Shipping.

Evening Star, Issue 3640, 22 October 1874, Page 2

Shipping.

HIGH WATER. To-morrow. Heads , | Port Chalmers I Ddredin i 1,13 p.m. | 1.48 p.m. | 2.33 p.m. PORT CHALMERS. ARRIVED. October 22.—Samson, p.s., 124 tons, Edie, from Oamaru. . .Vire, war ship, 1,625 tons, Jacquemart, from Campbell’s Island. Maid of Otago, schooner, 52 tons, Bain, from Napier via Kakanui. SAILED. October 22.—Acacia, barque, 233 tons, Harvey, for Hobart Town. Wanganui, s.s., 17d tons, Fraser, for the Bluff. Wallabi, s.s., 101 tons, Leys, for the Bluff. Jane, cutter, 25 tons, Brown, for Shag Point. Albion, s.s., 657 tons, Underwood, for the North. Passengers : For Lyttelton -Messrs Miller and Ross. For Wellington—One. For Nelson —Mr R. 8, Smythe. For Melbourne— Mr C. Driscoll, and two in the steerage. PROJECTED DEPARTURES. Alhambra, for Bluff, November 5. Comet, for Cooktown, October 24. Comerang, for Bluff, October 24. Easby, for Newcastle, November 1. Eliza Mary, for Taranaki, October 23. Helena, for .Auckland, early. Samson,, for Oamaru, October 23. Tararua, for Bluffy October 28. Wellington, for Northern Ports, October 23. -Wanganui, for Bluff, October 28. The s.s. Wallabi sailed this mornin" for the Bluff. : l . Thep.B, Samson returned from Oamaru last mjfhtj it d passed up to Dunedin. The ship Invercargill will be removed to the railway pier at high water this evening. The 8.8. Albion sailed for Melbourne, via Northern and West Coast Ports, this afternoon,. . - The barque Acacia, for Hobart Town, was towed to sea this morning by the tug Geelong. The schooner Wfiaganui was taken on Fletcher’s .slip at high, water yesterday. We hear that, in consequence of Captain Macfsrlane .proceeding to England about the end of the ytfer to obtain another steamer for the Harbor Company, Captain Malcolm will take command of the Bruce, and Mr Jones chief officer of the latter vessel, will command oihe Maori.. The ' schooner Madd of Otago arrived this morning from Napier; via Kakanui. She left Napier ,in ballast, apdexperienced strong N.W.. • winds ; put, into. Akaroa, where she .remained xune days wind-bound ; left there last Saturday, took in a cargo atKakahui, arrived as above and passed up to Dunedin. The French war ship Vire, after an absence 0* ten months, arrived off the Heads' early this morning, when she was boarded by Pilot Kelly mid steamed up to a berth off Observation Point, where she dropped her antihor at 6.15 a.m. She left this Port on the 10th of January • n?4 proceeded to New where she rememed until the Ist. ot August, when she Btarted.for Sydney, where she arrived on the 7th, and remained until the 2nd of September ;she again started for Campbell’s Island < arriving there on the 9th, and landed the instrumenta and party for observing the transit • M Venus,-consisting of M. Bbnquet De Grye .(commanderh M. Halt, M. Gourejolles, with Dr. JJilholu (naturalist), who will collect specimenß* T P uru ?S their stay at Campbell’s Island, strong W. winds, thick weather, accompanied tnth heavy rain, were experienced, on account of which they were only once able £o take obser ▼ations. Teh small houses were built on the island, and when the Vire left everything was ready for the transit, the ship’s crew having made the platform for the instruments, and paths from the beach upon their last visit On board the Vire now are the officers who visited last year, with the exception of Lieut. D Jwoyat, who has returned to France on account of ill health, and Sub-Lieutenant De Minioe joined the ship in* New Caledonia She left Campbell’s Island on Monday, had strong N.W, winds to arrival at the Heads Her stay will be very short, as she proceeds direct to Wellington, and returns here in about three weeks, calling at Lyttelton and Akaroa on her way back. After a short stay at Port Chalmers she will proceed to the Bluff, thence to Campbells Island and pick up the party landed there. Dr. Filholu will, in his search for specimens, proceed from Campbell’s to the Auckland Islands, to Stewart Island, Dunedin and Auckland, returning to Sydney, thence coin-’ to the Fiji and Sandwich Islands, China, San Francisco, and Europe.

A WONDERFUL STEAMSHIP. It is a fact, not generally known, says the Glasgow Mail ’ that the Admiralty have had under consideration for some time past the scheme of a gentleman who believes that we may, beforelong, be able to cross the English Channel in twenty minutes and the Atlantic in two days. The inventor is Mr C. M. Ramus, M.A, of Trinity College, Cambridge. In a pamphlet-which he has just published, this gentlemen propounds his idea, which is indeed a very simple one, being conveyed in the title which he has adopted for the shape of his proJosed steamboat polyspb onic ’ ’ —many wedged t is a practical application of the inclined plane principles to steam navigation. The ship is to have a bottom composed of two or more parallel consecutive inclines—the slopes being linl7to lin 25. Such a form of ship, the author avers, had never been subjected to mathematical investigation before 1872 when he submitted his plans to the Admiralty,’and’he adds that it has never before been demonstrated that the lift of a vessel on water depended upon the weu-known-mechanical advantage belonging to the inclined plane in all mechanical arrangements. This new form Mr Ramus alleges to be the only one yet discovered that can render a vessel capable, under an unusual amount of propelling power, of steadily traversing the water with great velocity He calculates that steam vessels constructed on this principle will not require more than three tunes the amount of power now used to be propelled and maintained at a speed of sixty miles an hour ! Acting under the instructions of the Admiralty, Mr W, Froude made some experiments in this new form of steamship at Torquay in the summer of 1872, and his report was litid on the table of the House of Commons at the end of last setsion, though it has not' yet been printed. That report would seem to have been unfavorable; but in the pamphlet Mr 'Ramus contests the decision, and especially Mr Fronde’s allegation that an exorbitant amount of power would be required for the proposed new form of construction. If we might trust Mr Ramus, this allegation was not warranted bv tiie result of the experiments. Mr Ramus with his model actually obtained a speed at the rate of sixty-three knots per hour; and he points out that the downward pressure of any vessel is always a force limited to its actual weighty whereas the contrary force acting upwards mcreasea with great rapidity—in fact, as the cube of the vessel’s velocity—and is, therefore, practically unlimited. The world would gladly welcome a steamship capable of performing the wonders sketched by Mr Ramus, or even the half of them, and when he produces the article he may depend upon receiving a reward commensurate in some degree with the greatness of the benefit which he will have conferred upon his fellow-men. But he may perhaps find, as so many have done before him, that theory and practice are pot always in accord. ; - ... SHIPPING TELEGRAM, October 22.—The ship Roaella, from California to Dunedin, with a cargo of lumber, put in here having sprung a leak. She calls hero to repair, and communicate with owners. She has byen seventy-six days out, and experi•noedheavy weather.