It was thought
advisable, for purposes of comparison, that the ships should steam at as
near as possible the same speed; and to attain this object, we considered
the safest plan was to instruct the engineers as to the average amount of
coal they were to burn per day, and experience with these ships on their
Baltic voyages had fixed this at 12 tons in the case of the Kovno and 10
tons in the case of the Draco. During the voyage each ship seems to have
had fair average weather, and equal care was taken in getting the best
results possible. The average speed of the Draco was, however, 8.625
knots, or 207 miles per day, the engines making on the average 57.5
revolutions per minute, while the Kovno did only 8.1 knots, or 194 miles
per day, the engines making 55.5 revolutions. The coal used was ordinary
South Yorkshire, just as it comes from the pits for bunker purposes. The
indicated horse power in each case would average about 600. The total
coal consumed was 326 tons in the Draco and 405 tons in the Kovno, or a
saving of 19.5 per cent. over the ordinary compounds, with an increase of
speed of 6.5 per cent.
In December, 1883, one of the others, the Grodno, sailed from Bombay, and
attained an average speed of 8.
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