News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-01-10
TRAMPS OF THE OCEAN.
PECULIAR VESSELS FOR CARRYING
CARGOES ONLY.
Sailors who Think they are Run Chen and
are Observation-Disclosures who Defend
Them-HOw they Behave in Storms.
IErnm the New York Snn.l

From the New York SUM-
A long black iron hulk, low down in
the water, with two short black masts
and thick black funnel, from which
very black smoke was pouring, passed
the Battery and up East river the other
day. Patches of gray i'll places on her
sides looked as if the cook had sloshed
the dishwater against the side as he
threw it overheard. On other portions
of the hull were great rust blotches.
There was no bright work in sight about
the rail or the house on deck. After a
time she tied up at the Brooklyn stores,
below Fulton Ferry. There it was seen
that the masts were black because they
had not been scraped, the bright work
did not show because it was no longer
bright, and the joiner work about the
decks was dark because it had been
painted so or had not been given any
color except as the crew laid their hands
on it. She had bluff bow and a round
stern. Between the forecastle and the
house amidships the bulwarks were five
or six feet high. Aft she was decked
flush with the top of the bulwarks.
"What line does that steamer run
in ?" was asked of a roustabout on the
dock.
"Her? She don't run in no line; she's
tramp; collins, some calls 'em. They
are &c ID to carry big cargoes and drown
sailors"
"Why do so many sailors speak of the
independent steamers with contempt and
apparently as if they hated the sight of
what is called tramp ?" was asked of
an old ship captain who was visiting the
school ship st. Mary's. He said:
eThey are built in the British yards
by contract of poor materials in the
greatest haste. They are built in the
cheapest way possible. They have low
| power engines put in them. They are
manned with as few men as possible.
sent to any port where a cargo can be
had at any freight rates. Then another
cargo is taken, and so they run hither
and yonder, always shorthanded, always
overloaded, and always.with just enough
provisions on board to last them through,
and no more, so that if they are delayed
| by broken machinery they must either
starve their men or beg from passing
ship. They cut under rates to get car
goes, and then scamp in every quarter
to get dividends.
"They are not pretty to look at ?"
"No. Paint costs something; so does
oil and emery to clean bright work. A
holystone for the decks is expensive.
But the worst thing to be said about
them is that they are not fit to go to sea
in foul weather. If you look at them
you will find that the forward half is
just like pit. They can take on deck
load of 500 tons of water at one plunge.
| Sometimes that load comes on with such
force that, striking the house amidships,
the momentum of the ship is wholly
| overcome, and she lays on the water
trembling FROM stem to stern. Some.
times the bulkhead gives way, and then
the stokehole fills, the fire is put out,
and the boat rolls in the trough Of the
sea until she goes to pieces. Over the
after part of many OF them is a poop
deck. When the waves comes on for
ward it fills in the gangways under the
poop, and the ship rolls on her beam
ends, because she cannot get rid of that
| deck load Those that are built flush
the whole length are not so bad"
"Tramps," said an employee Of
Funch, Edge & Co., vessel agents, "are
| freight steamers that do not run in any
line. Since 1877 an enormous number
| have been launched at the Glasgow
yards. Money brings very low interest
over there, and capital found a better
return in certain class of freight steam
ers. These steamers are built plain, bu
strong. The model is for large carrier
instead of for quick passage. They
ordinarily vary in size from 900 to 800
tons net register. They will carry
| nearly fifty per cent. more tons of dead
! weigiat sIley lesister.- The engines
for steamer of 1,200 tons would proba-
| bly, be of 200 nominal horse power. The
| power is great enough to give the vessel
speed of nine knots. They spread only
enough canvas to keep them steady
when in a gale. They consume twenty
tons of coal day, where an ocean gray
hound will burn 260. They bear about
the same relation to the swift passenger
boats that freight train bears to the
lightning express"
"There seems to be a prejudice
against them among some classes OF
Sailors" was suggested.
Eyes. 1t is unwarranted. The same
inspectors are employ ed to oversee the
building of the tramps that inspect the
line steamers. They are built of the
same materials, by the same men, in the
same yards. Some men hold stock in
both kinds of steamers. Did you never
hear of o line company leasing an out
side steamer? It's done often to get an
annoying competitor ont of the way, OF
because business is good and more carry
ing capacity is wanted. Would they
lease rotten tub? Look in Lloyd's
Register and see how the tramps are
rated. The talk that ships are insured
heavily and sent to sea to sink pre-
supposes that insurance agents are
fools.
"Where did these steamers come
from ?"
'They originated in the demand for
cheap transportation. They superseded
the sailing clipper in the Liverpool
trade, because they can at profit carry
the freight for less money. They did
not supersede the California clippers,
because for such voyage the sailing
vessel is the cheapest. The old clipper
owners and the modern line steamers
may complain, but the best vessel for
the trade will get the cargo. 1t is fact
that two-thirds of the foreign trade of
this country is carried in these tramp
steamers. The regular mail steamers
carry about 2, ZOO tons of cargo each.
There are number of tramp steamers
that will carry half more freight than
the Alaska or the City of Rome, or any
big and swift liner. There's the Car
mona of Dundee. She took out of NV
Orleans 10,351 bales of cotton, $4,000
bushels of wheat, and $3.50 slaves not
long ago. 1t was valued at $642, 000."
''It is said that the cargoes carried are
SO large that,the vessel is jeopardized. :"
''That is sometimes true in all vessels
except those devoted to passengers. The
tramp owners are no worse than others.
The insurance people look after that so
closely that it does not often occur. As
to the model of the tramp steamer, it
must be said that great and honest diff
ference of opinion prevails among ship
builders as to which is the safest. Men
who put hundreds of thousands of dol
lars into steamers may be supposed to
take as great an interest in the way those
vessels stand the wear of sea VOYAGES as
disinterested people could"
care the tramps not sent to sea short
handed?"
"No. Here is list of the crew of a
tramp that registered 1929 tons net
She has twenty-seven men all told. The
mate gets $40 month; the second mate,
$50; the chief engineer, $50; the second
engineer, $50; the fireman. about $21 !;
the cook, 1913. There are six able sea-
men at $l8. They have four small sails
to handle. The crew is as large as YES
sells of any class carry in proportion to
the spread of canvas and the size of the