Travel
, i Cruising in Luxury .
TIIERE was no mistaking the 'Arandora Star' in Southampton Docks. To anyone with an eye for ships it was obvious that she was a fine sea boat, and would make easy-going of the heaviest *either. &lilt less for speed than for pleasure, she " sits " the water in calm defiance of the mightiest waves. Tier underwater lines run down straight almost to the keel and make for stability and easy steaming. Her bow is trim and powerful, and the stern is of the cruiser type, popular to-day with naval architects, for not only does it give additional space aboard, but makes the ship more_, seaworthy and incidentally lessens the vibration from the propellers, besides affording extra protection to it in rough weather and saving the engine from racing.
One has only to make a tour of the ship to find she is as
nearly an ideal Cruising liner as it is possible to build. Sir Charles AlloM is responsible for her decoration. Besides being an artist he is -also- a yachtsman, and has succeeded in bringing into the:cruising liner the atmosphere of rest and peace one expects in a cruising yacht. Every public room is decorated with artistic; homely simplicity, no one colour obtrudes or irritates, there is nothing ultra-modern or bizarre. There is -charm about each of the public rooms : the ball- room is not gay so much as it is-lovely ; the smoking rooms are tastefully decorated • there are verandah cafés, spacious lounges, the winter garden, the sun terrace, a cinema with the talkies, an excellent library, .and extensive decks for every known garfie played aboard ship, an open-air swimming pool and sun bathing deck. The dining-room, or to be precise, the Louis XIV restaurant, is large enough to seat with the utmost comfort three hundred and sixty, doing away with the objectionable "second sittings" for meals.- The cuisine is all that is to be desired, and the service unostentatious and quietly efficient. There are no cabins on the c Arandora Star' in the " cabin " sense, but well-appointed rooms like those in any comfortable hotel ashore. These double and single rooms are large, airy, fitted with forced draught ventilation for warm weather, hot and cold running water, and many have private bathrooms. One wai not surprised to find that most of the passengers wanted to knake a tour of the engine-room. It is a comfort to know one is travelling across the ocean with a safe pair of engines, and that if any slight mishap occurs there is always ample power in reserve. The 'Arandora Star's' engines comprise two main turbines each generating 4,000 shaft horse power, especially designed by the late Sir Charles Parsons, and giving a maximum speed of fifteen and a half knots. They run so smoothly that one might almost call the liner vibrationless. The boilers are oil-fired, and there are spare boilers in reserve in case one of those working requires adjust- ing. 'The Chief Engineer is a Scotsman, and an authority on various fuels and fuel economy. He has been actively engaged in experiments with pulverized coal, the new fuel from powdered coal which might yet be the means of reviving completely/ the coal industry of the country. We have yet to visit a cleaner engine-room. Whilst cruising on the sea is about the safest form of touring to-day, one likes to know what actual provisions have been made for the safety of passengers. On the Arandora Star ' every known invention has been incorporated in the ship to ensure against fire and wreck. The lifeboats are of the latest type under " Welin " davits, and there is also a thirty-eight foot motor launch and two motor boats for immediate use in case of emergency. Every known appliance has been installed to ensure meticulous cleanliness in the dothestic and victualling departments. To minimize their noise the deck engines have been converted from steam to electric., ,There are also two steering engines, and the ship steers so easily that a boy could work the wheel. And if both these engines-were rendered helpless by a storm, there is a third steering wheel which can be worked entirely by hand. In the wheelhouse is a marvellous view screen, consisting of a polished glass disc which, when in use, revolves at high speed by a small electric motor and can instantly throw off centrifugally any spray; rain or snow striking against it, and therefore in the very worst weather an uninterrupted lookout can be' maintained in comfort.
A. L.
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