Ships and the Sea

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 74, 28 March 1931, Page 26

Ships and the Sea

THE PASSING OF COAL

RIVALRY IN THE NAVY

When His Majesty's ships 'Iron. Duke and Beubow aie scrapped iv accordance with the terms of the latest Naval Treaty, the coal-burning era of the British Navy will bo at an end, writes a correspondent in "The Blue Peter." The transition from sail to oil has taken less than a hundred years., According to experts, the ra^id advances which are being made, in internal combustion engines will make the oil-burning jperiod even shorter. In pre-war days coaling ship was an 'important evolution, but during the war it became even more'so^ It was imperative that ships should be completed with fuel in the shortest possible time. To have been an hour late at a rendezvous might have meant another Scarborough.' Had wo been an hour earlier at Jutland. ■. . . Who knows? '

"Make work into play," was a sound precept followed in the Grand fleet. It was therefore decided in 1915 to institute a coaling championship. The ship at the head of the table with the highest hourly average held the mythical "ashes." " Twenty minutes were.allowed, both for securing K the 'collier alongside before coaling, and for letting her go when finished. Thus forty minutes 'were from the actual time taken to coal. So, good seamanship was rewarded. l ■ At .the end-of• two months t^ie'table read something.like this:— [ ,_ ~ .1 -i. -' ' Hourly avge. 1. H.M.S. Iron' Duke :.. • 324 ' 2. H.M.S.'Erin .. ; .'3lB 3. H.M.S.\Benbow 31J , and, languishing" at the bottom of the table, was 32. H.M.S. Jervis 192 Admonitory signals had little 'or no offect. The Commander-in-Chief's displeasure did not add one hundredweight to the Jervis's average. The punishment . return wont up as the average went down. The" crew had their tails down. The now popular inferiority complex had just been discovered. They had it. Orders were received that H.M.S. Jervis was to proceed to the Mediterranean, so it seemed that'redemption would be withheld. Inspiration came to Captain Broadbent in the dog watches of the day v be- ' fore departure. Ho sent for the-Nayal [ Instructor, and after an hour's conclave, sent the following signal:— From Jervis to C.-in-C. In view of Jervis's protracted CTuise request permission to complete with coal at daybreak to-morrow, Tuesday. The reply came: "Approved." At 11 o'clock on the morning following, one hundred and ■ twenty tons of coal having been taken in in forty minutes, Captain Broadbent prepared his written'coaling report:— t TIME TAKEN. (a) Gross. (b) Net allowing. (40 mlns. collier allowance.) Ship Jervois. ' Avge. per hour. Ami. coaled. 120 tons. (a) 40 minutes. Infinite. - (b) nil. H.M.S. Jervis was weighing anchor when the following startling report was received by the flagship: "H.M.S. Jervis has completed coaling in no time. Please send boat for detailed report." Phosphate Works at Casa Blanca. In view of tho steady trade in phosphates • between Nauru and Ocean Islands and New Zealand, the following account published in a South African newspaper, of the phosphate works in Casa Blanca is of interest. Tho loading plant at .Casa Blanca is classed among the most up-to-date of its type in the world. Tho immense" phosphatic deposits are situated 80 miles inland, and the yellowish powder arrives at the coastal pjant in trucks, and is then stored in largo bins ready for shipment. Kevolving belts carry the mineral from the bins to chutes placed over the ship's hold, Few men are necessary for the' work in any of the departments. Every ounce of phosphates is * automatically weighed as it is passing 'over the belts, and in the holds there is scarcely any trimming necessary, two men only being required to manoeuvre the chutes as tho cargo rises. ' Until some ten years ago the port of Casa Blanca was hardly known, but today there is a population of about 50,----000,. and' large1 vessels may be seen either at the. buoys or loading on each day throughout the year. The phosphatic deposit's have only been discovered within recent years, and were not exported in any quantity prior ■to 1926. To-day, Casa Blanca is one of the world's greatest exporting places for this valuable fertiliser. The Preneh authorities are develop-

iiig the port at a rapid rate. New bi-oakwaleis aro in course of construction, so that the harbour may be made safe from the almost continuous Atlantic swell which breaks along the whole coastline. xVdditional lighthouses are being erected on outlying headlands, wharves are being extended, and the coal bunkering facilities are' efficient. In tho town many large huildings are in course of erection, and although the hinterland is barren to a large extent, a considerable export trade is being gradually built up. The Baron Inchcapo is th"c largest of the fleet of 36 vessels owned by tho Hogarth Shipping Company.

New Phosphates Steamer. Harland and Wolff, Ltd., have launched from their Govan yard an interesting vessel which they are building to tho specification and plans of Flannery, Baggallay, and Johnson, Ltd., for the British Phosphate Commissioners. The vessel is intended to trade between Nauru and Ocean Island and Australia and New Zealand, and will carry phosphates in bulk one way, and stores for the islands tho other. The vessel will also be used for the transport of native labour and for lifting and laying heavy deep sea moorings. Accommodation will be provided on board for

twelve passengers. The vessel's length between perpendiculars is 365 feet, moulded breadth 54 feet, and moulded depth 27 feet, and, fully loaded, she will have a speed of 11^ knots. In her construction and equipment, the • requirements' of "Lloyd's Begiiter," the Board of Trade and Australian Commonwealth Act have been1 com.- j plied''with. The propelling machinery has been supplied by John G. Kincaid and C 0.,. Ltd., Greenock, and consists of triple expansion engines with cylinders 25in, 42in and 7Qin.'in diameter respectively, by'4Bin .stroke. 'The boilers are fitted withHowden's latest system of'forced draught, and are.fitted to burn oil fuel. ' An' evaporator' is provided capable of supplying 30 tons of fresh water per ti hours, and also an oil separator of at least 60 tons per hour capacity. "When the vessel is completed, .the deck machinery and appliances will'include a CO-ton derrick, on the after side of the foremast, a slewing derrick crane capablo of a load of 8 to 10 tons on the forecastle head, a combined steam and hand windlass ou~ tho forecastle deck, eight 5-ton steam winches, a steam mooring windlass under the forecastle deck, and steam steering gear of tho Wilson-Pirrio type. Threo insulated chambers, each of 10 tons capacity, will be available' on the shelter deck, for moats. There will also bo a chamber for island fruits and vegetables, and an additional chamber of 6 to 8 tons capacity. New Floating Factory. Tho'whaling factory ship Kosmos 11., of 25,000 tons deadweight, will be the largest of her type in the world. Her construction, with that of two large Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company tankers, will keep a largo number of men employed at Workman Clark's yards at Belfast, until towards the end of 1931. The vessel is expected to bo completed in time to Tic on the whaling grounds fairly early in the next Antarctic spring. / " ' Pulverised Coal. Remarkable facts concerning tho use of pulverised coal were given by Mr. E. L. Denriy, a visiting English engineer, at a luncheon tendered him at Sydney recently. Mr. Denny was in.Aus; tralia as supervising engineer for "the coal-pulverising plant of the New Zealand Shipping Company's- freighter Hororata, which- had just completed a non-stop run from Newcastle-on-Tyna to Port Piric. ' One very interesting plant, said Mr. Denny, wasthat^uscd by an English oil company'for the distillation of oil fuel. The company formerly used its own oil, costing 30s a ton, for firing its furnaces, but was now employing pulverised coal,' costing 13s a ton, and the weekly cost of running four stills had been reduced'from £150 to £100. In a forge-reheating furnace tho cost per ton of steel had been reduced by 60 per cent, since changing from hand-firing to pulverised coal-fir-ing. The quality of the product had been improved, although a cheaper grade of coal was now being used. ; He had been asked how- the system would work with. Australian coals. The best answer he could give ,/as that a boiler plant now operating in Melbourne, with an output of 10,000 pounds of steam an hour, had successfully used Victorian, Newcastle, and Queensland' coals. Tho Hororata, he" said, had run 12,200 miles, from Newcastle-on-Tyne to Port Pirie, this being the longest non-stop run yet completed by a ship using pulverised coal, and, in addition to ' maintaining an increased speed, had shown a saving on coal consumption.