JUBILEE DOCK

Hokitika Guardian, 29 December 1931, Page 3

JUBILEE DOCK

ARRIVAL AT WELLINGTON. (By Telegraph—Per Press Association) WELLINGTON, December 28. Completing its thirteen thousand mile voyage, Wellington’s huge Jubilee Dock arrived off Pencarrow a litti'e before five o’clock this afternoon. Favourable winds had made easy ’the final- stages >of the journey, and the dock, with its two' small but powerful attendants, the Zwarte Zee and the Witte Zee, swung into Port Nicholson with only the slightest of breezes momentarily stirring the surface of the harbdilr. Overhead two. aeroplanes from ithe Rongotai Aerodrome sailed in the haze of a summer sky. Along tho wharves there strolled hundreds of people, while every vantage point on the nearby hlds had its little group of persons, whose imagination was stirred by the romance of the long tow. The massive bulk of the dock made a -.striking mark in the harbour seascape. A number of launches and yachts sailed round the dock as it moved slowly in the direction of the mooring site. The ferry steamer “Muratai,” packed with passengers, made a trip to the Heads to accompany the dock up the harbour. The Harbour Board tug “Toia” met the voyagers and escorted them in. Government steam tender, Janie iSeddon, were doctors, officials and guests. The small harbour tug “Natone’’ also acted as an escort. The inspection of the crews of tlft dock and of the tugs by doctors was made as the craft came up the harbour.

At 7.10 p.m. the huge anchors of the dock were, dropped several hundred yards from the Jubilee Wharf, at Thorndon, where the dock is to he permanently moored. This work will begin to-morrow. There will be no official ceremony in. connection with the dock's arrival until 1 it has been actually delivered to the Harbour Board by the contractors, which will be about the end of February. It is hoped that it will then be possible to have one of the New Zealand 'Shipping Company’s liners actually in the dock, so as ito enable the function to take place in fitting circumstances"on the ship" itself. DUTCHMEN’S FEAT. ' A VERY CREDITABLE ONE. WELLINGTON, December 28. When the. Jubilee Dock arrived, although they appeared uniformly happy that the end of ithe long tow was reached, the Dutchmen on the two tugs “Zwarte Zee’’ and “Whitte Zee,” as well as those on the big dock itself, were neither excited nor talkative. They were quiet in demeanour when the dock was travelling slowly up the hiirbour on the last stooges' of its journey. 1 'Although there 'were eighteen Dutchmen on the “Zwarte Zee,” fifteen on the “Watte Zee,” and ten on the dock, including the three respective skippers—Captain B. L. Hart, Captain Weltevrede and Captain Jan Van Braat, they had brought the dock 13,627 miles at an average speed of four miles an hour since leaving England on July 15th. The trip was a summer one all the way, and it- passed without any serious incident. • CLptain Hart and many of * the others on board, speak English. NELSON STOWAWAYS. WELLINGTON, December 28. The police 'took in charge two stowaways, who had travelled fiom Nelson on the “Zwarte Zee,”-one of the Dutch tugs, . which brought out the Wellington Dock. ; THE DOCK AND THE TUGS DELIVERY WELL AHEAD OF TIME. With the arrival of the Jubilee Dock and its two Dutch tugs at Wellington ended a world’s record tow. Tho dock was launched from Walls-end-on-Tyne yards of Messrs Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson on May 30. and on July 15 it began its voyage of 13,500 miles to New Zea-

land.” The two sections? of the Singapore, dock were taken 8500 miles, the Callo Dock travelled 11,000 miles, and there haye been? Numerous other cases of long-distance tows, but the voyage of the Jubilee Dock is unique. The dock is arriving well ahead of the delivery date stipulated in the contract, which allowed for a voyage of seven months. Just-; over five months have been occupied, however, in towing the massive steel -structure to its destination, and the Dutch tugs already .famous fo,i- r their efficiency in such matters, .have .-put up a wonderful performance.,;.. SEEKING AN INHERITANCE. A touch of romance attaches to the Jubilee Dock’s voyage to New Zealand, states the Wellington “Post” for on hoard there is a Newcastle man, sixty-eight years of age, who retired from sea life twenty years ago. He is the first man to work h : s passage to the Dominion on board a floating dock, and is milling the trip to claim an inheritance of land. The. land was allocated to him by his mother and if he proves his title to.it, his family will follow him and settle in New Zealand. Before leaving, . the man, Mr Albert Armstrong, said that he had io no qualms about travelling by the dpek, as he received his early training ;» a ? hard school. He was horn in the Bluff Harbour lighthouse, his fathejr being a wharfinger at • Bluff. 1 T His first berth was- in the barque True Britain. He fs the only Britisher employed on the dock, and ’.s acting a s general handyman; Mr Armstrong lias been a prominent official of the National Union ,of Seamen, and was secretary of the Newcastle branch of the union from 1910 to 1 19”6,' and lias also acted in other official- capacities. • # ‘ ‘ u> '

WORLD-FAMOUS TUGS The following particulars concerning the tugs Zwarte Zee anil Witte Zee, which are towing the dock! appeared recently in the .Manchester “Daily. Graphic”:— “ Holland is the world’s tug specialist for she holds all the ' towing records. Rotterdam is the centre of the Dutch towing enterprise, and it is here that L. 'Sniit’s interiiat.onal Stcepdienst have their headquarters. Smit’s tugs (Zwarte. Zee and Witte Zee are units) are known throughout the world, and their'-.black funnels and blue bands are. familiar to every sea captain. • .They took the huge 50,000 Singapore .'. floating dock--9000 miles via Suez to vts destination witfiout the slightest hitch.' A mere 50.000 tons of steel; is -nothing to Smiths tugs. ' • l ' ' The Zwarte Zee and the Witte Zee are remarkabe vessels whose home is at Maassluis, a small harbour which lies between RotteYdam and the sea. There are twenty-two.-“Zee” boats, two funnellers, and the. most" up-to-date tugs in the world. In 1928 the- Witte Zee, of 1200 h.p. steamed'lß’B34 miles a : remarkable distance when one remembers' that a ship’s tonnage speed seldom -exceeds four Tr ' knots. The Zwarte Zee brought' off a remarkably tow a short time ago.- She picked up the British steamer Vnrand rudderless in - mid-Atlantic'in the -• winter, and towed hel <j, 'i"n -terrible weather from 800 miles’ from Fastiiet Rock to the-Mersey bar. ’’ During nearly forty' years towing to all parts of the world Snv.t's have lost thritv-five vessels of just over 4900, which equivalent to a percentage loss of 0.82 8. Surely no company could claim a finer record. SPECIALISTS’ WORK, 'i * Long-distance towing is-an extremely hazardous business, and it 'he-Ex-clusively a job for. the specialist.m'ljt is recalled that when- the C’allri'"’DS’ckWas being delivered hi 1908 one oU-the tugs went to Montevidoe to biiiik-eij, and while there she was driven “op to the breakwater (inti extensively damaged. This left- tile other tug to manage the dock-' alone,- hut a difficult situation was solved bv the master of the second tug taking the dock into Montevido and. mooring it there’.' The damaged tug was repaired sufficiently to enable it to return to its "base in company with 4-hc '.‘other, which then made the- long.; vSya.-go-iout to Montevidoe again with ’ another of tlie company’s tugs. Th-is'iresnJted in a delay of some months^'but'.eventually the dock was safely - dctjce’ed': l The first dock built for Durban- was towed out by the steamerm Bitralong. It was driven ashore through the towing rope parting in a-squall at Mussel Bay, near the Cape of Good Hope, and, although it was refloated, - the Baralong was unable to prevent it from piling up on the rocks again, where it remained.