NUMBER 2 IN A SERIES OF LETTERS ADDRESSED TO A SHEEP FARMER’S SON IN NEW ZEALAND SiHhrW'W■' '?■'V'" : :' SB "■> V'. ■l■ Mbhl . , 'll i ■! I ■ ' T-LW;: : IF* TV ?gg " .ZgaMCTWMBMMMI •!' bb<Sbw ,b"'<t. ! ;.:* <^A^?^;^<:-'---^jy;.^-.: s j 88-a-a; wk«w wear®? 1 wia«® BBaaß-'BBa . .': ■ ■:. .B ■ I JmwßMlm Hwy/ [C f b><p b J:??.S ,rJ.f - -.<.; A fa jy BJ 7 a tter °f electric cables and com- JBWI 11 Bi Bi w ■ pressed-air hoses, snaking about all SgaSßgKh. >g. Fly .' . .-... -B.'?'' ■■<•: ■W I I J ■ over the place. And over on the port BOR- M .. side there’s the red glow of a forge, • And they really are trees -or were. where a gang of riveters are working. z Ji They’re the trunks of great Columbia You’d enjoy that, Tony. The three- gg > •: pines, 80 feet high, some of them, and inch steel rivets come cherry-red from wll||V so thick at the base you couldn’t get the fire, into the holes in the plates, to -Illlf your arms round them. We use them be held in position by the man inside Qjgg|f; -V' as main staging supports because wood the hull whilst his mate outside uses a * ; aSBL V stands up to hard knocks (and it gets pneumatic riveter to hammer the plenty) better than steel. When it comes rivets down. And the noise—! Imagine to materials, Dame Nature can still yourself inside a steel box, with • i " trump our aces, when she’s a mind to. someone slamming a sledge-hammer WfrWSillflry i But don’t get the idea that all this against the sides and you’ll get the idea. scaffolding is holding the ship. It’s Over on the other side of the ship there simply to enable the men to get we’ve been building a bow section for j * WWSWS to work and just now they’re swarming No. 1290, cutting and bending half- jf . ■'P JlSliiiS all over her platers and riveters and inch steel plates as easily as you would welders, all working like beavers to get work with cardboard. The job’s nearly j a y’ s work behind them. They’re good No. 1290 ready for the launch. They’re finished now and, with any luck, the chaps —l’ve known them for more inside the hull, too and if you could whole section will be lifted into posi- y ears than I’m going to tell. But do they come in with me, you’d think I ought tion and bolted down before the ever stO t o think that the very job to have written ‘hell’ instead of ‘hull’. hooter goes tonight. they’re working on today will be bringIt’s dark inside, except for the lamps And then the men will go streaming ing them their meat and their cheese slung here and there and the blinding out of the yard, back to their homes in and their butter and their fruit a year spots of the welders’ arcs. The floor is the little back streets, with another or two from now ? I wonder, Tony.... NEW ZEALAND OVERSEAS SHIPPING LINES SHAW SAVILL & ALBION CO. LTD ■ PORT LINE LIMITED • THE NEW ZEALAND SHIPPING CO. LTD • BLUE STAR LINE LIMITED-
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZJAG19600715.2.29.1
Bibliographic details
New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 101, Issue 1, 15 July 1960, Page 40
Word Count
520Page 40 Advertisement 1 New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 101, Issue 1, 15 July 1960, Page 40
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the New Zealand Journal of Agriculture. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this journal for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 International license. This journal is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this journal, please refer to the Copyright guide.