THE ATLANTIC GREYHOUNDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2104, 21 June 1894, Page 36

THE ATLANTIC GREYHOUNDS.

A report by the last English mail with regard to the doings of the Atlantic greyhounds states that the time for record breaking is not due till mid-July, when the long, ice-avoiding course may safely be deserted. But the 10.000-ton Lucania has not waited for that. On the first eastward trip after her annual overhaul she made the fastest passage ever made. It is not, however, the shortest. The time was four minutes greater than that of her sister's best. But the distance being 82 miles farther the performance is unrivalled. Her mean sea speed is 2173 knots, against 213 by the CampanU. The weather must have been atrocious and against recod-breaking, for the I^ew York, also fresh from an overhaul and sailing three days earlier, was over eeven days to South* ampton. She took the maty against the Teutonic on this occasion, but the latter, the White Star boat, which was denied a special service, landed her few specially-addressed mails in time for an early afternoon delivery in London, whilst the New York's mail was not avuiUble to business men till next day, and thus lost three days in reply.

The Huddart, Parker, and Co.'s s.s. Tasmania left the tongue wharf on Monday afternoon for Sydney, via the East Coast ports, with \)2 passengers and some 200 tons of cargo. During the week ending June 17, 16 vessels, with a total of 10,098 tons, arrived at the Dunedin wharves, and 13 vessels, with a total of 10,108 tons, left them.

During the week ending April 25 six British and 14 foreign sailing vessels, and three British and four foreign steamers were reported as lobt tb Lloyd's Register. It is extraordinary that England, whose maritime interests in the Atlantic are so vastly in excess of those of the United States, should be content to leave it to that country to take measures for concerting a joint plan of action among maritime nations for ridding the North Atlantic routes of the derelicts which constitute so grave a danger to navigation. It is to be hoped that the petition shortly to be presented to the Foreign Secretary, which has been signed by 830 British captains, commanding an aggregate gross tonnage of nearly two millions, will have the effect of moving the Government to take more active steps in the matter. When the White Star steamer" Naronic was missing last year the general belief was that she had foundered after striking a submerged derelict. The danger is once again brought home to us by the non-arrival of the Wilson Line steamer Apollo, which left New York for Antwerp on February 11, and is now uninsurable. It is feared that in this case also a sunken derelict has caused the loss of a fine steamer with all on board.— Shipping Gazette. While H.M.S. Oilando was on her way from Sydney to Auckland an accident happened to an able seaman who was hauling on a rope when his left hand became jammed in the block, and two of his fingers were cut off. On the night after sailing from Auckland a very peculiar accident occurred. The O rlando was driving into a heavy sea at a high speed, her engines under forced draught, exerting between 8000 and 9000-horse power. ' It was a full-power trial, one of the periodical tests that are made by the warships. Heavy bodiesjof water washed her decks as the armour-clad ship, with her heavy belt of lOin of steel, ploughed into the waves. In one of these heavy washes one of the huge projectiles used in the 9in gun got adrift out of the rack and took charge on deck. The ship was so lively at the timo that the ponderous mass of steel walloped from side to side with a force that threatened serious consequences to the deck fittings, and indeed to the men on duty. A seaman, seeing what he thought to be a chance to secure it, matte a dash for it, but a lurch of the fighting Bhip threw it violently upon him, and crushed one of his feet almost into a pulp. An amputation waa subsequently performed, and the man is making goodprogresstowardsrecovery. The full-speed trials were abandoned, the weather being too severe. The Orlando has gone to Sutherland docklfor cleaning, and after her return from the islands she wUlberecommissioned for a further three yeara' service on the Australian station.