R.M.S. ORCADES

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 138, 8 December 1936, Page 9

R.M.S. ORCADES

NEW 24,000-TON SHIP

AN IMPROVED ORION

'.■The R.M.S. Orcades, the Orient Line's new mail steamer for the Australian service, which had a somewhat unfortunate launching at Barrow-in-Furness" last Tuesday, when a high wind caused her stern to crash into a railway jetty, springing several plates in the ship, is very different from her sister-ship Orion, although the latter was launched only a year previously. The same size as the Orion—approximately 24,000 tons —the Orcades, through'the adoption of later improvements in ship construciion. is roomier yet externally more »/rtn;ietrical. For instance, the steel work supporting the upper decks has been strengthened in the form of a row of flattened arches along the ship's side, and "many upright supports have been discarded. There is consequently a much better outlook for passengers, and'the exterior appearance of the ship has been greatly improved. ■Similarly, experience has proved that low funnels tend to deposit. smuts; On; the decks. .As wide areas of.the decks} are used for games, it is desirable that, they should be kept as clean as»pW sible. TorHhis reason the funnel of; tlje Orcades is eight feet higher than that of the. Orion. The low funnel, used because of the streamline fashion, !has been dispensed \vith in the cause of greater efficiency and comfort. Another exterior alteration- -is "the decking over of the forecastle deck to provide additional space for the crew. ■ The Oreades will carry 464 first class and 609 tourist class passengers. Many of the cabins will have inter-communi-patihg doors, and the number of special; staterooms with private bathrooms lias been increased. All first class cabins will have bedsteads. Children have been specially studied. In the first class they have a separate dining-room, andin both classes a special play-room and a deck. ■ Hot and cold running water will be laid on to all first class cabins, and in tourist cabins there will-be cold running water. " . , ■ ■ 'There are two open-air swimming baths, one for each class, and each class will have a passenger lift, a shop, and hairdressing saloon. ' " : SAFETY OF PASSENGERS. • All the latest precautions have been taken to ensure the safety of passengers. Lifeboats are fitted under the latest form of gravity davits. Fire-re-sisting paint has been largely used, and sprinklers are fitted throughout. There are special gastight chambers for the carriage of chilled meat. The sliding windows, which ■' were first evolved for Orion's D deck cabins, and which have! proved so successful, are in. the new ship. On the same lines, another pattern of window has been specially designed for the,E deck cabins of Orcades. These ■vvindows are about three times the size of a porthole.'.' :- ' ■;-■;'::,. COSTS £1,000,000. An enormous amount of labour is involved in the building of a modern ship." A vessel like the Orcades; built at a cost of £1,000,000, with probably only twenty years ' of life before it, gives employment to almost every, trade, and with the increasing demand for extra comfort shipbuilding becomes a more and more complicated operation/ -Even, in the last ten years there have been, radical' changes in design. In the prama, built in 1924, the Orient Company first tried out a new invention called the punkah-louvre system. In the Orcades for the ventilation of - the passenger accommodation alone there will be nearly' a hundred fans with an output of over 30,000,000 cubic feet of air per: hour. In propulsive machinery similar. developments-hav.e taken place. Steam pressures .-have risen firom 2151b per square inch in the Orama of ten years," ago to :4501b per square inch in the present Orcades. .■-.•■■ >V:-' ■■'■ ■■ '" ■ '•' ; ;'■ • COMPARED WITH GREAT : . . - eastern. • . . . '■/^; ii A most interesting, comparison can be made between the Orcades and. the Great Eastern, launched seventy-seven years ago and intended for the Indian service. Until the building of the Celtic in ,1901 the Great Eastern was the largest! ship that had ever been .built. She took five years and five months to build and three months to laiinch, as compared with eighteen months spent in building the Orcades, which was launched in a minute. Her,', displacement was 18,914 tons; that of \ the Orcades is 24,000. But while her length was 670 feet, that of the Orcades is some 40 feet less. Her beam,' 60 ■ feet, on the other hand, was 22 feet less than that of the Orcades. She developed a paddle engine power 0f.829/ h.p., while that of the Orcades is 24,000 h.p. The Great Eastern was perhaps the only ship to be driven by sails, paddles, and screw. The latter was somewhat larger: than either of the two screws of the Orcades. The cost of the two vessels was the same. Most surprising fact of all is that the, Great Eastern ' was intended to carry: 4000 passengers, while the .Orcades, .with much greater space, will take only a quarter of that number. However, on her maiden voyage the Great Eastern carried only 36 passengers and two directors, leaving 3962 berths unoccupied.