Los Angeles herald., 1892-11-24
A NEW MAINE SAILER.
THE FOUR MASTER ROANOKE is
THE LAST OF HER TYPE.

A Sailing Vessel In New York Harbor That
VIII Try Conclusions with Recent Steel
Made English Boats-How She Is Rugged.
Her Crew and Route.
Any one strolling along the bulkhead
Of Erie basin, which is u vast hospital
Ind haven for craft of all sorts, may no.
lice great ship with skysail poles,
seemingly fragile as toothpicks, tower
Ing above the loftiest spars of the big
rest vessels moored around her. She is
b four master, and her aerial intricacies
Of rigging and halliards and ropes are
Chinese puzzle to the landsman, but
vision Of delight to the shellback. She
Is the Roanoke, giantess of wooden sail
Ing vessels, and the last of her type that
will ever be constructed in America.
For that reason she is worth more than
passing notice. She represents the van
ishing era Of wooden bottoms, discrimi-
hated against by the marine underwrit-
ers 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 construction are four
masters. The British skipper calls his
four master q bark because she is
schooner rugged on the fourth, which is
known both as the spanker and jigger
mast. The Yankee skipper thinks that
any sailing vessel with three mass
square rugged is ship.
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 is to be changed, and
that the change is at hand. The keel of
the first American steel ship soon will
be laid, and after she is launched others
will follow her down the ways in rapid
succession. The builders hope to do
with the steel clippers-which will be
constructed on approved American rae
ing models-what our builders did with
wooden clippers before the war. They
held 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 can
not approach the wonderful perform
ances Of the great feet of Yankee fliers
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 1890 knots in sixteen con-
secutive days, an average Of nearly
twelve knots an hour. The Dreadnought
made the 1880 knot run between New
York and Queenstown in less than ten
days.
The Sovereign of the Seas made the
passage from the Sandwich Islands to
New York in eighty-two days, covering
on one day 375 knots, which is better
than the best days run Of an eight day
steamship from Queenstown. The Mary
Whiteredge ran from Baltimore to Liv-
erpool in thirteen days and seven hours.
The Red Jacket made over 325 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 it, but her commander
is hopeful.
The Roanoke is not the biggest Amer
ican ship ever built. That distinction
belonged to the Great Republic, which
was even larger than the colossal steel
five master France, tho largest sailing
vessel in the world. The Great Repub-
lie was built in East Boston by Donald
Mckay in 1858. Her master, Captain
Joseph P. Hamilton, is the same Hamil-
ton who now commands and partly owns
the Roanoke. The Great Republic was
not so heavily spared as the Roanoke.
She carried 1858 square yards Of can
vas, while the Roanoke spreads nearly
10000. From boom end to boom end
that is, from tho tip of her bowsprit to
the tip of her spanker boom-the Roam
Oke measures $40 feet. Her length on
the keel is 311 feet, and her length over
all is 331 feet. Her extreme beam is
49.3 feet, her depth 1910 feet and her
draft 81 feet. The golden ball ON the
top of her main skysail pole is nearly
200 feet from the deck. Her main and
mizzen lower masts are 80 feet high, and
her fore lower mast is 81 feet high. Her
lower spanker mast is So feet high.
Her fore, main and mizzen topmasts
are SO feet high and her spanker topmast
is 81 feet high. Each Of her three top
gallant masts is 29 feet high, her three
royal masts 10 feet, her skysail masts 10
feet and her skysail poles feet. Each
of her three lower yards is 95 feet long,
her lower topsail yards 88 feet long, her
topgallant yards 66 feet long, her royal
yards IS feet long and her skysail yards
A feet long. These are gigantic spars,
and their size can be appreciated only by
the sailorman who furls sail on them.
On her maiden voyage from Bath to
this port, with 1,400 tons of ice in her
hold as ballast, the Roanoke had only
light winds and could not test her sail
ing qualities. She will go into service
ON the triangular track from New York
to San Francisco, to Liverpool (or
Havre), and back to New York. She
will carry crew of about forty men of
mixed nationalities. She will also have
whatt are rare in these days-six or seven
ambiti.,us American apprentices, mostly
from the schoolship st. Mary's. Her
chief officers, who are American navi-
gators of much experience, are First
Mate Franl; e. Foss, of Lynn, and Sec
ond Mate ,,l.s. Of Portland.
York Still
Fra, CT improvements.
The prac s,s .,proving ones self in
some useful I tllout IN intention to