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TRIAL TRIP OF THE RUAHINE.—ENGLAND TO THE ANTIPODES.

A JtosT important era in ocean steam navigation in relation to the communication between England and the colonies was inaugurated on Thursday and -'aturdai last in tlie trial of the Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Koyal Mail Company's twin screw steamship Knahine, a trial that was attended in every with the most brilliant success, giving a promise of more rapid and lvgu ar communication than is exi-ting at present between ibis co.intry and the most vigorous and lbiui".sbiug of our culonies. and also of increased dividends to th- shareholders of tin already very prosperous company, that up 10 the piosent time lias performed the intercolonial mail service between Sydiii-y and New Z-aland and the various Provinces of the iatter colony, and for which a subsidy ol' .ti t-,UOO is paid. The establishment, of a direct mail and passenger r.-ute between New Zealand and England, via Panama, has been freely agitated in the colony, and urged upon the atte tion of the Oovcr ment for some time past, and at length the required direct service has been sanctioned and will be opened by the Uuahine, the first completed of several vessels building by the company to run between Panama and Wellington, New Zealand. It is stated that by running boats direct between these two ports the distance between England and Ne«' Zealand will be shortened by 2000 miles, as compared with tlie present ron e via Point de Oallc ; while at the same lime the always disagreeable voyage round Cape Horn, with the attendant dangers of storms, fogs, rid ic bergs, will be avoided, an-i thus render the passage to England from Sydney, via New Zealand and Panama, far preferable in the opinion of the public to the old route by l'oint do Guile and Suez. In building vessels, however, to run botwven New Zealand and Panama there were two paramount considerations that had to be enter tain.-d in profereiico to all others. I ho first wao that, by the terms of tho contract entored into by tho com pan v with the Government, a spued of 10 knots had to bo mado fmm port to port. The second consideration was as the distance between the two ports is 7200 miles, the selection of an efficient form of vo.-sel and description ot e gine, with a sufficient luei-carrying capacity. A bt'iel di-scripli »u of the Kuahine and of the trial she has undergono fio iar, will best show how far these considerations- have been met, aud what are the chanc-s ot the company successfully carrying out the conditions of thoir contract ; the exnrt terms ot th*"- contraef. being that if

the mail service is performed between Panama and New Zealand :it a li> speed the company shall receive n sub. i.-ly ' f CI 10.D0D. This part. "f the service between Kng'.and and New Ze dand will bo done by the company's mn boats. but t ho Atlantic part oi' tho service,' from Colon to Southampton, will bo dono bv the b mt< of the West India ■'■oyal Hail Companv, who lluis participate in Ilia geneial scheme, and give considerable-prestige- to the younger company's success in their undeUaking The chief duties of tho bouts will be tho con-eyanco of _ the mails, pass-ngers, and s.»i»ci'!, v itW but very light poods ascaigo There an: six lines of first-class steamships all converging at llolon, and it is not unreasonably expccted that all these, lines will be to a dfcrtain extent " feeders" to the new line. Reverting, however, to tho lluahine — she is a ve-sel of 1640 tons, builder's measurement; 280 feet length between perpendiculars; 31 feet C> inches moulded breadth, with a depth of -8 feet from top of keel to tho underside of her s ar deck. Her load draught is 18 feet, and her load displacement 2110 tons. She is titled with two pairs of engines of the combined nominal power of -100 - horse, nominal, with two pair.i of annular cylinders, tho diameter of the inner cylinders bring - I ' l 5i»., and (if the outer ones (!2 oiii , the length of str ilie being 2 ft. Working independently, as is now Use rule with twin screw engine?, they drive two three-bladed screws having r» diameter of 10ft Gin. and a pitch of 18ft. liiu. 'file boilers—and thi-s is one of the pc'-uliaritscs of the vessel —are only on a moderate scale, with 10 furnaces, having a lire-bar surface of 2l»0 square feet. Tho surl'iiee condensers are Davi-on's patent, the water pa-sing through the tubus witli the steam on t!ie outdde of the tubes. wi:h one nir pump and one circulating pump to each condenser, both of which aie driven direcL from the piston ; so that these condensers can be, used in the ordinary way without any further trouble than cln.-ing one val' e and opening a cock, without even showing the engine.--. Messrs. J. and W. l'udgeon, of iMilhvall, Uiu builders of tho liuahino and Iter engines, have by the adoption of boilers to their 350-liorse power engine, the latter fitted with high expansion gear and with surface condensers, and the power < f the engines being expended on win screws, which may bo driven together or separately, accor ling as the vessel may hive the wind, thus endeavoured tj solve tho somewhat ditlicult problem of econ any of fuel with a maintenance of a ten-knot rate- of speed in a stretch ot 7,200 miles across tho l'acifie. The wind may be said to be abeam each way on the run between Wellington and Pamimi, and as the Ku thine is being rigged she Will be enabled to take due advantage of ti is c rcutnstance ; but, putting aside any considerations of any advantage to be gained from the vessel's canvas, her coal bunkers hive a measured stowage for 1,200 tons of fuel —much beyond what her req lirements would be if st-.aming at full power all the distiiice. In her external appearance the iiuahme is a bold, handsome looking vessel. Inside she has a wonderful amount of aceommod ition for a vessel of her tonnage, carrying on her mam deck berths for 70 lirflt-i lass passengers, -J. 5 second-class p.iss- ugers, and 7l> third-class pa-se ogers Her after saloon, 77it- in length, is rich v yet cb istely fitted, tile predominant colour of tho tit ings and mill d-tery work being a pile iei green. The first trial of the ship took place on Thins ],iy, when she. le;i the City Canal at 2 1-5 p ni. f"/-the Maplin San Is, dr wing 15ft- 3iu. "t water a t an I 1 1-ft. 3in. forward, having 3jo ton - of tho " navigation steam cod' 1 on board, of the' kind st led at Portsmouth dockya d for the exclusive use of lie Majesty's y iclits. I'lie tide u-us at high water, w.th tile wind light from -.?■>.W. It was tho builder's trial day, Messrs. Dudgeon very justly dc-irin.; t > h:ive a quiet day'- experience of the ship's pow r ni .-te iming under orlinary circumstances, and with nit any ellbri, being made in the engine-room to pu-h ' the ship in any w:y. This wish of the builders was strictly adhered to throughout the day, and under these wholesome conditions the following very satisfactory results were attained :— Steaming down the river with tiie first of tho ebb tide, hrit'i pier was passed at 2. !••) pin , tho engines making SS revolutions, witli a steam pressure of '261b., and a vacuum of -7 and 20', inches, the distance gone over since starting being 10 land miles per hour. In running past the measured mile in Long Keach, the wind freshened to a force of from three to four on the ves sol's starboard bow, and the revolutions of the engines were at the reduced rate of 82 and SI, as it wts not at first intended to time the ship in going over tho measured course; but the distance was d -ne in omin 52sec., which gave the ship a speed of 15517 knots, nautical, Grave-end town pier, 19J miles from Blackwall, was passed just within tho hour, and in running through tlie Lower Hope the ship was tim°d over (lie Admiralty measured course, her time in completing tlx- mile being 3 minutes 4o seconds, and her speed 1G knots, tho revolutions of the engines being B'J, both starboar I and port, cho steam pressure 2(ilb., and the vacuum still maintaining this rate for •JGi and 271 inches. In all thU work, as, in fact, in the entire distance to the Maplin Sands on the North Lig'nt-vess-I, Ihe ship had the tide with her, but the rate at which the vessel was going exceeded the anticipation:, of all on board. So far as the run down the fiiaiir-s mar he looked upon as a test of the ship's speed, it will sulliee to say I'iat the entire distance between Ulackwall pier and the Xorc Light-ves-cl— a measured distance, as shown by '• Pryce's Distance and Knot-tables," of -12 land miles—was done in 2h. omin , including stoppage and easing of the engines caused by other vessels being at times ill the Ku ihine's course ahead. -After pass in tho Xore Light the Ruahino was taken to the Admiralty i llicial trial measured-mile course off the Maplin Sands, and given a turn over the course each way, with and against the tide, her time being taken with the same impartial strio.ne-s that is observed on board Her Majesty's ships on their trials, but without their exceptional measures in tho stokehole or engine room, which can never afterwards bo repeated in fair steaming at sea. The two runs were accomplished as follows: — N'o 1, with tide —lime 4 min., 1! sec. ; speed of ship, 14-187G knots No. 2, ag linst tide—time, -1 min. 41 sec.; speed of ship, 12-811 knots; mean speed of tho ship, 13 813 knots ; revolutions of the engines, C JO ; pressure of ste.m, 2.) lb ; vacuum, 261 and 27in. 'This concluded tho tri d ot tho ship on Thursday, and tif er coming off tho last mile her course was laid up the river for Grave-end, where she remained in te idine-is for her Saturday's trip. Ihe vessel started from off" Gravesend on her second trip on Saturday, about 2 p 111., with a party of upwards of 200 ladies and gentlemen on board, including, among the latter, Lord Claud Hamilton, chairman of the company, with several directors, and the secretary, Mr. Worley ; Sir ( buries Clifford and Sir Daniel Cooper, from Sydney and Xew Zealand; Admirals the Earl of Lauderdale and Sir litl ward Heleher: lion. Ralph Duttou, .M P.; Captains K'.N r , Co'patrick H. Hamilton, G. Wane, I). Caldwell, C.8., commanding Her .Majesty's ship A.sit, and t'>e Portsmouth steam reserve ; T. K. Synionds, J. Kennedy, 0.H., Mr. John Dinnen, Inspector of Machinery Afloat to the Admiralty ; Messrs. Lubbock an 1 Koherts, of the City Mr. GellaUley (Dunbar and Co.), < aptain Benson,, lately of tho genera l steam ship Argo, &0. Oil l-eacliin/ the >ore light-vessel, oIT Sheeri.ess, tlie time wits taken thence to the Mouse 'ighr-y. ssel. the extremity of tho vessel's i-.tended trip for the day, and the distance was accomplish'd in 21 minutes and 31 seconds, giving the ship a speed, witli tlie tide, of over lo knots. When the ship's engines were going at the highest rate, of speed th ■ fu 1 burnt was liiea-ttred by tho representatives of the comainv and Messrs l'udgoon,and was found to be at tho tate of 1 ton pr hour —that is, 1 ton of co d bui—t in the furnaces for the rate of speed the ship attained, tlvpressure of strain duiing th.- -.our the measurement was taken, commencing with 25lbs and ending with 27lbs. It is confidently an i -ipat- d that tlie Ruahine will make tho passage between Panama and Wellington, ■* ew Zealand, and vice versa, in thespaco of 2d days, and that the entire pa-sage from "Wellington to Southampton will be accomplished in 45 dnvs. Captain Bird formerly of the General steamship 1 loinpany's steamers Golden Fleece, and Lady 'loeelyn, is tho commander of the Kuahine. In returning to Gravesend the numerous company on bard silt down to a sumptuous <!i'Jcu>;c>\ provided by Mr. Atkins, of Tilbury. Tlie vessel reached G avesend about T p.m, and landed her freight at Tilbury pie-, whence a special train conveyed them to town. — Times I May 30

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18650823.2.8

Bibliographic details

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 555, 23 August 1865, Page 4

Word Count
2,080

TRIAL TRIP OF THE RUAHINE.—ENGLAND TO THE ANTIPODES. New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 555, 23 August 1865, Page 4

TRIAL TRIP OF THE RUAHINE.—ENGLAND TO THE ANTIPODES. New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 555, 23 August 1865, Page 4

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