Marine Tattle

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 25, 21 April 1927, Page 2

Marine Tattle

Verbania Sold.—The steel two-deck steamer Verbania, 5.021 tons gross, built at Port Glasgow in 3 918 by Messrs. R. Duncan and Co., Ltd., and owned by the Cunard Steamship Company, Ltd.. Liverpool, and which visited Wellington some months ago, has been sold to the Lyle Shipping Company, Ltd., Glasgow.

Two Fine Vessels.—The Nieuw Holland and the Nieuw Zeeland, two new ships being built for the Royal Packet Navigation Company, will be twinscrew turbine-driven passenger and cargo steamers. -They will be 540 ft in length, 62ft. 6in- in beam, and 35ft. 6in. in depth, the dead-weight carrying capacity on a draught of 26ft. being 9,200 tons. The propelling machinery is designed to give each vessel a mean speed of 15 knots. Both steamers will be provided with insulated holds for the carriage of frozen and chilled meat and fruit, and with refrigerating machinery supplied by the Liverpool Refrigerating Company, Ltd. The passenger accommodation, sufficient for 125 first-class in each case, will be of the most modern type and will include a swimming bath.

Fire Foam.—The Stankoe apparatus for generating fire foam consists of a cylinder with a length of 3 feet, a diameter of 8 inches, and a weight of 621 b. The upper part of the cylinder contains the chemical for generating the acid, and the lower part the powder for generating the base. As soon as the water, which must be led by pipes or by a hose into the cylinder, is mixed with the powder the fire foam issues at the other opening of the cylinder. The cylinders can either be managed by hand or they are fixed to some bulkhead, singly or in batteries.

After a single cylinder has delivered 220 gallons of fire foam, the powders are consumed, and must be replaced. The fire foam is formed in a chamber of the fire hose.

The Cutty Sark.—That famous tea and wool clipper, the Cutty Sark, the fastest ship that ever sailed the seven seas, according to her enthusiastic admirers, has been reconditioned by her latest owner, Captain Dowman, and there is a good hope that at some not distant date she may again enter Sydney Harbour, the terminal point of many of her famous voyages in the old days, states “The Harbour.” In 1895 Captain Willis, the owner of the Cutty Sark, sold her to Portugese merchants, Ferreira and Co., of Lisbon, for £2,100, and she was re-named the Ferreira. But her new owners usually spoke of hes as “El Pequina Camisola,” which is Portugese for her original name. Then at last, in 1922, a retired windjammer skipper named Dowman, who lived at Falmouth, England bought her back from the Portugese for £3,750. She has been recommissioned and is expected to revisit Sydney this year. .

Salvage Plant. —A demonstration of portion of the huge salvage plant owned by the Sydney Marine Underwriters’ Association was given recently in Sydney. The centrifugal motor-pumps are able to raise water at the stupendous rate of 2,200 tons an hour, and there are also a range of centrifugal steam-pumps of similar capacity. In addition to the pumping plant, there is an elaborate equipment of gear for all phases of salvage work. The wharf itself is so constructed as to allow equipment to be loaded into lighters alongside in a minimum of time, being fitted with rails, and over-head-travelling purchases for the swift and easy handling of heavy objects. All the equipment necessary for the succour of a vessel in distress can be placed on board within four hours. The whole plant is the largest and most complete of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, and is kept ready for use.

Eight-Hour Day.—At the recent conference at Geneva with regard to the eight-hour day on board ship, the vote of the delegate of the French shipowners has been decisive. The Maritime Joint Committee resolved, by seven votes to five, to have the proposal recommended to the Board of the International Labour Office for insertion in the agenda of the 1928 conference on labour, reports “The Shipping World.” While other employers’ delegates voted against the proposal, French shipowners felt that they could not lose anything by having the question raised for international discussion, since the system has already been put into operation in France.

Poland’s Navy.—Poland at present possesses 100 miles of coastline of the Baltic, hemmed in between the coast of Pomerania and the territory of the free city of Dantzig, and, being firmly nipped between Pofnerania and East Prussia —both German territories —expects the worst. Accordingly she is making naval preparations as well as keeping her army as efficient as possible. She is determined to defend her 100 miles of coastline. The Polish Government has given an order to the Chantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand, at Havre, for the construction of a submarine mine-layer and it has ordered two other vessels of the same class to be built at the French shipbuilding works at St. Nazaire and at Caen.

TONNAGE LOSSES. —A return issued by Lloyd’s Register of Shipping shows that during the quarter ended September 30 last, 53 steamers and motor vessels, of 108,465 tons gross, and 13 sailing ships, of 6,341 tons gross, were totally lost, condemned, etc. The figures for the previous quarter were 37 steamers and motor vessels, of 67,415 tons gross, and 15 sailing ships, of 5,429 tons gross.

The foregoing refers to ships totally lost, condemned, etc., in consequence of casualty or stress of weather. Ships broken up, condemned, etc., not known to be in consequence of casualty or stress of weather, totalled 45 steamers and motor vessels, of 127,372 tons, and 8 sailing vessels, of 9,473 tons. The gross reduction in the mercantile marine of the world from all causes reported during the September quarter was 98 steamers and motor vessels, of a gross tonnage of 235,837, and 21 sailing ships, of 15,814 tons gross. The figures for the previous quarter were: Steamers and motor vessels, 79, of 180,777 tons; and sailing ships, 20, of 12,656 tons.

As in the previous two quarters the highest percentage of losses to tonnage owned by the various countries concerned is shown against Italy, the figure being 0-55 per cent of steam and motor tonnage. This compares with 0.29 per cent for the June quarter. Next in order in the September quarter both countries being 0.48 per cent. Other countries show the following percentages: Norway, 0.33; Sweden. 0.30; Japan, 0.23; Great Britain and Ireland, 0.16; Greece, 0.09 Holland, 0.08; the British Dominions and the United States of America, 0.06; Denmark, 0.04. No losses of steam or motor tonnage were recorded by Germany. The highest percentage of losses to tonnage owned, so far as sailing ships were concerned, was recorded by Holland, whose percentage was 1.55. The figures for other countries were: United States of America, 0-52* Germany, 0.31: British Dominions and France, 0.19. No losses were recorded in British, Danish, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish or Swedish sailing tonnage. Vessels under 100 tons are not included in the return. $