The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-04-10
ROBERTSOES TIMBER SHIP.
Half a Hundred sturdy Axemen at
Work Down In JoggIns.
Objections to Setting the Monster
Afloat on the Ocean.
Canadian Law Said to Intefere with
the Scheme.

ST. JOHN, ". B., April 9.-Well up to the
head Of that narrow strip Of water IA pro-
longation Of the Bay of Funday) which, with
few miles extension across the isthmus Of
Chignecto would totally separate the prov
ince Of Nova Scotia from the mainland Of
Canada, half hundred sturdy axemen and
ship carpenters have been working for
months on the construction of as remarkable
a craft as ever ploughed the Atlantic Ocean.
And barring the Intervention Of the strong
arm Of the law or the fury Of the elements.
this mammoth mass Of lumber, If the pre-
dietions Of the builder are to be believed,
will accomplish the voyage that the Joggins
raft failed to make, and by midsummer
will be safely moored In the harbor of New
York.
Today the timber ship" Is more than half
built, and she viii be launched early In
June. When completed her dimensions will
be-; Total length over all. GOO feet; width.
"a feet; depth, as feet. She will be con-
structed Of about twenty-five thousand
spruce trees and pieces Of piling. the sticks
averaging thirty-eight feet In length, running
up in size from diameter Of six inches at
the small end. The ship has no hold, but
her hull Is solid mass from keel to deck,
rounding up fore and aft, as the boss carpen-
Ter says, regular SHlpSndpe.
The vessel will carry six masts, each
built twelve feet into the hull and fitted
with spring stays and shrouds. She will be
square rlgged, with fore and aft trysails,
and Will be fitted with windlass, anchors,
tudder and full steering gear; The foremast
head and mizzenmast head will be fitted with
crows nests, each supplied with powerful,
self-feeding lamp, capable Of burning for
thirty days, so that In the event Of the craft
being temporarily abandoned at sea she will
flnaIW fuas f.rrv .teehk a. Ill
| preaching vessels. She will carry a crew OF
| twenty men, for whose accommodations a
large house Is to be erected on the deck
1t is, or ought to be, well known to all who
| ever smelled salt water that ship can be
towed with greater ease and safety than a
raft, but there are persons to be found even
i on the jogging shore who are uncharitabe
enough TO Intimate that Mr.. Robertson's
| primary object In shaping the vast aggrega-
| tion Of logs into the crude semblance Of a
| vessel was TO avoid the storm Of indignant
| protests that would instantly arise were it
| known another monster raft was TO be added
| to the perils that beset the navigation of the
North Atlantic coast: But casting aside the
| insinuatlons OF possibly jealous parties. and
giving Mr.. Robertson credit for the best pos
| sible intensi0ns, this questions comes up for
| carful consideration: "Are 10000 huge
and an indefinite number Of smaller pieces Of
| timber more dangerous as a derelict in the
form Of a raft than when built In the shape
Of ship and strongly bound together
| with chains?"
Our schooner owners and others interested
| In the piling trade are more concerned, how
| ever, just now, over the probable action Of
/ the government as to the collection OF ex-
i port duty on the logs tnat compose the ship.
The export duties Of Canada. as set out In
schedule Z OF the customs act. apply to but
three things-shingle bots, spruce logs and
| pine logs. The duties on logs are: Spruce
| logs 81 per thousand feet, board measure
Pine. logs 50 per thousand feet, board meas
/ ure."
| The penalty for attempting to export with
out paying duty Is thus set out in section six
| OF the Customs act: "Such duty shall be
| paid to the proper officer Of customs at the
intended port OF expectation; the export Of
such goods without payment Of the said duty
| Is unlawful, and the collector or any officer
| OF the customs shall prevent the expectation
| OF any such goods until such duties thereon
are paid, and Il any attempt Is made to ex-
| port such goods contrary TO the provisions OF
this act they shah be liable to seizure and
shall be forfeited and dealt with as other
goods forfeited for breach Of the customs
| laws"
The object of the export duty on logs is to
| compel their manufacture into deals and
boards, etc, TO be carried on ON Canadian
soil, thereby giving employment to Canadian
workmen. In its manufactured form there
Is no export duty on woods. And there Is no
/ export duty on the smaller logs used for pill
ing-those that it would not pay to saw into
boards, ETC. Hence the point TO be deter
| mined Is: Are the contents Of the JOggins
ship logs within the meaning Of the statute
| or are they simply piling? BY the wording
| OF the section OF the customs act above quot
ed It will be seen that the proper officer Of
customs at the intended port Of expectation
Is the Judge Of the situation. Joggins, or, to
be exact, that portion Of the Joggins shore
where the stuff Is being put together, Is an
outpost Of the pert Of Amherst, and the
| raftsmen say that Collector Main Of Am
| nerst, to whom the case was referred by the
| deputy at the outpost, has personally in
/ spected the lumber and decided that it Is
piilng within the meaning of the customs
/ act.
II Collector Main has rendered such de-
| cision without having personally or by relia-
| BILE deputy examined the entire 25,O0O logs
his position is not an enviable one, as a
strong effort Is being made to induce the
government to enforce the law in this case TO
| the very letter.