SHIPPING NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2056, 20 July 1893, Page 37

SHIPPING NEWS.

Abstract of Weather at Dunedim for June. The following report is kindly supplied by Mr H. Skey :— Mean barometer, 29'913in. Mean elastic force of vapour, o'2o9in. Mean temperature in shade, 41'oaeg. Mean solar radiation, 55deg. Mean terrestrial radiation, 32deg. Mean daily velocity of wind, 176 miles. Mean amount of cloud (from 1 to 10), 4 3. Total rainfall, s'siin. . Number of days on which ram fell, 15. - Heavy fall of «now on 9th and 10th.

COLONIAL AND FOREIGN. ARRIVALS. - July 12-Talune, s.s , 1303 tons, Kennedy, from Auckland, via East Coastports — -Brunner, 8.8., 332 tons, J. Ramsay; from Westport, via Timaru and intermediate ports. Tarawera, s.s., 1269 tons, Sinclair, from Melbourne, via Hobart S.S., 1158 tons Ewan, from Oamaru. Rimutaka, R.M.5.,, 4174 tons, Greenstreet.from London (May 26), via Tenenffe (June 1), Cape Town (June 19), and Hobart a s., 442 tons, Bernech, from northern portsT-r-Oamaru, " ship, 1306 tons, Thomas, from Glasgow (April 1). July i6.-Waimate, ship, 1124 tons, Worater, from London (April 14). .„ , July 17.-Kahu, s.s., 99 t^ 8 .,^ 0 ? 6 " 11^? Lyttelton. Invercargill, s.s., 136 tons, Sundstrom, from the south. „ > -July 18.— Dunedin, schooner, 66 tons, Bergesen, from Napier.

DEPAHTURES. July 12.-Invercargill,s.s., 136 tons, Sundstrom, for Invercargill. Janet Nicoll, s.s., 496 tons. M'Lean, for Westposfc. Wakatipu, s.s., 1258 tais, Etoan, for Oamaru. ;W. B. Flint, barque, 793 tons, Pearsons, for Lyttelton. July i3.-Tara W era, ss 1269 tons, Sinclair for Sydney, via the East Coast.— -Talune, 1303 tons, Kennedy, for Melbourne, via the Bluff and s.s., a 32 tons, Kamsay, for West Coast ports, viaTimaru.— r Herald, b.s., 356 tons, Jones, for Greymouth, via intermediate port| gg Oamaru:— Peng^ip, sis., 442 tons, Bernech, for northern ports. Wakatimi, s.s., 1258 tons, Ewan, for Sydney, via Cook Strait. RJufy 18.-Invercargm y s.s., 136 tons, Sundatrom, for Invercargill. -

THE DIRECT STEAMERS. The Ruapehu arrived at Plymouth on the 13th m The Arawa (Lyttelton, June 22) left Rio on the morning of tho 14th inst. with her cargo of meat in good condition. . _, „ „ The s.B. Tainui sailed from Plymouth on the 12th inst. for New Zealand ports, and will make Port Chalmers her first port of calL She is due to arrive on August 25. - , „„_„ The New Zealand Shipping Company's R.M.S. Rimutaka, from Plymouth, via Tenenffe, Cape Town, and Hobart, arrived off,the heads at 7 p.m. on Thursday, and anchored until 1.30 p.m. yesterday, when she steamed iniide the heads under the charge of Pilot Paton, and was met in the lower harbour by the customs boat, and having a clean bill of health was admitted 1 to pratique by Dr Cunninghame (health officer), and cleared in by Captain Gray (customs surveyor). She continued her course, and was berthed alongside the George street pier at 2.30 p.m. She brings 2384 tons cargo, 850 tons of which is- for Dunedin, 650 •toni for Lyttelton,, 825 tons for Wellington, and so tons for Auckland; 11 bags mails, 20 cases parcel ports, and 100 passengers. &he is still under the command of Captain Greenstreet, who The Rimutaka's actual passage from Plymouth to the heads is 44 days 19 hours and 10 minutes. The health of all on board has been good, and no casualties have occurred, while the usual sports and amusements have taken place. We are m-

SULPHUR ON FIRE.

(Per Mail Steamer^ at Auckland.) The British ship Elmbank, in port at San Francisco, on June 10, from Hankodale, Japan, with a cargo of 1100 tons of coal and 2400 tons of sulphur, came very near being destroyed by the sulphur catching fire while she was lying at the wharf discharging cargo. Hundreds of tons of the stuff was in combustion, and the fumes arose in white clouds, nearly asphyxiating those at work in the vicinity and the firemen. Water was found to be of no avail in quenching the fire, but fortunately by the efforts of a chemist named Price, who went at it in a scientific way, the work was accomplished. He used carbonic acid gas, which he pumped into the hold in a steady flow, after generating it in seven large hogsheads by means of muriatic acid and marble dust.

During the week which ended July 16 nine vessels, with a total of 6305 tons, arrived at the Dunedin wharves, and 12 vessels, representing a total of 8823 tons, left them. Captain M'Callum, deputy harbourmaster, received a message on Friday afternoon from Captain Louden, signal master at Taiaroa Heads, that the pilot boat had picked up a piece of a vessel's mast (kauri) 48ft in length and 14in in The s.s! Rimutaka was busily employed on Tuesday in taking frozen mutton' on board, together with bales of wool and leather. The ship Waimate was towed up to Dunedin on Tuesday afternoon and berthed' at the Victoria W ThVshaw, Savill, and Albion Company's ship Oamaru, from Glasgow, was reported from Taiaroa Heads at 10 a.m. on Saturday, in response to which the tug Plucky proceeded down to tender her, bringing" her inside the heads Bhortly after noon and towing her up as far as Deborah Bay, where she anchored, having previously been passed and cleared in by Dr Cunninghame (health officer) and Captain Gray (customs surveyor). The Qamaru's passage has been rather a long one, having occupied 105 days from port to port, which ia accounted for by meeting adverse winds while running down her easting, notwithstanding which she come.s into port in good order. She is under the command of Captain Thomas. Th'eNew Zealand Shipping Company^ Waimate, from London, arrived off the heads on Sunday morning, and was tendered by the tug Plucky, which brought her into port under the charge of Pilot Paton, and towed her up as far as the quarantine ground, where she anchored, having on board 486 packages of gunpowder, and, all beingwell, she was promptly passed and cleared in by the health officer (Dr Cunninghame) and customs surveyor (Captain Gray). The Wimate brings 1200 tons cargo, 800 tons being measurement and 400 tons dead weight, her transhipments being 6760 packages for Oamaru, Timaru, Invercargill, and Wellington, with 15 knots of submarine cable for the latter port. She is under the command of Captain Worster, whom we congratulate on the very fair passage of 92 days from anchor to anchor, notwithstanding she was detained for five days in the Channel, and the vessel gomes into port in most C^lt isTtated that the American Steel Barge Company has contracted for the building of two whaleback ships in Liverpool. One wilj be a steamer and the other a tow-barge or consort. They are intended for the iron ore trade between Cuba and Philadelphia, and will be ready by July next. These vessels will sail under the British flag. The combined capacity of the two vessels will be 9000 tons. They will carry short pole-sparg.— The Nautical Magazine. TheTJmbriahas the largest propeller of all the Atlantic liners. It is 24Jft in diameter, and has four blades, each of which weighs seven tons, and the complete screw weighs 39 tons. The boss cost £1000; the blades of manganese bronze cost £120 a ton, or £3360 for the four? so that when the gundries are added we g«t close ou to the rouna

figures. In one of the Peninsular and Oriental boats the substitution of bronze for steel gave increased speed, required less engine power, and saved as much as 700 tons of coal on one trip out The steel twin-screw yacht Valiant, built for Mr W K. Vanderbilt, of New York, to replace the Alva, which was sunk by collision last year, was launched in May from the building-yard of Messrs Laird Brothers, of Birkenhead, England. The vessel is 310 ft long, 39ft 3in beam, and 25ft 6in deep, and her tonnage is about 2400. She is expected to develop a speed of 15 knots under natural draught, and 17 knots under moderately forced draught. The Norwegian Maritime Journal of April 19 contains the following notice: — "'Professor Nordenskiold has wired to Mr Andreas Aagaard, in Tromsb, to send to Stockholm two skippers having a good knowledge of the sailing in the TKaran Sea. In consequence the skippers B. Pedersen and T. N. Isaksen have been selected and sent to Stockholm." This seems to indicate that the famous northern discoverer is meditating some new exploring voyage. The ship Earl of Shaftosbury, from Bombay to Rangoon, has been wrecked under extraordinary circumstances off the coast of Ceylon. The captain mistook the Basteryn light for that of Point de Galle. The former flashes every minute, the latter every minute and a-half, yet the two were confused, with the result that the ship, with all her sails set, ran ashore, and six lives were lost. The barque Limache, of Liverpool, from Adelaide to the United Kingdom or Continent, with a cargo of 11,403 bags of wheat, whose arrival in the English Channel was reported on June 8, subsequently put into Rochfort on the west coast of France, with her cargo on fire. The fire was extinguished on the vessel arriving in port. An Admiralty order has been issued for a new type of war vessel to be commenced shortly at Sheerness Dockyard. The proposed vessel is to be named the Alert— after the sloop which took part in the last Arctic expedition,— and has been designed by Mr W. H. White, C.8., Director of NaVal Construction. She is to have a length of 180 ft, a breadth of 32ft 6in, and a displacement of 960 tons. 'She is intended for service on foreign stations— like the Pacific and Cape of Good Hopewhere docking accommodation is limited, and for that purpose her hull will be sheathed with wood and copper. Her engines are to be of the triple expansion type, estimated to develop 1400-horse power under forced draught, with a speed of 13*25 knots per hour, and 1050-horse power under natural draught, with a speed of 1225 knots per hour. The armament of the Alert will be of the latest type and more efficient than that of most of the gunboats at present serving on foreign stations. She will carry six 25-pounder- quick-firing guns and four 3-pounder quick-firing guns. The first of the six new steamers ordered by the Pacific Steam Navigation Company recently arrived in Liverpool, and has sailed for the Pacific under the command of Captain Hayes, one of the most experienced commanders in the company's service. The Orellana is a single-screw steamer built by Harland and Wolff, of Belfast, and is a fine specimen of the modern cargo and passenger steamer. She can stow 5550 tons of deadweight cargo, and has accommodation for 70 first-class passengers and 800 emigrants. Briefly, she is a modification of the builders' wellknown type of ocean-going steamers. Midship she is rather lofty, and all the first-class cabins are above the maindeck. Needless to say, she is fitted with " all the latest improvements," and has ample facilities for the rapid handling of cargo. She can steam 13£ knots, and her engines can develop nearly 4000 indicated horse-power. Her steam-steering gear is the invention of Mr W. Wilson, of Messrs Harland and Wolff. There is a complete refrigerating plant, and in every respect the Orellana is a credit to her builders and owners.— Fairplay. Other transatlantic steamship companies are making preparations to contest supremacy with the Cunard Company. The White Star Company are the first, and have ordered from Messrs Harland and Wolff, of Belfast, a steamer 800 ft in length, or exactly 120 ft longer than the Great Eastern. The principal stipulation of the contract is that the steaming power of the new leviathan shall be in excess of that of the Campania, which is equal to about 28 English miles per hour. The firm are hastening the completion of the White Star liner Gothic, 500 ft long, 8000 tons burthen, and ex1 pected to equal the Campania in the matter of 1 speed. In this connection it is interesting to note that Messrs Harland and Wolff have expressed the opinion that a much higher rate of speed cannot be attained so'long as steam boilers and coal are used for the generation of energy. As yet no effective method of applying electricity, so as to lessen space, has been discovered by those who predict that the days of steam as a motive power are numbered.