END OF LONG TOW

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21529, 29 December 1931, Page 8

END OF LONG TOW

WELLINGTON’S FLOATING DOCK ARRIVAL CREATES GREAT INTEREST. (Peb United Press Association.) X WELLINGTON, December 28. Completing its 13,000-mile voyage, Wellington's huge Jubilee Dock arrived off Pencarrow a little before 5 o’clock this afternoon. Favourable winds had made easy the final stages of the journey, and the dock with its two small but powerful attendants, the Zwarte Zee and the Witte Zee, swung inta Port Nicholson with only the slightest or breezes momentarily stirring the surface of the harbour. Two aeroplanes from the Eongotai Aerodrome sailed in the haze of a summer .sky. Along the wharves strolled hundreds of people, while every vantage point on the nearby hills had its small group of persons whose 'imagjnationT had been stirred by the Romance of the long tow. The massive hulk of the dock made a striking mark in the harbour seascape. A number of launches and yachts sailed round the dock as it moved slowly in the direction of the mooring site. The ferry steamer Muratai, packed with passengers, made the trip to the Heads to accompany the dock up the harbour. The Harbour Board tug Toia met the voyagers and escorted them in. On the Government steamer tender Janie Seddon were doctors, offiials, and guests. The small harbour t,ug Natone also acted as an escort. The inspection of the crews of the dock and tugs by the doctors was made as the craft came up the harbour. At 7.10 p.m. the huge anchors of the dock were dropped several hundred yards from the Jubilee wharf at Thorndon, where the do'ck is to be permanently moored. This work will begin to-mor-row. There will be no official ceremony in connection with the arrival of the dock until it has been actually delivered to the Harbour Board by the contractors, which will be about the end of February. It is hoped that it will then be possible to have one of the New Zealand Shipping Company’s liners actually in the dock so as to enable the function to take place in fitting circumstances on the ship itself. Although they appeared uniformly happy that' the end of the long tow was reached, the Dutchmen on the two tugs, as lycll as those on the big dock itself, were neither, excited nor talkative when the dock was travelling slowly up the harbour on the last stages of its journey. Altogether there were 18 Dutchmen on the Zwarte Zee, 15 on Witte Zee and 10 on the dock, including the three respec-' tive skippers—Captain B. L. Hart, Captain B. Weltevrede, and Captain Jan Van Brast. They had brought the dock 13,627 miles at an average speed of four knots since leaving England on July 15. The trip was a summer one all the. way and passed without a serious incident. Captain , Hart and many of the others speak English. The police took in charge two stowaways who had travelled from Nelson on the JSwarte Zee.

WORLD FAMOUS TUGS t —- The following particulars concerning the tugs Zwarte Zee and*Witte Zee, which are towing the dock, appeared recently in the Manchester Daily ,Graphic:— Holland is the world’s tug specialist, for she holds all the towing records. Rotterdam is the - centre of the Dutch towingi enterprise, and it is here that L. Smit’s Internationale Steepdienst have their headquarters. Smit’s tugs (Zwarte Zee and Witte Zee are units) are known throughout the world, and their black funnels apd blue bands are familiar to every sea captain. They took the huge 50,000-ton Singapore floating dock 9000 miles via Suez to its destination without the slightest hitch, A mere 50,000 tons of /steel is nothing to Smit’s tugs. The Zwarte Zee and Witte Zee are remarkable vessels whose home is at Maasslius, a small harbour which lies Rotterdam and the There are 22 “ Zee ” boats, two funnellers, and the most up-to-date tugs in the world. In 1928 the Witte Zee, of 1200 lx.p., steamed 18,834 miles, a remarkable distance when one remembers that a ship’s towage speed seldom exceeds four knots. The Zwarte Zee brought off a remarkable tow a short time ago. She picked up the British steamer Yarand rudderless in mid-Atlantic in the winter and towed her in terrible weather from 800 miles from the Fastenet Rock to the Mersey bar. During nearly 40 years of towing to all parts of the world' Smit’s have lost 35 vessels out of just over 4900, which is equivalent*!*) a percentage loss of 0.828. Surely no company could claim a finer record? Long-distance towing is an extremely hazardous business, and it is exclusively a job for the specialist. It is recalled that when the Callao dock was being delivered in 1908 one of the tugs went into Montevideo to bunker, and while there she was driven on to the breakwater and extensively damaged. This left the other iug to manage the dock alone, but a difficult situation was solved by the master of the second tug taking the dock into Montevideo and mooring it there. The damaged tug was repaired sufficiently to enable it to return to its base in company with the other, which then made the long voyage out to Montevideo again with another of the company’s tugs. This resulted in a delay of some months, but eventually the dock was safely delivered. The first dock built for Durban was towed out by the steamer Baralong. It was driven ashore through tlie tow rope parting in a squall at Mussel Bay, near the Cape of Good Hope, and, although it was refloated, the Baralong was unable to prevent it from piling up-.on the rocks again, where it remained.