The Log Book

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 560, 12 January 1929, Page 2

The Log Book

THAMES SERVICE.—The Northerif' Company advises that a steamer will leave Auckland for Thames at. 6.45 a.m. or* Monday, at 3.30 p.m. on Tuesday and at 3 p.m. on Wednesday,

GREAT BARRIER RUN.—The Northern Company advises that the Ragitoto will leave Auckland at 8 a.m. on Thursday next for the Great Barrier and will return the same evening. NIAGARA FOR SYDNEY. —Due at Auckland on Monday, January 28, from Vancouver and way ports, the local office ol' the Union Company advises that the R. Niagara is announced to leave here the same day at 10 p.m. for Sydney. MARAMA LEAVES SYDNEY.—According to a cable message received by the local office of the Union Company, the intercolonial passenger teamer Marama left Sydney at 3 p.m. yesterday for Auckland where she is due on Tuesday morning. She will berth at the Queen’s Wharf and at 3 p.m. next Friday leaves Auckand on her return trip to Sydney. MAH AN A TO LOAD, —Cabled news has been received by the Shaw, Savill and j Albion Company that the Mahana left Townsville (Queensland) on Tuesday for Port Chalmers, where she is due next Wednesday to commence loading for London. The vessel will afterwards load also at Bluff, Gisborne and Wellington, arriving there on January 27. She will sail from Wellington on February 3 for the Wanganui roadstead to fill up. The Mahana is expected to clear Wanganui on February 9 for London, via Panama. A LITERARY RELIC OF 1874. —An interesting relic of Charles Kingsley has recently come to light, and may be seen in the lounge of the White Star liner Majestic, writes the “Shipping World.” It is the original chart kept by the author of “Westward Ho,” during . his trip from Liverpool to New York 'in the White Star liner Oceanic, The company’s pioneer ship. On the back of the chart Kingsley wrote his log of the voya§fe, and the document lias been placed in a hinged frame so that both sides mav be readily inspected. The author sailed on January 30, 1874, and arrived in the American port on February 11. The chart was found in an old box which liad long lam on a top shelf in a provincial s ® c< s,'hh-haud bookshop. Kingsley, a man ot Devon, had a sound knowledge of navigation, and this expresses itself in the sailor-like language of his log, which, as is known from a letter addressed by Tsangsley to his wife immediately on his arrival at New York, was for the instruction of the author’s youngest son, m 1 e /?, ville ’ * w «°se name is also mentioned in the actual chart. ton T,V IP i^ RS AND SOUTHAMPN° rd <leutscher Lloyd has dets p? w vessels, the Buropa and Bremen, which are to be placed in ton Vl nn Sllall , call at SoithimpTon on the homeward voyage as well as on the outward voyage, and it has sei? I wh?ch th h'flv all h tn e , interm ediate ves- • h hav ® hitherto used Plymouth at SonthjTrSSf t 0 B^ emen shall also call w. f?9 l ?, t “ ai Spton. states the “Shipping Wond. The effect of the transfer of S, me 7 ard Cfhs from Plymouth to will be to concentrate the , th - e coni Pany’s English transatlantic business at the latter port. Exduring the vcar period, the Norddeutscher Lloyd has had continuous sailings from the Hampshire port, to New York for the last 70 years, but homewards the vessels have invariably called at Plymouth to land their passengers. The Europa and Bremen are. according to the new schedule of sailings just issued by the Norddeutscher Lloyd, to do the voyage from Southampton, via Cherbourg, to New York in five days, and the Columbus, which is to be withdrawn from service for some months in order to be re-engined, so as to increase her speed, in six days. Vessels now on the express service are to be placed on the intermediate service. The express service, it is claimed, will be the fastest on the Atlantic.

OLD TONNAGE. —How long will there be continued the practice indulged in by some British owners of selling old tonnage to foreigners when the right place for it is the shipbreakers’ yard? When the .small difference in the price of selling and that of breaking up is remembered, it is difficult to understand why the temptation is not resisted, writes the “Syren and Shipping.” The market for old tonnage is in the neighbourhood of £3 per gi'oss ton register, and the amount that can be obtained if the vessel is sold for the “knacker’s yard” is 30s per ton. Fewer ships would mean more cargoes for all, but the vessels sold in order that new ones may be built, besides adding to the amount of surplus tonnage, may be used in competition against the seller’s own ships. Moreover, the foreign buyer is often in a position to run his vessel more cheaply than is the British owner. If she is a small one the crew may consist largely of the sons and other relatives of the captain, and the vessel is not subject to the stringent regulations of the Board of Trade of this country. The-matter was put very pointedly the other day by a prominent shipbroker, who asked: “What American industrialist on deciding to scrap his old plant to make room for new machinery would think of selling it to a rival and thus enable the latter to compete against him?” Yet that is happening in the shipping industry in certain directions. The more old tonnage .that is scrapped, the more employment will there be all round. THE SEAMEN’S LOT. —“A Seaman,” writing in the newspaper of the National Union of Seamen, discusses conditions on board ship in the Merchant Navy in the past and to-day. He directs attention to the work which has been accomplished, mainly due to the driving force and outstanding personality of Mr. Ha' 0 _*k Wilson. “Seamen to-day,” he recaus, “have a National W'ages Board which controls the rates of pay in all British ports, and an agreement is in existence compelling the shipowners to pay the expenses of travel to a seaman paid off who desires to return to his port of joining the ship, no consideration is taken of whatever the distance may be. The quality of the food has been greatly improved, and a full and generous allowance is now the rule, rather than, as hitherto, the exception. The crimps and harpies,” he adds, “have been given short shrift at the quayside, and the seaman can have his wages sent to his own home by the mercantile officials, where it will be safe until his arrival.” In comparison with other industries to-day the wages of seamen compare favourably, and, of course. on monthly articles, free board is provided. Many of the leading shipping companies are taking an active interest in the social life of the crews employed by them, and well-stocked, up-to-date libraries are by no means uncommon on many ships for the use of the crews. They have one of the finest convalescent home.? in the country, where seamen arc admitted free. The writer states that this policy “has resulted in the discarding by shipowners and the union leaders of the obsolete weapon of both strike and look-out in favour of the more effective and sane one of peaceful negotiation.”

OTOKIA LEAVES SAN PtDRO. — me i Union Company has been notified b> i cable that its oil-tanker Otokm Lett j San Pedro at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, with a J cargo of fuel oil for V\ ellington. She is | due there about February 2. j EXCURSIONS TO-MORROW. The j Northern Company advises that goes u> K a wail Island, the Hauiu y Surf dale, the Waiuku to ©Bten« »M Omilia. and the Omana to Ma.nl> TOFUA AT APIA.—The local .offiee el the Union Company has been advised ha the Island passenger steamer Tot ua arrived at Apia. Samoa at • 1-' Thursday and was to sail ; again at a U yesterday for Suva, and Auckland. •b« is to clear Suva next Thursday ana « due here next Monday. January -iCARGO FROM SOUTH AFRICA The Shaw. Savill and Albion t ; advises that the Karansa. which due at Capetown on February a trotn t.t i don, will offer shippers an opportunity 01 ! XSSESSf j ter port about March Thi '. 1 ~ _ will leave London on January 1J fot <-apt- , town and Australian ports. Attei an charge in Australia the > essel v ill P>° eeed to Auckland. AORANGI REPORTS— According to a radio message received by the tonal oi we of the Union Company, the Aorangi is expected to arrive in the no??ow “Ivenmg al Svdney. Aft2r praViuue has beln granted, the^ vessel berth about b.oO p.m. at the I aU Wharf to land her passengeis and and to load for Ntneuma. ‘ scheduled to leave Auckland at o P™next Tuesday for Suva, Honolulu, \ic toria and Vancouver. CORINTHIC DELAYED.—A radio message received by the Shaw. Sauii. and Albion Company states that the White Star liner Corinthic is now expected to arrive at Wellington next Thursday at daylight from London and Southampton. The liner lias passengers, and mails for disembarkation at Wellington and cargo for discharge at Wellington and Auckland. The Corinthic was originally scheduled to arrive at Wellington on Monday morning.

THE WOOL DERBY. —The "Wool Derbv which has just concluded (.the race “from Australia to Dunkirk between vessels carrying wool) has ended in a striking success for the motor-ship Temeraire. There were six vessels which may be said to have participate,d in it. They were the Blue Funnel liner Eumaeus, the German craft Hochst. the Dutch vessel Abbekerk, the City of Kimberley, the Port Hobart (a Commonwealth and Dominion Line motor vessel)and Willi Wilhelmsen’s motor-ship Temerairc The vessels which started first were the Port Hobart, City of Kimberley and Abbekerk. A week later the Eumaeus, Hochst and Temeraire followed, the last-named ship being 1* hours ahead of the Eumaeus. A remarkable race took place, the Eumaeus and Temeraire seldom being more than a tew hours’ distance apart. The Temeraire was slightly in front, but lost three houi s near Aden because an exhaust valve had to be changed. She arrived at Suez li hours ahead. The Temeraire left Port Said four hours before the Eumaeus and gained two hours in the Mediterranean so that she passed Gibraltar six hours ahead. Another hour was gained on the trip from Gibraltar to Dunkirk, so that the Temeraire reached this port seven hours before the Eumaeus. rne Port Hobart had arrived at Dunkirk four da vs before, having had seven days start, and the Abbekerk arrived five hours later The total time of the Temeraire was *>4 days U hours, giving an average speed of 15.31 knots, which is a remarkable tribute to the possibilities of motor ships maintaining more than their contrac speed, since the Temeraire is considered as a 14 h to 15-knot shin, and she was well laden on this trip. Had it not been for the rough weather on the south coast of AustiaUa tlic record now held by the Holt Line might have been broken.

WITHIN WIRELESS RANGE—- ' The following vessels are expected to be within range of the undermentioned wireless stations during the Auckland —Aorangi. Tofua, Olivebank, Enton, Kartigi, Northumberland, Marama, Canadian Britisher. Chatham Islands —Cornwall, Fort Alma, Wellington —Maori, Wahine, Ngaio, Arahura, Mamilius, Dana. Wairuna, Manuka, Tahiti, Tamahine, Ulimaroa, Niagara. Maunganui, Kent. Tredinnick. Taranaki, Kawatiri. Mahia, Corinthic, Mahana, Surrey, Pareora. Awarua Tahiti, Port Hardy, Bloemfontein, Manuka, C. A. Larsen. Sir J C. Ross, N. T. Nilsen Alonso, City of New York, Eleanor Boling, Makura. PORT OF ONEHUNGA—arrivals to-day RAF.AWA (8 a.m.), .1,077 tons, Bark, from New Plymouth. The Rarawa, which arrived at Onehunga this morning from New Plymouth, sails on Monday at 4 p.m. on her return Hauturu, due to-night from Hokianga, leaves Onehunga at 4 p.m. on Monday for Raglan, Kawliia and Waikato The Arapawa arrives at Onehunga tomorrow from Wanganui via the coast and sails next Tuesday at noon for Wanganui. The Anchor Company’s Regulus is due at Onehunga on Monday from Nelson to load for Nelson and West Coast ports.