FIFTY FLOATING HOTELS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 50, 15 March 1937, Page 8

FIFTY FLOATING HOTELS

-Own Correspondent.)

Accommodation For 10,000 London Visitors THAMES ANCHORAGES

(By Air Mail-

LONDON, Feb. 9. Fifteen vessels will be moored in the River Thames and used as "floating hotels" during Coronation Week — May 9 to 15. This announcement was made by the Port of London Authority, who estimated that 10,000 people will be accommodated in these vessels. Further applications from sliipping companies for mooring facilities are still being received. ' Permission has been granted for 18 private yachts to anchor in the river between Greenwich and Chelsea. Elaborate arrangements . have been made by the P.L.A. for the supervision of these vessels and the large ' ' floating" population. Masters will be given a plan showing the position each ship is to occupy, and pilots and river officers will have copies of the arrangements. A special "Notice to Mariners" will also be issued, warning norma! traffic' to keep clear of the reserved berths. Many people will return to the ship each night to sleep, and eo-operative arrangements are being made with the various transport concerns for special facilities. The general Steam Navigation Company will provide tenders between vessels and different points on shore, and the L.M.S. Railway will run special trains to London from Tilbury Riverside station. The Southern Railway will also provide special services from Gravesend. The following is a list of vessels and mooring points:— Gross In Gravesend Reach, Tonnage. Vandyck 13,241 Calif ornia ......... i ........ . 16,792 Yoltaire J.3,245 Orion 23,371 Yorkshire "10,183 Atlantis 15,153 Kungsholm 20,067 Queen of the Channel 1,162 Gen. Steam Navig. Co. Steamer 1,162 02 Charlton — Meteor 3,717 02 Greenwich — Pilsudski .... 14j294 02 Rotherhithe— Princess Juliana 2,908 02 Bermondsey — Crested Eagle 1,110 02 the Tower — Royal Eagle .. 1,539 Many of the shipping companies are arranging Coronation cruises from home and foreign ports to the Thames. Liners will be leaving Liverpool, Glasgow and Belfast, and after Coronation week in the Thames will sail for Spithead. Positions will be taken up there for the Naval Review on May 20. All-in prices from home ports, ineluding living on board while moored in the Thames, range from 24 guinoas for the week. One ocean liner has been chartered by an American agency. Americans will embark at Southampton. Another liner is already booked for tourists from Scandinavia.