, 1882-02-18
The Bark .TVesuvius."

While the bark "vesuvius" lay at Port
Townsend. her crew disabled by scurvy
contracted during her long detention oil
the Columbia river bar and having been
.aken IL carriages 70 the marine hospital,
her master, Captain Call, came 10 New
| Tacoma for the purpose of inqu,Eing what
chahce there uight be for him 10 DIS
charge here his cargo of iron consigned
70 the o. k. & y. Co. and to obtain a.
this dock the cargo Of wheat fox which he
vas chartered. He wished, IN the inter
es; Of the owners OF his vessel, 10 avoid
il possible the expense and risk OF re-
! turning to the Columbia river and pro-
| ceeding over the sand bars and mud flats
TO the shadows of the Willamette. Find.
ing that he could not accomplish anything
here, he boarded the cars and went 10
Portland, where he saw Mr.. Prescott,
manager % the o. r. & \. Co, who
promptly granted the Captain request for
permission 20 discharge cargo here for
shipment by rail and river 10 Portland
Still acting for the best interests of his
principals, the captain sought out the
parties to whom his vessel was engaged
under charter TO take wheat, and asked
their consent for MIN TO take on the grain
here, offering to pay the cost of trans
porting the same from Portland TO New
| Tacoma, the rate for which was s. per
ton. They gave him fat refusal, holding
him to the provisions Of the charter
party npon a point as to which esther
course in view would not have made the
difference of one cent in their pockets.
| The vessel was in distress, due 10 an at
tempt to perform in good faith the s.ipu-
| lati0ns of the contrset-due to the seri-
ous obstacles planted by nature in declar-
alton that the Columbia river was not in
tended as harbor for shipping engaged
in the commerce of the Northwest, but
rather AZ a mere drainage channel for
the great region east OF the mountains.
| The bark had stood off the bar not able
70 cross It, fer a period OF % days, and
her master was finally compelled by fear
Of losing his vessel to set sal for Puget
Sound. BY this detention and the fierce
hnrr,csnes and rough waters incident
thereto, (and the Captain said thai they
were the most violent he had ever before
encountered in the Pacific ocean, her
owners suffered heavy damage, and NJ
man can question that Captain Calls re-
quest WAS founded in good, sufficient and
commanding reason, and 1t is clear that
there is no good excuse for the refusal.
The motive for their refusal must be
| looked for In the intense feeling 0f rival
ry and hatred which exists IN Portland
against New Tacoma-and it is hatred
born of well-founded fear. Never was
! fear better founded:
The master of the "Vesurius" was &C
coriingly forced to take another crew and
return down the coast to the offing of the
sand bar, where he spent eight more long
days and nights in second attempt to
get int" the great drainage channel. Oi
what use is a ship harbor which ships
cannot enteri Observe the terms IA.
ilnapproaeiable ship hdrbor. Paradox
cal. Diametric opposition Contradle-
| ton dire. Concede that the so-calleti
harbor is not always unapproachabie, and
yet inquire how much Of the year it Is
50. Is il not astounding, IN the face Of
the fact that a vessel expended full
months time in fruitless efforts to enter
the Columbia river, that the OreyOnia,
newspaper had the hardihood to CT 5lrbrate
1t as one Of the mnst magnificent harburs
in the world How suggestive OF tha,
harbor III the skies which neither the
| Oregouian not its editor will never reach
i he continues in his present wicked
course, deceiying the world into belief
50 contrary to pal pable facts, and abusing
and misrepresenting shipmasters for try
ing TO do their duty-a duty which COM
mands them 10 set their helms away from
the dangerous sands, and in the dire c:ion
of Puget Sound He abuses Captain
Call, making the false announcement that
the owners Of the vessel, beng displeased
with the latter's course, discharged him,
the evident object of the falsehood being
to convey by implication what ne did not,
in view of the facts, dare 10 directly As
serr, viz that there did not exist any
real necessity for the ''Vrsuvius" To seek
shelter and safety i'll Puget Soand.
We copy the above from a Tacoma
paper. 1t IS nothing new. We are all
aware Of the jealousy entertained by
Portland wheat shippers 10 the Sound rs
well as 10 the upper country, and to retain
the commercial supremacy Of tfeir port
they will hesitate at nothing so long as
they can prevent grain being shipped di-
rect from the Columbia river to kalama
and thence to the deep and safe waters on
the Sound. For every evil there is a
remedy, and if, instead of complaining
that they cannot obtain grain to load
their ships, they We're to use little en-.
terprise and energy and come to this land
of wheat, they could obtain sufficient to
load every craft that enter the Fucs
Strait. There are many proverbs which
which could be applied to the Sound
people, such as "Gcd helps those who
help themselves" and off the mountain
won't 60 to Mahomet, Mahomet needs go
TO the mountain" The Saunders srum-
bic periodically; they complain that they
have the fiddle but not the bow. There
is nothing to prevent their enterprising
men. if they have any, from coming here
to purchase. The o. r. & \. Co. have
always assisted any new enterprise that
has been brought before them but in this
case as in many others the Tacoma peo-
pie especially appear TO expect them 10
do everything while they themselves
stand still and look on.
The problem how to get the Gar TO
| Moscow safely. in order TO have him