DOMINION MONARCH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23123, 23 August 1938, Page 6

DOMINION MONARCH

WOEK OF COMPLETION 6000 MEN EMPLOYED MAIDEN VOYAGE FEBRUARY [from OTTB own correspondent] LONDON, August 6 An army of 6000 men is engaged in completing the Dominion Monarch in time for her maiden voyage to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, beginning on February 16. Immediately , after her launching a start was made to prepare the vessel for her engines. Preparations for the successful launching began eight weeks before the due date. Several thousand tons of wood—most of it new, because the stock was too small—were laid to make standing ways, six feet wide. ,A covering of tallow, grease and soft soap, three-quarters of an inch deep, was placed for 700 feet. ' The most intricate task was the ing of the releasing arrahgemenfisfp Three triggers, two mechanical and one hydraulic, were placed on each side, and synchronised with the launching instrument on the platform^ It took seveial daj's to heave the piles of drag chains alongside the giant hull. Three hundred and fifty tons were curled up on the port side and 250 on the starboard, so that the ship's nose would be pulled round, and not crash into the slipway side.