SHIPPING.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1288, 5 November 1896, Page 35

SHIPPING.

The steel steamer Kwarra, belonging to the African Steamship Company, was last month placed in graving dock at Liverpool, when her bottom presented a remarkable appearance. The Kwarra has been serving as a branch boat at Lagos for between one and two years, and had been taken Home for cleaning and an overhaul. When she was dry in the dock it was found that her bottom was literally covered with oysters, some of them of a very large size. A number Of people, anxious to secure some of the fish, rushed Into the water up to their waists and set to work knocking off the bivalves. All manner of implements were used to detach the oysters, and the employees of the managers, Messrs Elder, Dempster and Co., had to exercise much care to prevent injury to the vessel, _ . . The Hamburg five-masted sailing ship Pot-osi (Messrs F. Laeisz) recently completed another quick and successful voyage from the West Coast of South America to the Elbe, the double voyage out and home (commencing Btli March) having been executed in 168 days. At the end of August last a disastrous fire occurred at the shipbuilding yard of Messrs John Scott and Co., Abden, Kingliorn. It was first noticed from outside the yard—as the workmen on Saturday leave at 12. The safe and books of the firm were rescued, but the whole of the blacksmith shop, joiners’ shop and offices became a complete wreck, and great efforts had to be made to safeguard the engine works. The damage is estimated at from £25,000 to £30,000. It is stated that the Admiralty has decided to refit several vessels forthwith with water-tube boilers of various types. The Salamander, torpedo gunboat, will have those of the Thornycroft pattern, made at Chiswick, and to be delivered at Devonport this month. The Sheldrake, another torpedo gunboat, is to be fitted with the Babcock and Wilcox type. New sets of boilers have also been ordered for the Seagull and Skip-jack, and the cost for the four vessels will be nearly £IOO,OOO. The Barham, cruiser, will be refitted at a cost of £28,000. The Bellona, cruiser, is to be dealt with next year. The large steamer Indianapolis, under charter to the Adelaide Steamship Co., was recently arrested at Brisbane by order of the Vice-Admiralty Court, at the instance of the owners of a coal punt alleged to have been sunk by that steamer. The amount of the claim was £7O. Subsequently the Adelaide Steamship Co. made arrangements which resulted in the release of the steamer. Letters received from Adelaide give startling accounts of a gale the Hingarooma and Karrakatta recently encountered on the way to Adelaide. W lien the vessels were off Wilson’s Promontory they ran into a south-west gale, which increased in fury until both vessels had enough water on board to fill cabins and men’s quarters. One of the Karrakatta people, writing of the sight of the Ilingarooma, says that the sea was breaking clean over her fore-bridge and funnels, and that the weather was fearful. Aboard the torpedo gunboat the crew simply shut everything down, and the water washed right over the vessel. This boat offered less resistance, and received less punishment than the cruiser. * We learn from Captain Beaumont, of the Upolu, that nothing further has been heard of the schooner Takitumu, which left Rarotonga on the 22nd of June last for Penrhyn, and it is feared that the worst has happened. The Takitumu is an 80-ton schooner, built at Rarotonga, and owned by the natives. The owners have written to Samoa in the hope of obtaining news of the missing schooner. It is understood that the barque Kathleen Hilda, which was reiiorted as having left Newcastle for Wellington last Saturday, is really bound for Lyttelton. , . , The brigantine M. A. Doran will finish discharge ing her cargo of timber on Monday, and will sail with the next favourable wind after that day for the Clarence river. The St. Petersburg correspondent of the Daily News sends an account of a new submarine boat which is approaching completion at Cronstadt, and will soon be put to its trials. The boat is to be driven by electricity, supplied by accumulators sufficient to last for a two hours’ run, and is to have a speed of 10 knots an hour. It is adapted for travelling along the surface of the water and for submerging itself to a depth of not more than 7ft by the aid of horizontal rudders. Its use is to approach sufficiently near to the enemy’s vessels effectively to launch the torpedoes which it carries without on either side. The boat is 19ft in length and one ton in weight, and is, therefore, adapted for being carried by large war vessels. Its mechanism is said to be so simple that a man may easily drive it single-handed without any special training. The barque Mandalay, which arrived at Lyttelton from Rio de Janeiro a few days ago, was ordered on to Timaru, to load wool, &c., for London, under the auspices of the New Zealand Shipping Com- * Great improvements are to be made at Delagoa Bay. Eighteen large buoys intended for properly working the entrance to the port are on their way out to the Cape by a vessel specially chartered by the Portuguese Government. The Government are also in treaty for a steam tug for pilot work — a much-needed and desirable investment, and by which means the pilots will be enabled to board incoming vessels. The scow Eclipse is now under the command of Captain R. Caitcheon. The agents for the Tyser Line have been advised that rhe Star of England, from London, has been delayed in Sydney and will not reach Auckland before November 9th. On discharge at the Northern port she comes on to Wellington, via Napier, and at this port lands 300 tons original cargo. The Indraghiri, which has arrived at Home, is timed to leave London for New Zealand, via Australia, on November 15th, and is due at Auckland on January 25th. Just before the steamer Baron Cawdor left Newcastle for Java recently, it was discovered that the hawser-pipe had been broken, and the ship was unable to proceed to sea. The work of casting a new pipe was entrusted to Messrs Rogers Brothers, and in a very short space of time the pipe was completed, placed on board and passed by the marine surveyor. The length of the pipe was 10ft, 2ft in diameter and weighed SOcwt. This is the first work of its kind carried out in Newcastle. The iron barque Dunard, well known in New Zealand waters, was sold in London recently for £2BOO. She is 707 tons register and was built at Glasgow in 1877. Anyono who has read but a tithe of the mass of literature which has been resultant from the recent visit of the Institute of Naval Architects to Germany cannot but be impressed with the signs of extension and development—in fact, the enormous progress of German shipbuilding and kindred industries. There can be but little doubt that the recent ill-starred strike in the North did much to stimulate and assist this growing trade. Foreign owner after foreign owner placed contracts with Teutonic shipbuilders whilst the shadow of uncertainty hovered round the delivery of British builders; and, although figures as a rule are mistaking, by them alone can we convey some idea of the state of the shipbuilding trade in Germany. The average number of vessels built in the ten years from 1873 to 1883 was 127, representing 36,432 registered tons. To-day the output is three times that amount, while it is within the last few years that the most rapid strides have been made. As it would be obviously misleading to take one single year and compare it with another single year, let us, to show- what this increase represents, take 1892, when the tonnage was 48,208; 1893, when the tonnage was 66,474: total, 114,682, an average of 57,341 tons. Whilst the last two years are : 1891, when the tonnage was 117,621; 1895, when the tonnage was 101,402: total, 219,023 —an average of 109,512, or an increase of nearly 100 per cent. , ~ Captain Cameron, marine superintendent of the Union Steam Ship Company, left Auckland by the Alameda on Saturday, on route for Scotland. At the farewell banquet tendered to him at Port Chalmers Mr James Mills, in the course of a few remarks, said that it was just 21 years since the Hav/era and Taupo first arrived in these waters ; while his friend Captain Cameron arrived in the Wakatipu in 1876, and since that time he had proved himself a good and faithful servant, who took the utmost interest in the company. (Applause.) The company had 12 vessels when Captain Cameron brought out the Wakatipu (and only three of those were in existence), and now they possessed 51. they had lost 13, and sold 10. Many changes had taken place in the company’s service since then, and he felt sorry to say that many of its old officers were not with them now. The company had grown very rapidly since its formation, and although it had gone through many serious difficulties which it was needless for him to relate, he was very happy to say they had passed the turning point and were making good headway—(cheers)—and he had to thank the employees one and all for their loyal and generous support. It was an interesting fact that the company had already spent about a million and a-liaii ot money on the purchase and construction

of their fleet, and were now about to devote another quarter of a million on building new boats. The barque Arthurstone, formerly a trader to New Zealand under the Dundee clipper line flag, was recently sold to a-Norwegian firm. The Arthurstone was built at Dundee in 1876, and is an iron vessel of 1094 tons register.

Mr Ropner, jun., of the firm of Ropner and Son, shipbuilders, of Stockton-on-Tees, has patented a new kind of steamer, which he calls “ the patent trunk steamer,” which would appear to embrace all the advantages of the well deck and partial awning deck steamers, as well as those built as spar deckers with one deck only laid. While she is a first-rate dead-weight carrier, she is an equally good light cargo-carrier, and will carry large cargoes of both kinds on a light draught of water. She will also make a first rate timber ship, as she can carry her trunk full during the winter as well as the summer, in addition to being able to take a deck load, and the inventor claims that she can be at any time cheaply adapted to carry cattle on deck. ARRIVAL OF THE RAKAIA AT HOBART. Hobakt. November 2. Arrived—Rakaia, from London, en route for New Zealand. ARRIVAL OF THE PLEIONE AT NELSON. Nelson, November 2. The ship Pleione, Captain Sargent, from London, has arrived after a passage of 95 days. On the 3rd October an A.B. named G. Smith fell from aloft, breaking one of his legs in two places, and also one arm, besides sustaining internal injuries. He died next morning and was buried at sea. LORD BRASSEY’S NEW YACHT. Lord Brassey will bo a competitor in the annual contests of the associated yacht clubs of Victoria to be held in November. In preparation for the sport he is having built under his personal supervision a light yacht after the style of the Prince of Walses’ Britannia and Lord Dunraven’s Valkyrie, but of course much smaller. Its size is adjusted to the present conditions of local yachting. Most of the Victorian boats are known in the language of yachtsmen as “ 24-footers,” and this measure—which means the length at the waterline —will be exceeded by 4ft in the craft now being built for the Governor by Mr J. McKenzie, of City road, South Melbourne. The designs for the yacht were selected from several submitted in competition by builders in this and the neighbouring colonies. Mr McKenzie, who is making special efforts to give satisfaction with the work, upon which he has been engaged for six months, is the builder of Mr H. H. Howlett’s Mystery, one of the fastest boats in the bay. The following are the principal measurements of the new yacht, which, by the Way, is intended to be named the Helen, after Lady Brassey's little daughter : Length over all, 40ft; length on the waterline, 28ft; beam, 9ft 3in ; mast, 36ft; boom, 29ft; yard, 26ft; bowsprit, oft; spinnaker, 30ft; draught, without centre-plate, 4ft 3in ; draught with plate, Bft 3in. In tonnage the boat will be about a four-rater. The feature which distinguishes her from all other local yachts is the unusually long overhang of the bow, as indicated in the wide margin between the top measurement and that at the waterline. In the construction of the frame a new idea has been introduced, the “ aprons ” in the stein and stern-posts being cut out of the solid wood instead of being riveted. This is one of several expedients for economising in the weight of the vessel. The timbers used in its construction are almost exclusively colonial grown. They are chiefly New Zealand kauri, Tasmanian blackwood and Australian red gum. The yacht was an object of great interest to the officers of the associated yacht clubs and other gentlemen, who assembled at the invitation of His Excellency to make an inspection of it. The builder did not seemed in the least overwhelmed by the general and genuine interest taken in his work, and by the many direct compliments paid to him. He was quite confident about the going capacity of the yacht, and as to her chance against the boats already on the water —well, he was pretty certain she would “ whop them all.” Lord Brassey was less sanguine, but discussed the boat with easy jocularity, saying that no doubt when it came into service they would find others just as good, and perhaps a great deal better. While the company were taking refreshments after the inspection, Mr Fitz Gibbon, with much fervour and poetic metaphor, proposed a vote of thanks to the Governor for his invitation to the yachtsmen. Lord Brassey, in replying, said it was a great satisfaction to him to do something locally for the sport which had been his joy from boyhood. He was delighted to join the yachting fraternity of Victoria, and looked forward to spending many happy hours in their company.—Age. A NEW ZEALAND-BUILT YACHT. A beautiful model, finished in first-class style,, and a credit to the Colony, is the clipper yacht Te Uira, which Wellington people were afforded a chance of inspecting yesterday. The little craft, which was built by Messrs C. and W. Bailey, of Auckland, to the order of Mr G. Palmer, of Melbourne, passed through on the Tarawera. Her fine lines were very much admired by the large number of yachting enthusiasts and others who viewed the vessel throughout the day. The Te Uira is to be pitted against Lord Brassey’s new yacht, which is fully described above. The New Zealand - built vessel is of the following dimensions : —Length over all, 45ft ; beam, 9ft ; length on the waterline, 30ft; draught, 7ft. She is built on the diagonal principle, with three skins of the best white kauri, the same kind of timber being used for the decking and the stringers. The fastenings are of pure copper. Her deck fittings are of teak, while the saloon is handsomely finished with mottled kauri panelling. The bulkheads and ceilings are painted with w'hite enamel, picked out in gold, and the upholstering work is of a superior nature. The spider band, goose-necks, rudder cap, chocks and cleats are of gun metal, and finished off in first-class style. The yacht’s name is artistically embossed on the skylight windows. The hull is painted black, and handsomely-gilt scroll work and a figure-head with gilt streak give a nice finish to her graceful lines. We have no doubt but that the Te Uira will render a good account of herself. At Auckland the new yacht acquitted herself very creditably, and Mr Palmer (who was a through passenger by the Tarawera yesterday) expressed himself well satisfied with the way in which she sailed. NARROW ESCAPE OF THE MANDALAY. Just before midnight on Wednesday week the barque Mandalay put to sea from Lyttelton, bound to Timaru. She stood outside the Heads with a light breeze, and when some distance along towards Sumner an attempt was made to stay the vessel. She missed stays, however, and an attempt to wear the point near Taylor’s Mistake also proved unsuccessful. The vessel was gradually drifting nearer the shore, and the anchor was put down. Further trouble was, however, yet in store for the vessel. The cable parted, but the second anchor held just in time to prevent the barque going ashore. At daylight the tug rescued her from her perilous position. A BARQUE IN TROUBLE. The Fiji Times of October 10th says:—“ The harque Excelsior, which has been lying in the harbour since 15th May last, owing to a dispute between the master and owners and the charterer, was towed alongside the wharf by the Government steamer Clyde on Thursday morning. The master, after having discharged a portion of the cargo, had refused to deliver the balance, and several actions have been commenced against him for damages for non-delivery, and he is now undergoing three months’ imprisonment for contempt of _Court in connection with a judgment of some £35 entered against him as damages for non-delivery of cargo to one of the consignees. Meantime the vessel has been lying in the stream, but the Collector of Customs has now had her brought to the wharf and is discharging the balance of the cargo. How and when this interesting shipping case will be concluded, no one seems to have any idea, as it is rather a unique case in maritime lav/. The vessel has now been in Suva harbour some five months, and this contretemps must entail a considerable loss to the owners. [Since the above was written the Court has ordered the cargo to be delivered to the owners of same on payment of freight.) ” The Times of October 17th has the following:— “ The complications which have arisen in connection with the barque Excelsior and the delivery of her cargo appear to be coming towards an end, ana iUQ tiaal bccho iu tius iatoccßi-tos maat/iaie case

■will conclude in a few weeks. The crew’s articles expired on 14th instant, and proceedings have been instituted to obtain payment. Accordingly persons going along the wharf have been afforded a sight of a procedure very seldom seen, viz., a writ and other legal process nailed to the mainmast of the vessel, this being in accordance with the Court rules and -ancient maritime custom. Should the amount due not be paid the vessel will presumably be sold in execution.”

A LOCAL.LY-BUILT VESSEL

The Onapua—a smart-looking little craft—is the latest addition to the list of locally-built yachts. She is owned by Messrs John Nixon and Arthur Emeny, and has been built by the former in a yard off Alpha street. Mr Nixon—who only claims to be an amateur —laid the keel of the little vessel in Onapua Bay, Tory Channel (from which place she derives her name), and now having nearly completed her in Wellington, she will be launched next Saturday week. The new vessel was built to be utilised as a pleasure yacht, and although her owners do not intend her to be a particularly speedy craft, experts say that she has the lines of a “ goer.” Her dimensions are :—Length overall, 25ft; 21ft 6in on keel, with a beam of 7ft 4in. The yacht has a flush deck, all her metal fittings are of copper, and she will have an exceptionally large spread of canvas. She has Bcwt of lead on her keel. The Onapua is clinker-built, and may probably be entered for some of the minor races this season.