Ships and the Sea

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 120, 16 November 1929, Page 32

Ships and the Sea

New Orient Steamer. Tho-new 20,000-tou steamer Orontes was launched from the Barrow yard of Messrs. Viekcrs-Armstrou" Itd towards the end of February' last'for the Orient Steam Navigation Co by whom, she-is to be used in the-'Aus-tralian mail service. The Orontes has the following principal dimensions:— -Length overall, G64f t; breadth Toftdepth to . ««-E»». fleck, 47ft; aisnlaeement, 26,193 tons; draft, 29ft Sinspeed, 20 knots; shaft horse-power 20,000. The hull is divided into eleven water-tight bulkheads, to meet the

latest'requirements for subdivision. As will be seen from the photograph appearing pn;. this1 page, she has a somewhat novel form of stem. ( The cellular double bottom is arranged for oil fuel,:fresh .water, and water ballast. Large oil ; bunkers are fitted at the sides of.' the boiler and refrigerating machinery rooms. The rudder is of the partially balanced type, and is operated, by electro-hydraulic steering gear with ..telemotor control from the navigating bridge and mechanical control from the-docking bridge. The deck auxiliaries/include, twelve eleetricallydriveni cargo winehes-and a high-powr ered electric windlass with extended ends for warping, from which two warping capstans are driven and special boat-hoisting winches arc provided for -working,the "Welin-Maclachlan day-

its.'"..2Tbs;. 1, 2, aad'3 holds and ISTos. 2. and,'., 3" lower 'twecn-deeks are insulated, for the! carriage of frozen1 cargo and are' fitted, throughout with brine piping. '; Special provision is also for-the.. carriage, of fruit and dairy produce.. ..In all there are eight decks in the.depth, of "the vessel, including the boat deck, and the arrangement of the "ffe'c.K-liouses^ permits of spacious promenades.; for both classes of passengers. . The first-class dining saloon, situated ■on "P" deck, is designed in a style'reminiscent of the XVII. cen,tury -English Eenaissanee, and is deco-rated.-.in soft tones of ivory and gilding. '' A special dining saloon is provided- for children; ■-"■-Provision is also made, for a hospital and a laundry, and ■tlse(gerieraj.ap'pointmeuts are right up-td-'date.>::The--life-saving ; arrangements forin^aj-speieial; feature. Thirty-four lif/egdats. are-.provid.ed to accommodate tho:. ; Tyhole;;;of'the. ship's passengers ana cpmplem|nt,.including two 30ft motor-■B'oiits>i-eaen .-fitted, with a wireless inst&llafion.. ■ The vessiel 'is propelled by twin screws-driven by two sets of Parson's; turbines and single-reduction gearing .eacjiVsetl comprising one high pressure; ;'one : intermediate, and one low,pressureturbine,- ; working.in series and driving., /separate pinions engaging .■with the .main gear wheel. ■ The auxiliary ; machin,ery. is of the: latest type, eoniprising-a number of turbo and electrically driven pumps for engine, boiler-ropm,- and. accommodation purposes. It-is1 interesting to note that thVOron'tes-'-and-' her'^sister ship, the Orfordi-wpre/'the 'official ships for the Eoj;al.; ! Adr6;Cl!i'b. at'tile Schneider Trophy- .contest,-..being.-stationed on tho star-ting' artd^finishing lino,, off Eyde PJer;:"^,.Ti!e'O^ontes ma(lc lftr first trip to the";Medit.erranean towards the end of.-September. -..-.'■ Progress of Electricity. .If we Ipokbaek on the short history of marine electricity (writes the "Syren and" Shipping"), it is found that, it is:the evcr-iucreasing application,,of .electricity, to auxiliary purposes that .has slowly persuaded marine men to thing of it for propulsive use. It is, in a way, a logical development, and history proves that this is so. I.v the early: days of.electrical propulsion, an entirely.false start was made. '" Electricity for propulsion was foisted on a shipping world unaccustomed to electricity for anything but lighting. 'It was tried in most unsuitable vessels-Canadian-Lake ships, to be exact—and naturally; it failed. This, then, was ;t mushroom development, which, like all such', things in tho stern businesslike shipping): world,- : was' bound to 'fail. oredit,;ho'wever; should always be given |o the ;.ea.rly.; experimenters and enthusiasts, who- are only now beginning to see-!theif';-dreams and ideas coming to frunipn,.;butJaloiig entirely different Hubs:from'those which they first vis-j.-jxiHsc.d:--,-^o-much is this so that the I higli : powered ' electric liner is appcariingcand^beginning .to. take its place

quite logically on-certain routes and for certain purposes. Electricity Weighs Less.' s No ono -would ever presume to suggest that the electric ship will find the same wide favour as the motor ship (write? the "Syren and Shipping"). There are engineers to-day who oppose even the turbo-electric liner with much more rancour than ever they opposed the motorship—mostly out of sheer ignorance of the potentialities of either type. Be that as it may, those of us who are interested in real progress may take heart from some figures published !as an appendix to General do Vito's [paper, in which he shows that not only in the weight of fuel oil required for electric ships smaller than for full powered steam ships, but the weight per horse-power is also considerably less. General de Vito considers in each case a 100,000 s.h.p. 2G-knot passenger liner making a 4500-mile trip (i.e., a slightly longer distance than New York-Na-ples). The geared turbino ship with oil-fired water-tube boilers, has, for the round trip, a total machinery and fuel oil weight of 18,130 tons; the turbo-electric ship 16,880 tons; while a Diesel-electric layout weighs only 14,315 tons— -a, very considerable reduction, due to the fact that only 8515 tons of fuel have r to bo carried compared with 11,9(30 tons for both „ the direct steam and turbo-generator sets. Otago's New Dredge, The Otago Harbour Bpard's new dredge Otakou arrived safely at Port Chalmers on Monday morning after a passage of 97 days from the Clyde (Scotland), where the vessel was built. The new dredge, which is a more powerful machine than her predecessor, very much resembles dredge 222 in appearance and equipment. The most marked difference is in capacity, which is almost double. In general appearance the single yellow funnel of the now vessel is more prominent than the twin red funnels of the older ship. Water-tube boilers and oil fuel furnaces are new departures down=i>elow. "She is a wonderful sea boat," Captain Manning fold a reporter. "With a fair wind she can steam seven knots, with a head wind two knots, but she will never wet your feet on board." The top. hamper hinders progress in a head wind, and, with no cargo in the holds, the effect is more pronounced. The loug dredge ladder, which is capable of lifting spoil from a depth of 40ft, was not dismantled for the passago out, and it furnished a further lever for the action of the- monsoons encountered in crossing the Indian Ocean. The Otakou was built by. Meming and Ferguson at Eenfraw, and left the Clyde on 30th July for New Zealand. The dredge will go into dry dock as soon as the dock is available, to be inspected and also. to be put in. order for dredging. Tenders will be called for removing the plating put over the ladder well for the passage out, and adjusting various parts of the equip-

ment. In about three' weeks the- new dredge should be'ready to start work. ] The Otakou will carry about 2000 tons of spoil, which she is designed to dredge up from a depth of 40 feet in two hours. Her buckets have each a capacity of 27 cubic feet. Drcdpo 222's buckets are 10 dubic feet each. Iron chutes are fitted for filling spoil into barges alongside;. Each door in the bottom of the spoil-carrying area is operated by a separate winch, 'so 'hat the doors may be worked individually or all together lhe water-tube boiler is the BabcockWileox type. The dimensions of the new dredge are: Length, 259 ft; beam, 47ft 6m; moulded depth, 20ft 9in,with a height of 90ft to the highest spur wheel of the bucket gear. On her trials she steamed 10$ knots ahead and Ela^nnnllo^ 53 as- ern- Her cost was £120 000. The engines are of the compound type, which is regarded as the most f"?rviceable for shot runs. The Utakou is a plain vessel, said Captain Manning, so far as brass ornamentation is concerned. She is a contrast to a bi<* dredge he took.out to Africa. Accident to the He de France. An interesting repair job has just been carried out at Havre on the 110 de France, owned by the Compajmie Generals Transatlantique. The con? tractors wore Messrs. Beliard Crighton and Co., and the Chantiers de Normandie, they being assisted by Messrs. Cazllard and Co., Chanties de la Jlediterrano (Graville Works) Ateliers and Chantiers de St. Nazaire Penhoet and the Chantier Augustin Norinand It will be remembered that on Ist Augiißt, the liner was forced by •. heavy, gust of wind on to the pier head at the entrance to the tidal basin causing severe damago to the 'side plating on the starboard side over an area of about 1900 square feet. Tenders were asked from firms at Southampton Rotterdam, and Havre, but only the firms mentioned above could guarantee under a heavy penalty, to complete the repairs in time to permit the vessel maintaining her advertised sailing date. A start was made on 3rd August, and the following day the vessel entered dry dock. By 10th August that is eight days after the commence^ ment of the work, the enormous <r a p in the vessel's plating had been stopped up, and she left the dry dock on 13th. August. Tho following inures will give somo idea of the magnitude or the work, which was carried on night and day: 10,500 cubic feet of wood were required for inside and outside scaffolding; 3800 square feet of plates; 2000 feet of sections; 25 000 rivets;"and 900 feet of piping- This represented in all a total of SO tons of steel and 2.} tons of brass, copper and lead. There was used for the purpose of cutting out tho rivets 63 000 cubic feet of oxygen acetylene gas!

The Hdughtou Main Colliery workmen have decided by a large majority in favour of pithead baths. It is understood that work will. be commenced on the scheme at un-early-date.