Marine Tattle

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 92, 9 July 1927, Page 2

Marine Tattle

FASTER VOYAGES.— The Australian Commonwealth Line has announced an amended programme of sailings

for the Bay and Dale steamers, to come into operation in July. Arrangements

have been made for sailings at maximum intervals of three weeks, and the times occupied in the voyage from Australian ports to the United Kingdom under the amended itinerary will be: —From Brisbane: Bay steamers, 49 days; Dale steanpers, 48 days. From Sydney: 42 days, 41 days. From Melbourne, 38 days, 37 days. From Adelaide, 35 days, 34 days. From Fremantle, 30 days, 29 days. The new programme will accelerate the voyage from Brisbane by seven days, and from Sydney by three days. NIMBIN FINISHED.— The North Coast S.N. Co.’s new motor ship Nimbin, according to a cable received by the company, is to leave Copenhagen at the end of this month for Sydney. She will come out via the Suez Canal route under the command of Captain Beedie, and is expected to arrive about the middle' of August. Built by Burmeister and Wain, Copenhagen, the Nimbin has been specially designed for the North Coast trade. She is 215 feet in length, 33 feet in breadth, and 13 feet in depth. The propelling machinery consists of one main Diesel motor, manufactured by the builders, and developing 1,325 i.h.p. All the deck machinery will be electrically driven. CONGESTION AT BUENOS AIRES. —Much has recently been said regarding congestion at Buenos Aires, and the annoying and expensive delays thereby caused to shipping and merchandise. The subject is a very import* ant one, and so far there do not seem to be any signs of any improvement being effected by the responsib.e authorities. The latest example of the sort of thing that is constantly occurring in the docks of the capital of Argentina was provided when the new Spanish motor-liner Cabo Palos arrived there on her maiden voyage. The Port Authority gave a definite promise to the agents that the ship would be berthed by midday, and it was therefore arranged that a special luDcheon should be given on board that day. The guests were invited, and duly assembled at Dock No. 4 at noon, to the words of the “Times of Argentina, it was “only to see the vesel in J 1 stream, making toward the North Basin. The agents said she would be berthed in that dock, and all walked along the quays to await her. At halfpast one in the afternoop the Cabo Palos was in the middle of the North Basin, and she stayed there until halfpast three, when most of the guests left to return to their various offices. Meanwhile the North Basin was a sight for economists. Ships lay at all angles, tugs darted here and there; laden and unladen barges squeezed between passenger liners, some ready to sail;

whistles were blowing, winches were creaking, and chaos reigned. . . From the dock where the vessel was berthed to the North Basin is approximately 100 yards, and it took her the best part of an afternoon to negotiate that distance.” This scandal of congestion is also being vigorously tackled by other leading Buenos Aires papers. A LONG TOW. —One of the largest tows on record in Australian waters is that of the steamer Kooringa. of Mellraith, McEacharin’s Line, which brought the tug Koori from Fremantle to Sydney—a distance of 2,300 miles. “We had a splendid trip,” said Captain Strom, when Interviewed on his arrival at Sydney by a representative of the “Daily Telegraph,” “with nn c weather all the way, and not the slightest hitch occurred.” The Kooringa was fortunate In escaping the rough weather reported b> H.M.S. Renown; otherwise the toW ®? would have been more exciting. I® Koori, which has been used for towage work in Fremantle Harbour, n now been bought by the Bellambi c Company for similar work in Of 44 tons gross, the Koori is a } v0 *_p,t vessel, with a length of 65.8 r • breadth of 16.7 feet, and <* e P th 'in feet. She was built at Berry a bay 1909.