AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1663, 1 February 1913, Page 9

AUSTRALIA TO-DAY.

SPEED TRIALS. (Bt Wilt, Lawson.) •• ' ' No. 5. ' ' Tho people of Sydney have, during the past few weeks, been treated to a number of exhibitions of speed by fast vessels upon tho waters of Port Jackßon, hydroplanes, destroyers, and ferry boats—tho last iteift unoffioiat and quito unauthorised. For eoveral yeara past Mr. Anthony Hordorn's Kangaroo, a hydroplane of a' proved speed of 40 miles an hour, has easily carriod off the Australian ohampionship for 6poed boats, But this year there were competitors in the field which promised to make Kangaroo look to her laurels.

Mr. T. J. Moncks, an American resident in Sydney, has had built for him by Mr. W. Holmes, of M'MahonV Point, two hydroplanos fitted with 70 horse-power Elco 6-cylindor engines. Tho boats are called Elco-planes, and have a length of 20 feet.

The race was run on Saturday, January 11, and ten days 1 prior to this the'first of the Eloo-planos, tho Rainbow, was taken out at 9 in tho morning on a trial spin. Tho result was most satisfactory as rogards 6peed;' twice, _ she ran over tho measured, mile at a speed of over 35 miles an hour, and Mr. Moncks and his engineer, Mr. R. Holmes, were taking her on yet ahother burst when disaster overtook them. In the wash from the steamer Cooma, the little boat leaped high to fall with terrific foroe upon the next wave. It happened that there was a piece of driftwood floating on that wave, and in one minute tho ltainbow was down at the bottom in GO feet of water; and her crew were struggling in tho water; a passing, ferry boat rescued them. . '

■ The incident caused the interest in, tho raco 1 to be intensified; report said that the Rainbow was capable of 50, miles an hour.' .Meanwhile' she- was at_ the bottom, and immediate steps were being- taken; to raiso her. This was, dono two days after her immersion, and she was docked for repairs to her hull; and engine. . W>,<, • Her,-aster-boat, • to. bo namod the Poorless, was nearly ready, though it was not intended to race her. The work was push-, cd forward, and : hvo , days tho .raco. sho made :her ■ first -run,' touching •80 miles an' hour. ;By. , of'tho owner and builder,-the' writer was'permitted to have a run in.this fast vessel on the day before the race. ..''

At half-past six on' Friday: morning,we started out-from Lavender- Bay, Mr. 11.'-Holmes, at tho .wheel. The engine is is jiist .'aft of .amidships,'and forward of the engine is the seat, upon , which. tho driver and passenger sat,, and which is high above the water. Steering is dono with i .hand wheel, like'a motor-car's steering-wheel , : \ With the engine running "in free engine," tho new boat was ready for the run. By slow inches tho lever was moved until- tho engine was in full gear . and the'boat was skimming along at about 15 miles an -hour.

• "She'll, soon pick-it up," the navigator ; 6aid, as he opened her compression tap a little, to , clear the cylinders of backpressure, '■ , , , it seemed 'as though, some unseen power seized her and flung'her forward. With a backward sweep of his arm, Holmes closed the compression taps and focused his. faculties on the steering. The boat's bow. had 1 risen, till rnoro thnnr half her keel was out of water. Then, on: her whistling planes, Ishe flow over the water, taking, sonio vagrant rollers like a horse jumping, the pounding on her flanks .being; hard and jarring. With a touch of tho helm Wilson's Point was cleared, and the ferry boat just leaving the wharf seemed a mass of oager faces as the carly'travellers watched the flier pass. She had taken tho bit in 'her. teeth, and'\was heading for Pinchgut, half a mile away; in a moment, it seemed, we, were passing the old pile' bf stones. Behind us, the tortured water swirled and leaped from the drive of the propeller; yet not a drop camo aboard. Looking., ahead one saw. only the.'calm, smooth water, with, far away in the mists, a ship's masts above a dark hull or a steamer's outline. And we passed them like lightning, it seemed.. Yet she was not right out/ Holmes said her engine was not running well, and the race on the morrow proved it to be' s6. Yet • never have I, experienced such a sense of exhilaration and power as that felt in this hydroplane, skimming thoquiet waters of Port Jackson. Not on motor-cycle, motor-car. or locomotive havo I felt such a sen9B of absolute speed. On Saturday, tho day of ..tho race, do th hoat9 were entered for the race, but Rainbow had not recovered from her plunge, and as her name was being handed from tongue to tongue it was decided to n\nie tho new boat Rainbow and the other Peerless. i ' i The result of the race was a "handsdown" win for the Kangaroo; nothing really oame near her, for, though the now Rainbow hung to her nt times, the winner's average speed for the radO was only 29.45 miles per hour; Kangaroo was never fully extended, Tho perfornmco of tho new boat, 2G.6 miles per hour, was, nevertheless, very good, since her en? gine naturally oould not bo properly tuned-up' at such short .notice. Hid it been, the original Rainbow which raccd, quite a different story would havo boon .told, because she had dono 38 miles per hour over the measured mile just before she sank.

Following upon this speed contest comes the Australian Admiralty's report of tho speed tests of the new torpedo destroyer Parramatta. On three separate occasions si;? has been out,all day on eervice conditions for speed trials. On each occasion she finislied her day's run by a full-speed sprint past Coogoe, on the south coast, and the picture made by the little vessel racing through the long, southerly swell was a ■ memorable: ono. The result of these trials is that .tho Parramatta has proved her ability to attain and maintain at sea a speed of 29 nautical miles per hour. With thousands of people talking about 'speed trials, it is not altogether surprising that when an opportunity, arose, rival ferry boats should "have a go" at one another. ;., t The .opportunity came at 9.20 one evening last week; 1 two boats leaving 'the samo wharf simultaneously, 6ped out from Circular Quay, side-by side. / They are the fastest boat of their 6avo the Manly boats aro'-faster.' Togothor they swung down tho harbour with, say, twenty feet of water between them. At their bows the wliito water burst upwards, swirled like a cauldron between the raciug hulls, and mingling with tne screw-foam astern, left a wide, whito wake streaming behind them. By degrees the passengers realised that this was no casual passing or overtaking of ferries; the chorus from tho dock-lianda was enough to show that there was a race on. These lads, steeped in speed records and filled with partisan feelings for their individual boat's reputations, shouted across tho strip of water to ono another. The skippers, up in their dark wheel-houses, may havo shown by no outward signs that'tfhey wero racing. But they felt it in their blood no doubt. So with the engineers; standing at their lovers at-tho level of the main-deck, they could sco how their rival fared., Calm, quiet men, they made no sign; but the throttles wero wide open. Down in tho stokehold there was no faleo shame exhibited. The men fired for thoir lives, and. tho black smoko from tho \ fires streamed from tho tall black funnels. Yet neither vessel drew ahead. They slewed iu a little closor to one another, and when tho roll from an inooming steamer caught the nearest boat, sho smashed it with her flat bows, and sent it pouring over her rival's upper deck. A woman screamed as tho spray fell, and tho vessel lurched and swayed. . But a man's voice reassured her, and the race went oil till ouo boat had to swervo away to pick up her proper course, which sho hod neglected in tho excitement. Nothing Las been said about tho incident, becauso it is so hard to provo that tlioy were racing. If thoy wero not, well, they wero going all they knew.