MOTOR LINERS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 24 March 1922, Page 8

MOTOR LINERS.

A NEW EXPERIMENT IN OIL-FUEL SHIPS.

There sailed from London on December 30, on her maiden voyage, a ship which is probably destined to make history (writes Mr A. P. Chalkley in the London Daily Mail). The Domala, as she is named, is the first vessel equipped with oil engines to be designed and built specifically as a passenger-carrying liner. It is well known that during the past few years the internal combustion engine has made great headway at sea. This is indicated "by the fact that at present there are several hundred ships so equipped, tatalling about 1,500,000 tons. Hitherto, however, the oilengine has not been applied to the propulsion of motor-passenger liners, perhaps on account of the natural hesitation on the part of shipowners, who can afford to make no experiments where the transport of passengers is concerned.

The Domala, which has been ' built vor the British Steam Navigation Company, and will trade between London and India, has accommodation for j about 140 passengers, in addition to a cargo capacity of some 11,000 tons. Her , two oil engines develop 4660 h.p., and Her fuel consumption, when travelling at 13£ knots, is under 20 tons of oil 'iaily. Diesel oil engines possess many advantages over steam machinery for such a vessel. In a steamer of the same size, equipped with the most modern olant, the coal consumed would beHbetween three and a half and four times ♦-he weight of oil used on the Domala. The liquid oil is carried in double bottoms, whereas bunker space must be provided for the coal, so that the motor Bhip has an additional cargo capacity "orrespondihg to the space thus utilised. The Domala can .carry about 1300 tons of fuel, which is sufficent for a round trip from this country to the Viast and back, whereas a steamer of the same size and speed must take on coal at various ports—a process that is far from pleasant from the passngers* point of view. It will be evident that owing to its wide?* radius of action, the motor ship is more favourably placed A'ith regard to the purchase of fuel at j «he ports where it can be most cheaply obtained, and the elimination of stokers iue to the. absence of boilers is an adrantage of some importance. It is admittedly a far cry from the Domala to the trans-Atlantic leviathan, but if this vessel and the ships of similar type (?hich are to follow are successful, still larger motor passenger ships will be built, and it is impossible to put the limit to future development.