COAL BURNED ON A BIG ATLANTIC LINER.

Otago Witness, Issue 224, 28 May 1896, Page 38

COAL BURNED ON A BIG ATLANTIC LINER.

Not a little guesswork has been gone through 't>y many as to the probable quantities of coal wh'ch' are daily Bhoyelled into, the furnace mouths . of such big Atlantic liners as the steamers .Paris, New York, Cumpania, »nd Lucania{s*ysCas->)er'B Magazine). Ten years ago 100 tons a day was contideredamost prodigi' usconsumpti' n, little likely »to be excecdedin the years to come, and -wondering Comment there was in plenty that so v*st a quantity should find a legitimate outlet. Since then, however, the public mind has been educated * -up to higher figures, and statements of 200 and even 300 tons a day • have ceased to attract more than pausing totice. Three hundred and fifty tons, in fact, are said to beiburned on the Paris and the New York in every 24 hours ; but of .the Lucsnia and Campania no particulars have ever been ..given, so that an approximation based on what is known of the power -equipment of these ships is »\l that can be offered. Twenty-eight thousand horsepower has 'been astumed to be the amou t that each. of ; thete vessels requires to rpropel them at the great bpeeds which they maintain. Added to tbis power- of the main engines must be the appreciable figure represented by the host of auxiliary eftgises punip* which are necessary ad junct«, and which, with the steam heating systems and hot water apparatus, help to swbll the steam consumption to such a degree that a total allowance of, Bsy, 161b of steam per hour for each of the EB,OOO horae-power may be taken as quite within the mark. .Allowing, then, to. a boiler performance of 81b of steam per lib of coal, which cannot be far wrong, we have a coal conmmption of 21b pc) 1 hour for each horse power, or 5_6,*881b, equivalent to 600 tons per day. This is pietty plain figuring, though, of course, partly specula' ive ; •»nd while the outcome may seem exaggeratedly bigb, it no doubt quite truthfully represents the facts in the caee.— Weekly Commercial Ttfews.

The TJ.SJ3. Company's new steamer Rakanoa, .a cargo boat, has made a speed of 10J knots per hour on her trial trip. She left Knglaud on Arril 18 for New Zealand, via Amsti-rdajn and Delagoa Bay, in ch»rge of Captain G. H. Kichftrfsoß, who for some yeaw past has succ- s^fu'ly carried out the company's trade between New Zealand and 'the Ka»t. The schooner Lily, with cargo for Lyttelton, left Greymouth three weeks si^ce, and has not Bince been heard of. . 'Her owners, Messrs Cook, of Lyttelton, are very anxiom about her. The United States, Govtrnment are building four battle ships and 15 torpedo boat?, the total cost of which will be uearly,3s million dollar*. During the Week which ended 24th May 11 . vessels (with a total of 6317 tfms) a-rived at the Dunedin wharves and 13 veegels (registering 7452 j tons) left them. On her voyage from Manchester to Adelaide, the s.s Gulf of Ancud fvll in with £0 or 30 ice- I bergs. They varied in height from 80ft to 500 ft, while tome were moie than a mile in length The weather at the time was very foggy with drizzlirg rain, »nd an unutually sharp luok-out had to bd kept to avoid collision with the floating dangers. Tbe ice was sighted on the 13'.h and 14th March In the fiftieth degree of south latitude. In a paper which he read before the Institution of Naval Architects on March £5, Lord Charles Beresford contended that the present system of watertight doors in men-of-war affords little or DO protection to the ship when she is rammed or torpedoed ; that the cumber of such door* may be conveniently reduced^without impairing, nay, with increasing the fighting efficiency of the ship. The loss of th« Vanguard, in the Irish Sea, when touched by the -ram of the Iron Duke, of the Victoria, and Grosser Kurfurst rammed during peace manoeuvres, of the Blanca Eucalada when torpedoed, and the loss of the Italian vetsela by ramming at Lipa, all go to show that watertight doors do not get properly closed in an emergency. "No ship has Deen taved," he said, "when wounded below water-level at a moment when her watertight doors were open." *The "New Zealand Shipping Company's new Steamer Mataura, which wan launched in February last by Messrs Barclay, Curie, and Co., of "Wbite.lnch, has been specially built of steel for the conveyance of frozen, meat and general cargo between New Zualand and London. She is < ichooner - rigged, and constructed on Lloyd's three-deck rule to the highest class in their register. Tbe refrigerating machinery ha» been supplied by the Linde British Refrigerating Company (Limited), of London, and i* on their ammonia systpin. The dimensions of the Hataura are— length, 421 f t; beam, 54ft Bin ; and depth, 32ft, and she will c*rry -about 8400 tons. The engines »re.on the triple expansion principle, jwith.Howden'» forced draught, and were constructed by.thabmldflrfl.

Between the Ist May 1880 and the Ist May 1806 ' the following coal-laden vessels which have left Newcastle for ports beyond Australia or New Zealand h*ve been report- d missing, wrecked, or otherwise lost: -None in 1880 or 1881; in ISB2. the Sirocco, supposed to have foundered with £0 hands; in 1883, none; in 1884, the India, foundered with )8 hands ; in 1885 and 1886, none ; in 1887, the Lizzie Iredzle, supposed lost with 15 hands ;in 1888, none. In 1889— the Niagara, supposed loat with seven hands ; the Lucknow, missing with 17 hands ; the Suafeim, supposed lost with 24 hands; the County of Carnarvon, with 22 hands. In 1890, the Ha warden Castle with 23 hand?, the Ferudale with 22 hands, the Thtopbsne with 27 hands— all reported missing. In 1891, none. In 1892, the Oraiau Pasha with 12 hands, the Friar'sxCraig with 24 hands, the Minnie Young with six hands, and the Colwyn with 19 hands were reported wishing ; the King James was burnt at sea, the crew of 32 hands being saved. In 1893, the Lamona was missing with 21 hands; the Gowanburn is supposed to have been wrecked off the New Zealstnd coast, with 31 hands ; the Govan, foundered, 21 saved ; the Woolton was missing with 26 hands. In 1894, the CoHntraive was m using with 27 hands, and the Ni'-oya'Was wrecked and tlv> ciew of 12 suvud. In 1896, the Oumbr<de wai reported missing with 23 ha ids ; the Florence, on January 2 ; the Lady Laurence, on September 9, with 27 hands ; the Menai, on September 23, with 22 haudß ; and the Noddleburn with 17 hands. From the new issue of the French "Lloyd's Rpgibter," "the Repertoire General de la Marine Afetchaiide" of the Bureau Veritas it appears that out of 12,801 steamers of above IKO tons that exiat in the world to-diy, 5694 are BiMi-b. Great Britain also possesses ncaily oae-third of the existing sailing ships, and more than cnotkii'd of the sailing tonnage. Her ships, steam and sailing, number 14,971 out of a total of 42,157. •Next to -Great Britain comes the United State*, with 3794 ships ; Norway, with 3768 ships ; Germany, with 2165 ships; Italy, with 2122 «hip 3; and Russia, with 2001 ships. But, omitting sailing vessels and counting tteamers only, Great Britain, with her E691 steamers, is followed by Germsny, which owns only 779, France, •■which owbs .500, and Norway, ■which owns 490. It is computed that if placed end to end the British merchant, vessels now afloat would stretch for a distance of 570 miles, or fr m Cape Clear to Corunna ; and that if placed side by side they would m>re than suffice to bridge •the mouth of the channel between Falmouth and Brest. Their pres-nt value is estimated at not less than £220,0 i 0,000 Stirling, and, making only -seven voyage*, they could, without much difficulty, transport all the inhabitants of the United Kingdom with their personal luggage to the United States or elsewhere. The shipping company that possesses the laigest amount of tonuage is the famous Peninsular and Oriental. Then follow in euccession the North German Lloyd, of Bremen ; the Biitish India, of G'a-Row ; the Me^sagf-ries Maritimes, of -France ; the Navigazione Generate, of Italy ; the Hamburg American Company, of Germany ; the Ci p.ignie Transatlnn'ique, .of France; the Wilson Line, of Hull ; the Austrian Lloyd, of Trieste ; the Anchor Line, of Glasgow ; the Allau Line, also of Glasgow ; and the Cunard Colnpany, of Liverpool; bo that of the 12 largest shipping concerns in the world six are British. Of 14 merchant steamers of 8000 ton* and upwards nine are British, the largest of them being the Cunaiders Campania and Lucania, .each of 12,950 tons. The Urges-t American vessels are the Paris apd New Yoik (10,800 tons), which, however, were built in Knglfti.d ; the large ßt (••'erman vessel is the Fu>t>t Bismarck (8874 _ton«); and the largest French vessel 1« the Touraine (8863 tone) We are indebted to Captain W.. Thomson, Lloyd's surveyor at this port, for a copy of the returns of vessels totally lost, condeouned, ic. from October 1 to Dcct-mber 31, 1895, from which it appears that during th t period 72 steam vessels (of 49 141 tons net, and 76,397 tons gross) were reported. Of these, 12 were constructed of Bteel and registered 10,773 ton*, and 52 of iron, •with 63,457 tons ; while eizht were wood and composite, with 2167 ton 3. The number of mailing vessels lo«t w«b 305, with a total of 1*4,553 tons. Of these, eight were steel, with 10,703 tons ; 23 iron, with 24,064 tons ; and 274 vrood and composite, with 109,786 tons. Three steamers were abandoned at sea, with a total of 33f>l tons. Of these, ono -was steel and two iron. Nme were broken up or condemne ', with a total of 11,146 tons. Of theie, seven were iron and two wood and composite. Five steamers (four iron and one wood and composite), with a total «f 9269 tons, .were burnt, and 16 with a total of 15,224 tons were lost in collision ; of these three with 4297 tons were steel. 12 with 10,618 tons iron, and on« of 319 tons wuod and composite, f-ix vessels foundered : Of these one of 213 tons was steel and four of 50d0 tons iron, while one of 482 tons was wood and composite. Two steel vessel*, with 301 tons, were reported missing ; one (the Stork), a schooner owned in the United Kingdom, sailed from Gnmshy, in Yorkshire, on a fishing voyage on November 28, 1895; and the second, theGeiman schooner Geestemunde, of 16(> /tons, -jleft the Weser on a similar voyage on the same day, and has not been -heard of. Thiity-one vessels, representing a total of 31,^41 tons, were wrecked ; of these five with 5456 tons and 23 with 25,317 tons were iron, while three with 568 tons were wood and composite. Fiftyone wuod and composite sailing vessels, with a tot»l of 20,502 tons, were abandoned at 'sea, and two iron with 39 wood and composite sailing vessels, registering 16,087 -tons, were broken up and condemned ; 11, with 10,668 tons, were burnt. Three iron and euhfc wood and composite sailing vessels, with a total of 67"6 lons, were lost by collision, and £0, with 7034 tons, foundered. Four wood and composite vessel*, legistering 755 tons, arc reported Inst, and 21 vessels, with 17,608 tons, missing; and 146 veo»els^ viz., two steel with4Bd7 tonß, nine iron with 8977 tons, and 135 wood and composite with 51,441 tons— were wrecked.