13,500 MILE VOYAGE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 84, 6 October 1931, Page 9

13,500 MILE VOYAGE

JUBILEE DOCK PROBABLE NEXT CALL When the Wellington Harbour Board's jubilee floating dock left Aden early last month in continuation' of its voyage of 13,500 miles from Newcastle-on-Tyne to Now Zealand, it was thought that the next call would be at Colombo, but from advices with rcgavd to the itinerary that have since come to hand it appears that the dock will not visit Colombo, but will proceed direct across the northern portion of the Indian Ocean to the Dutch East Indies, and thence past tho islands of the archipelago to the Torres Straits. Whether a call will be made at Brisbane, or whether tho tugs will conduct their charge direct from the Straits to Wellington is not definitely known. It is interesting to note that every effort is made to keep the dock in motion continuously. While passing through tho Mediterranean Sea, for instance, one of the tugs re-fuelled at Algiers while the other continued with the dock in tow, and a change over was then made to enable the second tug to re-fuel at Tunis. It is expected that the same procedure will be followed while passing Batavia, and that the voyage of the dock will not be interrupted while the tugs replenish their supplies. It is evident from this that supplies of fuel are not carried on the dock, as was at first thought possible. Thcro are eleven men on the dock looking after the gear, etc., and their lot will be a most unenviable one while the big steel structure is passing through the tropics. The men will bo obliged to wear wooden clogs to protect their feet against the blistering heat. . One of the most difficult sections of the trip is expected to be tho passage through the Torres Straits,, where strong tides will bo met with, and periodical halts will probably have to bo made in order to work in with tho tidal flow.