THE LARGEST VESSEL AFLOAT.

Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 51, 7 February 1902, Page 4

THE LARGEST VESSEL AFLOAT.

The many masted schooner is a kind «>f vessel- that is coming into favor in Atoerican shippingrcircles. It is only wlboiStf 30"'years ago that the three mastted* schooner vogue, kjs.dis-' fingiiished'from the original type of seboone'r with two iiiasts. The tendency almoin recent 1 times is to enlarge the Sore- and aft' sailers, and diminish, and in some oases-~do a way altogether with, the' on the schooners. The foWr-nirtstfe'd fore and aft schooner is one-of* the results of this tendency. "We* liafve one at present "in Hobson's Bs?£y remarks the Age, in the schooner transit, which arrived from Eureka a few days ago. Her fine sailing qualities were shown by the way she passed safely through the stormy weather off the Queensland coast that did such seriious damage to the barque Louis, which had to put into Newcastle.

But the four-master is now completely outdone by schooners that are built with five, sis, and seven masts, on the fore and aft principle. The latest undertaking of this sort is the building of a seven-masted schooner in the United States, which has been given the name of Roosevelt. This is the largest " side sail" - vessel ever built / and, in fact, the largest vessel that has yet been floated. Her principal measurements are :-—Length of hull, 402 feet 4 inches ; do. from tip of bowsprit to end of mizen boom, 480 feet; beam, 50 feet ; depth from top of keel plate to upper deck, 33ft sin. Her displacement, when loaded, is 10,000 tons, and draft loaded 20ft 6in. The sev< n masts and booms provide for asailaiea. of about 30,000 square feet. On six of + he masts the sails - will extend. 45 feet along the besom, with 72 feet ut hoist and 83 feet leach, and on the mizzen mast the sail will run 72 feet along a bo >m of that length, the hoist being 67 feet and the leach 88 feet 1 h rj will also be the fore staysail, foret >p stay- ■. aV, and jibs. The masts will be steel cylinders 32 inches in diameter, and ruining up to a height of 155 feet, the booms being made of Oregon pine. The designer of this vessel is B. B Oroninshields, and the owners a syndicate, of which Mr Thos. W. Lawson and Capt. J. G. Crowley are members. A sistervessel is now on the stocks, and is to be called the Prosperity.

With a view to having the roll' throughont the colony made as perfect as possible, and in order that every person qualified to vote may be enrolled, the Colonial Secretary has given instructions that members of the police force throughout the colony shall assist the department in the way of registration. It is anticipated that when the polls are taken next December thenrolls will be more perfect than on any previous occasion.

It is said that a t American inventor is building two thousand airships, each .to seat six people, and that they will be ready shortly. If it be true,'this method of transit seems to be coming into favor, and in society circles a familiar phrase will be : "Lady Jones's hairship is hon the roof, mum.'-Globe. Yorktown, the centre of the South Australian salt industry, is said to have been in a state of riot during the late holidays. The'men engaged m scrapin°r the salt on the lakes visited the town and took charge, making themselves thoroughly at home in private residences and elsewhere. The "'only constable received such a buffeting that he had to be carried into Court on. a couch. '•'

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