SHIPPING NEWS. COLONIAL AND FOREIGN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2253, 6 May 1897, Page 38

SHIPPING NEWS. COLONIAL AND FOREIGN.

Arrivals. April 28. — Napier, 48t, from Fortrose. — Botokino 1279t, from Oamaru, — Tarawera, 1276t, from Melbourne, via Hobart and Bluff. — Corinna, 83St, from Westport, April 30. — Rangatira, 4154t, from Timaru. — Annie Hill, 121t, from Kaipara. tt May 3.— Talune, 1303t, from Sydney, via Wellington and Lyttelton.— Yolande, 393t, from the Clarence River. Departures. April 27. — Invercargill, 136t, for Invercargill. — Ohau, 411t, for Napier, via Oamaru. — Tasmania, 1265t, for Sydney, via the East Coast. April 29.— Isabella Anderson, 78t, for Kaipara. — Herald, 356t, for Taranaki, via intermediate ports. —Corinna, 838 1, for the West Coast, via Timaru. - Napier, 48t, for Owaka and Waikawa. April 30. — Te Anau, 102 St, for Lyttelton ai d Wellington. £lay 2.— Rangatira. 4154t, for London. May 3.— Obed Baxter, 877t, for Lyttelton. THE DIRECT STEAMERS. The Tekoa sailed for London from Monte Vie co on the 25 th. The Tokomaru, from Napier (March 6), arrived at London on the afternoon of the 27th, with her meat in good condition. The Maori, from Wellington (March 9), arrived at London on Wednesday afternoon, with her cargo of meat in good order. The Kaikoura left Plymouth on Saturday for Wellington. The Otarama passed the Cape on the 27th. ACCELERATING THE SPEED OF SHIPS. The New York Herald is responsible for particulars of the invention of "a simple and inexpensive device for accelerating the speed of ships and preventing barnacles and corrosion." The invention consists of a mechanism which envelops the submerged poition of a thip with it film of oil, thus reducing friction and overcoming to a large degree the lesiestance of the water. A series of iron flanges are fastened along the bottom and sides of the ship below ths water line, in which are inserted sheets of woven wire netting, lathing, or sheet iron, covered with an absorbent composition saturated with oil. The flanges have a semi-circular covering on top, below which runs a finely pei f orated pipe, which ejects a line spray of oil against ths inside of the nange and on to the sheets, from which itspreiuU downwards. The oil ia not carried away by the water, but through capillary action is spread, thus keeping the ship's hull greased without any waste of oil. It is said that the composition is a perfect carrier of oil under the surface of the -water— a. feature which has never before been achieved, and which ■will make oil perform below the water line the same service that it does in quelling a rough sea.

It is said for the invention tJi „plied, .plied to any, vessel, either steam or sailing, U « il' increase the speed by at least 25 per cent, without augmenting the amount of machinery or the expenditure of fuel. Another and most valuable feature claimed is that it will prevent the growth of barnacles. These enemies to ships' hulls necessitate frequent dry docking and t craping at large coat\ The inventor also declare* that the fatty composition will completely prevent corrosion of hulls. The oil used is crude petroleum, and is supplied to the pipes by tanks aud valves located above the water line. The system is so arranged that in rough weather a large quantity of oil can be discharged along the sides of the ship and distributed over the surface of the water, thu9 providing a more effective method of greasing and smoothing high seas than any yet devised. The covering composition is an oleaginous preparation of tallow, calciued carbon, and several other ingredients which the inventor keeps secret. It is caW that it hardens in the water and cannot wash off, and can be applied to submarine war projectiles, permitting double velocity. The in- .. ventor is Rudolf Altechul, a civil and mechanical engineer.

The Huddart-Parker Company's fine steamship Tasmania left the cross wharf at 1 p.m. on the 27th with 500 tons of cargo and a full complement of passengers for -Sydney, via the East Coast ports. The Ruahine's Dunedin cargo < consisted of 164 tons of cheese. Her Wellington cargo includes 990 bales wool, 51 bales sheepskins, 676' bag 3 grass seed, and J528 cases cheese. The e.s. Tarawera, from Melbourne, via Hobark and the Bluff, arrived alongside the George street pier at 6 a.m on the2Sth. She left Melbourne at 2 p.m. on the 22nd inst., raased Williamstown at 4 p m., an«l arrived at Hoburt at 6 a.m. on the 24th. A Wellington telegram 'dated the 29th ult. says : — When the Huia wab placed on the patent slip yesterday it was found the bottom of the vessel was completely denuded of paint and not a bat nacle could be seen, and the plates gave one the impresstion that they had just been thoroughly scraped. In view of the fact that the vessel had not been cleaned for some months this was legarded as very curious. The explanation piobably is that dining a heavy fresh in the Wanganui River some little time hack, when the water was thick with sand and pumice, these thoroughly scoured the plates. The p.*. Tarawera was floated into the graving dock on Thursday afternoon for cleaning and painting. The customs revenue collected during the last month on goods cleared for consumption amounted to £31,455 lls lid, and the beer duty for the month came no £1425 7s. During the corresponding month of last year £'28,!>03 ISs Id was collected on goods cleared for c .nsumption, and the beer duty amounted to £1256 23.

The s.s>. Waikato is rapidly dischargingher cargo into the railway trucks at the George street pier, about 2700 tons having been put out.

The s.s. Rangatira was busy on Saturday coaling and taking on board frozen mutton, cases cheese, preserved meats, wool, and other cargo. She left the George street pier at 1.30 p.m. on Sunday for London, but owing to two of her crew being absent she anchored outside tho heads. As the men could not be found and there was no sign of them ou the arrival of the 4 p.m. train from Dunedin, two other men were shipped and conveyed on board by the tug Pmclry- This is not the first occasion of a steamer having to anchor outside owing to some of the crew leaving. Port on the point of departure. •The Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company's Bteamer Rangatira, which sailed on Sun,day for London, took the following cargo from Port Chalmers :— 11.514 carcases mutton, 1474 cases cheese, 1144 do preserved meats, 228 bales wool, 6 do Bheepskinsj 20 do labbitskins, 24 casks pelts, 25 pkgs sundries, and 1 cate live stock. The s s. Talune, from Sydney, .via Wellington and Lyttelton; arrived alongside the Bowen pier at 9 a.m. on Monday. She left Sydney at 4.30 p.m. on the 26th ult.

During the week ending May 2, eight vessels, with a total of 505S tons register, arrived at tho Dunedin wharves, and 10 vessels, with a total of 7922 tone, left them. The barquentine Yolande, from the Clarence River, was reported from Cape launders ou Monday forenoon, and was tendered by the tug Plucky, which brought her into port, and she was berthed alongside the George street pier to discharge her cargo of timber. She left the Clarence Hiver on April l(j, had N. and N.E. winds to lat.

The a.s. '1 arawera was floated out of the graving dock on Monday afternoon.

The importance of the Sydney shipping trade may be inferred from the fact that during the past year 1714 vessel?, foreign-going and intercolonial, representing in the aggregate 3,282,7c8 tons, arrived at the port of Sydney. Theße carried 76,212 as crew and 62,633 passengers. During the month of December 46,000 tons of new steel steamers and 1600 tons of iron were added to the British register. The removals from the register 1 were about 37,000 tons, so that the gain in iteam was about 10,600 tons in the month. On the other hand the sailing vessels added were little over 2000 tous, while the removals were 13,000 tons ;'so that the additions of tonnage just about balanced the removals in the total. In December four steel and eight iron steamers were sold to foreign nations, while two iron and five wooden sailing ships were also sold to foreigners. These vessels were mainly old, varying from 13 to 20 years. The Hamburg- American S.S. Company, of Hamburg, own the largest merchant ship in the

world. She is the Pensilvany, and was constructed at the famous shipbuilding yards of Messrs Harland and Woolf, of Belfast. Her gross resistor is 21,000 tons, and she is fitted to carry 200 first class, 300 second clas». and 1000 intermediate passengers. Her officers and crew 'number 275 men, and she is guaranteed to steam 14 knots an hour. After being delivered to the company at Hamburg she will leave that port at an early date for New York. During the 16 months ending December 31, 1895, 66SS candidates for certificates of competency as mariners were examined by the Board of Trade officers, aad of these 101 failed as colour blind. Of those who failed 21 availed themselves of the right to appeal, and eight passed on appeal. The Imperial Government do not consider any case for revising the tests has been made out.

The Russian Government are laying down a new cruiser of 14,000 tons displacement in a Baltic yard. The cruisers Pallada and Daiana and an ironclad of 3200 tons for coait defence are to be built in the new Admiralty Yard, an ironclad of 8800 tons at Nicolaieff, and several transnorts and torpedo boats at St. Petersburg, Nicolaieff, and Abo. On March 6 the first-class battleship Jupiter, having com Dieted her trials, returned to Chatham. The eight hours full-power natural draught trial was run in. a perfect gale, but the engines developed 10,248 horse-power, and the average speed of the ship, with a pressure in the boilers of 1481b, was 15 8 knots an hour. The following figures fioin the official rccoid of the four hours' full-power forced draught trial show that the ship made an excellent performance : — Draught of wat°r, forward 25ft *sm, aft 2lift 2£in ; speed of f-hip, IS'4 knots an hour ; steam pressure in boilers, 1501b per square inch ; mean indicated horse-power, 12,475 The 30 hours' continuous steaming test showed that th-3 consumption of f oal was 1 511b per indicated horse-power per hour.

H.M.S. Whiting, torpedo-boat destroyer, built p-5 Jairow by Palmer's Shipbuilding and Iron Company (Limited), ha« been taken out to sea for trial previous tn beiug despatched to the dockyard. She wai.rau ft number of times over the niesbiuvd mile at an average speed of oO 2 knots, aud was kept luuniug for three houifa at an average «=peed of 30' l knots ptr hour. The machinery and boileis worked in a highly satisfactoiy manner. Experiments were made in circ'o turning with both engines running at a high spceu astern and helm hard over, find the 1108861 made a complete ciivle with » diameter of a little over twice her own length. *hu is fitted with three-crank triple-expansion engines, and Reed's patent water-tube boileis, similar to those litreii to the previous torpedoboat destroyers built at J arrow. 11.M.5. Seal is the ninth of the ten 30-knot tornedo-boatdestroycrs under construction by Messrs Laird Bros., Birkeuhead, for the British Admiralty. H.M S -Flying Fish was launched from The Howdon Yard of I'aJmer's Shipbuilding and Iron Company (Limited). Hor dimensions are : — Length, 2lstt ; breadth (moulded), '-Oft 9in ; depth, 12ft lOin ; draught, sft sini n ; displacement, 300 tons ; speed, 30 knots ; 5900 indicated horse-pi wer.