Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-04-15

The whaleback Wetmorc has had a
rather bitter experience since her adj
vent in Pacific coast waters. One mis-
fortune after another has overtaken the
vessel; one captain has been succeeded
by another in the vain hope that the
"hOOdoO' would be removed. Not so.
and the plain inference to be drawn is
that while the whaieback may be in
every way suited to the great lakes,
the salt seas do not agree with her.
The whaleback as a sea-going vessel is
not a success; but the steel barge works
at Everett might be. The San Fran
cisco Examiner thus pokes fun at the
uncouth looking vessel:
The attempt Of the lacustrine tribes in
Testing the shores Of the region made ia
nous by Proctor Knots eulogium Of
Duluth to teach the marine populations
Of the Pacific slope something Of ship
bnilding is apparently doomed to the
same disastrous failure as that of the
aspiring youth who would show his
grandmother how to suck eggs. In naval
architecture the Dulutherans. the Misb-
iIIimackinackers, the Marquettites. Onto
nagonans, Soos and other tribal diyis-
ions Of Improved Red Men henceforth. in
memory of their shattered faith and futile
works, to be known by the racial name OF
Whalebackers must take a rear seat. We
shall all admire their ingenuity and an
plaud their pluck, but our ship-bpiIders
will not go to school to them, and they
must be content with their uncballenped
prlmacy as commercial Vikings OF the
Unsalted Seas. The possession of home
on the ocean wave is denied to them un-
less they are humbly willing that the
home shall have some Of the modern i'm
provementS-among them the ability to
endure "the monstr0us Bullets oftbesea GO
The ocean wave is evidently something
very different from anything dreamed
OF 10 their fresh-water pbiIosorb
Their whaleback barges come TO grief as
last as they arrive to sail the seas over.
No fewer than three of them, all that
they have sent us. have already demon
strated their unftneSs TO navipate the
smiling waters Of the Pacific. the pioneer
OF the lot having been beaten into iuply
because she was not sufficiently laden tn
be swamped. Unless the Steel Barge
Company consider it worth while to make
radical alterations in the design of the
vessels It purposes Constructing on this
coast u may as well take its plant back to
Lake Superior; and it would be prudent
TO send it back in a ship or by rail.
1t is proverbially easy to be awise flor
the event. but 1t seems as il in this mat
ter failure might have been forecast
without a gift OF prophecy by any one
enough interested to invest money in
Whaleoacks. Permanent progress in an
arr so ancient and universal as that of
shlp-building is not made by leans and
bounds. The conditions of success have
been studied in the light Of practical ex-
perience rather long for any latter-dav
designer to stand forth and prove that all |
known models, from that Of a Phpnician |
galley to that of the Atlantic "liney -
nave been the result OF an imnerfact
understanding Of the business. HAVING /
demonstrated this somewhat elementarv !
proposition at a considerable expense. it
Is hoped that the enterprising gentlemen
atwhom we have ventured to poke fun"
In our mild Western way NAV frankly
confess their error by such changes as
VIII make their vessels more servlceabIe.
II less spectacular. The whale back NAV
possibly be feature Of considerable
value; the trouble seems to be In the
whale belly. There, at least, is where
Jonah found it.