Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1892-11-30
A NEW MAINE SAILER.
THE FOUR MASTER ROANOKE Is
THE LAST OF HER TYPE.

THE LAST OF HER TYPE.
A Sailing Vessel in New York Harbor That
Made English Boats-How She Is Rugged.
Her Crew and Route.
Any one strolling along the bulkhead
Of Erie basin, which is vast hospital
and haven for craft of all sorts, may no.
tice q great ship with skysail poles,
seemingly fragile as toothpicks, tower
ing above the loftiest spars of the big
gest vessels moored around her. She is
a 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-
mated against by the marine underwrit-
ers since the advent of steel ships.
Long ago the wooden sailing craft
ceased to be carrier of any significance
in the 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 a 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 masts
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 fleet of Yankee fiers
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
1862, covered 1920 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 ter
days.
The Sovereign of the Seas made the
passage from the Sandwich Islands tc
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 1895 statute
miles a 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, the 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 the tip of her bowsprit t.
the tip of her spanker boom-the Roam |
oke measures $40 feet. Her length on
the keel is 81 feet, and her length ove1
all is 331 feet. Her extreme beam is |
1873 feet, her depth 80. 10 feet and hel
draft 81 feet. The golden ball on the
top of her main skysan pole is nearly
200 feet from the deck. Her main and
mizzen lower masts are 90 feet high, and
her fore lower mast is 81 feet high. Hell
lower spanker mast is 9S feet high.
Her fore, main and miz zen topmasts
are 56 feet high and her spanker topmasi
is 50 feet high. Each of her three top
gallant masts is 2S feet high, her three
royal masts 10 feet, her slysai1 masts IL
feet and her slzysal pole feet. Each
of her three lower yards is 95 feet long.
her lower topsail yards So feet long, he1
topgallant yards 66 feet long, her royal
yards 55 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 ], 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 (o1 |
Havre), and back to New York. She |
will carry crew of about forty men Of |
mixed nationalities. She will also have !
what are rare in these days--six or seven |
ambitious American apprentices, mostly |
from the schoolship st. Mary's. Her
chief officers, who are American navi.
gators of much experience, are First
Mate Frank E. Foss, of Lynn, and Sec
ond Mate Ingalls,, of Portlapd.-New
York Sun.
Lost In the Mountains.