The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-09
VOYAGES EAST AND WEST.
The Varying Speeds of Steamers Pas sages Between Asia and
 America Explained.
London Telegraph.


 Quick steamship communication is mat ter of the utmost importance to a country with wide1hsng empLe af oceap ,roIt Tt promotes unity of sentiment, encourages com Inercial intercourse, and renders the isolation union jack less oppressive. So great has been the improvement in the speed at which the AL the h American continent is lightly undertaken for business or pleasure. but the traveller who would reach the dominion or Canada States. In recent years the voyage from shore to shore has been rapidly reduced Tn the length of time occupied, put 'nere ,rpsn nus veen to the far-off lands, east and south' that owe allegiance to the king Progress there has been. but those who have to travel to lndia, South Africa or to the great commonwealth of the Southern Cross may well wonder that 1t has not been greater that Goyernments, ss ,,,,S keener determination and enterprise to draw the distant portions of the empire closer fo- gether thus annhilating distance In the in- terosts of the trader anxiously awaiting let ters or the return of his traveller, or settlers wbo desire to keep in touch with f .ae aoprs spondence, and of the Angio-Sax glebe-trot- ter who only needs the assurance of speedy, those other Britains that swim in the Seven Seas.
 crossing the ANantic. those. plying. ta the east-to India. China and Japan, and to the southern hemisphere-are both. far inferior An
 
 characteristics of the oriental During the last decade the speed across the Atlantic mas peen so hastened that even electricity wt iaa, r,oS ,9 the foremost of the eastern liners have put on average of two knots an hoor-not falf the mean increase on the shorter Atlantic pas sages. Up to I6e3 the contract time for the mails from London to India (Bombay) was 23 days which was reduced As tS S@ days fo5 to 37h days, and for Australia. 4S days, re- duced to 35h, But even this is tedious in t-... I@x. D9h The ormuz (Orient line) Accomplished the run home to Plymouth from Adelaide, via Suez a distance of nearly ;ooo miles. in 2I dave For this achievement her engines worked up to g. 800 indicated horse power. and she con- sumed just under l4o tons of coal each twen- sThe North German Lloyd steamer. the Kron Prinz Wilhelm, the latest addition to the At lantic greyhounds, has done the journey rom New York to Southampton in a little over five days or. in other words, she maintained an average speed per hour of twenty-three knots equal to 26I2 land miles. But such a rate is only kept up by an enormous consumption of coal. which in this instance amounts rough ly to 500 tons per twenty-Iour hours. dne which adds about another day to the time, thus the actual consumption of coal is up- wards of 5000 tons for one outward voyage It is difficult to realize such figures. Start ing from Bremerhaven-if she does not coal at an English port-she would certainly carry over 5000 tons of fuel, thus allowing mar gin in the event of a breakdown in the ma chinery. railway truck holds from eight to ten tons so that from 500 to $50 such loads are required to All the bunkers. which look almost boundless when they are empty. To handle this quantity there is an army of stokers gangs of whom are necessarily on duty, some hauling coal to the furnaces while others are busily engaged in shoveling It on the fires There is practically space for any cargo beyond passengers luggage and the mails
 do not run to the far east, India. Australia, and the Cape. There are many reasons. prob ably the chief of which is that passengers viii not pay more than s7o or ESQ for the longest journey eastward. whereas rich Amer icans-always growing more wealthy and add ing to their numbers-will pay as much as s2oO each for a single quick trip across the Atlantic. Then, again, there are many ports