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Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 684, 7 June 1870, Page 2

The B.s. 'Rangito'to is expected^inthe roadstead from Nelson to-day, when she will take passengers for Melbourne direct. The s.s. Kennedy is looked for to-day, and it is expected that she will leave with little delay, for Westport and Nelson. The s.s. Tararua, from Melbourne, arrived in the Hokitika roadstead at 10 a.m. on Sunday, but, in consequence of the sea running she could not be tendered there. Yesterday it was hoped that she would have been tendered especially as the signal to " take the bar," was flying here, and the s.s. Murray left in the afternoon for Westport;. At Hokitika the Waipara made an ineffectual attempt to reach her, and it is not likely she will be waited upon there until noon to-day, when she will come on here and take passengers for Coast ports and Melbourne, The schooner Canterbury, from Lyttelton, showed up off the bar en Saturday, and the p.s. Dispatch ran out to bring her to the wharf, but found the sea running on the bar too heavy to venture it. The schooner then stood off to sea, and will probably make her appearance again to-day, when she will be brought to the wharf, as the weather was fast moderating last night. The s.s. Murray, Captain M'Gillivary, from Nelson, Westport, and Hokitika, left the latter port on Saturday, at noon, and encountered the full force of a N."W. gale and sea, which delayed her so much that she did not reach the roadstead until the tide was too far gone. She was laid-to all night, and crossed the bar in fine style, through a very heavy sea, at noon on Sunday. Yesterday, at 2.30 p.m., she left again for the North, with a considerable number of passengers. Arrangements have been made by persons in Wanganui to charter a vessel of 500 tons, to load home direct from that port next season.

The export of wool from Otago, for the past season has given 31,278 bales, being an increase of 3540 bales over that of the preceding year. A schooner called the Waterlily, 51 tons, Captain Brown, from Melbourne, put in to the harbor last night to procure a boat and some other articles she stood in need of. She has a strong crew, and her owaer is on board. She is loaded with general merchandise, provisions, the frame of a house, &c, and professes to be bound for an uninhabited island in the Pacific, sdeg. south of the line, and named Starbeck Island, where her owner intends to establish himself. None of our nautical men, however, seem to be acquainted with this island ; and some of them ask, not unreasonably, why a vessel bound from Melbournft for an island close to the equator should come to New Zealand. Some people on the wharf imagine that the schooner's real destination is the Auckland Islands, there to make an effort to recover some' of the gold lost in the General Grant. This may be the case, but the captain and owners of the Waterlily do not seem to be very communicative about their proceedings. — Wellington Post, 23rd ult. V Several whaleboats left the Sound on Sunday morning in chase of a whale, and in one, of them Mr James Keenan was acting as . headsman. After making fast to the whale, he was in the act of lancing it, when he was thrown overboard by the Sne. The whale was at once cut adrift, and every exertion made to rescue him by his own and the other whaleboats, together with boats from the s.s. Airedale, which happened to be passing at the time, but without success, as he sank before any of the boats could reach him. It is supposed he was seriously hurt in being thrown from the boat, as he was an excellent swimmer. The body has not been recovered. The deceased was only 28 years of age, and leaves a wife and two children to mourn his untimely death. The whaling season, which had commenced early, and with every prospect of success, has thus had an unfortunate beginning, which will tend in a great measure to damp the spirits of the whalers. This is the first fatal accident we have heard of happening in the fishery, although the work is of a most dangerous nature. — Marlborough Press, 25th wit. Captain F. H. Stirling;, R.N., who has commanded Her Majesty's ship Warrior iv the Channel Squadron since August last, has been appointed to the Clio, which the Broad Arrow believes Trill be the new Commodore ship on the Australian Station. The ship canal through the narrow neck oi land separating Buzzard's Bay and the Cape Cod Bay, Mass., is about to be commenced^ The canal will be five or six miles long, 300 feet wide, and 24 feet deep at low water. This improvement will shorten" the passage between New York and Boston severalhours, and enable tbeir navigators to avoid the open and often stormy sea encountered in the voyage around Cape Cod. The Iron Duke, a magnificient specimen of naval architecture, was successfully launched from Pembroke yard on March 1. The ship is built wholly of iron, and she is furthermore armour-plated with iron slabs, eight inches thick, down to the water-line. She is a very fine model, and it is fully anticipated that she will attain the speed estimated, namely, 13^ knots, being propelled by twin screws, driven by first class engines of 800-horse power, on the trunk principle. Her arma-

ment will consist of 14 9-inch guns, 12 tons each, so that, taking this into consideration, together with her armour and the immense speed anticipated from her, she will prove a most formidable antagonist: The principal dimensions of the Iron Duke are at follows : —Length, 280 ft l|in; bredth, 54ft lin ; depth in hold, 24ft lin ; burden in tons, 3,787 ; and her dead weight is calculated at 3,200 tons. — European Mail. A special trial of the capabilities of Martin'B patent self-canting anchor was made lately at Spithead. An anchor of this description attached to the starboard side of her Majesty's ship Favorite, and weighing 67cwt, including the stock, was first let go at Spithead, ■in twelve fathoms of water, 1 with only twenty-five fathoms of cable out from the hawsepipe of the ship, in a muddy bottom mixed with fine sand. This brought the ship up effectually, notwithstanding that a heavy lop of sea waa running through the roadstead, which caused the Favority to plunge somewhat heavily. The engines of the ship were turned astern at about eightknot speed, to test the powers of the anchor, but the latter remained immovable. On heaving up the anchor, it broke out of the ground easily, aud came up to the bows of the ship clean. The Favorite then shifted her position, the anchor was again let go in about the same depth of water and the same short length of cable, with a muddy bottom, and the results were quite as satisfactory as in the previous trial, the anchor snubbing the ship at once on her shore length of cable, and also remaining fast bound to her anchorage with the engines going at eight-knot speed astern. Captain Moriarty, C.8., Mas-fcer-Atfcendant of Portsmouth 33ockyaTd, made the trials wader Adtaivalty instructions. Mr Martin, the patentee of ttie anchor was also on board. Her Majesty's turret-ship Capbain, a noble representative of the low freeboard type of turret-ship, bailfc ior ocean cruising, was put through her full spead trials over the measured mile in Stokes Bay, near Portsmouth, on March 2, with most satisfactory results, the rate of speed attained on the mile (a mean of the six runs made) being 14.239 knots per hour — considerably in excess of r what had been anticipated, when due consideration had been given to the proportions of engine-power to tonnage, and the addition given to the displacement area of midship section by the ship having a mean draught of water of 22 inches above what her draught should have been according to her drawings. The steering qualities of the ship were found to be satisfactory to an extraordinary degree, every touch of the helm being answered as easily and as quickly as could have been done by a cutter yacht. Another remarkable feature in the ship was the utter absence of vibration, even on the most elevated part of the decks — the hurricane. In this respect no other ship of war tried over the Admiralty mile in Stokes Bay has been so free. On March 2, a new monitor was launched from the building slips of the Thames Iron Works. Like the Abyssinia, to which public attention was directed only a short time since, this vessel is intended for the defence of Bombay, but she differs in many respects from her future companion, being indeed a sister ship to the Cerberus, built for the defence for Melbourne. The Magdala has been laid down from the designs of Mr Reed, and the details of her construction differ but slightly from the ironclad ships of the Royal Navy. For the greater portion of her length she has an inner and outer bottom, which, at the commencement of the armour-plated belt, are 4ft 6in apart, so that if the latter be pierced by a ram of an opponent, the former is likely to remain unhurt ; while the space between the two being subdivided into something like 36 watertight compartments, the safety of the vessel is still further assurred. The contract for the construction of the ship includes her delivery by the builders at Bombay, and in order to fully prepare her for the voyage, she will be rigged and fitted with temporary bulwarks, &c. We believe that it is intended to take her by way of the Suez Canal.