Marine Tattle

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 305, 16 March 1928, Page 2

Marine Tattle

ANOTHER OLD SAILER. —A 41-year-old vessel has been sold for £10,500. It“i is the Peruvian iron auxiliary motor- j tanker Katherine, and she has been pur- , chased by Mediterranean buyers. This! vessel was in Sydney during- the late war, but was then the full-rigged fburmasted ship County of Linlithgow. * She was a fast and beautiful vessel, and made many a trip to Austrlia. The late Captain J. Peters was master of one of her sister ships. Built by Messrs. Barclay, Curie and Co., of Glasgow, in ISS7, she was of 2,296 tons gross and 1,673 tons net, and as the Katherine was owned by the Cia Ballenera del Peru, Ltda. (Mr. Hans Borge), Tonsberg. NORWEGIAN - AUSTRALIA LINE. —On her maiden voyage to Australia, the new Norwegian motor-ship Temeraire arrived at Sydeny recently. This vessel is the third new Norwegian motor-ship to visit Sydney during a short period, the others being the Taronga and Talleyrand. She is of 6,465 tons gross register, and was built at St. Nazaire by the Penhoet Shipbuilding Company. The Temeraire will proceed to Woolwich Dock for cleaning and painting, and later will commence loading wool and general cargo for Dunkirk, Antwerp, Bremen, Hemburg, Rotterdam, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Baltic ports, finally leaving Sydney on March 13. Captain Christensen is in command of the new vessel. MOTOR-SHIP V. STEAMER.—The past year, according to the “Motor Ship.” was a record so far as motor shipbuilding is concerned. One hundred and thirty-seven large vessels of this class were completed, totalling 816,000 tons gross, compared with 735,000 tons gross in 1926. There are now on order over 300 large oil-engined vessels of 1,9 70,000 tons gross, which represents an increase of between 30 and 40 per cent, over the corresponding figure a year ago. Another remarkable fact in motor-ship development is that within the past year the world's tonnage of vessels of this class lias increased by about 750,000. whilst steamers have diminished to the extent of about 200,000 tons. NORWAY-SOUTH PACIFIC SERVICE. —From Gothenburg it is reported that the negotiations between the Gotaverken and Mr. Knut Knutsen, have now resulted in a contract being signed for the construction of two motor-ships each of 8,300 tons deadweight. The vessels will be of the shelter-deck type. There will be four cargo holds with live hatches, electric winches, and windlasses, as well as electro-hydraulic steering engines. In the fore deckhouse there will be, besides the captain's rooms, accommodation for 12 passengers. The vessels are intended for the NorwaySouth Pacific service, which the wellknown Haugesund owner recently started with Messrs. Winge and Company, as general agents at Oslo. MELBOURNE STEAMSHIP LINE.—In the half-yearly report of the directors of the Melbourne Steamship Co., Ltd., particular stress was laid upon the great amount of industrial trouble and the complete dislocation of work on the waterfront throughout Australia, owing to the wharf labourers* strike, which ended in December last. The company, however, by the assistance of revenue obtained from its interests in other than shipping, was able to declare the usual dividend, namely, 6 per cent, per annum on preference shares, and 10 per cent, per annum on ordinary shares, which is payable after the meeting on February 29. The report further states that trade during the second half of 1927 was dull, and the volume of cargo offering was insufficient to afford full employment to the fleet. The Hobson's Bay Dock and Engineering Co.. Pty., Ltd., a subsidiary concern, had improved business, however, and a moderate profit was earned. A further item in the report was the death in November last of Captain Charles Hallett, who had been a member of the board since 1900. To fill the vacancy, Mr. McAndrew Reid, governing director of James Hardie and Co., Ltd., Sydney, was appointed in December. COST OF FIRES AT SEA. —The view is held among underwriters that, while much has been done in recent years to facilitate navigation by the development of wireless, there has been no corresponding reduction of the fire risk. Serious outbreaks of fire in all descriptions of shipping were an outstanding feature of marine underwriting last year, and these continued until its close, when the British steamer Clan Macwilliam, valued at £105,000, was destroyed at Vavau, Friendly Islands, while loading copra. A somewhat similar casualty occurred at Gizo, Solomon Islands, where the Norwegian steamer Yarra was also loading copra. The value of the copra on board at the time is believed to have been £IOO,OOO. In addition, the vessel was also carrying spelter worth nearly £50,000. As the hull is believed to have been insured for £40,000, the loss falling on underwriters will be heavy. In between these two occurrences was a fire in the American steamer Seneca, at New York, attributed to a spark falling on floating petrol in the Hudson River. This vessel, which, it is feared, may be a constructive total loss, is understood, according to the London “Times,” to have been insured on the value of about £107,000. The number of fires has been so serious that the nuestion of trying to reduce the annual wastage deserves more careful consideration.

EARLY AUSTRALIAN CLlPPsro V. >den ship Orient was built * hi the in 185* and was the Orient :!Kvme»t SU howeve; ,lr l?; r 4 !h? ! yV:.;o;i" Var b j . ompieled Shn landed *he Ut ( fn" S hi the t t'perFion» n^ c ; , |""' er,r **^*'Sj Kinburu as a hospita l shij. She IS? ’«* th.- terrifie pale of November sailed on ?o£ m July, 1856, arriving at Adelaide aiT?* l out. For a number of years su» cess 'u! and popular ship ir tK* J* * I tralian passenger trade. Her 7?sage out was made in 1866, WheifXLfi*’ uas reached from London in I ISM she was dismasted and ! into a coal hulk in Gibraltar t BARQUE HOUGOMONT AT AU«rrt». Australia, early on March 3. TTnTjJir Hougomont sailed from Gefl* 1 Vi.-feifir.e deeped tne vessel dur'lwT? fu st portion of her \oj ilge to AustL? mil the boisterous weather and seas she encountered in the qJ"** C lannol and the Bay of Biscay culnl- I a led in a hurricane off the coast ofrv 1 tt-gaL During the period in which ! gale was at its heigh: the HougoaS! lost her fore topgal-an; mast, ] topgallant and her l lidlen top topgallan : mast. Twenty sails were dered useless, and a mass of taiww w reckage littered the decks. F or days the ship drifted while the was attempting to ref<&ir the ilanST Jury rigged, the Houpomont sailed L sbon, Portugal, 15 days later, on tv teber 2i last year. Partially reflttfd but with 11 yards still on deck, she sumed her voyage on November 2s. nJ Hougoraont, a steel four-masted banm* ■ of 2,378 tons gross register, was built* 1597 by Scott and Company a: Greenock Scotland. She is a sister ship to Archibald Russell, which visited lia recently, and she i.*< one of the fl*! of 17 sailing ships owned by Mr. Erikson, of Mariehamn, Finland. Erikson owns the largest fieet of *«i ing ships in Europe. The Hougo*io*t is manned by a crew of 23, ccmpoiM of 19 Finns, three Swedes, and one E’yr" lishman, under Captain E. H. Jans«< They are mostly young men. ! A TOUR OF JAVA.—The Royal Pack*steamer Tasman leaves Melbourne 0 r 111 May 20. calling at Sydney, where two days are spent, anc Brisbane, where - stay of a Yew hours is made, the** through the lovely calm waters betweer the Queensland cojist and the Gran Barrier Reef, via Thursday Island " Macassar, in the Celebes Islands. Daring the voyage thro-ugh the East Indiar Archipelago the vessel is seldom out of sight of the beautiful little islands, whkt lie along the route, and the day in Macassar, a beautiful and interests Dutch settlement, will be much enjoyed, jil Sourabaya, in the island of Java, i* a reached on June 7, ai»d here the jarty disembark for the motor tour of Java. 3 3>etails are:—Leave Melbourne, 1 Tasman. May 20; Sydney, May 24; hr*. ! bane, May 26; arrive Macassar June 5; * Sourabaya June 7. Fourteen days’ automobile tour of Java. Leave B&tfcria. steamer Tasman, June 20; Samanng ; June 21; Sourabaya. June 22: Macassar. June 24. Due Brisbane July 4; Sydney July 6; Melbourne July 9. The farw, j which will include first-class return far* by the Tasman and the 14-dav tour in Java, are as under:—From Melbourne. £143; Sydney, £137; Brisbane, £ir Adelaide, £lsl 10s: Perth, £l7O. Adelaide and Perth passengers will be granted first-class steamer forwarding to Melbourne, paying the difference in fare if they decide to connect by raiL The return sea voyage is made via Samaran?. Sourabaya, Macassar, Thursday Island. Brisbane and Sydney. Passengers roa--also take a Round Australia Tour in coc- 3 junction with the Java tour, returning via the West Coast of Australia, tir fares being as follows:—Brisbane, £IP JTs 6d: Sydney, £136 10s; Me'bcunv £136 10s; Adelaide, £137 ss; Fremantle, £136 10s. Extensions to the totir cf Singapore, Colombo, Hong-Kong, Mania and Japan may also be arranged. rl: r!* rlr -It -It -I* *!* -St *4- rk I