The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-08-30


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How % Raise sailors.
Whilst vast Improvements have been made
in marine architecture in the last quarter OF =
century. the race of sailors has iearfully de-
generated. IT is almost impossible to realize
that forty years ago the largest merchant YES
ne, in the city of New York was about the size
Of the small baraue which now trade from
lanes River TO South America: that even
twenty-five years ago a frigste showed less
than the tonnage Of the present sloop- of-war,
whilst the sloop-of.war, carrying twenty -four
heavy guns, averaged some eight hundred tons
It's difficult to 30 back In imagination to tne
period when the pure air of the ocean was ho'
darkened by the smoke Of a single ocean saea.u-
ar aud the mind is almost staggered WIN .he
,mmensity of progress when we eomp"ae s"e
a~x, s,aamer with the Great Eas'eFn " SAu h"o
I'll he ts scarcely larger than one Vi 'ie small
-. which the Great Eastern carries al her
eos's -. f,auld those war worn heroes,
-, pxssy, CRAuyoxy, McDoNoueH, De-
- now rise frorn the dead, they would be
.,,.zea At the enormous batteries of our pre-.
-snt men.of-war, so different from the worth
Ass ouns of 1914, which burst so often that
,hss, killed more of our own men than were
S,,,ed by the enemy, bat which, nevertheless,
IN The hands Of such heroes as those we have
u,med. were good enough TO conquer upon
rer own eleua34t the boosted mistress of the
Aeon In no Appartment of human enterprise
h.s there been such an advance as In naval
.rmaments and marine architecture,-an adj
,-.r,s In motive power. in the quality and
,,,ass,xsnes. of mechanism, in the size and
1as,rsss of ships, in the weight and range
=, ha,,erias But, notwiths landing these
xxorserfv, nautical Improvements, the sailor
80 ,,. nrasant day In as far behind the
,,uo, OF a quarter OF century ago as tue
gig...ic ocean steamer Of 1850 is ahead OF
she sailing vessel of 1850. If both the men
n,erand the merchant vessels Of the lat
Ter reriod were smaller than the same CLASS
90 shirs a, this time, the men were larger
.,d snperior in every way. Devotees OF 1.-THE
,,s,,s SCHOOL - and enthusiastic admirers of
the broad shoulders and gymnastic activity OF
Tho Zouay.s need then only 10 have visited
~ sbin-of.yar or merchant vessel in our
,args harbors TO have gratified their tastes to
,hs utmost. When you visited ship in those
.i,,ss and observed the muscular forms, the
.lsstic stems the brorzed fearless faces, and
rha tborough seamaniike air of those men who
had nasssd their whole lives on the sea, who
climbed the rigging with ths activity of mon
Heys and worked the guns with the power of
SAMsoNs. it was easy 10 understand how
American ships had successfully disputed
.he commercial enterprise OF Great Brit
.,y and had beaten her In battle wherever
they met IL would be difficult TO witness,
aysn now. in these days of immense vessels,
a sight as nearly approaching the sublime AS
an old line OF. bsttle-ship coming into harbor,
and saluting the naval or military commander
of the station, with a group OF men at each
gun. looking, individually and collectively,
the inpersonation OF physical strength, ac
tiyity and courage, and each man having that
thorough Neptunian bearing, that regular wa
ter.sod spect, which used TO be common
enough in those good old times, and which
made every sailor look as much thing of the
sea as the wave beaten fgure-head. or the
farred rigging OF his own vessel.
But all that is now gone. The race of old
salts seems to have almost entirely died out
From every side there come complaints OF the
difficulty OF obtaining competent sailors. Yet,
1t is said, such is the demand for sailors, that
men who know nothing whatever of seaman
ship are gladly taken. il willing to work
Laudsmeu are brought on board ship at some
of our large seaports in a state of into1ication
and sign shipping papers, which they know
nothing of I'LL they become sober, when IL is
too late to retrace their steps. The master OF
the vessel and his officers have TO mould these
raw recruits, as best they may, into working
order and if they succeed in getting their ves-
sci into port, they fall into the hands Of the
sailor boarding house lands harks, and a new
crew has TO be obtained in the same way and
OF the same character. Among other evils
which result from this deplorable state OF
things is the violence and cruelty which are
often exercised by officers of vessels upon in
competent, worthless and mntinous seamen,
and sometimes upon those who are not so;
the only reliance for the support of authority
being the revolvers of the captain and mates,
and not the capacity and industry OF the crew.
The papers TEEN with accounts of the most
shocking acts of oppression and murder CON-
mitted by the captains and masters of vessels
and the recital of such acts, tends, of course,
still further to discourage good seamen from
4 mode of life which exposes them to such
treatment, and TO prevent boys and young
men from adopting seamanship as vocation.
The importance of the subject is obvious to
every one who has any idea of the importance
of commerce 10 a country. We are not sur
prised. therefore, to see various remedies sug-
gested The scholarships for boys in Boston,
Baltimore and other large cities, the floating
and stationary chapels in New York, Philadel-
phia, Richmond and elsewhere, must all ex-
ercise in time beneficial influence. In many
of the whaling vessels of New England, the
men are selected with reference to their char
acter, and all work on shares, which gives
them a common in terest, and often attaches
them permanently to the vessel. A contem-
yorary suggests that some such plan as this
might be generally adopted to advantage !;
that it would he found cheaper to ship-owners
10 have captain and crew permanently at
tached to the ship and if they each owned
some small share in the vessel, or had some
interest in her success, SO much the better
The character of sailors would thus be ele-
waited greater vigilance and energy would be
secured in the management Of a ship, and in
course Of time the nautical profession would
become as popular as IL is useful.
Petty vindictiveness.
The Rev. T. L. CUYLgR, of Brooklyn, in a
recent sermon, said that DANIEL WEBSTER
might have lived TO a century if he had never
let drop of brandy pass his lips. OF course,
the inference intended TO be drawn from this
is, that Mr.. WEBSTER cut short his days by
drunkenness
1t is in this way that the pulpit is prosti-
tuted in certain quarters, by men who know
not what spirit they are Of. Even If the charge
were true, it IL dictate Of common decency,