The.... "Maheno."

Progress, Volume I, Issue 2, 1 December 1905, Page 29

The.... "Maheno."

The latest addition to the Union Go's, fleet is the turbine-propelled " Maheno," built by Messis Wm. Denny & Bros., Dumbarton. The vessel is an elaboration of the usual type of intercolonial ships, of w.luch the Union Ccmpany possess so many fine examples Her dimensions are — 400 ft by 50ft by 33ft 6111 moulded to upper deck, and she has almost. a complete shade deck, with a boat deck over a large portion thereof. She i£- elaborately fitted out for passengers, of whom she carries 223 first class, 116 second, and <5o t&ird I class. The requirements of the cargo service 'have not been neglected, as will be seen from the kx;t that her trial had to be carried out with not less than 3000 tons of dead-weight on boardj, while if loaded down to her marks she could carry, more thafo this. For the working of the cargo a complete set of hydraulic gear, by Messrs Brown Bros, and Co., Edinburgh, has been supplied. -•—The vessel is propelled by a set of Parsons patent turbines, constructed by Messrs. Denny and Company, of Dumbarton. There are three turbines, one high and two low pressure, working three shafts, with three propellers 111 all. The condensers are placed fore and aft, at the side of the turbines. Steam is supplied by four cylindrical tubular boilers, two double ended and two single, at a working pressure of 150 ft per square inch,

and Howden's system of forced draught is fitted. The go-astern turbines are contained within the low pressure, and work on the wing shafts. The reversing gear is particularly well arranged, the whole of the engines being easily controlled by one engineer. The auxiliary machinery is very complete, and consists of air and circulating pumps to each main condenser, each set having two Edwards's air-pumps and one centrifugal pump, driven by simple two-cylinder engines ; two Weir's feed pumps, auxiliary condenser with necessary pumps, two large Duplex pumps for bilge and ballast purposes, a Caird and Raynor distiller, and a vertical Duplex wash-deck and fire-engine, suitable for working See's ash ejector ; sanitary pump, steward's pump, water service pump, oil pumps, etc. At her first official trial, at full power, with all boilers m use, the " Maheno " easily attained a mean speed of 17.5 knots, and at the second trial, which had to be done with a third of the boilers shut down, the speed maintained for six hours, as per contract, was 16.4 knots, considerably over the guarantee. On her recent trip from Melbourne to Sydney the ship established a record by covering the distance m 29J hours. If the tide had been favourable the average on this run could easily have been eighteen knots per hour. The photos which we reproduce on this page, by courtesy of the Union Steam Ship Co., will give readers of Progress a good idea of the beautiful proportions and splendid accommodation of this fine vessel.