Marine Tattle

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 279, 15 February 1928, Page 2

Marine Tattle

CUNARD CRUISER. —The Cunard Company will have no fewer than 10 of their liners in the Mediterranean during this winter season. These ships will make 13 calls at Naples, Villefranche and Gibraltar; seven at Alexandria and Athens; and six at Algiers. They will also call at Venice, Palermo. Tunis, Malta, Syracuse, Constantinople, Haifa and other ports, thus emphasising the extensive and varied programme which has been arranged. In addition, there are three special cruises arranged by the Lancastria, from Southampton in January, March and April. The first two are centred upon the Mediterranean, but the third, in addition to Lisbon and Gibraltar, will include the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores, and will extend over the Easter holidays.

THE SEMINOLE STRANDING.—The Seminole, which stranded on Pluckington Bank in the Mersey, and subsequently caused a scare to Liverpool owing to the fact that the vessel was reported broken and oil was leaking out in the river, is a twin-screw motor-vessel of 6,923 tons gross, built in 1921 and owned by the Anglo-American Oil Company. The hull was uninsured, and thereby hangs a tale. The fleet of the Anglo-American Oil Company has been an unfortunate one so far as underwriters are concerned, and the rate was advanced in 1926. Underwriters quoted a further advance for 1927, but the owners retorted that they would sooner run the fleet uninsured. By this time it is probable that they will regret the decision they made, because in the 1926 policy the Seminole was insured on a value of £177,000, reports “Fairplay.” The oil, which was shipped at Houston for Ellesmere Port, was insured in London, and it is hoped the claim will be limited, as a good deal of oil was saved by rigging a pipe-line and discharging the oil into the Tamasic of the same fleet.

HARBOUR MASTER RETIRES.—On December 31 Captain Thomas Clohertv, harbour master for Brisbane, retired after 44 years of valuable service. Captain Cloherty came to Australia in the year 1875 as a member of tbe crew of the ship Corlic, which vessel carried immigrants for Queensland: He left the Corlic on her arrival at Brisbane and entered upon coastal work, in which service he was employed for a number of years On such vessels as the barque Kate Tathaoi, Melton, Badger and others. He later shipped for the South Sea Islands, where he served four years in all capacities. He again returned to Australia, and in 1883 was appointed master of the pilot vessel in Moreton Bay, but he resigned the position and again entered the coastal service, being employed by Howard Smith, Ltd., and the Queensland Steamship Co. In 1894, for saving life off Moreton Island, when the schooner Grace Darling was wrecked, he was presented with the silver medal of the Royal Humane Society. During the visit of the present King and Queen (then the Duke and Duchess of York) to Australia to open the first Commonwealth Parliament, Captain Cloherty was selected and sent to Melbourne to navigate the Royal yacht Ophir from Melbourne to Brisbane, but an outbreak of bubonic plague here led to these arrangements being cancelled. Captain Cloherty was appointed Deputy Harbour Master in 1907, and was the first officer in the pilot service of Queensland to be appointed to that office. He was appointed Harbour Master in 1911, which office he has held continuously until Saturday last. During his long period of valuable service Captain Cloherty has been very popular, and his retirement will be received with regret in shipping circles.

ANOTHER LUXURY LINER. —Few vessels completed since the war have aroused so much interest in technical and commercial shipping circles as the passenger liner Bermuda, which has just carried out an exhaustive series of trials on the Clyde and in the Irish Sea. Built by Messrs. Workman, Clark, and Company, Ltd., Belfast, for the Bermuda and West Indies Steamship Company, Ltd. (Messrs. Furness, Withy, and Company, Ltd.), she has been designed by Messrs. William Esplen, Son, and Swainston, Ltd., the consulting engineers and naval architects, for service between New York and Bermuda. Her service speed of 18 knots will enable her to make the passage in a little under 40 hours. The service on which she will be engaged is essentially a luxury service, and the Bermuda is truly a luxury ship. A rare combination of elegance and dignity has been achieved in her internal decorations, and in the luxurious comfort of her appointments Science and skilled craftsmanship have combined to produce within a well-planned ship. with the graceful external lines of a huge yacht, the amenities of an hotel par excellence. She is literally a “floating hotel,” and has been produced regardless of cost. On the engineering side she is no less notable, as she is the first unit of her size to be fitted with the Doxford oil engine.

The Bermuda provides accommodation for 616 first-class and 75 second-class passengers. She has seven decks, is of about 20,000 tons gross, and has two masts and two funnels. Owing to the limited space available for swinging, her length has been restricted to 547 feet, which, with a beam of 74 feet, and a moulded depth to “C” deck of 45 feet, gives her rather uncommon proportions. Her draught on normal service is limited to 24 feet. She is constructed without tumblehome, and with both sun deck and promenade “A” deck overhanging. There is cargo capacity of 80,000 cubic feet in Nos. 1 and 4 holds and ’tween decks. Nos. 2 and 3 holds, with their ’tween decks above, are insulated for the carriage of meat, vegetables, fruit and dairy produce, and provide 'a capacity of 64,000 cubic feet.

CANADA’S of Canada for the i* month. tri 4* 00,956 dollars-, an ir.vr.., . 24.470,076 dollars, of which 1 « dollars was represented bv 1,075.975,104 dollars in imports’,*’* cultural products wore the •Mriitem in the exports, with wood in second place. In the. lmpon. c *?- and its products head the list wha cultural products next. Ith »«nMANCHESTER'S PROGRESS p past two years the ManchestTT Canal Company has been engajred tensive works of opment The scheme, now completed,' 1 ' eludes a new head office build, iVT company in the heart of dock offices for the administrative <wi* meats, and the erection and equ, pme ?h; two great transit sheds at ihe dols* while in addition a reconstruction iS improvement of the facilities at Fii mere Bert on the Canal is being out At a gathering a day or two celebration of the entry into of the new Ship Canal House, the optimism was sounded. As the of the proceedings showed, the ! at that assembly in Manchester to the progress already achieved. that the sound basis for their of a hopeful outlook. nearly 30 years, the chairman 0 f the Canal Company compared condition* Z the days when the canal had justbJ. made with those of to-dav, and facts which clearly show the great gress achieved. In bringing about developments which have taken nfa ' the enterprise of those responsibe fore! canal undertaking has beyond qa been the essential factor. They hU moved with the times, and have all /lL* kept sufficiently in advance to riv® J* couragemenL Their determined steady policy of doing everything Trrifrn to facilitate the expansion of gh business has been justified by a cally continuous growth of traffic 7?' reactions from improved water commit cation have been widely felt. Both nS ufacturers and trade in the district servL-' by the canal, which is the biggest iadnT trial area in the country outside Lond™ have felt the benefit and have incre**** year by year. Despite certain difflcnhZ! of recent times, there is very aJj: ground for belief that yet greater vances may be anticipated, and the &L Canal Company, as well as other mAp takings associated with the of the Port of Manchester, may be congratulated upon their position and prospects.—“ Lloyd’s ter and Shipping Gazette.” 10/11/jf^**' WITHIN WIRELESS RANGE— The following vessels are expected to be within range of the nndermentioaer wireless stations to-night:— Auckland.—Tofua, Hauraki, Won*»r ell a, Haleric, Aorangi, Indianola, Hint! moa. Chctham Islands.—Port Hunter. Wellington.—Wahine. Maori, Arahura, Tamahine, Wakakura, H.ICS Veronica, H.M.S. Laburnum. H.M.S. Dkk mode, Mataroa. Tahiti, Northumberland Niagara, Hertford, Port Caroline, Melbourne, Paua. Awarua.—Sir J. C. Ross, N. T. Nfew Alonso, C. A. Larsen, Huntingdon, City of Bath, Manuka, Kaikorai, Cambridge. Makura. PORT OF ONEHUNGA—DEPARTURES YESTERDAY HAUTURU (5 p.m.), 270 tons, Fowler for Raglan and Kawhia. ARRIVALS TO-DAY ISABELLA de FRAINE (7 a.m.), 11l tons, Texeira, from Hokianga. NGAPUHI (8 a.m.), 703 tons, Keatky. from New Plymouth. The Ngapuhi, which arrived at Owhunga this morning at 8 o’clock fror New Plymouth, will sail again to-morrow afternoon at four o’clock on her Tetrtni trip. The Isabella de Frame sails from Onehunga to-morrow for Hokianga. The Arapawa, due on Saturday a: Onehunga from Wanganui, loads on Motday, and sails the same day for her return trip to Wanganui. The Hauturu returns to Onehunga oc Friday from Waikato Heads, Kawhia and Raglan and leaves the same day ai 3 p.n: for Hokianga. I — 1 ~~~ ~ - |