THE PRIDE OF OUR MERCANTILE MARINE 25 YEARS AGO.

Progress, Volume I, Issue II, 1 September 1906, Page 303

THE PRIDE OF OUR MERCANTILE MARINE 25 YEARS AGO.

they have, nevertheless, been modified m design one upon the other, to a considerable extent. It is, nevertheless, an evident fact that with all the improvements centred in the later ships, the Mararoa, built in 1885, is more up-to-date m many respects (notably speed and passenger accommodation) than some of the very newest vessels of the fleet. Since 1898, in which year the Waikare came out, the Union Co. added the Mokoia, Moeraki, Manuka and Maheno to their intercolonial fleet.

The Splendid Maheno. Our passing reference to the Union Co.'s career would be incomplete without a brief description of the Maheno. This magnificent vessel is really an elaboration of the Manuka and Moeraki. Her dimensions are — 400 ft by 50ft by 33ft 6m moulded to upper deck, and she has almost a complete shade deck, with a boat deck over a large portion thereof. She is elaborately fitted out for passengers, of whom she carries 223 first class, 116 second, and 60 third class. The requirements of the cargo service have not been neglected, as will be seen from the fact that her trial had to be carried out with not less than 3000 tons of dead-weight on board, while if loaded down to her marks she could carry more than 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 Parson's 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 in 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 !b 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 mam 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 Ray nor distiller, and a vertical duplex wash-deck and fire engine, suitable for working See's ash ejector ; there are also sanitary pump, steward's pump, water-service pump, oil pumps, etc. At her first official trial, at full power, with all boilers in 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 a trip from Melbourne to Sydney the ship established a record by covering the dis-

tance in 29J hours. If the tide had been favourable the average on this run could easily have been eighteen knots per hour. The fine picture of the Maheno on the cover of this issue will give readers of Progrfss a good idea of the beautiful proportions of this vessel. It will interest many to learn that the total distance the ships of the Union S.S. Co.'s fleet covered last year was 2,000,000 miles which is to say, that if one vessel were to cover that distance she would have to sail round the world 85 times supposing the Panama Canal were cut. The yearly consumption of coal is 280 000 tons, just about three times the total tonnage of the fleet. The number of masters and officers employed is 470, and the crews, which include seamen, stewards, firemen, etc., number 1800. The salary and wages of the army of 2740 persons, and its auxiliaries of casual labourers, amount to nearly half a million sterling annually. There is no other large steamship company in the world which pays its crews higher wages, and yet the fares are low compared with those for an equal mileage in European waters. At first sight this appears impossible, but the secret

lies in the fact that the U.S.S. Co. makes more constant use of its vessels than is done at Home ; that is to say, it gets more work out of each ship. For instance, two of its vessels will in many cases do the work of three at Home. Boats are loaded and unloaded with great promptitude, and, by using a night, as well as a day, shift of wharf men, steamers are unloaded at once, no matter when they get in. Thus year by year the business of the Company has been extended m various directions, and its fleet increased to meet its growing requirements, iintil at the present time the Company owns 55 ships with an aggregate gross register tonnage of 112,540. The Tyser Line, which to-day ranks as an important branch oi our over-sea services, first commenced its regular running in 1888. Messrs. Tyser, the managing directors of the Tyser Line, have been ship owners and brokers for over a century, trading to Australia and New Zealand, but mostly to India. When the Line commenced its operations, two ships of about 3,500 tons each were employed, i.e., Star of Victoria and Star of England, both vessels being chartered from Messrs. J. P. Corry & Co., of Belfast. These were soon after augmented by the Hawkes Bay, a vessel of 4,583 tons, built for the Tyser Line in 1891 by W. Doxford & Sons Sunderland. The fleet of the Company has since been added to in the following order : — Star of New Zealand, Indraghiri, Indradevi, Mimiro, Tomoana, Star of Australia, Indralema, Star of Ireland and Star of Scotland. A new ship to be commanded by Captain F. W. Ulyatt, the Star of Japan, is on the stocks. In the year 1892 commenced what may be termed the first important opposition which the Union Co , had to contend with ; this being the advent into the intercolonial trade of the steamships Miowera and Warnmoo, two very fine vessels built by C. S. Swan & Hunter, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and each possessing a speed of 17 knots. These ships, however, were deemed shortly after to be too expensive for the running in which they were engaged, and after a brief career of fast passages they were transferred to the Australia-New Zea-land-Vancouver Mail service. The withdrawal of these ships, however, was merely the prelude to the coming of the Tasmania, which commenced operations under the auspices of Huddart, Parker & Co., this being in December, 1893. Then followed for the same Company the Anglian, Westraha, Elmgamite, Zealandia, Victoria and Wimmera, all modern ships, with the exception of the Anglian and Elmgamite, and embodying several important features in their passenger accommodation and general plan. The steamer Riverma, which is to come into the New Zealand trade during the period of the International Exhibition, is the finest ship in the fleet of the Huddart, Parker Co., and is of 4,758 gross register tonnage with a speed of 16 knots. In concluding our article, it is appropriate to give our readers a comparative table showing the export, import and shipping trade of the colony in 1855 and 1905.

Products. 1905 1855 Increase at 1905. £ ~£ £ Wool 5-38r,333 93,i04 5-288,229 Grain 294,574 82,302 212,272 Frozen meat 2,694,432 19,339* 2,675,093 Butter 1,408,557 5,786 1,402,771 Cheese 205,171 2,163 203,008 Phormmm Fibre 696,467 4.674 691,793 Gold 2,093,936 40,44 2 t 2,053,494 Kauri gum 561, 444 4.5*4 55 6 .93° Provisions, Tallow, Timber, etc. .. .. 2,167,616 173,324 1,994,292 Total Total volume of trade .. .. £15,503,530 £425,648 Increase £15,077,882 *For the year 1882 when first shipment was made. |For the year 1857 when first shipment was made. IMPORTS. Total value 1905, £12.828,857 ; total value 1855, £813,460. Total increase, £12,015,397. TRANSPORT. Vessels. Tonnage, 1905. Tonnage, 1855. Increase Inward .. .. .. .. .. 1,139,410 88,614 1,050,796 Outward.. .. .. .. .. 1,141,552 79.825 1,061,727

EXPORTS.