THE NVY WAY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144071, 16 April 1913, Page 5

THE NVY WAY.

COALING A BATTLESHIP. OFFICERS AND MEN AT WORK. Under date Melbourne, April 2, tho correspondent of the Christchurch Press writes:— This story of tho coaling of H.M.S. New Zealand is being written on board tho New Zealand collier .Katnir, which since early yesterday morning, has been pouring coal at tho average rate of nearly lour tons per minute ■ into tho 1 cavernous depths of the bunkers of this monster warship. Tho collier is vibrating to tho strain of her eight winches which, working at top speed, keep up a continuous roar, above which can be heard the shouts and cries of toiling men, and the clatter and squeak oi iron barrows trundling across tho quarter-acre stretch of the warship's deck. Tii scene outside is ono to stir the blood and is weird and wonderful in tho extreme. Tho New Zealand is riding at anchor about a milo from Gollibraud Pile lighthouse, and out there, on board warship and collier, is a grim picture of Work—strenuous unceasing work such as has never before been seen in Melbourne or in any port in Australasia. More than 750 mou have been hard at work—shovelling, wheeling, tipping, and trimming coal. Coal is everywhere, nothing is talked of. thought of or touched, but coal. Warship, collier and men aro black and begrimed with coal. THE PRICE OF SPEED. It takes coal, thousands of tons of, it, to run a Dreadnought, and since she left Portsmouth early in February, the New Zealand, though she has been steaming at. little more than half-speed —a triilc over 15 knots an hour—has oaten up between 8000 and .10,000 -tons of coal. This-monster cruiser, on the passage from Durban to this port, burned 3000 tons of coal, and when she dropped anchor hero on Monday morning, there Were only eight tons left-in her buskers. But sho had a reserve of 650 tons of oil-fuel. NEW ZEALAND COAL SUPPLIED. It had been arranged that tho New Zealand should take in a full supply of 3000 tons of coal at this port, so that as little time as possible would' bo spent in tho dirty task of coaling while she is in New Zealand waters. The Union Company’s collier Katoa loaded at Westport a full cargo of 3000 tons of best Admiralty coal, Tho collier had been waiting here for live clays, and shortly after H.ALS. New Zealand had anchored sho wont alongside ■ and got her gear ready for an early start yesterday morning. READY TO COAL SHIP. Roused about 5 a;m.' the warship men turned: out in thoir hundreds and donned, all manner of strange garbs in readiness for tho dirty day’s work which lay ahead of them. A few uniforms were to be seen, , but they were, of tho very oldest. There were officers and men hardly, distinguishable, 'from one another, in old clothes, sweaters; jerseys, dungarees, .boiler-suits, torn shirts, and singlets,, and even multicoloured football “togs." A tramp or hoachcoiubar would have looked askance at some of tho clothes worn, and where such ■ wardrobes fame from in such a ■ship, is a secret known only to navy men. Very soon these hundreds of strangely-clad -■ men swarmed cm deck. Hundreds of coal-shov-ols and bags, dozens of strops shiny with grease, scores of hand-trucks wero got up from below, bunker-hole covers were lifted, and groat canvas screens secured round tho great fortress-like superstructures to keep out the coal dust. Tho huge squat turrets amidships, oil either side of tho broad dock, each with its uair of grim, 12-inch- guns, wero turned inboard, and the guhs elevated so as; to give a clear passage beneath them. At a given signal a huge crowd of officers,, and men boarded the waiting collier, and in a twinkling hatches and hatehbeauis were lifted and stacked on deck. The four big holds were full to tho hatch-coamings' with black, glistening 'coal, which was presently being shovelled into bags, which were whisked on' board the warship as fast as they could be filled and stropped together. For a time tho rate of discharge was not fast, as only a few men could work in tho square of each hatch. Soon, however', the coal began to drop like water running from a leaky can, and once below the deck level - more and more men were crowded into the hatches, and work was in full- swing. Coaling ship in the Navy levels all ranks fertile time being! .Every man, whether commander, lieutenant, midshipman, seaman,' stoker, or marine, works shoulder to shoulder,, and works as though his very life dc-pends—as it may .really do at any hour—on getting as much coal as possible, into .his ship in tho quickest possible time.

STRENUOUS HOURS. There were no idlers anywhere, and the strenuous toil and tho rate of discharge kept up for hour after hour was a revelation. Black and grimy, and almost unrecognisable ■ in their coating of coal-dust, men delved like ants into the depths of tho holds, and swarmed like bees on the dock of tho New Zealand. For five consecutive' hours the rate of discharge from the collier was, respectively, .274 tons, 24G. tons, 254 tons, 275 tons, anfl 20G tons, a record for Australasian warship coaling. That men could keep going at such a rate all day. with very brief spells for meals and a break of barely seven hours for sleep last night, and start again at 6 o’clock this morning, fresh and cheerful, to finish the job, told that at,the back of it all there was that spirit of bulldog determination which has always obtained in ths Navy. The remark's chalked on the result board in No. 2 hold yesterday told of that spirit. The hatch had reached the “top line” with a discharge pf 81 tons for tho hour. “Good effort. More-ginger! Do it again. Look out for forecastle” ; and noxt hour when the figure is again 81 tons —“V. 6., but wo can do better.” The men turned-to again in their hundreds this morning. They were still black as the‘decks they trod upon; they had been to tired to wash overnight. Before 6 o’clock they aro at it again, and tho coal is going on board in tons. A spell for breakfast, and after an hour or two tho after-holds of the collier aro emptied, then the forward-hold finished. There now remains only a few tons m tho big hold, hut soon the floor is scraped bare, and as eight bells (noon) is struck, cheers from below fell that tho job is done. Tho collier has been emptied, and tho warship’s bunkers filled, with over 3000 tons of coal in barely twenty ■working horns.- After dinner tho rvr-rk of. ‘“Weannnng simp’” .starts wlli a literal hndxig d f the

docks, what time the collier is getting her crew together, in readiness to .sail for Newcastle. ■ Coaling gear is stowed nut of' sight, and tho old clothes hare disappeared, and before tho afternoon is far advanced the New Zealand and .tier officers and men are as if “coaling ship” had never been.