SHIPPING NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20310, 19 January 1928, Page 11

SHIPPING NOTES.

BIG ATLANTIC LINERS. NEW FUEL FOR SHIPS. LONDON, December 14. For the first time in history a ship driven by pulverised fuel has crossed the Atlantic. This is the Mercer, owned by the United States Shipping Board, which reached Rotterdam after a crossing of 14 days 9 hours in heavy weather. Although America has been the first to utilise this system on a commercial basis, the honour of the invention falls to a British engineer, Captain J. C. Brand, who has experimented in the subject for the last 12 years. Captain Brand was the first person to be invited on American authorities. The world rights of the invention are now in the possession of a British company, which is preparing designs for the installation of pulverised fuel in British ships.

The Mercer is equipped with ordinary boilers, and carries lump coal in her bunkers. This coal is lifted to a supply bunker by conveyers, and from these drops by gravity through a crusher to pulverisers, whence it is blown, in the form of pulverised fuel, to distributors, which divide the fuel between the furnaces. The dust is made at the furnace by the extra air necessary to burn it, and is blown in a turbulent vapoury stream to the furnace, where ignition takes place. The pulverside fuel is burnt without having to be handled by firemen This alone is, of course, a great saving. Experts point out that the cost of pulverised fuel is less than that of oil, and that coal is a native of the British Empire, whereas oil fuel is not. Moreover, there is, as in oil-burning ships, a vast saving in engine- room personnel.

Further developments are of supreme interest. The Australian Naval Board has already succeeded in loading pulverised coal in ** fluid ” form through pipes on board a ship, the fuel being first rendered immune from spontaneous combustion or explosion. This system ■would save 20 per cent, of the present cost of fuelling. SHIP’S SWEAT. Mr S. J. Tully, head of the Commercial Products Department of the City of London College .delivered a lecture on “ The Damage to Cargo Due to Ship a Sweat.’ ” . Th e visible presence of moisture, he pointed out, is an abnormal state of affairs. If it does occur, it is derived either from. the cargoes carried or else from the ventilating air. This general statement disregards the possibility _of rain or sea water reaching tlw ships’ holds as accidental incidents outside the scope of the discussion. The occasional and sometimes frequent arrival in this country of shipments of canned goods in a rusty condition from the Pacific Coast of the United States of America and from British Columbia carried via the Panama Canal, provided the occasion, of the investigation into the manner in which ventilating air may start damage. The rusting leads to a depreciation of, perhaps, 10 per cent, of _ the sound value of the goods, because it is necessary either to sell at a reduced price or to unpack, recondition, relabel, and repack the tins. The contente are unaffected unless the rusting is bad enough to cause perforation of the metal. The three classes of condensation are as follow:—(1) Moisture condenses on the ship’s side while the cargo remains dry; (2) moisture condenses on the cargo while the ship’s side remains dry; (3) moisture condenses on the under-side of the deck and hatch coamings and drips hack on to cargo. The circumstances in which each of these forms of condensation arises differ from each other; in addition, the method of ventilation necessary to check the condensation depends on the particular form. The principle underlying all investigations of this kind is that dew will form on any object if it is cold enough to b« below the dew point of the air reaching it. An instance of this may be given from the formation of dew on the deck of a vessel passing through tropical waters. TWO NEW ATLANTIC LINERS. Keels for the two new Atlantic liners, which will cost, when completed, £11,000,000, will be laid down next year. The vessels, which will be constructed respectively by the Cunard Company and the White Star Line, may be regarded as the British reply to the challenge of American and Continental ship owners for the cream of the Atlantic carrying trade, and will be utilised for the SouthamptonNew York services. So far as the new Cunarder is concerned, the choice of building yards lies between the Tyne and the Clyde, and her total cost will run to something like £6,000,000. All the latest achievements of marine engineering will be incorporated in the vessel, with which the company is confident of maintaining the bine riband of the Atlantic for speed. She will be at least 1000 ft in length, 60.000 tons gross, and will provide accommodation for 5000 people. It is interesting to compare these dimensions with those of the Majestic, the largest lines afloat, which is 915 ft long, with a tonnage of 56,551. Th© construction of these two new luxury vessels will occupy about three years, and give a much-needed fillip to the iron and steel industry, as well as providing substantial employment for the shipyards.