Maritime Record.

New Zealander, Volume XVI, Issue 1431, 4 January 1860, Page 3

Maritime Record.

The barque Kate, Captain limine, was signalled, outside Tiri Tiri Maitangi, in the course of Saturday afternoon but, owing to the prevailing Southerly wind, it was II o'clock of Sundav morning before she fetched the anchorage. She sailed from Melbourne on the Itith December, with the wind at North West. At -4 p.m. that day the pilot left her outside the heads. At S p.m. ship was taken aback from the Southward, blowing heavy, and, before sail could be reduced, the upper fo-e toetail (Kate carries double topsails) was blown from the bolt rope, the clews of both jibs carried away, and theship obliged to bear up again for the port. Took a fresh deputure on the I7th and, whilst beating over the bar with .1 strong ebb tide shipped one of the unmerciful lumps of seas—so common in that quarter—which came on boud from themaln to the reizzen starboard rigging, which falling on the poop lu a body of from six to seven feet of water filled and unshipped thequarter boat, smashed hencoops, started booby hatch, and filled the cabins. The passengers clung to the rigging, Mr. Low being neatly wished overboard; fortunately no lives were losfjwilh the exctption of half a dozen of fowls. Proceeded on the passage with fine favourable light summer we.ther. Male the Three Kings on the evening of the 27th ultimo, sines which time calms and light South-easterly winds prevailed. At 4 a.m. of the Mth observed a steamer pass Cape Brett bund Northward ; light airs from the South ; same day sigtted a barque steering North; and at midnight of the 3Ut anctorel off Rangitoto reef. Among the passengers by the Kateare Mr. Jos. Lowe who made the voyage with her. Mr. Klliflt. on a visit to his friends. Some are practical sheep ftrmers fo.n Victoria; iiome are from Chili ; and all arc intending settrrs, with the exception of Captain Dyason of Melbourne who visits Auckland for the purpose of offering to the ProvinttalSoverninent. a very fine little steamer suitable for the Northihore Ferry, and other general and useful purposes. Captain )yason superintended the building of the vessel which wi constructed on the V'arra, and ha» only made a few trial trip* in Hobson'l Bay. U his requei, Captain Grange examined her, and states that a handier little boat for Auckland could not be had. She is ho feet keel, Gi feet over-all, 12 feet i> inches tern, l'O feet from outside 10 oul»ide of her paddle boxes, is ix feet deep, and has a fore hold capable of carrying IS ton of general cargo, with a very large commodious cabin. Hettimben and bottom planks are of blue gum, her topsides ofurnri ; she is copper fastened and coppered to light water inarkdraws 2*-teet forward and 3 feet aft, with tj-totiscoal in her bnkers, being two days supply. She consumes from 121 lto lo lbs of coil hourly ; her nominal power is 16 but she works p to 20 horse power ; has one tubular boiler at one side of hf keelson, the engine 4C„ being placed on the other. She orks on the high prestire principal, steams eight knots an hjr. and is in every respect a commodious and economicaWes.se!. I'he Ourang Outang and Timor ponies, which were he property of a passenger from Java to Melbourne, arrived 1 capital condition and weie sold there, Mr. fieorge Coppen (the Theatre Royal being the purchaser. The Ourang Outa>, is a female and a very intelligent one, and is no doubt deified to display her abilities at the Cremorne Gardens. The piies are beautiful creatures, jet black, and respectively 37 at 38 inches in height.

The Princess Royal, under ihe command f her owner, Captain Macfarlane, left Sydney on May I, bound f>r Msdras, with a cargo consisting of 900 tonmf coals, 91 horses, and sundries; proceeding by Bllgi Passage in Torres Straits, the run through which was tomplished in thirty-one hours without ever letting go the ichor, a thing almost unprecedented in Torres Straits, espially with a rensel of nineteen feet draft of water, on thtweutieth day after leaving Sydney they passed Hooby Islal j they found no letters or provisions, and left a supply ofhe latter. Up to the time of the vessel being dismasted, ih horses looked remarkably well, ami every thing augureda satisfactory termination of the voyage. On July flth, hoiver, when in latitude 4. S.. the S.W. monsoon set in and rought siormy weather with it. At midnight, on the llth, ternllc squall carried away the main and mizzen masts, fretopsail yard, and foretopgallant mast, injured the rigginjseriously, and did much other damage, mainmast first unatrashing down, and in its fall injured the ship greatly. It <nt overboard, and caused additional mischief by I email" IngJongslde, The tnizzen mast next gave way, destroying a coiMerable portion Of the poop, while one of the yards we. through the tsbin; a military gentleman, who was a pairiger on boa*»L muTo»w mat-tag .t«wi».. •"•>- »»•••«* ***"#•"* in a most pitiable condition. Their stalls and tha awnl, which covered them were carried away, the deck was cur»ered with the wreck, and the ship quivered, rolled, and 'aiiied with the •hock. Numbers of the poor frightened brn 5 were thrown down and trampled under the hoofs of fe others. The •cene is described as fearful and distressing.Most of those that fall were soon trampled and chafed toieath, and as it was Impossible to remove them as quickly t they died, the carcases putrified before they were throwioverboard. In the forenoon Captain Macfarlane decided I uear away for Calcutta, as it would be impossible to rear Madras at ilns •eason with the sail they could now set. he whole of the next day was occupied in clearing awaythe wreck and disentangling the ship from it. In the afteoon, on examining the forage, the hay was found tobeso, ucn reduced In quantity and damaged, as to be quite iiisuflfont to carry the horses to Calcutta, and it was resolved toalteihe ship's course to this, the nearest port. The wreck was H entirely cleared away till the 14th, and the rolling of the shi f rom the heavy •Well that had set in, had, in the mean tie, thrown down more horses to perish, and severely cha| man y ~f the •urvivors against the rails. On the 21st, (nen j„ latitude •.32, a dead calm prevailed, and tiie life-bo waii got out to tow the ship, but no progress was made, j the 24th, they were near the I.aukawi Islands. The boat,,-,, seM t t,, Pulo Laukawi in charge of the boatswain and V», r i, mr y surgeon in quest of food of some kind for the hjo ei> t t, e hay and bran being exhausted, and the poor anitrj, mu „„ „ n ip's bread and flour. On the sOTti the ship to», cd ( h e ground, and although it got off soon, the rudder cou , l()t afterwards t» moved. In steering, without difficulty. o„ the 27th the boat not having, returned Captain Macliri e WUII , ~, the island and succeeded in finding a Tillage < tne pj.E. side, where he bought some plantain trees to mi w j,|, tno nread eerved out to the horses. On the eveni; of ,h c i?9th, when about ten miles from Pinang. the Hcs|,|y came along: side, bringing forage and water, and took ,„ ft | )l(> ,„ tow. The boat sent to I*. Lankuwai on the 241h,, v | n( j f a ji e <| to find any inhabited spot, had come out" Pill* f,, r assistance. The Honghly bought the ship into the hatlj, r at two a.m. on Saturday morning. No time was l.mij,, | alll |j„g the horse.. Snrie of them were in most wretc,! plight, little more than " skin and bone," and even t : .e ( j n being worn away from the knees, shoulders, >tc. riurtjfe 0 ( jj eL | at sea, and fiva mote have died on shore making a U | , Il()r t a lity of thirty-seven. Many of them wuie very valuj,, animals, and fhe pecuniary loss to the owners Is heavy.

Loss or thb SovKnnoN ok tub Skas. —The Gallant Neill, nriti<h barque, Captain Farley, from this port. .Tulv the 30th, and Malacca, the f,th August, arrived at Pcnang on the I,lth mutant: she passed the British ship Sovereign of the Seas, from Bombay bound to Hongkong, on the Bth instant. aground on the Pyramid, and 'passed a boat, belonging to the said vessel, and the officer in charge stated that he was proreeing to Malacca for assistance, the vessel having been two davs on shore, and every effort to heave her off had failed— Straits Timrn, The floating battery Trusty passed Sheerness on Saturday, October Ist, after an experiment against her plates with .V! cwt. gun and conical shotß. The fire ranged from 400 to 2011 yards. The result has been that the broadside plates have been broken to pieces : the shots have often penetrated through her broadside. Shot, with the greatest accuracy of firing, were sent into an open port, and went through the umber materials on the other side, gliding off and breaking the plates to pieces. Since the return of the Trusty to her former moorings at Chatham, it has been found on a survey, that this new kind of ironcased floating batteries presents comparatively no resistance whatever to the shots from the Armstrong guns. Although the Trusty is covered with massive wroughtiron plates of extanrdinarv thickness, yet every shot that struck them shivered the plates to pieces and entered the vessel ; some of the shots, it is evident from the examination, having passed through the iron plate* and beams of the batterv on one side, and through the timber and iron casing of the vessel on the other. The battery presents the appearance of having been most severely handled : and it is the unanimous opinion of the officers and others who have examined her that vessels of this class will be fo'ind to be almost entirety useless when tired upon by guns of the Armstrong class. In order to benefit by the advanced progress of Sir \V, Armstrong's rifled ordnance factory at Woolwich it has heen decided to manufacture forthwith, at the Elswick and Woolwich factories, a large number of rilled guns of various size,—namely, of 100, 50, 25, \>, and 6 pound calibre,—to carry the elongated shot and shell. It is said to he in contemptation to complete with as little delay as possible a number of 12 and (J.pounders to be reserved for transmission, if required on any future emergency by the overland conveyance to Chins for gunboat use. Gur.caarriges. intended foi Sir W. Armstrong's 12 and 6-pound gun»,|are In course of construction O" an Improved principle, suggested by Colonel Tullllh, superintendent of the Royal-carraige department I'he new carriages are titled with mechanical appliances under the conttol of a single gunner seated on the limber, so as to point the gun in any direction, and elevate or reduce the range, without labour or exertion. A simple carriage of the above named description has been employed on trnl and approved. The building of men-of-war is being carried on with unremitting activity at Pembroke Dockyard. I'he most important vessel on the stocks is the Howe, a magnificent three decker of 121 guns. She is over 4,000 tons in burden. Phis fine vessel is rapidly approaching completion, and could be got afloat lit a very short notice. The Defiance and Zealous, two of the new class ill's, are building. There are also three first-class frigates —viz , linmortalite, Aurora, and Tweed,—each mounting 51 guns, in course of construction, of which the two first are far advanced. The smaller vessels are five in number, some of which are progressing rapidly. Gunboats for China.—Admiral Sartorms, in a letter to the Times, alluding to the late disaster at the Peiho. and the constant grounding of our gunboats, whilst the Chinese junks and other vessels float about in safety suggests that we should build in China boats having bottoms, funned on the same principles as those of the Chinese boats, and ship the engines from here to propel them, lleaily effective boats for these rivers would be thus obtained. We are inclined to think that the screw would not be so deeply itnmerged with this form oi vessel, and that it might be advantageous to incieasethe number of blades. Another correspondent suggests that the gunboats we send should be sent overland instead of round the Cape. I'he '• necessary apparatus could be fixed." he says, " at Alexandria and Miez in less than a mon.h from the time of giving the Older, the greater part being already in daily use at Itaslar and could be shipped at once for that purpose," The boats are to be hauled up at Alexandria, and placed in cradles, and sent by rail to Suez. Tuesday afternoon a trial was made in the dock of the Uristol society of Merchant Venturers, of a model vessel, to which an invention which has been patented by Messrs. James Newcorabe and Joseph Gwyer Devell, of Bristol, has been applied. Mr. W. 11. Gore Langton, M.l'., LieutenantColonel Whitmore, Captain Tryon, R.N , Mr. M. D. I'roihe r oe, of the Society of Merchant Venturers, Mr. W. I'. King, African merchant, and a number of other gentlemen interested in science and commerce were present. The mode) which was exhibited, and which was propelled without screw or paddle, was Mu feet in length, 1 foot It inches in breadth, and 1 foot in depth. The principle adopted by the inventors dispenses with all external machinery .shafts, cranks, and bearings, ic, and thus avoids the enormous expense incurred in constructing vesseu to receive such apparatus, It can be applied to ships already built without altering their lines, and as an auxiliary power to sailing vessels mil be very valuable. By a simple arrangement in case of leak, the whole power of the engine may be applied to pump jhe water propelling the vessel (if need be) .a the same time, while in the event of thai most dreadful calamity at sea—lite, the same power could be used to extinguish the (lanes. The tml of the model was eminently successful, and Me.»r*. Newcombe and Lovell were warmly congratulated on the results of the experiment.