NEW OCEAN RECORDS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 155, 27 March 1939, Page 10

NEW OCEAN RECORDS

Fast Time Of Dominion Monarch NINETEEN DAYS FROM DURBAN (By our special representative on board tile Dominion Monarch.) A record-breaking maiden passage was completed on Saturday morning when the Shaw. Savill liner Dominion Monarch arrived at Wellington from England, via South Africa and Australia. This beautiful ship is by far the largest liner in the New Zealand and Australian trade ami the most powerful motor-ship in service in the world, as well as being one of Hie largest and fastest cargo-carriers afloat.

During the passage the Dominion Monarch set up several new ocean records—from England to Durban, from Durban to Fremantle, and from England to Australia. She arrived at Wellington right on schedule, after crossing the Tasman Sea from Sydney at greatly reduced speed. The uew route pioneered by Ihe Dominion Monarch covers nearly 14,500 miles, ami is considerably longer and more varied than that via the I’anama Canal, yet Ihe ship lias made Hie journey to Wellington in 35 days. No attempt was made to try out her speed, the engines being run throughout the passage at reduced revolutions, but. the allotted timetable was maintained with ease.

The Dominion .Monarch took her departure from Southampton on February IS, called at Teneriffe three days later arrived at Cape Town on March 3, and at Durban on March 5. The ship was accorded a great welcome in South Africa and amazing scenes were witnessed in Durban, where she was besieged by a vast crowd.

In Fast Time From Durban,

Leaving Durban ou March 6. the Dominion Monarch crossed the Indian Ocean in faster time than ever had been made before by a merchant liner, making a record passage to Fremantle, the 4244 miles being covered in S days 21 hours 51 minutes, at an average speed of 19.54 knots. The passage from Southampton to Fremantle was made in 26 days 16 hours 45 minutes, another new record, the actual “steaming” time being 23 days 17 hours 22 minutes, at an average speed of 19.42 knots. The Dominion Monarch covered the 1650 miles from Fremantle to Melbourne in 3 days 10 hours 20 minutes, at an average speed of 20.04 knots, a heavy swell being experienced for most, of the way. The ship arrived at Melbourne 29 days 3 hours 59 minutes out from Southampton, the actual “steaming" time being 27 days 3 hours 42 minutes, an average of 191 knots. Tlie 531 miles from Melbourne to Sydney was travelled in 28 hours, the ship reducing speed during the latter half of the journey to arrive at daybreak. The Dominion Monarch attracted great interest in Australian ports, where she was much admired, and a number of passengers joined her for the round trip to New Zealand and back.

Exceptionally fine weather was experienced on the passage across Hie Tasman Sea. Brilliant sunshine and an oily-smooth sea made the run very pleasant, deck sports, swimming, sunbathing. dancing aud cinema shows all adding to the enjoyment of passengers. To arrive on schedule, speed was reduced all Hie way, and for much of Friday tlie ship was running on two engines only. The total “steaming” time for the whole passage from Southampton to Wellington, a distance of 14.479 miles, was 31 days 13 hours 23 minutes, an average speed of 19.12 knots, or 458.8 miles a day. Including calls en route to Wellington, Hie passage occupied 35 days 1 hour 24 minutes.

A MONSTER LINER

Features Of The Dominion Monarch FACTS AND FIGURES (By Our Special Representative on Board Hie Dominion Monarch.) .By far Hie largest vessel in Lite New Zealand and Australian trade, the advent of the Shaw, Savill liner Dominion Monarch, which was built at a cost well iu excess of £1.500,690, piarkts a new epoch iu the shipping history of New Zealand. The Dominion Monarch dwarfs the average New Zealand trader, but is so beautifully proportioned that her great size is not apparent to the casual observer. She measures 682 feet in length, which is to say she is more than one-eighth of a mile tong. Her upper decks are 86 feet 6 inches, or more than 28 yards in width. The promenade deck has a length of nearly 137 yards, the lounge deck is 310 feet long—a stretch of more than 100 yards—and the games deck measures 250 feet in length by 86 feet 6 inches in width, an area of 21,625 square feet, or approximately half an acre. The Dominion Monarch has in ail nine decks, which witli her lower holds and double bottom, give her a total depth from games deck to keel plates of 82 feet 6 inches. Her lofty superstructure is increased by Ihe height of the chart-house, Hie top of which is 98 feet 6 inches above the keel. But another way, it can be said that if the ship were placed on the roadway, the roof of her chart-house would lie within a few feet of the parapet of the tallest office building in Wellington or Auckland, wliile her single lofty mast and tinge funnels would lower well above it. Lofty Mast and Funnels.

The masthead of the Dominion Monarch measures 182 feet from I lie keel ami 121 feet from A deck. The ship berthed at Circular Quay in Sydney and so did not pass under I lie harbour bridge, which lias a maximum clearance of 172 feet 6 inches above liighwater mark and is 160 feet above the waler at one-third of ils length from either shore. 'Pile two streamlined funnels of Hie ship are huge structures, greater in circumference than any tunnel in New Zealand. Measuring 25 feet 6 inches in fore-and-aft width and 17 feet 6 inches across, either of them would give ample passage room for two railway trains abreast. The forward funnel rises to a height of 49 feet above tiie games, or boat deck, and its rim i.s 131 feet 6 incites above tiie keel. Tiie after funnel is one foot shorter and weights, with certain internal fittings, about 100 tons.

The ship’s funnels bouse tiie exhausts and silencers of the engines, those of tiie four main engines being in the after funnel. In the easing at

tiie base of the latter are two vertical boilers, each measuring 18ft. Gin. iu height, by 7ft. 6in. in diameter, in which steam is generated for heating and cooking purposes at sea, by means of the waste heat from the exhausts of two of the main engines. The Dominion Monarch measures 27,155 tons gross and 15.813 tuns net register. With a deadweight capacity of 17,350 tons in cargo, oil-fuel, fresh water, stores, etc., tiie ship’s total displacement when fully loaded is 36.220 tons, at a mean draught of 31 feet, an average of about 100 tons to Hie inch. Tiie ship's tanks Imve a storage capacity of 5250 tons of fuel-oil ami 1275 tons of fresh water.

Up-to-date Equipment.

in general equipment the Dominion Monarch is one of tiie finest and most up-to-date ships afloat, witli every conceivable appliance for efficiency and safety in operation. Her equipment throughout is far in excess of the international requirements for the safety of life at sea. Watertight subdivision is effected by 10 transverse bulkheads, and there is a double bottom over the entire length of the ship. Safeguards against lire include a comprehensive smoke-detecting apparatus and a sprinkler system with a total of 1907 sprinklers. There is a fully-equipped power laundry capable of handling daily Ihe whole of the ship’s soiled linen, as well as passengers' requirements. Tiie automatic telephone system provides 530 connexions in the passenger accommodation, as well as 45 lor the ships staff, these being entirely apart from numerous direct telephones between the bridge and engine-room and other key positions. Under a woman supervisor, the telephone exchange employs two day operators and one at night. There are hundreds of miles of electric cables and wirings in the ship, thousands of lamps and hundreds of electric motors. The plumbing includes 24 miles of piping solely for the hot and cold fresh water supply to Hie passenger and crew accommodation.