SHIPPING.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 214, 17 October 1874, Page 2

SHIPPING.

POET OF POVERTY BAY. ARRIVALS. OCTOBER. Nil DEPARTURES. OCTOBER. Nil Tub new light on the bluff at the south entrance of Munukau harbor is now exhibited. Mr. Wilcox, late assistant light keeper at Tiri Tiri, has been placed in charge. A little the biggest ship that has been projected in modern times, or since Noah’s famous ship, is the one mentioned in the following item, which we find going the rounds of the Press :—An enterprizing citizen of Philadelphia has proposed to build, in time to use at the International Celebration, a ship capable of carrying 10,000 passengers. It is to combine a steam railway, a race-course, theatre, shooting gallery, circus, and every imaginable modern attraction. He claims that his plan is complete, and has been approved fey some the ablest engineers. He proposes to moor it in the Delaware, and convey it ’at intervals to the different cities, ports, «nd watering places of the Continent. It make about six miles an hour, and wifi be three or four limes larger than the Great Eastern.

At the office of Mr. M. Niccol, in Custom* liouse-street, is to be seen a marine curiosity which has been cut *o«t of the bilge of the brig Susanne, whilst on the patent slip at the North Shore. A fjonspicuous hole in the copper was first observed, and upon stripping it off the trip’s side, it was apparent that something toad pierced the planking. A further examination disclosed the extraordinary

Tact that one of the finny tribe, believed by The captain $o be a spear-fish, had sent his •weapon through a sheet of muntz metal, trad three a half inches of oak planking, and happening to strike between two timbers had «nly been stopped by the interior planking *<£ the ship, a distance of about ten inches tfrma where the spear first entered the wood, Wfid this without blunting the point of the which is about an inch in diameter. The weight, size, and speed of the fish must bare been uncommonly great, as a strong man with a maul would not have been able to drive a spike nail the same distance with the first stroke. Mr. Niccol intends to present his marine acquisition to the Auckland Museum. —D. S. Cross. NOTICE TO MARINERS. Thb following appeared in a recent General Government Gazette'. — Customs Department (Marine Branch), Wellington, 22nd September, 1874.

The attention of masters of vessels is called to the following notices to Mariners issued by the Board of Trade. The provisions contained in the 18th and 19th sections of “ The Merchant Shipping Act, 1873,” having by “The Merchant Shipping Acts Adoption Act, 1874,” been applied and adapted to all British ships registered at, trading with, or being at any place within the jurisdiction of New Zealand and to the masters thereof, the signals referred to are now required to be used in New Zealand. Any master of a vessel, therefore, who improperly uses or displays these signals will subject himself to the liabilities and penalties specified in the sections quoted above. William H. Reynolds. “ MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1873.” Signals of Distress. The Board of Trade give notice that on and after the Ist of November, 1873, the following signals shall, in accordance with the 18th section of “ The Merchant Shipping Act, 1873,” be deemed to be signals of distress :— “In the Daytime.— The following signals numbered 1,2, and 3, when used or displayed together or separately, shall be deemed to be signals of distress in the daytime. “ 1. A gun fired at intervals of about a minute. °2. The International Code Signal of Distress, indicated by N.C. **3. The Distant Signal, consisting of a square flag, having either above or below it a ball, or anything resembling a ball. “At Night.— The following signals numbered 1,2, 3, when used or displayed together or separately shall be deemed to be signals of distress at night. “ 1. A gun fired at intervals of about a minute. “2. Flames on the ship (as from a burning tar barrel, oil barrel,’&c.) “ 3. Rockets or shells of any colour or description fired one at a time at short intervals.” Signals for Pilots. The Board of Trade give notice, that on and after the Ist of November, 1873, if a vessel require the services of a pilot, the signals to be used and displayed shall, in accordance with the 19th section of “ The Merchant Shipping Act, 1873,” be the following, viz.,— “In the Daytime.— The following signals numbered 1 and 2, when used or displayed together or separately, shall be deemed to be signals for a pilot in the daytime, viz.,— “ 1. To be hoisted at the fore, the Jack or other national colour usually worn by merchant ships, having round it a white border, one-fifth of the breadth of the flag; or “ 2. The International Code Pilotage Signal, indicated by P.T.

° At Night.— The following signals numbered 1 and 2, when used or displayed toget her or separately, shall be deemed to be signals for a pilot at night, viz.,— “1. The Pyrotechnic Light, commonly known as a Blue Light, every fifteen minutes ; or “ 2. A bright White Light, flashed or shown at short or frequent intervals just above the bulwarks, for about a minute at a time.”