The sun., 1892-10-09
LAST OF HER TYPE.
Tho Roanoke. Wooden Four. NJ ast-r, Built
In Maine.

In Maine.
Any one strolltng along the bulkhead Of Erie
Basin. which is avast hospital and haven for
craft of all sorts. may notice nowadays great
ship with skysail poles. seemingly fragile as
toothpicks. towering above the loftiest spars
Of the biggest vessels moored around her
She is a four master. and her aerial intricacies
Of rigging and halliards and ropes nre a
Chinese puzzle to the andsman. buta vision OF
delight to the shellback. She is the Roanoke.
giantess OF wooden sailing vessels and the
last Of her type that ever will be constructed
In America. For that reason she is worth
meye than passing notice. She represents the
vanishing era OF wooden bottoms. discrimi-
mated against by the marine underwriters
since the advent OF steel ships.
Long ago the wooden sailing craft ceased to
be a carrier OF any significance in tho British
trade. All OF the big British clippers are OF
steel. and nearly all those Of recent construc-
ton are four-masters. The British skipper
calls his four-mastor bark because She is
schooner rigGed on the fourth. which is known
both as the snankcr and Jgger mast. The
Yankce skipper thinks that any sailing vessel
with three masts square rigged is a ship. The
four-masted British ships may be numbered
by the score; the four American ships
may be counted on the fingers Of ono hand.
changed. and that the change s at hand. The
keel Of the first American steel ship soon will
Gs Ra ahers at nT viii an" odW at'f her she own
the ways In rapid succession. The builders
hope to do with the steel clippers. which will
models. what our Luilders did with wooden
clippers before the war They held the record
then from every port near M or rr remote and they
owners. The best Of the steel British ships
cannot approach the wonderful pertormanccs
years ago. The Northern Light is, credited
with making the VOYAGE from San Francisco
i ss ss pu @ Sy Na "E H weS qn d as rh
sixteen conssentivss days; an %our average
81 breaanaasht aa5y mSd tnsS the run
tween New York aud Queenstown in less than
ten days Tho tT G hG 1eai made the
York In cighty-two day. r!yering on one day
375 knots. wIich, is better thpn the best day $
town. The MARY ,WhiterehGo ran from Baiti-
more to Liverpool In thirteen days and seven
hours. The Red Jank"l mad, ,,!, over 325 statute
tho records tho Roanoke win try to olnal
Veteran shippers do not believe she can do it.
but her commander H. hopeful.
The Roanoke is not the biggest American
ship ever built. That j. distnction belonged to
the Great Eopuh'ic, which was even larger
Great Republic was ggiIt il il East boston by
u.
Jos"ph Il Hamilton, is tho same Hamilton
Ronnoko. The Great l'cpuhlic WAS not 50
heavily spared ut the lioanoke She carried
1898 square yards o! canvas. whilo the
Roanoke spreads nearly 10000 From boom
end to boom end-that Is. from tho tip
spanker boom tho Roanoke, measures
80 ieet. Her length on the keel is
81 ! feet, and her length over ali is '3l feet.
Her extreme beam is in,.i feet. her depth 29.1O
feet and her draught ~ feet The golden ball
on the top OF her main sEysnil polo Is nearly
lower masts are ~ leet, nigh. and her foro
lower mast is ~ feet high: H"r lower span
ker mast Is .,S feet high. Her fore. main md
mi2zeu tupmastS are 81 tcot nigh and herspan-
krr topmast is 81 feet high zach OF her three
topgalant masts is 2S irr' higN, her three roy /;
al ma,ts ~ feet; her skysai m"sts 10 icet and
lower yards is 30 feet long. her lower topsai
Yards ~ ieet long, her tppgallant yards M
fest long, her royal yard ~ ir't long. ana her
ssysaiI Yards ~ feet long, These ara gignn:
tic SPAR, aud their size IAN be appreciated
only BY the -ail lorman VIII" furls Sail on them.
port last week. W ith l.toO tons OF leo In her
hold as ballast. the Roanoka had only light
winds, and could not test her sailing pual u
ties, She. will 1T out AT Erin hnsin. aud be
ready for her first cargo oi o,i'n tons in De-
cember; sh" will CO. into service on the
ci-ro, to Liverpool jor iltvreh and back "a
Nav York. Sha will carry crew Of about
forty men OF mixed natiVnaIiii"s, She vii!
also have what are rare IN ,hes" days. SIX or
eight ambitious American Ipprectlce!. mostly
from the schoolship st. Marys, Her chlei
eNneriencs arc First Mate Frank l., Foss oi
Lynn and second Mate Ingalls, OF Portland.