ARRIVAL OF THE DUKE OF SUTHERLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9383, 24 March 1892, Page 1

ARRIVAL OF THE DUKE OF SUTHERLAND.

The New Zealand Company's chartered steamer Duke of Sutherland, from London, which was reported passing the Bluff at 10 a.m. on Tuesday reached the heads early yesterday morning, and was boarded by Pilot M'Donald, who brought her inside the heads shortly before 7 a.m. On coming up the harbour the customs boat met her, and the usual answers relative to the health of all on board being satisfactory she was passed by the health officer (Dr Drysdale), boarded and cleared in , by the customs surveyor (Captain Gray), and continued her course, but owing to the heavy S.W gale which was blowing, it was some time before she was berthed alongside the George street pier. lneXJuke of Sutherland is an iron vessel of 3116 tons gross and 2031 tons net register, was built at bunderland m 1873 by Messrs D uncan and Co and is owned by the Eastern Ship Navigation Company. Her dimensions being :-Length, 378 ft Bin; beani, 38ft 3in; and depth, 28ft sin. She has four masts and can carry a fair amount of sail. Her engines were made by D. Rowan and Co., of Glasgow, are of the compound surface condensing type of 400 horse-power, the cylinders being 46in and 78in respectively, with a 48in stroke. She is fitted with refrigerating machinery of the latest and most approved type, and she has storage for 50,000 carcases frozen mutton; and although at present essentially a cargo vessel she has a very fine saloon, with accommodation for 30 passeagers there is also asocial hall and smoking room She brings a full cargo, about 1200 tons of which is for Dunedm, and the remainder for the northern ports. She is commanded by Captain Whymper who brings with him the following officers -—Mr Beauchump, chief; Sir Munday, second- Mr Worsnop third; surgeon, Dr Oldright; chief steward, Mr Lydamore; chief engineer, MrNeale; Mr Shaw, second; Mr Bethel, third; Mr Marshall, fourth. The refrigerating engineers are Messrs Kobertson and Slater. The passage from .London has been a fine weather one, and has occupied 58 days, including the detention at Teneriffe. We thank Mr Beauchump (chief officer) for the following report of the passage:—Left London on January 24, but owing to heavy fog anchored in the Downs for 12 hours, when she again got underweigh with a N.E. breeze, and reached Tenenffe at 7 p.m. on the 31st; coaled and left again at 7.30 p.m. on February 1 carried the N.E. trades, which were moderate until the 6th February in lat. 10 N., when she met a S.W. breeze,.and crossed the equator on the 9th in long. 12 W S W winds continued until the 12th, when the first of the S.E. trades was taken in lat. 7S. Crossed the meridian of Greenwich on the 14th. The trades were very light, and on the 18th she met a S ~\V breeze, and signalled off Cape Augustus on the <J2nd. Thence she had moderate variable winds and calms with fine weather, and made her first landfall—Puysegur Point-at 10 p.m. on March 21; signalled off the Bluff at 10 a.m. on the 22nd and thence had strong S.E. and S.W. winds with thick weather to arrival. Off Centre Island she passed a boat, painted lead colour with black gunwales, with the letters J. A. on it.

THE EFFECTS OF FOG ON COMPASSES ..we- ut, e,nanfc- Lecky- R-N.R-, in his work, Wrinkles m Practical Navigation," says :— There is an ill-founded opinion prevalent among certain pilots and seamen that the compass is affected by fog, by certain winds of long duration, by the proximity of the vessel's keel to the bottom in the shallow waters of rivers and estuaries, such as the Rio de la Plata, and by the phenomena known as the Aurora Borealis and the Aurora Australis. The sooner such notions are abandoned the better for the navigator as they divert his mind from the true source of error The first three causes do not affect the compasses in the slightest degree, and any disturbance due to the latter can only be detected by the delicately suspended needles in an observatory ashore, where an unusual deflection of a sixth of a degree is considered a big thing. If, therefore, under conditions such as those just alluded to, an unexpected amount of deviation should be found, the navigator must unhesitatingly reject the fog theory, &c, and endeavour to trace the error of his compass to its real cause. Again, it can confidently be asserted that thunderstorms produce no effect whatever on the compass, unless, indeed the ship's hull should be actually damaged by lightning— which, common though it be in the case of wooden vessels, appears to be impossible with iron ones, f" n° instance on record of such a thing «£^? B ,p A en.ed« thougtt there are numerous inbeen rent ™T ts^ wh, en not of i, n c-nnrf £ shatt?«id like match wood. IroS irnn gßhfn «. UCJ or> but I_water1_water & still better; the non-conductor and suffers acrardinriy The proximity of. the vessel to land of volcanic ?hTpn™PP?f - d + by fS? ne seamen to influence the compass. It is true that many masses of rock are intensely magnetic, and affect the compass most powerfully; if pl ace a sufficiently near toS!