Marine Tattle

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 56, 28 May 1927, Page 2

Marine Tattle

UNITED STATES TRADE. —The United States last year exported goods to the value of only 4,810,421.507 dollars, or nparly 995 million dollars less than in 1925, while the importations increased by 206 million dollars to 4,432,541,627 dollars. The excess of exports over imports fell from 683,258,248 dollars to 377,569,970 dollars.

NEW GERMAN LI N E R.— The fourth vessel of the Albert Ballin class in the Hamburg-Amerika Line’s service to New York via Boulogne and Southampton commenced her maiden voyage across the Atlantic recently. She is a valuable addition to the Hapag fleet, and mechanically is similar in detail to her sister ships. Her gross registered tonnage is 22,000, with a length of 603 ft, beam 79ft and draught 36ft.

FITTING DIESEL ENGINES.—Another Dieselised vessel of the United States Shipping Soard has trad her trials, namely, "the Sawokla, which has been fitted with Busch Sulzer single-acting engines. She is 5,878 tons gross and A carries 9.125 tons deadweight on a draught of 26’ft and, it is stated, is to have a speed of 11.6 knots under normal service conditions. The cost of the installation comes to 819,600 dollars, which works out at about £168,815, or £lB 10s per ton deadweight.

JAPANESE MAIL STEAMERS.— Merchants trading with the East, and the general public, will be pleased to learn that the Japanese Government has now definitely decided to recognise the Japan-Australia Line as

official mail-carrying steamers on the same footing as the N.X.K. and O.S.K. lines, reports the “Daily Telegraph,” Sydney. This arrangement is a result of the quick and reliable service which this line of steamers has been giving between Australian and Japanese ports.

SHIPPING BOARD REDUCTIONS. —During 1926 the United States Shipping Board reduced its huge fleet by the sale of 96 vessels, of which’ 91

of 621,093 tons d.w. were cargo steamers and five of 70,730 tons gross were passenger steamers, the price secured being nearly 155 million dollars. The cargo carriers fetched an average of just ov ( er 175 dollars per ton dead weight, and the -passenger liners about 63 k dollars per gross ton. In addition the board sold five floating docks.

SHIPS BUILT IN GERMANY.— The passenger steamer Athos 11.. built at Bremen under the Dawes Plan for the line of the Services Contractuels des Messageries Maritimes to the Far East, arrived at Bordeaux in February manned by a German crew, and was formally handed over to the company

Merchant Marine Department? ° f A« vessel. Which is ot the same " the Forthos and the d ready in service, measures 564 ft length by tinft 11 in in breadth h» , 0 9in in depth, displaces 21 iso ton’ is fitted to burn either coal fuel. or oil MAILS BY Alß—The Laiecoere rTines have obtained from the j 5. Alr to be covered in < - days in the* stages of the contract, but the naSffi will later be gradually reduced me days. To begin with the mails ~ bo carried from Toulouse to Daks, k aeroplane, from Dakar to I’ernamWl by fast steamers, and thence to Buei? ;V:; e t s u sly:,‘2 e - n is Z St.lit the sere ice on September 1 year™ 1 voyases are sche <iuled for thfc ARETHUSA APPEAL— A broadcfappeal on behalf of the training £2 A rethusa was made recently. The com of maintaining the ship is betw2? £ 12,500 and £15,000 a year, and tv only certain income is £4.000, j r .|i v T ing a grant from the Board of Educa* tion and another from King GeatM Fund for Sailors. Apart from thi* th* committee is faced with the necessitof raising £I,OOO for special repairs t'n the fehip, which is in danger of breaking in half. Altogether 11.763 bov« have been trained in the ship.

SINGAPORE DOCK PROGRESSING —As evidence of the improving trade on the Tyne it is pointed out that Messrs. Swan, Hunter. and Wigham Richardson are putting night shifts on the big floating dock which they are constructing to the order of the Admiralty for service at Singapore. It is added that work generally is becoming more plentiful on the Tyne, as supplies of material are increasing] but that there are still many empty shipyard berths, and there are several closed yards at which there «re n 0 signs of re-opening. But night-shift work on the dock does not really indicate an improvement in trade.‘it onlv shows that there is a desire for rapid progress on that particular Admiralty job.

ORMUZ SOLD.—A report has been received from London by the ’Daily Telegraph,” Sydney, that Norddeut'scher Lloyd. Bremen, have repurchased the Oriental S.N. Co.’s mail steamer Ormuz. She is to be renamed the Dresden. The Ormuz, 14.588 tons, is well known in the London -Australia service. She belonged originally to Germany, being built at Vegesack in 1914, and was then named Zeppelin. In continuance of its building policy, the Orient Company has under construction at Orford its fourth 20.000-ton vessel, and she will be ready to join the Orama, Otranto and Oronsny in the Australian mail and passenger service about the end of the year.

CHILEAN DESTROYERS.—The six destroyers for the construction uf which the Chilean Government recently took tenders from British, French. Italian. Spanish and Dutch firms, are to be built by Messrs. John I. Thornycroft and Company, Southampton. The vessels are to be. it is understood, a little larger than the British “S” class—which is composed of 36-knot vessels of 1,070 tons displacement. The main armament of the Chilean ships will consist of three 4.Tin guns.

DISPATCH PINNACES.—In March, Messrs. John I. Thornycroft and Co., Ltd., loaded in the Cunarder Cypria, employed on the Liverpool-Mediterra-nean service, four 42ft steel pinnaces, built in their Woolston yard for the Greek Navy. The Cypria was in poit only four hours, during which time the pinnaces were floated from Wooston to the vessel’s side and lifted on deck, where they will remain during tie voyage. They each weighed 10 tons, but were sufficiently bulky to const - tute 110 tons measurement each.

LEVIATHAN’S FIFTIETH VOYAGE —The Leviathan, the great vessel of the fleet of the United States Lines, recently completed her fiftieth voyage across the Atlantic. In commemoration of the occasion several hundred guests, including many meff well known in the shipping and Industrial world, attended a luncheon on board the giant liner. During the weekend. too, the vessel was open to inspection by the public on the payment of a small subscription to the local hospital, and many of the people of Southampton and the surrounding district availed themselves of the opportunity of inspecting the famous liner. For three summers the Leviathan lias borne large complements of passengers across the Atlantic with commendable regularity. Her average speed during this period has been a little under 24 knots, and her last trip was made at 23.72 knots. She was first placed in regular service on the North Atlantic route, under the management of the United States Lines, in the summer of 1923.

A PROPHECY COME TRUE.— Ferdinand de Lesseps, who built the Suez Canal, always declared that the cutting of a deep waterway through the isthmus of Panama was not only practicable, but would attract from the outset a great volume of the world’s shipping engaged on the Atlantic-Pacific route, and vice versa. Jle also boldly prophesied that within 12 years of its opening, 20,000,000 tons of shipping would be using it annually. a statement which was received at the time with an incredulity not altogether of the polite variety. Events, however, have ir ore than JUS' tified the optimism of ae Lesseps, for las* year the traffic figures of tn Panama Canal, about 13 years sine its opening, not only exceeded “ Lessep’s estimate by nearly 7,000,1 tons, but actually—and for the nr time —topped those of the Suez t- an T The returns of the two waterways were: Panama Canal. 26.836,000 tons, Suez Canal, 26,060,000 tons.

NEW ITALIAN MOTOR LINER The advent of the motor liner has led to striking innovations the external appearance of such snip The earliest motor vessels were funn** less, the exhaust being carried up ov of the masts. When Messrs. ” , land and Wolff started building ships for the Glen Line the traditi > funnel was maintained, and that come to be the usual practice most owners, with the exception 0 East Asiatic Company. Messrs. « land and Wolff then introduced.in Asturias, the Carnarvon Castle, other liners the large truncated and their lead has been followed the builders of the Cosulich motor -Saturnia. The huge single squat iu nel, the high super -structure the short masts give the *** a marked naval appearance and ' r very .strongly the idea ot great l» M and speed. The Saturma ‘ s tons gross, and will be driven men to' c n't Co ' W horse-power developed being sj , 24,000. There are, in Diesel auxiliary engines, 'let ,"tion altogether 9,300 i.h.p. AccomtD«> a “ is provided for four classes o senders, of whom 2,500 The vessel and her sister will be employed in the g*South American service, and u pected that the former will & 3 - 11 maiden voyage in August.