THE PUKAKI'S GROUNDING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10306, 13 March 1895, Page 1

THE PUKAKI'S GROUNDING.

HOBART, March 12.—At the inquiry iato the circumstances attending the grounding of the s.s. Pakaki in the Mersey river, contradictory evidence was given by the captain and harbourmaster. The former stated that he did not know of any sailing regulations for the port, and tho latter asserted that he gare the captain a copy of them and read portions of them in his presence. The court found that the grounding of the vessel was due to the negligence of the captain, but there was not sufficient ta involve a cancellation or suspension of his certificate. He was cautioned by the court and ordered to pay the costs of the inquiry.

The schooner Jessie Niccol left the Rattray street wharf yesterday forenoon for Timaru and Lyttelton.

The b.s. Invercargill left the Battray street wharf yesterday afternoon for Preservation Inlst, via Invercarffiil. The s.e. Anglian left the cross wharf yesterday afternoon for Sydney, via the East Coast ports, with a fall complement of passengers and cargo' The Union Steam Ship Company's steamship Hauroto, Captain A. Anderson, left the tongue ■wharf yesterday afternoon for Sydney, via Cook Strait.

The survivors of the American barque Sarah S. Ridgway have been aent home to the United States frem Sydney. Thoy expressed their gratitude for the hospitality extended to them. The barque Samoa on her recent passage from Glasgow lo Sydney met several very large icebergs.

The s.s. Monowai left the Bowen pier yesterday ftStsriMcm for Melbourne, via Ehiff and Hobart.

The bin-quo Colleasie, which arrived at Melbourne nn February 22, reports falling in with ice in the Southern Ocean. Bergs were ilrat sighted in lat. 13 S., lonir. fiß X., when seveial small ones woro passed. In lat. 44 S. and lnng. 39 X many more were, passed, two of the largest using estimated at 4(lOft high and one mile long. The Bluff Harbout Board's tug Awarua, which left on Sunday afternoon, met the full form of the southerly gali;, and returned to Port Chalmers yesterday afternoon. Bateau roulor—viz, a Btcniusr that goes on wheels—invented by a well-known French engineer (Bazin), U the latest novelty in ship contraction, and claims to bring the speed far above tho present models. Tho chief point lies in the lessoning of friction by the hull resting on three or four seta of hollow eclipse-shaped wheels, which are worked by one engine and the propeller by another. The proportions of such a vesael are—length, 288 ft; breadth, 83ft; three sets of wheels (six), 72ft in diameter; di3tanca of deck from the water nurfaco, 23ft; i<psed, 32 knots. A smaller vessel is now being built in St. Denis (130 ft. x 39ft), and is intended for the route ParisLondon, an a practical test of what M. Bazin s invention is worth.

The American line will soon have the St. Louis, the first of the new American-built flyers engaged in the Atlantic trade These vessels* have i>aoh the rollowiuz dimensions :—Length (b.p.) 535 ft Kin, ovi>r all 551 ft Sin ; beam (moulded) (S 9ft, extreme 02ft flin ; depth (moulded) -12ft, from top of keel to surface of upper deck at side 51ft; draught, at 1.w.1., 23ft. There are five dncks, and th« height of the 'tween decks are Oft, 7ft 6in, 7ft Sin, and fift respectively. There is a double bottom extending a distance of 428 ft 9in. Its general distance between the two skins is 4ft, which is increased to 4ft Gin under the machinery space. The frames are spaced at :!2in, and the vessel is divided into 21 compartments altogether, of which 17 are the chief, the collision bulkhead being placed 33ffc abaft the stem, which is of the straight pattern— a new departure in the line. The vessel will carry 1440 passangera all told. Of these 320 will be in the saloon, £20 in the intermediate cabia, and 000 in the steerage. Her crew will number 400, making a total complement of 1840 aouls. Thp cargo capacity at 2Hft draught is given at 1820 tons, and the total displacement at 10,000 tons. The gross registered tonnage will be about 10,770 tons.