The Portland daily press., 1883-06-14
OUR HARBoR.
New York Steamship Lines Look
ing to Portland.
Interesting Opinions of Steamship
Captains.

Saturday last the Anchor line steamer City
of Rome, the steamer next in size to the Great
Eastern now ahoat, left New York for Europe.
On her way down tho harbor she encountered
dense fog and the pilot tried to govern him
self by his idea of where the buoy should be
when he changed the ships course. As a re-
suit the ship ran on to a mud-bank and hung
there twenty-four hours. Reporters for the
New York Herald, hearing that the steamer
lines thought the channel was filing up, inter-
viewed the managers and port captains.
The Secretary of the Pilot Commissioners
said: at is no uncommon things for captains
and pilots to push their way over bank by
forcing the keel through fourteen or fifteen
inches Of sand and mud. The grounding of
the steamer does not show that there is any
filling up OF the channel more than ordinary,
but there is little enough water at any rate,
and care should be taken that none Of it is los
by the dumping Of refuse or otherwise"
Captain Underhill, of the Gnion lins-tbe
line which is now the fayorite, owning the
Alaska and Arizona, the fastest ships aAoat-
said he doubted whether there was much garb-
age on the bar. La fact, he thought there was
more water there than in former years. "We
stop our ships" said he. "at twenty-sx feet.
According TO the chart there is depth of
twenty-six feet Of water in the channel on the
bar, but it ought to be deeper. One thing is
certain, if the channel is not deepened on the
bar, the steamship companies will go to some
other port and send their passengers and
freight to New York BY rail-"
"Do you refer to any particular port?" asked
the reporter.
"Well, Portland has a good harbor," was
the answer. "It is much nearer Liverpool
than New York, and we could go in there with
large vessels, carrying thousands Of tons more
than the steamers now coming to this port.''
"But would not it affect the ocean carrying
business to deliver freight and passengers so
far from the commercial centre Of the
country"
mo; it is a mistake to imagine that New
York is the only place where commerce can
thrive. III all the ocean steamships were to
make Portland their port tomorrow, they
would have just as much business as they get
to-day. The ocean voyage would be lessened
and passengers could be whirled to their vari-
GUS points of destination by rail, effecting
great saving Of time. One thing may be de-
pended upon. The ocean steamships viii grow
longer and deeper, and Of course will make
the harbor problem matter OF secondary con-
sideraton to the steamship owners, though of
FIRST importance to the New York merchants"
The White Star manager said: "The har-
Dor is not as good as it might be, but these
extra large craft are not desirable, because of
the difficulty Of using them with economy
Capt. jackson, of the Red Star line, was
surprised that the authorities allowed garbage
to be dumped in the harbor, and he had no
doubt that in time it would seriously interfere
with navigation. He thought. however, that
the frequent passage of deep draught iron
steamships, with powerful propellers. would
keep the channel on the bar open.