THE OCTOPUS LINER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12772, 25 May 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE OCTOPUS LINER.

TITANIC SUCKS THE NEW YORK FROM HER MOORINGS. THEORY PROVED. (London Express Correspondent. SOUTHAMPTON, April 10. A serious disaster was narrowly averted and a dramatio proof of the muchdebated theory of "suction" was given at the departure on her maiden voyage of the marvellous White Star liner Titanic. — the largest . steamer, m the world. As the Titanic passed from her berth to the open stream of Southampton Water the gigantic new liner "sucked"' the water between her and' the quay to such a degree that the strain broke the strong hawsers with which the liner New York was moored to the quayside, and for some time a collision between the two vessels looked • likely. Happily th© prompt action of the men m command • and the quick use of a couple of steam tugs prevented a collision, and the mighty Titanic at last steamed away down Southampton Water like a proud Queen of the Seas an hour late, but not at all. worried.

The "theory of suction" was' held by some persons to be all moonshine when it was urged as. the reason, why the cruiser Hawko ran into tne Olympic— the Titanic's twin sister^-ih. the Solent last September. You need to get up on the boat deck of the Titanic, as I "did this morning before she sailed, and to look down worn there bii little things like the Majestic, the St. Louis, and the Philadelphia lying a few V cables away, to realiso how colossal the new White Star boats are, and how enormous the power of their propellers must be. A COMPARISON. It is not very long since the Majestic was regarded as one of the world's •wonders.. This morning .we looked down and laughed^ a kindly laugh '-at her and the two American Line boats moored beside her. They seemed such small affairs, with their 10,000 or 11- 000 tons, compared with, the Titanic's 46,000. Halving looked down ."on the world from the Titanic's boat deck, I went on the quay and looked up atthe projecting heads of the' passengers. ... -fit was like standing by the Wall, of St.. Paul's Cathedral,, and craning your, neck to get a glimpse of the Apostles on • the roof. It was just noon when- the vast steel wall m front of us began. to, move. For the. first, yard a caterpillar might have raced- the Titanic. If Was" difficult to imagine such a tremendous object moving so slowly: I walked -along to the end of tjie deep water dock, and saw lier' come by, at a slow pace, within a stone's throw of the quay. Her propellers churning the ggeeri sea, up to liquid grey mud. ' •;••■,..>.'.•• '• She had to go round, a bend to the left — not. at all o sharp bend-r-about half a mile further on, m order to cle,ar the end of the long quay, -which juts out slantwise into Southampton. Water. It was while trying .to rounds this bit of a 'bend that, the Titanic pulled the 10,798-ton New York from -her, berth: When the Titanic started I walked the half-mile or more seaward ;to 'see the last of her. Hundreds of townsfolk had already gathered at the; quay end. For some minutes the line of cold storage and other buildings blocked the view. When I came out on the quay end an astonishihg 'p3ctade Held the gaiae-of the crowd, for between %he; Titanic and the quay — a! distance of two or three hundred yards —the New, York was drifting stern first towards the outgoing new-liner. :.'* . LINER ADRIF-r. ».;. Tlie Oceanic lay moored along the quay-side. A few -minutes before the New York wris moored close beside her. .Now. thje' 'New; ' York . was- adrift and sweeping towards the Titanic. What was said to have happened seemed, a fantastic absurdity, until I saw the frayed end of a steel: wire hawser, about as thick as a man's wrist, lying on the quay. "It snapped like the crack of a gun," a man told me H who saw it break. Broken hemp cables hung down 'the New York's side. : ' '"

Tho crowd was breathless with exciterheiit. People climbed into railway trucks to see what was going to happen. As. soon as the . New York broke loose the Titanic reversed her engines, and m a brief space of time, stopped dead, and began to back.' Then tho trigs Neptune dnd Vulcan raced at fhi New York, caught her with ropes by: the bows and the stem, and tried to lug her back to her placb.- ■ ■■; 7 ', It was. difficult to tell distances, look* ing broadside on; -but it;, seemed as if you could have thrown; a; rha-t from the Oceanic to the New York,: arid from the New York to the Titanic. 'There was riot much room to spare between the New York's stern arid the Ti£anic's ; side, or between her bows and -tho side of the Oceanic. ;, / '. But no one m uniform was flurried. *A master of port navigation, with a megaphone, stood stolidly on the quay^ issuing orders across the wate^ as calmly as if he were having his tea. .He had tlie New York pulled back, 7 across the Oceanic's bows, and round the bend to the quay, and there moored securely, arid then he let tho Titanic -./come on asain towards the open water.' She had becked right away towards the deep water dock while the New York was beirig tugged about like a naughty child.

LARGEST. SHIP AFLOAT. It was a^ relief to every one when the Titanic at last passed the bend, and glided slowly away, to sea, with the Rcyal Mail liner Tagus following*. her, liko a maid of honor holding: the train ol a queen. ' It was a thrilling start for the 1 maiden voyage of the largest steamer -m the world. The Titanic is 'the Olympic's twin, but she is, so I was, told, just three inches longer and nearly 1000 tons larger, so that' she is the largest' ship afloat. .'* She is' even . more wonderful than the Olympic, for she has a Parisian restaurant, m addition to the .other palatial restaurants which the Olympic posses-res m coriimbn, and a regal : crush ro^m, where the first-class passengers meet before and after meals. . It is scarcely a coriipliment to ' tbe Titanic to say that she is like a sumptuous hotel afloat. Most of the Lon lon bhtels are far less sumptuous. Tlie millionaire who pays, his £580 for •-.private suite with a promenade dsck r his own, or the third-class passenger who takes his ease m the Spacious smoke room which is part of hjS lot, could, scarcely expect to find afloat better value for money. "'■ ' •• The Titanic proves again*, that "White Star" means comfort, 4 ;

[Four days later the Titanic was at the bottom of the sea.] . '-