TO AUSTRALIA IN TWENTYNINE DAYS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 810, 9 September 1887, Page 23

TO AUSTRALIA IN TWENTYNINE DAYS.

Tliis remarkable feat has just been accomplished by the Orient steamer Oroya, the trip being the quickest on record. The following details of the passage, taken from the Argus, will doubtless be read with interest:—The maiden voyage of this steamship was watched with some degree of interest, as on the run out she acquitted herself well. On the return voyage, however, she fairly outstripped herself, so to speak, and it was placed on record that she had accomplished the fastest passage from Australia to England which has ever [been known. Curiously enough, the steamship Umbria, at the same time, had beaten all previous record in Atlantic voyaging, and the great commercial and shipping centres of London and Liverpool were much exercised at performances of both steamers, which viewed in the light of only a few years back, may be considered almost phenomenal. The Oroya is one of the quite new and ambitious order of steamships which have been built to establish rapid communication between the Mother Country and Australia, and to demonstrate, moreover, how entirely practicable it is to land mails here , well within the limit of a calendar month. The Ormuz, Oroya, and Orizaba are almost pledged to accomplish this much, and although running in a joint interest, it is believed that there is a slight suspicion of emulation amongst all three as to which shall establish its individual supremacy in fast steaming. The Ormuz, on her present trip out from Home, effaced all previous records, and was accorded the palm for having made- the quickest passage known. This too, although she was alleged to have steamed well within her capabilities, and to have burnt less fuel, and to have employed less labor in the stokehole than on her initial voyage. Now, the Oroya has challenged this record of the Ormuz, and the difference in duration of the passage of each is reduced to so fine a point that in racing parlance it may be termed a dead heat. All credit is due to each for having achieved a remarkably quick run, and the public have now a fair opportunity of gauging the capabilities of the description of steamships which are to be employed in the next mail service. The Oroya is fortunate in the possession of splendid engines, and it is said to be a pure pleasure to watch their working. On the way out on this voyage they acted faultlessly, and the following record of the runs on the long stretch of steaming from Suez to Adelaide will afford some idea of the work done. On the first day out from Suez the run was 301 miles, then followed 342. 342, 348, 356, 310, 341, 351, 335, 322,' 316, 285, 310, 342, 330, 352, 358, 367, 354, 324, and 331. The passage from Breaksea Island was greatly hindered by a succession of stiff easterly gales and heavy head seas, which necessitated hard steaming. As further illustrative the speed of the Oroya, it may be mentioned that the run round from Adelaide to Hobson’s Bay was made in the quickest time ever known, and the best day’s work of the whole passage—36B miles—was then logged. This was with only five boilers at work. The Oroya, as if ready to exhibit her powers of endurance up to the last stage of the trip, covered the distance from the Heads to Hobson’s Bay within two hours and a half. Captain Studdert was congratulated heartily on the success of the trip, and the chief engineer, Mr Turnbull, was also congratulated on the work which had been done. There was some decidedly boisterous weather fallen in with on the way out, and hatches had to be battened down, but in the wildest sea the vessel was uniformly steady, and the passengers felt comfortable accordingly.