Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1891-09-08
GOING ROUND the HORN.

not be done, n good many years sgo,
had In a little hack room Of his establish
ment q great horn set up In th. mlio lc
of the door. Every now aud then be
would enter with man and walk him
around the place, maintaining an air of
mystery. as II some notable Initiation
were taking place. The same man
never went through the process twice.
Snow YOU can ship anywhere. You
have been round the Horn, aud YOU can
swear Ia IT," the keeper of the place
used to say when he and the stranger
had completed the ceremony. Ani
therrupon the Initiated one would wander
away with the sailors boarding. house
shark and slgn articles for q voyage
around that particular portion of
South America which has caused m,rin-
er. morr trouble than any other part of
the continent. Very often the ready
made sailor would have the walk of the
plowboy, but he would swear that he
had b~en round the horn, aud frequently
be dill so, only to repent of II later on,
when hc came to go through the ordeal
produced by q combination ~ q land
going stomach and a sea-goIng craft.
ENf ~t'NtNt wv NhNNh
the cape ~ many ~ u. terrors; propel.
lor- take him through speedily snd
comfortably. For the salling vessel,
though, II L. stlll y case of round the
horn or nothing. aud for the skipper Who
depends on the wind. the average pass
az. from on. side of South America a.
the other means q mighty trying time.
There are occasions. of couse, when the
gales take a vacation. hat, s q rule,
shipping men agr,~, th. storms can al
ways be found doing business at their
old stand.
Many are the .cs tale. ~ long and
tempcsiuous passage. round the Horn.
Thcr- u one story current which deals
with n Yankee skipper, |. stubborn
a bt ~ oak ne ever went Into n
ship. lie wa. bound for the IVES,
coast, and he was determined to get
there. Al went we'll With him until D..
reached the proper latitude aud hesdoi
westward round th. cape. Then hl.
trouble began. lIc ran luio gale that
tumbl.i him about for week aud blew
him back In q most dlscounglng way.
Once more he started westward, and
again h. met storm that forced him
back. After that, gal. followed gale,
until more than . month had gone, snd
s;ill be was on the wrong sldc of the
cape. What VA. worse, the weather
showed no Sign. % Improving. ~ ih"
captain sworc a great oath that he was
bound for the west coast and b. was GO
Ing to &c, there. n he couldnt get
there one way hr could another, and
thsr,upon h- gave up trying Ia ssil west
ward, aud, m,king q fsir Wind out ~ q
foul one. b- h-aded eastward for tho
Cape 10 Good Hope. III. story gcc.
that u. finally reached the vrst coast by
making the curcult ~ th. globe. just
how long u took hlm to make the voyage
nobody can remember.
Therri Il an odd biz of rhyme devised Ia
describ. the yarlctic. 81 weather Ia BE-
me, In the voyage Ia the Pacific. ono
stsnta runs this way;
"whsn ysa .,sr ea your voyage yoa strike 'he
trssie..
I.sfor, yOa ss, i'o,hsf .iis ~ tbs iiofn."
The evil reputation of the cap. ha. n
very practical bearing on the question
~ shipping cargoes Ia the Pacific ports.
it'. not at al difficult Ia get vessel. to
make N. voyage, but when " come. Ia
plsclng th. Insurance, especially with
heavy frcight., L.. another matter alto
g.thsr. Under writer. have very pro-
nouncc,i view. on the sort of craft Ia BE-
used Ia the trade.
"ItaIlan vessels and crews are not
taken" .sld q shipping man the other
day. .You can't Insure thrm Tor yoy-
az. around the Horn. - Tar az ] ~
memter only one ltallan-built ship Ia.
been chartered here for ten years, aud
.he had American owners. sh. wa. the
Helen Fox, although the name doesn't
sound very much Ike Italian. Well,
.hc sailed In March, iss6. DID she get
around the Horn, No, sir; shc put Into
Rio Janclro Ia distress, and her cargo
had to b. forwarded to its destination
by another vessel.
'.scbooner. are not insured for gcner-
Al cargocs. III. underwriters don't
like their rig Ia Cape Horn weather.
Then, too, schooner. are likely to carry
much smaller crew. than ships do, aud
In ease IL their getting Into trouble they
don't have ne many men t hand To
make repairs. az cour--, schooner,
hay. gone around the cape aud do 80
round II now. but the Insurance people
won't take thsm as risks.
Then. too, whrn u come. Ia ques-
tIon Of shipping very heavy cargocs,
the Insurance people stick out for lron
or hardwood bottoms. Good Nova
scotia ship. arc taken for general freight
but not for the very heavy stun. On
some cargo.- the Insurance men viii
take an American ship IN preference to
q Nova scotian, although the FORMER
may be years older than the latter.
They want as strong vessel as They
eau get to stand the shaking up OF the
Horn. Vessels going westward Will no,
load ss deep ss u they were coming
this way. The prevailing Wind. on The
cape are generally from the Westward
In th. days when the old clipper ships
made their record run from thi. port To
San Francisco their masters used Ia pack
on .ail In q way that Isn't followed 80
generally nowadays. Ia these times ~
or iOo days 1. counted as fair passage
Ia Valparaiso and 100 to is5 fair one to
Callso. About ten years ago the Amer
lean bark Grandee made famous run
10 that port. She made the run la 60
dsys. OF course she had favorable
weather all the way. The Grandec IL
.aid to be In boston now. - New YORK
Times.
the FAT MAN GETS AIS BACK UP.
sI.I,..r.. i. nothing n man. particulaTly