THE SPEED OF OCEAN STEAMERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 6736, 18 September 1883, Page 3

THE SPEED OF OCEAN STEAMERS.

(From tha Englleh Mechanic.)

The speed of ocean steamers has been increased in a very remarkable manner since tho early day 3of the Cunaid line with its paddlewheel vessels, to say nothing of the Great Western, which made the voyage in 18 day a. Tho rivalry botwean the Collins and tho Cunard lines was the commencement of tho competition, and the speed of tha Atlantic steauiers was increased almost by leaps and bounds^ 13 and 12 days became the recognised duration of the voyage, and as tho rivals put on faster and faster vessels the time was steadily reduced, until steamers that could not make the voyage in 10 days were looked upon as slow. By 1861 most of the paddle-wheel vessels had beon supplanted by screw-propellers, and the duration of the voyage was reduced to 9 days, to be still further reduced by the end of IS6O to a mean of about S days 12 hours, the most notable performers then boing the Scotia and tho City of Paris. For several years a passage lasting from 9 to 10 days, according to tbe weather, was considered up to tho'stimdard, although in IS7G the White Star liner Britannic made an average on six trips of about 7 days 18 hours. In the autumn of .1831.,. however, the Guion

liner Arizona astonished all connected with the Atlantic trade by making tho outward voyage in 7 days 8 hours 32 minutes, and the return trip in 4G minutes less;. but these performances wove soon eclipsed by the Hying Alaska of the same line, n, vessel which ha 3 accomplished tho homeward voyage in li days IS hours 37 minutes. Several vessels are being built which, it is hoped, will accomplish the passage in six days, but it isf doubtful whether they will reduce the time to much below G days 10 hours. The Oregon ha 3 been specially designed to beat tho Alaska, and has the enormous power of 12,000 horses to a tonnage of 7S00; but we eeem to have reached a point at which extra f poed can be attained only by an inordinate consumption of coal, and by vessels built specially to carry littlo more than . passengers, the machinery and fuel occupying so much space as to practically shut out cargo. The Orcgou, for instance, will burn something like 300 tons of coal per day, and will necessarily require a very large portion of her carrying capacity for the storage of fuel; so that, in view of certain patent facts, if tho voyago is to ba reduced much below seven days, it becoinoa a question whether owners will not have to give up all idea of carrying cargo, and rely upon the revenue received

from passengers, and for the rapid carriage of light parcels, to pay tha expenses of the express steamers. The'position, so far as its commercial aspect is concerned, can be readily grasped by comparing the performances of some of the older steamers with thoso of their modern rivals. So long ago as 1876 the Britannic and Germanic made voyages of about seven days 10 hours, and recently the first named, in what may ba described as a. race with the Alaska, was beaten only by about 10 hours. But the Britannic is a vessel of 5000 tons and not quite 5000 h.p., while the Alaska is of 7000 tons nearly, and her engines indicate, at times, as much as 10,500-horse power. It will be seen that in the matter of propellingpower there is no comparison between tho two vessels, and . oven if we allow

that the voyage was a slow one for tho more highly-powered vessel, it does not detract from the performance of the other with the smaller engines, and about half the consumption of fuel. Prestige is worth a great deal to a steamship company, but with that we have nothing to do; what we wish to point out is that we have apparently made no improvement in the form of the'hull during the past nine years. We seem to have arrived at the best "lines" for forcing a ship through the water at high speed, and to be now entirely dependent on increased engine power for increased velocity. Whether that will be altogether profitable to the companies remains to be seen; but recont experiences do not afford much promise of such an improvement as waa mado between 18G0 and 1870. Seventeen knots Boems to be about tho highest speed that pan be got out of anything in the Atlantic, and it that can be reached as a mean during the whole voyage, tho time is brought just within the seven days. . A higher speed will involve an enormous increase of, expense, and the results commercially may not be so satisfactory as the advocates of faster vessels hope.