THE BREAKDOWN OF THE DUNOTTAR CASTLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11872, 25 January 1902, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE BREAKDOWN OF THE DUNOTTAR CASTLE.

DANGERS OF A SINGLE SCREW. The London Daily Mail of November 27 has the following:—The Union-Castle liner Dunottar Castle, outward bound to the Cape with mails and about 180 passengers, has broken down a hundred miles south of Cape Verde, and has had to be towed to Dakar, where she is helpless.

She left Madeira on Wednesday last, and tho accident occurred on Sunday morning. The same company's steamer Lismore Castle left Southampton and the White Star linei> Runic left Liverpool on the same day as the Dunottar Castle, and the Dunottar Castle was ahead of the other two when the accident occurred. The Runic came up with her during the forenoon of Sunday, and upon ascertaining the position of affairs took her in tow and made for Dakar.

The first news of this serious accident to the mail steamer reached the London offices of the Union-Castle Line yesterday afternoon in the form of a telegram from Captain Steele, of the liner Lismore Castle.

Captain Steele's telegram was sent from Dakar, a port close to Cape Verde, in Senegambia, at half-past four on Monday afternoon, and it read as follows: —

" Spoke Dunottar Castle 100 miles south of Cape Verde. Thrust shaft broken close to forward coupling. Cannot repair. In tow of Runic. Lismore Castle taking mails and some passengers from Dakar." Immediately on receipt of this message arrangements were made from the London end to minimise as far as possible the inconvenient consequences of the catastrophe. Shortly after the first message another one arrived which stated that the Dunottar Castle, in tow of the Runic, had reached Dakar at six o'clock on Monday evening, all being well on board. The bulk of the mails and periodicals were at once transferred to the Lismore Castle.

The owners thereupon telegraphed to Madeira and TeneritTe giving instructions to the Braemar Castle and the Galician, which both left Southampton for the Capo last Saturday, to proceed to Dakar and there take on board any mails that might remain and the balance of the passengers. This arrangement will involve only a comparatively trifling deviation from the regular route of these two steamers, and they have plenty" of accommodation on board for the passengers now waiting at Dakar. This was the best way out of the difficulty, though, of course, a few days' delay to those passengers whom the Lismore Castle could not take aboard is inevitable.

The complete helplessness of the Dunottar Castle when her shaft broke is explained by the fact that she is, though up to date in every other respect, only a single-screw boat, and this is not the first time that a Union-Castle liner has been placed in such a- predicament for the same reason. It is presumed at the headquarters of the line that nothing can be done with her where she is, and she will have to be towed all the way homo for repairs. The Same paper in a leading article says : "The breakdown of the Cape mail steamer Dunottar Castle once more draws attention to the risk which must necessarily attend the. conveyance of passengers in single-screw ships. With the twin-screw almost complete immunity from mishaps is obtained, for then no defect in a single engine or propeller will disable the ship. The duplication of the propulsive machinery, in fact, enables the vessel to proceed at a fair rate of speed even if one engine or one propeller should be put entirely out of action. Unfortunately twin-screws are dearer than the old singlescrew, because of this duplication of machinery, and shipowners, who are hard put to it in these days to pay good dividends, or indeed in some cases to pay any dividend at all, naturally avoid employing them where the demand for them is not imperative. Talcing the Peninsular and Oriental line as an example it is almost startling to discover that such large modern vessels as the Egypt and China do not carry the twinscrew, but are equipped with a single propeller. It is not till we come to the Plassy and Assaye, which are the most up-to-date ships running on this line, that we find the twin-screw adopted. On the American service, again, most readers would be surprised to find that the great majority of the steamers running are single-screws. The first British boats fitted with the twin-screw to enter regularly upon the Atlantic service were the Majestic and Teutonic, launched in 1889, so that the twin-screw's adoption is here almost quite a modern feature.

The remedy for the state of things which sends passengers to sea in single-screw ships rests with the passengers themselves. If, wherever there are twin-ccrew boats running in competition with single-screws, they give preference to the twin-screw, the old-fashion-ed type will slowly be driven, out of the business. Enterprising ' and progressive firms will benefit, and the safety of the passenger will be assured, as far as it is possible for human ingenuity to assure it.