"JUBILEE" DOCK

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 25, 30 January 1930, Page 10

"JUBILEE" DOCK

TENDERS TO BE CALLED

HUGE LINER HOSPITAL

DECIDED LAST NIGHT

The Harbour Board in committee last night decided: —

(1) That the Wellington Harbour Board proceed with the construction of a floating dock.

(2) That the General Manager be .instructed to arrange with Messrs. Clark and Stanfield, of London, to prepare designs and specifications, and call tenders for tho construction of a floating dock of tho dimensions stated in the General Manager's letter of 27th January, 1930.

Later in the evening, Mr. C. H. Chapman gave notice of motion for tho February meeting, "That tho floating dock which it has been decided to establish shall be named the "Jubilee" Dock, a motion likely to be carried.

DIMENSIONS,

. Though there are many details which are not yet finalised. It was possible for the General Manager (Mr. J. Marehbanks) to state to a "Post" reporter to-day that the lifting power of the dock will be 17,000 tons. It will measure 527 ft in length over the pontoons, 533 ft in length over the keel blocks, and 584 ft in length over the platform. The over-all width will be 117 ft 6in. The width of the entrance will be 88ft, •which will enable a vessel of 80ft beam to dock. The depth of the dock will be not less than 24ft over the keel blocks at low water. Tho dock itself ■will draw 44ft when sunk to its lowest depth to put the- vessel in. These are slightly greater in some respects than those decided on on 22nd February, 1928, showing that the board had determined that the dock shall be thoroughly up to date with the increasing requirements of the port, but there will be an ample depth of water on the proposed site, with a little dredging.

EQUIPMENT. "*

The pumping will be done by electric power. The compartment valves will bo operated by the electro-pneumatic system from a central valve house. The dock will be attached by four mooring booms to a reinforced concrete wharf, which will be built outside the breastwork at the northern end of the Thorn- . don reclamation. There will be longitudinal, moorings fore and aft, and gangways will be provided for access for material from the wharf to . the dock, laid both to the top level of the dock and to the working level below. Electric capstans to assist in the berthing of ships will be provided, and four sets of mechanical side-shores. An electric crane, capable of lifting two tons, will run on rails extending down one side of the dock. Electric-driven air compressors will be installed, and other subsidiary appliances, but the dock will in no way resemble a workshop, as no machine tools will bo installed. . -

HERE IN TWO YEARS,

The board has already authorised the construction of the reinforced concrete wharf at which the dock will lie. The steel for the reinforcement is now on order, and when it arrives the work will be at once put in hand. The drawing up of plans and specifications and the calling and acceptance of tenders will take some time, and the actual construction of the big floating hospital will take the better part of a year, if not more, and then the towing out of the unwieldy craft will probably occupy some six months, so that it will be some two years before th& dock is here.

WILL TAKE LINERS,

The capacity of the dock, unlike that of a graving dock, is increased by the fact that the size of the vessel that can be accommodated depends, purely on the lifting capacity of the dock, as the ship has not to fit in at tho ends, which project. The " Jubilee Dock with its 17,000 tons lifting capacity, should therefore be capable of handling most of the big overseas liners coming here, which average 10,000 tons, with a few of 12,000 tons, and exceptional instances of 16,000. Vessels like the Carinthia are not sufficiently numerous to justify the added expense in dock construction. It must be borne in mind that, while there will be a good deal of work for the dock in the ordinary way, and a certain amount of revenue to offset tho expenditure, such docks rarely pay harbour authorities, and are put in purely, as a convenience to visiElng .shipping, and as a safeguard inv the case of serious disablement to ships which would prevent them effecting temporary repairs onabling them to pursue their voyages. While the board will not find the dock a paying proposition, however, it will gain in the added tonnage attracted to the routes by the added security offered, and the city will .gam by the docking of large ships here, both in the work given to the engineering firms and the money spent in the City by crews and on materials.

OLDER PROJECTS.

Interesting facts are disclosed in the records of the first attempts to secure a dock for Wellington, which was not a floating dock, but a graving dock. Doubtless the subject was mentioned previously,- but it was discussed by the Harbour Board and City Council in 1881, and the Government was waited on in 1883. Finance has always been the difficulty, and the wisdom of the board in establishing a special fund for the purpose is adumbrated by the financial troubles of the early promoters of the idea. Then an attempt was made to ■secure endowments from the Government which would make possible the construction of a dock, but it was found that endowments were like the eel, unobtrusive objects difficult to grasp, even when they made temporary appearances. Sir George Fisher, when Mayor of Wellington, was a strong supporter of the project, but the ■"•sbiloas desires of the community did ./iot then centre on a definite site.

FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES,

In 1885 the question of finance appears to have been seriously discussed, and the chairman of the board stressed the importance of a dock not only to the future trade of the port, but also to manufacturing industries. The great bulk of the revenue could be derived, it was even suggested, from a direct rate on the ratepayers of an additional 6d in the £1, which would produce £5500 per annum, but tho committee which considered the matter submitted that the citizens were unlHcely to tax themselves to this extent, and was driven to the conclusion that a Renewed effort should be made to obtain State aid in the way of endowments and by yearly subsidy.

NAVAL SUPPORT SOUGHT.

;: In 1885 the board was half-promised a block of land in the Mangatainoka district, as an endowment for the dock, ■which, however, never eventuated. It was in this year that the financial discouragement became so marked that a ■report wag brought forward that it was not desirable to call for any further engineers' reports on a dock. It is interesting to note that Admiral Tyron, of H.M.S. Nelson, was interviewed on the question of t a dock, no doubt with the hope of securing some naval support, but 'when the matter reached

Downing Street, Lord Derby stated, in 1886, that the granting of pecuniary assistance was not felt to be justified. Evans Bay was suggested by Mr. J. Coutts Crawford as a site for the graving dock, and one of the reasons given was that "the site would be comparatively sheltered from tho fire of an enemy, unless Evans Bay were forced."

FUTURE ENVISAGED,

The wholo question of docks, floating and graving, was gono extensively and thoroughly into in reports by the board's engineer, Mr. William Forguson, in 1899 and 1901, parts of which aro worthy of quoting as showing the soundness of the opinions then expressed by the board's engineer. It was after a visit to England that Mr. Ferguson reported, after having inspected docks in all parts' of the world, "that from the experience he has gained the engineer has conio to the conclusion that it would be a mistake, to build in the first instance a small' dock, either of the floating or graving dock type, with a view cither to subsequent enlargement or to the subsequent construction of a larger dock, and that'if a dock is to be built at all, it ought to be of a size capable of dealing with the ocean steamers, either now frequenting the port, or of a size or type likely to visit New Zealand. The existing patent slip provides for the smaller class of coastal steamers. The intercolonial steamers, when it was required that they should be docked in Wellington, could be dealt with in the dock capable also of dealing with tho ocean-going steamers, whilst the converse is not true, and a limitation in tho size of the dock to only take intercolonail steamers of the present class would exclude all the ocean steamers. ... In the case of the ocean-going steamers there appears to be no reason why, if suitable docking arrangements are provided, Wellington should not have a fair share of the docking of those of the | ocean steamers that may require to be docked, cither for cleaning or for repairs in the colony. There also exists considerable uncertainty as to whether the class of steamers at present employed in the intercolonial trade may not before long be replaced by vessels of a longer and larger type, and the engineer suggests that it would be a bad policy to build a dock that might in a few years be found to bo too small for the intercolonial vessels. . . . Considering the rapid increase in the past few years in the dimensions and gross tonnage of the ocean steamers trading to New Zealand, may we not expect that possibly an increase may eventually be mad© upon even these new vessels of 12,500 tons? Would it be prudent to construct a dock only suited to^the present maximum vessel now in view? Ought not the board in building a dock to provide a reasonable margin in' size over and above that needed to satisfy 'the present requirements?"

THIRTY YEARS AGO.

Floating docks then were evidently not what they are to-day, when the scientific use of better structural steel has made for both economy and efficiency, and the recommendation made was for the construction of a graving dock of 650' feet in length. It may be mentioned that- the floating dock then proposed by Messrs Clark and Stanfield, was capable of lifting a vessel of only 10,000 tons dead weight, and was to have a length of 430 ft. The estimated cost of the concrete graving dock, by the way, was stated by the engineer as £230,000 in 1899, but 'nothing has since transpired to cause the engineer to reduce that estimate, and taking into consideration the increased cost'and the more onerous conditions of labour, it would probably be prudent to provide for an expenditure of £250,000.".

PURCHASE MADE POSSIBLE,

Various alternative means of finance were suggested in Mr. Ferguson's report, which stressed the unlikelihood of Parliament granting any monetary subsidy, but the first great step towards the dock was made in 1925, when the board set up a special fund for the purpose of "acquiring and equipping a dock for the Port of Wellington," which has so accumulated that, with further accretions, by the time the dock is delivered by the contractors, there will be'no overhead charges for interest and sinking fund.

Like his predecessor, Mr. Marchbanks gave the subject exhaustive investigation and thought during his tour of world ports in 1927, and it was upon his recommendations that the board made its decision to provide a floating dock at its meeting in February, 1928. Since then correspondence has passed regarding details, and the Jubilee Dock may be relied upon to be the most up-to-date in existence.