Marine Tattle

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 187, 28 October 1927, Page 2

Marine Tattle

PIGEON'S FLIGHT. —The vogue for transatlantic flight seems to have spread to the bird kingdom. A carrier pigeon has been picked up by Mr. J. B. Martin, a farmer, living 25 miles from Montreal, bearing a ring inscribed “Lille, France.” The bird was in an exhausted condition. If it be true that a pigeon has actually flown from France to Canada, the feat i is a very remarkable one. But it must be borne in mind that a bird would have opportunities while in transit of resting on the masts or rigging of ships. That birds do fly great distances is well known, for example, swallows, which migrate from northern countries to Africa, but these journeys are done in stages. BUSY SHIP DISMANTLERS. —Following on their purchase recently of Eastwood Swingler’s works at . Derby, and Crowley’s Foundries, Sheffield, Thos. W. Ward, Ltd., Sheffield, the well-known dismantles of works and ships, have purchased the cruiser Glasgow which was with Admiral Craddock's fleet in the fight off Coronel and subsequently took part with Admiral Sturdee’s fleet in the Falkland Islands battle, and the liner Ortega, which was in commission until recently. In September. 1914, the Ortega, when chased by two German cruises off Cape George on the West Coast of South America, escaped through the uncharted Nelson Channel, into which her pursues did not dare to follow. Other vessels purchased by the firm include the monitors Abercrombie and Havelock. ORDERS FOR BRITAIN.— That Dutch shipbuilding yards are experiencing more difficulties in CJDmpeting with foreign yards, especially with those of Great Britain, is evident from the fact that during July a well-known Rotterdam firm of ship-owners were compelled to place the order for two new vessels with a North of England firm, Messrs. Van Nieyelt, Goudriaan, and Co., the firm in question, would naturally have preferred to give the work to a Dutch yard, and, m fact, requested tenders from all the leading Dutch yards. After full consideration, however, these yards were informed that the tenders submitted were all much too high, so that the owners were reluctantly compelled to cancel their arrangements for new ships. It was only some time later that these owners decided to try and place the order abroad,_ and the offer received from Messrs. "William Gray and Co., of West Hartlepool, proving to be much lower than the lowest quotation from a Dutch yard, the contract was placed with them. The order is for two cargo vessels of 9,000 tons each, driven by steam, and to be delivered in May and June of next year. U.S.A. MERCHANT FLEET.— The Merchant Fleet Corporation has suggested to the United States Shipping Board that 27 per cent, of the Government’s idle fleet of cargo ships, aggregating almost j 1,000,000 tons, should be sold for break- | ing up. The proposal involves the sale j by competitive bidding of 129 vessels, which the corporation officials declare, if carried out, would save the Government | thousands of dollars a year spent on keep- j ing these idle ships in a fair state of re- | jfeir. It would also be the largest sale ] for scrapping, in terms of aggregate tonnage, that the Government has carried out since it has been in the shipping business. The last big deal of this character, involving more ships but less tonnage, was to Mr. Henry Ford, who bought 199 vessels of 813,520 tons for 1,710,000 dollars. "While the vessels sold to Mr. Ford ranged between 3,000 and 4,000 tons, the 129 selected by the Fleet Corporation as “unsuitable for commercial, emergency, or military purposes in connection with the merchant marine programme,” are between 4,000 and 9,500 tons. Under the proposed sale certain parts of the machinery in the ships, which now are lying idle at nine different Places on the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts, would be retained for replacement purposes. TAHITI’S SHORT-WAVE SET.— During the last visit to Sydney of the R.M.S. Tahiti, the vessel was equipped with a special short-wave wireless installation. Similar short-wave wireless sets were recently fitted in the Makura, Aorangi and the Is'iagara thus making the four trans-Pacific mail steamers right up-to-date in the ] wireless communication services, i The short-wave sets have been com- ! pactly assembled, and do not take up I very much space in the wireless cabin, nevertheless they are so efficient that the ships now equipped will be able to maintain communication with the Sydney radio station right across the Pacific. The advantage to the shipping company is at once apparent, and, of course, passengers get the benefit by being able to send messages to Australia and receive replies promptly ; at very low cost. These sets were specially designed after a considerable amount of experimenting by the engineers of the . Amalgamated Wireless Company, and the sets were manufactured in that company’s works at Sydney. Similar wireless sets fitted in other ships by the Amalgamated Wireless Company have proved capable of transmission over distances of at least 10.000 miles.