Shipping.

Evening Star, Issue 3854, 1 July 1875, Page 3

Shipping.

HIGH WATEE. To-morrow. [Traps. | Pt. Chalmers. I Dunedin. 1.22 p.m. I 2.02 p.m. | 2.47 p.m. POET CHALMEES. ARRIVED. June 30.—Samson, p.s., 124 tons, Belie, from Oamaru. Passengers : Miss Cairns, Messrs Bagley, Keith Eamsay, Kyle, Evans, Cameron, Forbes, England, and nine in the steerage. July I.—Express, s.s., 136 tons, Christian, from the Bluff. Passengers: Miss Jenny Nye, Mrs Stephenson, Mrs Vl‘ Gregor and son, Messrs M‘Ken2ie, Wilson, Bendall, M‘Gregor, Thomson, Kingswell, and ten in tho steerage. SAILED. Juno 30—Wanganui, s.s., 179 tons, Fraser, for the Bluff, Pioneer, schooner, 22 tons, Mattheson, for Shag Point. Hope, barge, 22 tons, Julier, for Walkonaiti. July I.—Bruce, s.s., for Lyttelton, via Timavu. Defiance, ketch, 25 tons, Burke, for Moeraki. Dauntless, schooner, 72 tons, Poulson, for Wellington via Oamaru. PROJECTED DEPARTURES. Albion, for Melbourne, July 5. Bruce, for Akaroa, July 7. Crusader, for London, early. Comerang, for Invercargill, July 3. Dunedin, for London, early. Easby, for Newcastle, July 8. Express, for Bluff, July 3. Hawen, for Wellington, early. Locbnagar, for Newcastle, early. Maori, for Timam, July 4. Maori, for Westport, July 9. Melanie, for Wellington, early. Kaugitikoi, for Loudon early. Samson, for Oamaru, July 2. Shag, for Moeraki, early. Timaru, for London, early. Tararua, for Lyttelton, July 3. Taranaki, for Wellington, July 3. The p.s. Samson arrived from her usual trip to Oamaru last night, and passed up to Dunedin. Tho s.s. Express left the Bluff at 5 p.m. yesterday,'.and arrived at Port Chalmers at eleven this morning. The Bruce has been unavoidably detained in consequence of the heavy sea at Tinmru, which has precluded the boats of the landing service discharging vessels.

A novelty in the ark of catching fish was introduced by Captain Fairchild on the occasion of .he recent visit of the Luna to Picton. A number of fish were gathered about the vessel, and food was thrown out to them to cause them to get together; when a goodly number were collected, a cartridge containing dynamite was lowered into their midst, and this was ignited by means of a fuse. The effects of the explosion were very great, causing considerable disturbance in the water, and hilling a quantity of fish, which were picked up by a boat in attendance. Commander Dawson, R.N., and hon. secretary to the Plimsoll Committee, writes as follows to the ‘ Times —" I had to examine professionally the official record of draughts of water of seagoing ships sailing from ports in the United Kingdom during the first half of this year,-and 1 found from twenty-five to forty-live, grossly overladen ships per week leaving port in the most stormy period. In one week four vessels sailed with cargoes of irou having an average depth of hold of 13ft, of which only llin. on an average was above the surface of the sea. If such vessels have sound botioms, and their deck opening hermetically sealed, they generally float like logs of timber, all awash from port to port; hut the seas washing over them, often wash overboard perl lous of their crow, as to whose death no more inquiry follows than in the case of pigs or sheep. This legal impunity naturally engenders a fatal recklessness alike in shipowners, officers, and seamen. Last year 1,032 merchant seamen, or 5.1 per 1,000, were drowned without loss of ship; and 2,231 seamen, or 10.01 per 1,000, wore drowned by shipwreck; while 1,634 ore alleged to have died by (uncertified) disease, out of the United Kingdom, exclusive of masters and passengers. This ratio of drowning was about fourteen times greater than in the Royal Navy, while the ratio of total ‘ accidental ’ fatalities was 17.5 greater than on laud. The ratio of shipwrecks in the mercantile marine is five times greater than in the Royal Navy at present, and halt as much more as in the King’s service during the twenty years of the last great maritime war. That a seaworthy and properly-laden ship of 1,300 tons should swamp in a breeze in which her own open boats live in safety is one of those things no one can understand. Sailors would sny that it was the ship that ‘ made bad weather of it.' ”

THE HAAST WRECK AND OCEAN CURRENTS. The following is an extract from a paper throwing some light on the question of the wreck recently discovered at the Haasfc, illustrating the action of the ocean currents on the West Coast shores of New Zealand, lead by Captain Turnbull, chief harbor-master of Westland, at the meeting of the Westland Institute: —“The piece of week forwarded to Wellington had been examined by several nautical men, amongst whom were Commander Edwin, R,N., Captain Johnstone (Marino Board), Captain Rl'Lean (s,s. Otago), Captain MTntyre, and several others. The last-named gentleman started the idea that it much resembled and corresponded with the construction of the Schomberg, of Liverpool, wrecked, on Moonlight Head, South Coast of’ Australia, in November, 1854. A piece of the same was forwarded to Captain M‘Lean, s.s, Otago, taken by that gentleman to Melbourne, and examined by several gentlemen, amongst whom was the Inspector of Telegraphs for "Victoria, who had seen the remains of the > chom’ berg only recently in the vicinity of Cape Otway. That gentleman at once pronounced it to be a portion of the wreckage at the Otway, and to be in as good preservation as any part he had c seen. Captain M'Lean at once sent the piece homo to Britain to the builders of the Schomberg, Messrs Hall, of Aberdeen, asking them their opinion as to its identity with the vessel in question, but no answer has as been received. While this inquiry was going on at Wellington and Melbourne, I fortunately came across Mr Andrew Murray’s able treatise on “Ancient and Modern Shipbuilding,” published in 1861, and that gentleman in his work gives a detailed account of the construction of the Schomberg, and in explanation of the diagrams shelving the fastenings, ho points out the facts that the Messrs Hall, of Aberdeen, were the first to use screw trenails in the fastenings of ships ; and upon a close comparison I find that the thickness of planks, the position in which they are placed to each other, and lastly, the fastenings, correspond exactly with what we find in the piece of wreck mentioned before ; and from all the evidence we have laid before us, I am of opinion that the portion of wreck in question is none other than a piece of the hull of the wrecked ship Schomberg.”