GIANT DOCK’S CANAL JOURNEY

Hokitika Guardian, 24 September 1928, Page 7

GIANT DOCK’S CANAL JOURNEY

ONLY A FEW FEET TO STARE. LONDON, Aug. 9. A new .stage will he entered upon to-day in one of the most romantic voyages that have' ever been undertaken. At dawn the two halves of the great floating dock wlioh are on their way from the Tyne, in England, to Singapore begin their journey along the Suez On mil, says a Central News message from Cairo. The first jmrt of the dock left England, t'nved -by tugs, on June 21st., and the second part a week later. The first half was kept waiting at Tort Said until the arrival of the other, so that both could pass through the Canal together. The Suez Canal will be temporaruv closed to ordinary traffic during the passage of the two halves of the dock, and there will be- only a margin of a few feet between the sides of the (lock and the banks of the Canal, which lias a minimum surface width of about 200 ft. The length of the Canal, from Port Said to Port Tewfik, is 87 miles, and 1.5 hours is the average time for the passage through it of a steamer, navigating by night a.s well as day. The dock will take much longer to pass through, as its average rate of progress is only, three miles an hour.

. TYNE’S BIGGEST JOB. The dock was built by Messrs Swan Hunter, Wigham-Tiohardson and Company, Ltd. at Wallsend, and it is in many aspects the biggest job the Tyne has ever turned out. When standing inside the dock it is hard to realise that it is a floating structure. It is more like a big industrial concern, with its workshops, cranes, offices, and a telephone exchange with 35 lines. It is 855 ft. long and 172 ft. wide and its rectangular walls constructed of ship-plates, rise 50ft. above the waterline. , The dock can lift 50.000 tons. Tt could hold the Mauretania- with 30ftto spare at stem and stern, or more than five Trafalgar monuments in line. It contains more than 100 miles* of electric cable and 20,000 tons of steel, and-' has 3-1 million , rivets, and. cranes which will trave). with, four tons. - On the top. of each perpeudicularpvall of ,the dpek is what looks like a ship’s deck,, loft, wide, running the whole length, crowded with hatchways, ventilators, capstans,, raised skylights, • and a. covered dine of- .‘.‘live” rail, f When in position at the Singapore t base the dqck, will .require a 70ft. depth of Water, Its pumping equipment is capable of expelling 30,000 tons of water--an hour, and if used as a water tank the dock would hold 190,000 tons of water. A big ship might he berthed in the dock and raised above water in about four hours. The dock- is being taken through the .Suez, Canal by ten tugs under the command, ; of M. Lets, director of Smith and Co’s.,international tugs, who has been s specially, sent out from Rotter--dam .to'Supervise the passage through the canal. The dock is expected to reach Singapore- about-'November 14th. after its 8,500 miles journey. It has met .so far with generally fav.curable;. ; conditions. The first, part ‘arrived 'at. Port Said before the scheduled time, and - the second part was held up for only a few hours by bad weather.off Cape Spartel, Morocco. When.- Princess Mary travelled from Cairo to Jerusalem last April traffic through the Suez Canal was delayed for an hour for her train to cross the canal by the swing bridge, but so far as is known traffic has only been twice interrupted for a longer period since the canal was opened in 1869. In August 1882 traffic was interrupted for two (lays when British forces were landed at .Tsmailia to repress the Arahi rebellion, and the other occasion. was lor a few hours during the fighting on February 3rd. 1915, when the Turco-Germanic hopes of seizing the waterway were destroyed.