVhilst all westbound passengers will embark at Havre or Southampton, those eastbound may, if desired, disembark at London. These steamers are fitted with the most modern type of accommodation, and provide everything to be desired in respect of present-day travel. The Mersey, Tasmania. The Marino Board of Mersey, Devonport, Tasmania, directs attention to tho stato of their port, which they aver is not by any means as bad as certain reports would suggest. They point out that the depth of water at the entrance to the Mersey River is 20ft at low tide, with a minimum rise 'of Bft, so that at high water there is at least 28 feet available. They also refer to the fact that this year the steamers Calulu, 5480 tons; Clan MaeTaggart, 7603 tons;' and Maihar, 755(j tons, have visited the port in complete safety, in addition to the constantly trading interstate steamers. Salving a Hulk. The work of raising the coal hulk Verulam, which sank some time ago at Yarraville, Melbourne, is almost completed (states the Sydney "Daily Telegraph"). The hulk sank almost alongside the wharf. Barges were moored above her, one on either side, and chains put under the hulk. The barges were afloat, and, at each low tide, the cables under the Verulam were tightened. Then as the high tide lifted the barges higher above the bed of ' the river, the sunken hulk would also be raised. In this way, the vessel was moved slowly along the sharply rising bed of the river, gaining ground on each high tide. Trench Naval Orders. Two important naval orders have just been placed in France, one with the Chantior et Ateliers de St. NazairePenhoet and the other with the Chantiers Maritimes dv Sud-Ouest, Bordeaux. Each is for a twin-screw motor-tanker of SSOO tons deadweight, 434 ft in length. 62ft in beam, and 34ft in depth. The vessels will each be driven by two sets of B. and W. typo Diesel engines, designed to develop a total of 4300 h.p. at 120 r.p.m., and to give a service speed of 13 knots. Naval Shipbuilding. In anticipation of some further limitation of naval armaments as' a result of the Geneva Conference, the construction of some of the cruisers included in the five years' shipbuilding programme which was sanctioned in 1925 was deferred. As the Conference has produced only negative results, it may be anticipated that the full programme will now bo proceeded with (states the "Shipping World"). It comprises, among other naval craft, 16 cruisers, only seven of which have been ' ordered so far. Three more are due to be ordered in tho present financial year, besides a flotilla leader, six destroyers, and eight submarines. Contracts for the building of- these vessels may, therefore, be expected to be entered into -shortly, and v th,is will afford some much-needed assistance to the shipbuilding industry. Nigeria. One of the most rapidly developing and valuable of the British colonies is undoubtedly Nigeria, whose natural and mineral resources have as yet hardly been scratched. Since the end of the war, however, progress has been steady in evei-y direction, and in none more so than in that of transport facilities, wtihout which no country can hope to advance its trade. The railway system, judged from an exceedingly interesting article in the current issue of tho South African Railways and Harbours Magazine," consists of 1122 riles of 3ft Gin gauge line open for traffic, with 439 miles under construction, and 143 miles of 2ft 6in gauge, while the locomotives and rolling stock are of modern type and adequate in numbers. The railway organisation controls also the working of the ports of Apapa (Lagos) and Port Harcourt. At the fdrmer, which is the sea outlet for. the western division of the Nigerian Railways, a new deep-water wharf is under construction, at which large ocean-going vessels will be able to lie and load or discharge direct into railway trucks. Port Harcourt is the coastal terminus of the eastern division of the line, and is provided with modern and. well-equipped wharves and warehouses', all of which, owing to increasing traffic, are now in course of extension. Another feature of this port is the coal tip, which can load steamers at the rate of 1200 tons per day. • •■ Another New Motor-ship. In September the large twin-screw mo-tor-ship Pacific Reliance which has been built by the Blythswood Shipbuilding Company, Ltd., Seotstoun, for tho Norfolk and North American Steam Shipping Company, Ltd., carried out highly I successful official trials in tho Firth of Clyde, reports "Fairplay." Intended for service between home ports and the Pacific Coast of North America via the Panama Canal, she is 450 ft in length, 60ft in breadth, and 42ft in depth' from the shelter deck. The deadweight capacity is 10,000 tons. In respect of her equipment the vessel is thoroughly up to date. All her auxiliary machinery, both on deck and in the engine-room, is electrically driven, the installation for this purpose being by the Sunderland Forge and Engineering Company, and the 'tween deck arc insulated throughout for the carriage* of fruit,,the refrigerating plant being by J. and E. Hall, Ltd., Dartford. Tho cargo-handling appliances include one 10-ton derrick, twelve 6-ton derricks, three 3-ton derricks, and twelve electric* winches. A warping winch is fitted aft. The steering gear is of the elec-tric-hydraulic type. Models In Bone. At .the showrooms of Thos. Parsons and Sons, Ltd., London, an interesting collection of ship models, wool-work pictures and paintings is on view, whichj-in^addition to the intrinsic merit of its units, has the distinction of being mainly composed of the work of seafaring people. The proceeds of the exhibition are to go, without deduction, to a fund for the benefit of disabled sailors and soldiers, for which Messrs. Parsons have already raised the very handsome sum of £20,271 17s 6d. Amongst the exhibits, far and away the most attractive things on view are the models in bone made by the French prisoners of war who were confined in Portcheater Castle, Princetown, etc., during the wars with France between 1780 and 1915. At first sight, no doubt, bone appears to be almost the last material from which«to fashion ship models with their wealth of detail of standing and running gear, but marvellous use has been made of it, as visitors to the exhibition find, by the carvers and workers in ivory from Dieppe, who formed no inconsiderable number of tho prisoners. None of these bone models could have been completed in a M etjma bj, unskilled hands.