Posted inDaily News Engineering Iron & Steam Maritime & Naval History Ship Histories

Silvertown Has Finished

Cable laying ship CS Silvertown, seen from the starboard side at anchor

Work of Cable to Be Completed Tomorrow.

LANDING OF CABLE LAST FEATURE

Staff May Get Away for Home Next Week—Station Ship Now Under Discussion.

When, tomorrow morning, the cable ship Silvertown completes coaling and hauls over from the Hackfeld wharf to the Railroad slip for the purpose of finishing the transfer of the cable from the tanks of the vessel to the tanks ashore, the last portion of the business of the great steamer will be on.

The transferring of the 100 miles of cable which still remains in the ship will be a matter of interest, and will occupy the greater portion of the day. The ship will be laid alongside the Railroad wharf and the cable led across to the tanks which have been carefully constructed for the purpose of keeping the cable intact until it may be needed for the purpose of repairs on the line, should there be a break. The cable must be kept under water, and the tank is arranged specially for the purpose of keeping the materials in the best shape until a call for a length comes.

Posted inMaritime & Naval History Ship Histories Shipwrecks & Nautical Disasters

Message in Bottle Tells of Shipwreck

Note Written in Dutch Found Floating in St. Lawrence Closes With “Adieu.”

By the Associated Press.

QUEBEC, November 2.—”Lost in storm. Written by one of the shipwrecked crew of the S. S. Aophard, Holland. Please be kind enough to forward this to Safekeeping. Happened October 25, 1925. Written by Ye Teolsa, Adieu.”

This message, countersigned by “Capt. Banderweevoen,” was found in a bottle in the St. Lawrence River near the lighthouse on Ste. Felicite, Quebec. October 27. It was written in Dutch, and, following its translation today by Abbe Desmet of Laval University, was sent to the Department of Marine and Fisheries at Ottawa.

Posted inDaily News Maritime & Naval History Ship Histories

Majestic Sails Despite Strikers

Three Other Steamers Get Crews and Leave

Photo of RMS Majestic, a three-funneled ocean liner.

London, Sept. 2 (AP)—The situation in British home ports resulting from the official strike of seamen against a wage reduction was somewhat eased today by the sailing of the While Star liner Majestic from Southampton and the news that three steamers at Hull had finally obtained crews and would leave on time.

On the other hand there was little diminution in the seriousness of the situation in dominion ports as reflected in advices reaching London.

Posted inMaritime & Naval History Ship Histories

Tanner Again in Commission

Fifty-Year-Old Brig Is to Load Cargo of Lumber at Mukilteo for This Port

HULL IS EVERLASTING

In Spite of Age and Shipwreck Her Ancient Timbers Still Hang Together

The brig Tanner is going to celebrate her jubilee by making another voyage from the north to this port. At least half a dozen times has this time-worn craft been wrecked, and as often has her obituary been written. She has been sailing the seas since 1855, when she was launched from a shipyard long passed away at Smithtown, N. Y. “Arrived, brig Tanner, in distress,” Is an entry which appears with surprlsing frequency on the records of the Merchants’ Exchange. She knows all about Davy Jones’ locker from personal observation, and more than once in the “disaster” column of the marine records she has been classed as “wreck, total loss.”

Posted inMaritime & Naval History Ship Histories Shipwrecks & Nautical Disasters

Efforts to Save Brig Tanner Fail

Newspaper illustration of the Tanner, showing her under sail.

PORT ANGELES (Wash.), October 28.—Efforts so far to haul off the brig Tanner, which went ashore last Saturday near Elwha river, six miles west of this city, have proved futile. The vessel so far is not damaged by the seas. Further effort will be made by tugs at high tide tomorrow. The tug captain believes the vessel can be hauled off if more tugs can be procured before the storm comes, otherwise she will prove a total loss.

The news that the old brig Tanner had gone ashore at Port Angeles and probably would prove a total loss was received yesterday in the local shipping world with considerable interest. The Tanner was about the oldest and one of the most picturesque vessels on the Pacific. In 1855, when she was launched at Smithtown, N. Y., she was as tight and saucy a brig as ever flew the stars and stripes. Forty-eight years of sea service, however, transformed the Tanner into a floating sieve in which no sailorman less brave than her skipper and owner, Captain Newhall, would have dared to venture beyond easy reach of a life-saving station.

Posted inMaritime & Naval History Ship Histories Shipwrecks & Nautical Disasters

Collision Between the Steamers Black Swan and Luna

Illustration of the collision between the Black Swan and the Luna, showing the two steamers collided with the vessel to the left, the Black Swan, going down by the bow. Rescuers row boats toward the disaster.

The steamer Black Swan, belonging to the Tasmanian Steam Navigation Company, left the Queen’s’ Wharf, Melbourne, at 10 o’clock on Tuesday, morning, 16th July, for Launceston, and had at 11 o’clock got nearly abreast of the breakwater running off from Williamstown, when the steamer Luna, coming from Geelong, reached the same spot. The two vessels then came into collision, the Luna striking the starboard bow of the Black Swan stem on, cutting into her to a considerable distance. So great was the force of the shock that it was with difficulty the Luna could, by backing astern, extricate herself, and the Black Swan‘s head was forced from the course she was going right round.