ROUTES ACROSS THE PACIFIC FROM S.W. TO N.E.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 636, 15 February 1870, Page 4

ROUTES ACROSS THE PACIFIC FROM S.W. TO N.E.

The observations !'of spientifia officers. <ai \ the American, French : and. English serr, vices on the equatorial Paciiic trade winds,, have assured us that; the southieast ..trade . w.ind ; .only'; blows over: that portion- of the.; Pacific lying: between the; meridians of .90? and 140 p west longitude, and that the • north-east trade, ! commencing "at about 300. miles from the .west :Coast of America extends to the meridian of . the Ladrpne, Islands. Much difference of opinion has, however, existed upon the qiifestion of the proper route, to be tak«h by iriastera of vessels navigating those, seas,, aud my own Umitud experience has., led ine_ to believe, it) the , advisability of pushing aa much ,a&. possible, to, the eastward :wben south- of : the Equator in making a passage from the; S.W. to the NiEv seaboard of ■ this ocean, for as a general rule, you seldom meetwith unfavorable weather, .and carry with you a fair westerly and S.W, wind, and current between tlie parallels 0f. 15? and 30°! sbuth,i leadingyouint.pthe.S-E. trade in the 140° west meridian. This trade will carry you to theN;E. witha beam wind; across tiie Equator, and with the advantage of being set to windward by the equatorial winter current, and consequently the N.E. trade, when fallen in with, ;i3 more of a leading than ahead wind to its polar limit ; of about 25° ntrth. :: Now, ; in- making.! tl?o • westerly. . passage across -the Equator to the northward^ we find that unless you, keep ;to the southward \oi the tenth parallel of north latitude, which would .necessitate, steaming over. nearly -4p°- of longitude; in tho.turrid. zone, you >vould have to steani against ,the : . : N.E. . trade,.; over at; least. 1500. miles of latitude alone, toihe polar limit of .that, trade! wind. Of course, this limit is subject to "very considerable variation, according; as the sun has north or south declination ; but another.great objection exists .tp : tliß weate rly . passage ; i.v the.imcertain . movements; of the equatorial currents.. in!, the neighborhood of the islands, by which they are much affected. The^rade : winds are. alsq affected in a similar manner and ■• storms and hurricanes of considerable yi(»lence are occasionally met within consequence. . _ :.-,;■ : ....--. As3unjiug -.then, that. the eastern passage is. ihe.-propei' one to make, we find,; that, of the routes pi.oposßdj!the : one via Tahiti,! most nearly approaches this: course — and although the course on the Great Circle carries you again, to the-.-N.-W. after ciossing : the Equator, I should be inclined tii r'econi mend ajdeviatiqn to the eastward , cf the Marquesas after passing- Tahiti,! as ;by that- means you. secure .a- fair; S;E. . trade, to its equatorial limits ; north of the Equator, aliuoat running y«u; into the • N.E. trade which gives you- tlieri a leading wind; to its polar limit, when you will fall in with the prevailing. N,W,, and westerly winds of the '. N. W. coast of America,, which will then ...serve- as.jiea.ding. winds steaming oil: the. port; tack- to:Saa; Fran.', : cisco, . But this deviation does not in any way affect the main question" as to the. choice of routes and of the advisability of making Tahiti the coaling station. Npw, asgnming Sydney.;.t() be the port, of de'piivturey.on.vefere'nfte to. the. tabulated, distahcesj it will be observed that -sup^ posiiig Auckland be the place of call,! the , distance to San Francisco via Auckland is 6945^ -lnileSj tyMle iho distance via Auckland, aiid Tahiti is 74 40, being an increase' of 19.5 miles, or eighteen hours., stealing only* .. Again, supposing; Wellington . to b^e . the port of call for New Zealand.- the (distance to San Jirancisco via,;\ye)lingtopiß;. 7083- and vm Wellington and^ahiti 7:19O 4 . being an inumute: of distance of only 107. miles w about xiuw hours' steaming, and

with respect to the total distance the route via Wellington and Tahiti has only a small increase of about fifty miles over that via Auckland and Tahiti, but by making Wellington the port of call the steamers would gain all the advantages of the puevailing westerly, winds so far south of the Equator! to oai^ithe'^teamfr.into/.that of the Pacific ocean where the Jracle winds are regularly established throughout the. year.. With reference to the saving of distance whioh would result from making the Bay of Islands the port of call instead of Auckland, I estimate it to be about 150 miles. Assuming Melbourne to be the port of arrival and departure the port of call for New Zealand would naturally be Wellington, and the total distance, to San Francisco from Melbourne wonld be 7480 miles, j being an increase bf 290 miles over the route to! Sydney via Wellington. After carefully considering the question generally from a nautical point of view, I am of opinion that the most advantageous route for an noean postal service to .San Francisco, for the benefit of the Australian oolonies and New Zealand, would be with Sydney as the port of arrival and departure (untiL there are facilities in Wellington for the docking accommodation of large ships) the vessels calling at Wellington and Tahiti en, route, and calculate that the yoyage would be easily accomplished with vessels of 2500 tons, from Sydney to Wellington 4 days, Wellington to Tahiti 8 days, and Tahiti to San Francisco 13 days ; total 25 days. Add to this stoppages of two days, the time occupied in going from San Erancisco to New York six days, and by Cunard'slirie from New York to Liverpool 10 days, we place Sydney within 43 days postal communication! with England, and Wellington within 38 days. i .| When the dock accommodation is established at Wellington, that place would become the port of arrival and departure. The importance of this work being carried out in connection with the mail company isapparentifrom. the fact that the distance; for the traffic of the ocean mail steamers is so much decreased that only three steamers will be required to do that service instead of four as hitherto from Panama to Sydney. And in a service of three months a saving will be effected in salaries and wages of seamen and stokers,afid. wear and tear, equal to six weeks for one. vessel. r : ';" ; ; : (Signed) A. Woods, : •:; Colonial Marine Surveyor^ ■ LOCAL DISTANCKS. : . MILES. CapePalliser to Wellington Heads. . . 25 Wellington Heads to Cape Farewell 130 Three Kings to Auckland ... ... 237 Melbourne to Swan Island. (Bass' :•/ ' Straits) ... ... ... : ... 245 OCEANIC DISTANCES BY GREAT CIRCLE. Sydney to San Francisco diiect ... 6447 ; Do. do Tahiti /■ ........ ... ... 33Q7 ; E»0; do Wellington ... ... 1200 ..- D» do Three Kings 1039| •CapePalliser to San Francisco ... 5858 ■?-■ Dc> do Tahiti.: ... : ... ... 2313 Tahiti to San^Fraincisco ... ...3652: Swan Island to Cape" Farewell ...1114£ : StJM.MARY.\ : .."."•• Sydney to San Francisco'direct ... 6447- --■:. Do do, via Auckland ... ...6946 Do do do Wellington 7083 Do do do Tahiti ... 6959 : - *>*:■£«}: •••»«■; :*■ f * .-SfSSSS... - ™ Melbourne to San Fran- -., ciscp via Wellington and ... 7479 Tahiti Wellington to San. Francisco, via Tahiti;' ... ■... ... ...5990 AuckUncl .. ...5864