SHIPPING NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2556, 11 March 1903, Page 56

SHIPPING NEWS.

THE DIRECT STEAMERS. The Maori, which left Wellington on the sth of February, sailed from Monte Video on Sunday morning for London. The Wakanui left London for Auckland on Tuesday. WELLINGTON, March s.— Arrived: 7.50 a.m., lonic, from Londou NAPEER, March s.— Sailed: 3.15 p.m., Delphic, for London. LONDON, February 28.— The Turakina left Plymouth to-day for Wellington and Lyttelton. THE SOUTH AFRICAN SERVICE. WELLINGTON, March 6. News has been received that the direct (steamer Sussex, which left here on January 21, arrived in Durban on February 27. WELLINGTON, March 9. Lyttelton has been made an extra port of call for the steamer Surrey, 800 tons of oats offering from that port for shipment to South Africa. ARRIVAL OF THE THJKUM. The schooner-yacht Tilikum, a vessel of only four tons register, arrived at Port Chalmers- on Saturday evening, and anchored in Deborah Bay. The Tilikum is a smartlooking little vessel, hewn out of one solid log of red cedar timber, and -is from 2in to 3in thick, strengthened about every 3ft by frames. Her length is 32ft on the keel, [ and 40ft overall. She has a beam of 6ft ! and depth of 3ffc. Her draught (including lOin of a keel) is 18in. The keel is fastened to the keelson by long spikes through the floor timbers. To the keel is fixed some 4001b of lead. Inside the Boat, below the floor, one ton of gravel -ballast ia carried, while on deck she carries 4001b of sand bags for shifting ballast. These are used to trim the yacht when sailing. The vessel is fitted with three pine masts, and is fore and aft rigged, carrying jib, foresail, mainsail, and a jib-headed spanker, 58yds in all. All the sheets and halliards lead to the cockpit, so that all the sails arc managed from that place. The stores are carried in the fore part of the little craft, and the cabin, placed well aft, is Bft long, with a high coachroof 15in above the deck. Aft of the cabin is a self-emptying cockpit, from which the boat is worked. Under the cabin are two water tanks containing 60gnl each. The whole of the deck and cabin are covered with canvas oiled and painted, thus making it perfectly watertight. In heavy weather a sea anchor — a hickory mast hoop, some 2ffc in diameter, made into a cone-shaped bucket of canvas — answers as an excellent drag. An old-fashioned Indian, made of wild goat hair, and fastened to two oars, was employed on several occasions for break- : ing the seas. The Tilikum left the Pacific i early in May, 1901, and cruised through the ! islands, arriving at Sydney on Novemb&r 20. Thence she proceeded to Melbourne, and remained •in the colony of Victoria until the end of 1892, afterwards coming on to New Zealand. She left the Bluff on the 4th inst., had variable winds along the coast, and reached Port Chalmers on the evening of the 7th inst.

The following are the shipping statistics for the past week: — Arrivals: Carin, brigantine, 216 tons; Invercargill, s.s., 123; Silverstream, barque, 1160 ; Janet Nicoll, s.s., 496 ; Mokoia, s.s., 2154; Duckenfield, s.s., 912; Moura, s.s., 1247: Invearcartrill, s.s., 123; Rimu, e.g., 143 ; Queen Mary, s.s., 3564 ; Moeraki, s.f., 27i4: W©?tralia, s.s., 1819; Ainsdale, ship, 1725;— total, 17,796 tons. Departures: Warrimoo, s.s., 2076 tons; In-ve-rcargill, e.s.. 123; Waikare, s.s., 1901; Mokoia, s.s., 2154; Aotea, s.s., 6423; Manapouri, s.s., 1028; Janet Nicoll, 5.% 496; Invercargill, s.s., 123; Kinclune, barque, 690; Moura, s.s., 1247; Moeraki, s.s., 2714; Invercargill, s.s., 123;— total, 18,093 tons. Total arrivals and departures, 35,889 lons.

The barque Wanlock, Captain Griffiths, has mado a remarkably smart passage of 67 days from Wellington to London. But the passage is not a record one from New Zealand, as in 1878 the New Zealand Shipping Company's ship Otaki. Captain Devitt, left Port Chalmers, and Shaw. Savill, and Albion Company's ship Crusader loft Lyttelton, and both entered thp> London docks after passages of 66 days. In the old days, when probably the fastest clippers ever launched were carrying the mails from Liverpool to Melbourne, a passage of from 64- to 70 days was looked upon as very fine indeed.

The new Whit© Star liner lonic is one of the largest steamers trading south of the Line, and is of 12,234 tons register. Her dimensions are: — Length 520 ft, beam 63ft, and depth 45ft. She is fitted with quadruple expansion engines of 4400 horse-power. There is accommodation for about 400 passengers, and cargo capacity of about 18.000 tons.

Tho Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company's s.i. Aotea, which left Port Chalmers en Thursday evening for London, via northern porta, took the following cargo from Dune€<Jin:—76o bales wool. 22 do rabbitskins, 36 do leather, 2 do glue pieces, 112 casks pelts, 1 case sundries, 166 do frozen rabbits. The s.s. Duckenfield, with the disabled ship Samuel Plimsoll in tow, left the Bowen pier, Port Chalmers, on Saturday afternoon for Sydney. From that port the Samuel Plimsoll will be taken to Fremantle.as a storeship. The ship Ainsdale, of Liverpool, from Newcastle. N.S.W.. with a cargo of coal for Tal Tal, Spanish South America, put into Port Chalmers on Sunday. Het cargo having become heated, the captain, for the safety of the ship and her crew, determined to make for Port Chalmers and ascertain the full extent of damage sustained. Aiusdale is a handsome steel ship of 1745 tons register, with iron decks, her dimensions being— Length. -270 f t: breadth of beam. 39ft Bin; and depth of hold, 23ft 4in. So far as can be seen from a short time on deck, everything appears right save that the cargo has reached more than a normal heat, and therefore has caused a natural amount of snxiety to the captain. The Ainsdale left Newcastle on February 26. There is a large quantity of wool in Messrs J. Mill and Co.'s stores at Port Chalmers waiting shipment by the s.s. Rimutaka. A charter was recently arranged for the well-known barque Hinemoa. to proceed from Melbourne to Buenos Ayre« to load wheat for either Melbourne or Sydney. .Since the middle of last November the Hinemoa hae been lying idle in Hobson's Bay, where she threatened to become quite a land mark. She left for her destination on February 23, having 64 days only to arrive there or lose her charter. As her bottom was thickly covered with marine growth, the barque Is likely to be greatly hampered, and it will be interesting 1 to learn whether she completes her voyage within the allotted time.

The Norwegian steamer Suggen was sighted recently by the Hamburg-American liner Pennsylvania rolling helplessly in a big sea in the Atlantic. The Suggen had lost her propeller, and as' the weather was tempestuous tho vessel became unmanageable. After drifting 150 miles in five days, during which five steamers passed her without observing her distress signals, when the Pennsylvania hove m sight the captain of the Suggen asked to b© taken on board that vessel, together with his crew, and this was done. As the Suggen was deeply laden, and a menace to navigation (towing being impossible in such weather), the sea cocks were opened, and there is no doubt she went to the bottom.