The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-11-08
THE ROANOKE.
last Of tho Large Wooden VoaDo1a
TO Be Built in America

Oons Interesting Infornatisn RexArdlne
the 0reat Boats Of This Ceun-
try-ChAngss - oh1p-
building.
Anyone strolling along the bulkhead
Of Erie basin, which il . vast hospital
and haven for craft Of all sorts. may
have noticed recently great ship with
skysal poles. seemingly fragile a
toothpicks. towering above the loftisst
spas OF thu biggest vessels nocred
around her. She il . tour>master, and
her aerial intricacies Of rigging and
halliards and ropes are Chinese puz<lo
to the landsman. but vision Of delight
to tho shellbaclz. She il the Roanoke,
giantess of wooden sailing vessels, and
the last OF her type that ever viii be
constructed in America. For that rea-
SON she Is worth more than passing no
tice. She represents the vanishing era
Of wooden bottoms, Disseminated
against by tho marine underwriters
since the advent Of steel ships
Long ago, says the Now Yorker, the
wooden sailing craft ceased to be car
rier Of any significance in the British
trade. ALI of the big British clippers
are of stee', and nearly ell those Of re
cent construction arc four>masters. The
British skipper calls his fourmaster .
bark because she Is schooner-rigged On
the fourth, which 10 known both IS the
spanker and jigger mast The Yankee
skipper thinks that any sailing vessel
with three masts square rigged is q
ahip. The four-masted British ships
may be numbered by the score; the
four-masted American ships may be
counted on the fingers Of one hand.
But the nautical optimists say this b to
be changed, and that the change is at
hand. The keel of tho first American
after she is launched others viii follow
her down the ways IN rapid succession.
Tho builders hope to do with the steel
clippers, which VIII be constructed On
approved American racing models, what
our citizens did with wooden clippers
before the war. They hsld the record
then from every port, near or remote,
and they made modest fortunes for
their builders and owners The best of
the steel British ships cannot spproseh
the wonderful performances Of the great
feet Of Yankee flyers Of forty years ago.
The Northern Light is credited with
making the voyage from San Francisco
to this port in seventy-two days. The
Flying Dutchman, built by William H.
Webb Of this city in 1852, covered 4,6z0
knots in sixteen consecutive days. an
The Dresdnaught made the 2,s0o-knot
run between New York and Queens
town in less than ten days The Sow
ereign Of the Seas made the passage
from the Sandwich islands to New York
in eighty-two days, covering on one day
S75 knots, which is better than the best
days run OF en- eight-day steomehip
from Queenstown. The Mary White
redge ran from Baltimore ts Liverpool
in thirteen days and seven hours The
Red jacket made over s25 statute miles
. day for one week. These are some Of
the records the Roanoke will try TO
equal. Veteran shippers do not believe
she can do 1t, but her commander Is
hopeful.
The Roanoke 10 not the biggest Amer
lean ship ever built. That distinction
belonged to the Great Republic, which
was even larger than the colossal steel
fve-mastcr France, the lareest sailing
vessel in the world. The Great Repub-
lie was built in East Boston by Donald
Mckay in 1858. Her master, Capt.
Joseph p. Hamilton, is the same HaInil-
ton who now commands and partly
owns the Roanoke. The Great Repub-
lie was not SO heavily SPARED as the
Roanoke. She carried 1858 s9uarc
spreads nearly 10000. From boom end
to boom end-that is, from the tip of
her bowsprit to the tip Of her spankcr
boom-thc Roanoke measures 57o feet.
Her length on the keel is S11 feet, and
her length over all Is s31 feet Her ex-
treme beam is 49.s feet, her depth co.l0
feet and her draught 81 feet The
golden ball or the top Of her main sky
sail pole is nearly 200 feet from the
dock. Her main and mixzen hover
masts are 90 feet high. aud her fore
lower mast is S1 feet high. Her lower
spanker mast Is 80 feet high. Her fore,
main and mizzen topmasts ere 50 feet
high, and her spanker topnast Is s.
feet high. Each of her three topgal-
liant masts is % feet high, her three
royal masts 10 teet. her skygai, masts IS
feet and her skyssil poles fset. Each
of her three lower yards Is IS feet long,
her lower topsau yards IS feet long.
her topgalant yards G5 feet long, her
royal yards IS fect long and her sxysan
poles feet Each OF her three lower
yards 10 % feet long. her lower topseil
yards So feet long, her topzallsnt yards
6s feet long her royal yards 55 feet long.
and her skyssil yards 4; feet long.
These are gigantic spsrs, and their Sizs
can be appreciated Only BY the sailor
man who furls sail on theE-
On her maiden voyage from Bath to
this port recently with 400 tons of ice
in hsr hold as ballast. the Roanoke had
only light winds, and could not test her
sailing qualities. she will fit out q.
Erie basin. and be ready for her first
cargo OF 400 tons In December. She
will go into service on ths triangular
track from New YORK 30 san Francisco,
TO Livexpool Tor Havre). and back 70