PORT OF BLUFF HARBOR.

Southland Times, Volume vi, Issue 499, 21 June 1866, Page 2

PORT OF BLUFF HARBOR.

ABKITALS. June 20 — Tararua, s.s., Ferguson, from Melbourne, -with English Mail 3. PASSBNGBB MST. Per South. Australian — Dr and Mrs Menzies, for Wellington ; Mrs. C. Nylusay and children, for Hokitikaj and seven in the steerage, for Dunedin. 1 The 8.8. Tararua, Captain Ferguson, left Melbourne with the English Mail, on the 14th June, at 4 a.m., from Sandridge Pier. Passed the Heads ' at ito 7 o'clock, and encountered strong head wind, accompanied by very heavy 6qualis of rain and wind, and a very heavy sea on" which continued until Sunday morning, the 16th, when the wind shifted to the N.E., but the sea was as bad as before. Passed the Solanders about 5 p.m. on ♦he 19th, and arrived off the Pilot Station, and Vanshipped the English Mail into the Pilot Boat at 10 p.m., leaving immediately afterwards for Ofcago. The Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Royal Mail Company's screw steamship Ruahine, which was telegraphed off Cape Otway on Monday afternoon about four o'clock, arrived at the heads the same evening at eleven, where she anchored for the night, and came up the bay yesterday morning. The Ruahine is the second of the hne of ocean steamers intended to perform the Transpacific mail service between Wellington, N.Z., and Panama, and her arrival in anticipation of the April mails from Europe has been eagerly expected. This magnificent steamer, like her forerunner the Kaikoura, is brig rigged, and is a handsome specimen of vessels of her class. She has a sharp entrance, and a fine clean run fore and aft, and her passenger accommodation is something extensive, her maindeck berths being fitted up for seventy first-class passengers, forty second class, and seventy third-class. Her saloon, Berenty-seven feet in length, is luxuriously furnished, and is fitted up with a piano, library, and plunge and shower baths, and contains almost every comfort and convenience for voyagers by the Panama route. The Ruahine ia registered at 1,610] ton 8, and her load displacement is stated to be 2,300 tons, her coal bunkers carrying 1,200 tons of fuel, an amount in excess of her requirements, even] with full steam, during the entire royage. The steamer is propelled by twin screws, which can be driven together or separately, according as the vessel may have the wind, and the motive power is supplied by two pairs of engines, of the combined nominal horse-power of 400. The engines have two pair 3 of annular cylinders, with a two-foot stroke, and drive two three-bladed screws, having a diameter of ten feet and a half, and a pitch of 18 feet 6 inches. By working tho screws eeparately the vessel can be turned round as if on a pivot. The boilers are heated by ten furnaces, and are fitted with Davison's patentsurface condensers. The engines are made by. the builders of the steamer, Messrs J. and W. Dudgeon, of Millwall. The Ruahine left London on April 6th, called at Plymouth, leaving that port on the Bth, and arriving at St. Vincent's on the morning of the 18th. From Plymouth to St. Vincent's strong contrary winds and fine weather were met with. The steamer left St. "Vincent's on the evening of the 21st, and had light N.E. trades to the equator, which was crossed on April 27, in lon. 46deg. 29min. W. . Strong S.E. trades were experienced from the line to lat. 24deg. 27min. S., and afterwards strong southerly winds, with a heavy sea, to the Cape of Good Hope, where *he arrived on May 11. The passage of the Ruahine from the Cape, where she left on May 16, was fearfully tempestuous, a succession of rotatory gales, veering round from N.W. to S.W., having been encountered. During a heavy gale, accompanied by thunder and lightning, on May 28, the mainyard was carried away, two of the life-boats staved in, and considerable damage done to the bulwarks. The heavy weather continued until the steamer was within two days of this coast. The easting was run down between the fortieth and forty-second paralells of latitude. During the whole of the untoward weather from the Cape to the Australian coast, the Ruahine gave convincing testimony of her admirable qualities as a sea-going boat, and the passengers speak very highly of her capabilities in all weathers. Her commander, Capt. T. S. Ueal, is of some eminence in his profession, having commanded the Queen of the South, the Harbinger, the Hellespont, and other large steam vessels. At the termination of the voyage, highly laudatory addresses were presented to Capt. Heal and his officers by the passengers. The new screw for the P. andN.Z. Co.'s steamer Kaikoura has been brought out by the Company's steamer Ruahine, and will be forwarded to Wellington with all possible despatche.