Ships and the Sea

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 16, 18 July 1931, Page 23

Ships and the Sea

FRENCH PASS LIGHT

SMALL AND PICTURESQUE

DANGEROUS LOCALITY

In this week's article we deal with the lighthouse at French Pass, which, although the smallest lighthouse in the Dominion attended by a keeper, is considered by many to be tho most picturesque, and one in also what is one of the most dangerous of localities on the New Zealand coast. Those who have made the trip through the Pass in daylight cannot but have been impressed by their utter helplessness were they through accident to bo suddenly thrown into the swirling and■. le'ddyingi' water ;rushing like a mill race through the narrow,gateway on the road to Nelson. Unfortunately, si'iice" 1912, when; that world-famous fish,,or more correctly termed dolphin, "Pelorus Jack," ceased his pilot duties,'thd'glamour, of-a trip through the-Pass;-has disappeared. •' :.. .. For the beneflt of those who have not made a passage through tl.e French Pass, let it be explained ;"that. it is a .Very narrow waterway ■ separating D'Urville. Island, from.the inainland; of

the South Island. The approach from the northern end. is less than a quarter of-a mile wide across, and in, it there are .submerged, reefs over which the tide rushes in a manner .similar to the rapids in a river. ;• As the channel used by ships is close to the mainland, it was deemed advisable at the beginning to mark : the dangers existing in the middle of the Pass, and to this end the Provincial Government of Nelson had a beacon erected. This-bcacon consisted of an iron perch surmounted by a spherical cage, and although very useful for ships-using the Pass in daylight, it was not large enough to be easily seen at night, .. the first: beacon. ..As the majority; of what: were at the time .considered- danger points for oversea shipping had been, marked by the erection of lighthouses, the General Government decided that with the growth of shipping visiting Nelson the French Pass should be better equipped, and thus-in 1881 the construction of a solid concrete beacon in mid-channel :was proceeded-with. This beacon was of concrete, 10ft in diameter at the base and -6ft in diameter at the top, and/about 21ft high, tieing surmounted by an iron ; rod. and large iron framing. It was completed in September, 1881. Shortly after the, completion .of this beacon, .the. steamer -Penguin, subsequently iost with great loss of life near Terawhiti, became stranded, in the French Pass. At the inquiry held into this casualty it was found that when the ship "was in'the fairway the master took charge from the chief officer, and some six-or seven minutes afterwards ordered the helm to be starboarded, and thus brought the vessel into danger, from which she could not be extricated. He should, on a dark nighty have approached siich dangerous navigation at half speed, and given orders to have been called earlier than.was his practice. He was considered by the Court worthy of the gravest censure short of suspension, and ordered-to pay the costs of the inquiry. The Court also found that the mate took serious responsibility on himself in porting the helm when ordered to starboard, but the Court could not say that he was not justified in doing so. . ■. A REFLECTED LIGHT. It is as well to mention at this.juncture .that although the beacon, as erected was a great .improvementoh the old iron beacon, which had been'f re.quenly knocked down by vessels, it could not be regarded as a reliable guidefor vessels entering the Pass at night, arid it ■was therefore proposed to- erect a light on"the mainland side of the Pass, so arranged as to produce, by means of a reflector placed on it, an apparent light on the beacon opposite. '■ : This theory did not work out in practice, and after the erection of the main light the keeper used to go out to the beacon during slack tide and put a light on the top of it. This practice continued until February, 1928, when, an antomatic gas light was placed on the beacon. The erection of this light was commenced in 1883, and the light was- first exhibited on Ist October, 1884. ..The lighthouse was constructed of a wiought-iron tower surmounting n pedestal of concrete. . The light on' tho mainland was described as a six-order port light, and the light on the beacon as. a ship's riding light. The beacon light had not been long in operation when, on tho 20th January, the schooner Howard ran into the beacon, damaging it and completely smashing tho lamp. STRONG TIDAL FLOW. / There is.only one keeper at this lighthouse, and ho is provided with a comfortable dwelling on the hill immeditately above the light, which lie is able

to observe by means of a small window in tho roof of the lighthouse. On account of the strength of the tide which rushes through the Pass, and. the consequent danger of ships meeting when travelling in opposite direction in the narrow passage, masters are warned by a riotice published in the "New Zealand Nautical Almanac" not to attempt- to work the Pass against the tide. So that mariners will be aware of what direction the tidal stream is flowing, signals are displayed from a a flagstaff in the vicinity of the keeper's dwelling. . : It is unfortunato that the beauty of this locality has been somewhat marred by the removal of the bush in the mainland side of the Pass, where ' only on that portion of the Lighthouse Eeservo which has been. jealously guarded by the Department is any of the original bush vegetation to be found. An Oil Port. . . :.Life in the oil port of .San Pedro was described to a reporter by an officer on the motor tanker Athelqueen at' Wellington this week before the ship sailed for San Pedro. San Pedro was described, as a. .typical oil pott, and as such was known, to the merchant seafarers, The harbour is built lip of miid, and is protected by a breakwater. Its situation makes -it the :. principal naval depot-for the American Navy p n ■the Pacific-Coast, and many .warships ride in the harbour. . About fifteen

miles away is Los Angeles, of which San Pedro is the port. When driving from San Pedro to Los Angeles, one passes through the oil fields. The bil tanks in the port are situated in inueh the samo manner as those at Miramar. When the Athelqueen arrives at San Pedro after discharging her. cargo.: of oil at Wellington, she makes her,way to'the berth, and connects with 'three pipe lengths to the shore. The pipe lengths run below the wharf to tho tanks. Pumping is done from tho shore, and the Athelqueen, with her earying capacity of 13,000 tons, is filled in^about eight hours. When the tanker arrives at Miramar connection is made with the. shore as before,.but this time the pumping is done from the ship. It takes about twenty hours of actual pumping before all the oil is transferred to the shore tanks. Two pumps are used on the ship. In San Pedro the different oil companies have-their own wharves, : T,here are generally about a dozen. tankers in port at the same time, and before the economic depression set in the wharves were, filled as^ soon as they were vacated. One may see at any time tankers owned by the following companies: Shell Company (buff funnels with a' black top), Standard Oil Company (black funnels with a white S), Union Oil (black funnel with a whijje U), Gulf Eefining Company, (white-funnel with. a black G on it and-a black top), and tankers^ -of Japanese, German, and Norwegian ownership chartered by the various companies. ■ The Vacuum Oil Company .hid its tankers at San Francisco. There are five berths in San Pedro for the passenger liners, some of which are Japanese owned. ■ . ■ • ■ , The Athelqueen is owned by the United Molasses j Company. 'She was built for the carriage of molasses, but, in common with tho other ships in" the company, she is equally adaptable for the carriage of oil. The company owns about twenty ships, and a few. of these are always engaged in carrying oil. The Athelqueen is under charter to the Union Company, and has already made a few trips to Wellington. -Her usual run is from Java to tho-United Kingdom and the U.S.A. .....-: The Gyrocompass. I : When, the motor tanker, Athelqueen was built three and a-half .years ago, she was one of the few British vessels to have a gyro compass fitted.; The. compass is now becoming more popular. The Union ..Company's liner Aorangi has been fitted with one for a number of years, , Attached to the, gyro compass : are three repeaters,...one in the chart.room on a course recorder where, it may be consulted by the officer of the watch, another -on the navigating bridge, and the third on "Monkey Island." The repeater" on the navigating bridge is attached to "Metal Mike," the automatic helmsman. There is also a magnetic compass on the bridge. Magnetic substances do not affect the gyro compass. The compass is considered a great advance on previous ones, because- when the ship is out of the pilot's hands a course is set on the compass, which is set in action about six hours before leaving port, and subject to adjustments for weather, it needs a minimum of human supervision, and there is no need for a helmsman. Many of the very large passenger, liners, although .fitted with tho, gyro compass, prefer a human helmsman to "Metal Mike." The Port Wellington and the Kemuera have also the gyro compass fitted.

The following appointments of chief enginoers to the Canadian National Steamships are announced: Mr. Williaml Bourhill, to the Canadian Skirmisher,' and. Mr. A. C. Beresford, to the Canadian Spinner.