MOTOR-LINE

Hokitika Guardian, 15 March 1922, Page 1

MOTOR-LINE

(By A. P. Chalkley, (Editor of “The Motor-Ship.”)

On December 30th there sailed from London on her maiden voyage a ship which is proibably destined to make history. The Domain, as she is named, is the first vessel equipped with oil engines to be designed and bnilt specifically as a passenger-carrying liner.

It is well know that during the past few years the internal combustion engine has made great headway at sea. This is indicated by the fact that at present there arc several hundred ships so equipped, totalling about 1,500,000 tons.

Hitherto, however, the oil engine has not been applied to the propulsion of motor-passenger liners, perhaps on account of the natural hesitation on the part of shipowners, who can afford to make no experiments where the transport of passengers is concerned. The Domala, which has been built for the British ■ India Steam Navigation Company and will trade between London and India, has accommodation for about 140 passengers, in addition to a cargo capacity of some 11,000 tons. Her two oil engines develop 4,660 h.p., and her fuel consumption, when travelling at IS£ knots, is under 20 tons of oil daily. Diesel oil engines possess many advantages over steam machinery for such a vessel. .In a steamer of the same size equipped with the most modern plant, the coal consumed would be between 31 and 4 times tbe weight of oil used on the Domala.

The liquid fuel is carried in double bottoms, whereas bunker space must be provided for the coal, so that the motor-ship has an additional cargo capacity corresponding to the space thus utilised.

The Domala can carry about 1,300 tons of fuel, which is sufficient for a round trip from London to the East and hack, wheras a steamer of the same size and speed must take on coal at various ports—a process that is far from pleasant from the passengers’ point of view. Tt will be evident that owing to its wider radius of action, the motor-ship is more favourably placed with regard to the purchase of fuel at the ports where it can be most cheaply obtained, and tbe elimination of stokers due to the absence of boilers iB an advantage of some importance. Tt is admittedly a far cry from the Domala to the Transatlantic leviathan, but if this vessel and the ships of similar type which are to follow are successful, still larger motor-passenger ships will he built, and it is impossible to put the limit to future development,