A NEW STEAMER.

Otago Witness, 5 December 1900, Page 54

A NEW STEAMER.

" A Wellington telegram says: — The New Zealand Shipping Company's new twinscrew steamer Tongairiro has been successfully launched at Newcastle (England)*" The largest vessel of the Union Steam Ship Company's fleet, the ocean liner Moana, made her first appearance in these waters on the J27th inst., and was berthed at the "George street wharf, waiting high Vater, when she proceeded up the [Victoria Channel to Dunedin, arriving alongside the cross wharf at 7.45 p.m. on a .draught of 20ft 7in. The Moana is considerably- larger than any other steamer yet em.ployed in the intercolonial trade, her gross t ttonnage being nearly 4000 tons. She is magnificently fitted for the accommodation of (passengers, and quite equal in her appoint■ments to any of the mail steamers that have ever visited this port. The Moana is noted |for her speed, and has made several record runs. Her average speed may be put down 'at 15£ knots, although 'sKe has frequently when occasion demanded registered and jnaintained -17 knots. ' The barque Aimora, from Liverpool to Sydney, which took fire during the voyage out, and put into Port Elizabeth, Algoa Bay, .■with her cargo damaged, left there on Octo|bei' 2, and reached Port Jackson on the 19th inst. Captain Nicolle states that the ex'■perience was a terrible one. Fire was discovered on August 9, and the heat and smoke ;became so overpowering that it was impossible to get below, and, as a last -resource, *he hatches were closed and every hole made 'airtight, and a course shaped for Port Elizabeth, 700 miles distant. Next day a heavy gale set in and lasted several days, while the ihorror of the situation was added to by the captain and members of the crew being overcQmo by gas, which forced its way through the seams of the deck, and there was also the extreme N danger of getting out provisions and 'stores from the lazarette. Ultimately she arrived at Port Elizabeth on the 26th of August, when renewed effort to extinguish the fire proved successful. -' Jt is reported that the new steamer being Milt 'by Messrs Harland and Woolf, of Belfast, for the White Star line, and to be employed in the Atlantic trade, is to be 19,000 ,16ns gross — 2000 tons bigger than the Oceanic, the present largest ship afloat — and is to be called the Celtic. The vessel is being built 'more for cargo purposes than for speed, but .will he pretty fast.

The clipper barque Alexa, from Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, via Edithburg, arrived on Wednesday last, and Went alongside Dunedin wharf to discharge cargo, of which she has some 624 tons. She left Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, on September 16. ' The- U.S.S. Company's steamship Moana left the _ George street pier, Port Chalmers, on Thursday afternoon with passengers and cargo for Sydney, via Cook Strait.

'• -On October 11,- Messrs William Denny and Brothers launched from the Leven Shipyard, Dumbarton, a. new steamer, built to the order of the New Zealand Shipping Company. This vessel will be one of the largest engaged in the trade between England and the colonies.

! cargo steamer Bushmills left the Boweu pier, Port Chalmers, on Thursday night for South Africa, via 'Lyttelton, at which port she takes in a cargo of grain for the Cape. i The Shire Line's splendid steamship Buteshire arrived at Port Chalmers on Thursday night, and was berthed at the ocean steamers' ■wharf. She comes into port in first-olass condition and will take in a quantity of general cargo and frozen produce for London. Qaptain Olsen's many friends will be glad to .welcome him on his return.

The s.s. Zealandia, from Sydney, via Auckland and East Coast ports, arrived at 11 a.m. on Sunday, and was berthed at the Victoria wharf. She left Sydney on the 21st ult., arriving at Auckland on the 25th.

The U.S.S. Company's steamship Monowai, Captain H. W. H. Chatficld, from Sydney, via Cook Strait, with 62 passengers and 230 tons of general cargo for this port, arrived at the B.owen pier, Port Chalmers, at 8 a.m. of Saturday, and afterwards steamed up to Dunedin. She left the company's ■wharf at Sydney at 1 p.m. of the 24th ult. The following vessels have been in harbour during the past week : — Arrivals : Aratapu, schooner, 122 tons; Moana, s.s., 3915; 'Alexa, barque, 432; Moura, s.s., 1276; Buteshire, s.s., 5574 ; Monowai, s.s., 2137 ; Zealandia, s.s., 1735; Hawea, s.s., 1114; Invercargill, b.5.,---123 ; Viking, barque, 749 ; Timaru, dredge, 54 ; Moana, scow, 96 ; — total, 17,327 tons. Departures : Westralia, s.s., 1819 tons; Invercargill, s.s., 123; Corinna, 8.5., 820; Ganymede, barque, 569; Talune, 8.5., 1370; Moana, s.s., 3915; Cavalier, Bqhoo'ner, 36 ; Zior, schooner, 63 ; Waihora, ».js., 1269 j Bushmills, s.s., 2465;— t0ta1, 52,450 tons., The s.s. Buteshire up to Saturday had liaken in the following cargo at Port Chal,mers:— 5448 frozen sheep, 760 quarters, 102 case 3 beef, 14 calves, and a quantity of , tallow, oats, and other cargo. The Norwegian barque Viking, from Malileii Island, arrived off Otago Heads on Friday night and anchored until Sunday

morning, when she was tendered by the tugPlucky and brought up to an anchorage in Deborah Bay. The "Viking, which brings a full cargo of guano for the Bluff, comes into port to repair damages received between Lyttelton and this port. Captain Johanessen reports leaving Maiden Island on October 23.

The s.s. Monowai steamed down to Port Chalmers on Monday, and left in the afternoon for Melbourne, via the Bluff and Hobart.

The Timaru Harbour dredge was floated into the Port Chalmers graying dock on Monday to undergo her periodical overhaul.

The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey announce as the solution of the old Gulf Stream problem that it is caused by the trade winds from the east piling up the water in the western end of the Caribbean Sea, so that it is obliged to find some outlet, and consequently makes its way northward through the Yucatan Channel into the Gulf of Mexico, whence it flows by reason of gravity eastward into the Atlantic through the Straits of Florida. They recently ran a, line of levels from St. Augustine, on the east coast of Florida, to Cedar Keys, on the west coast, finding that the water at the latter point is very nearly a foot higher than that of the Atlantic at St. Augustine.