LONG HYDROPLANE JOURNEY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1494, 17 July 1912, Page 7

LONG HYDROPLANE JOURNEY.

V.: ;; ;-.-' " ' »—- — ■■ 'V; .'■■' ,;CHANNEL,STORMRIDDEN OUT. ~.'^yT^eßr^ph—Press, Associatipn-Oopvrlsht -',;:-'' '■'-,••:'-•'::.-London; 'July .15. ' •';': Commander 'Samson ; hydroplaned from '■)'-,' .Portsmouth'to Hanvich'(Essex),;about 180 . •'■' ■miles.-'. -He successfully'rode''put a Chaniel storm off the Downs. '. .

A SPEEDY SEA CRAFT. • , A writer in "Engineering," in describ- • ilngv- the'■■'.■ .•"TtaSvneycroft.. hydroplane, Miranda IV, said:—"The destroyer represents' power, but this boat ■ 'suggests impetuous -and overpowering energy;. She •stretched herself along the water, showing daylight under her Keel for'half her ...length, and -drove, forward in a'series of leaps, like'a) shark 'pursuing ■ a ifisb.-. scud,ding.,between wind and water. The boat ,- 'seemed'- to be alive, and to be. putting .the; last ounce of her strength.iuto an • attempt toiovcrhaui a "fleeing enemy; \ each; time -her bows came down on the !,water, she vibrated through and through, • and;then again flung herself upward and onwards with a determination and viciousness which found expression in, the sheets 1 of spray which' were cast t.ut sideways to • a great distance from each quarter, like two 1 great wings. The "photographic views five .some idea of her appearance,, ut they fail to convey the sense of fulminating ardour which was raised by the actual sight of tho boat as she . drove . up and down between tho bridges." ; •-"Th6 vessel has been designed with a . viewvto attain safety in. a seaway. . . . .. (The present Miranda is a wholesome type of; a rather beamy boat, able to faco a (rough sea, and at. moderate speeds indistinguishable from] other safe craft of similar size.'.' Her special feature is a curious section given to the bottom of 'the fore body. This section dies away .amidships, where, (here '. 13 ,"a sadden change of form with a wedge-shaped protuberance,", the, lines of the after part'of the boat being' quite hollow, and .'termin-ating.-in a fiat torm ,of stern, which ,is slightly wider than the section a little before,it. . ■-■'■;• ■"The effect, of this form is that the boat -very readily rises up right,on to the surface \pf the water, only touching it 011 a Bmall\area amidships and r.yain just at the stern, so that skin friction and wavemaking are almost entirely eliminated, whilst at the same time there uie-no flat places in the bottom of the vessel which would'be.liable to bo damaged in rough, water when the boat was going at high speed from wavo to wave. "The boat is driven by a petrol-engine iof about 100 horse-power. Her exact 'speed has not been disolosed, but it is well over 30 knots with five passengers on board."