The Republican journal., 1892-03-31
Stories of the Sea.
THE GOOD SHIP TILLIE E. sTARBUCK.

DUCK arrived up at her dock at the foot of
B street at $3.50 o'clock yesterday after
| noon. She is, without doubt the finest
sailing vessel which has visited this port,
and is credit to the merchant marine.
AS seen from the dock, the vessel presents
beautiful sight. Her deck is clean and
polished, and every bit of woodwork about
her is freshly painted. The brass work
shines, and there is not place on her but
which shows the neatness and care with
which she is kept. The contrast between
her and some of the foreign vessels lately
here is great She is the best specimen of
an American ship atloat. Not only in the
| tidy appearance of the vessel but in every
| other respect does she rank above the
| class OF foreign ships which have been
| here this season. Her lines are exceeding
| ly trim, and her lofty, tapering iron masts
and simple rigging produce beautiful eff
| feet. For her large size she is of very
| light draft. a feature coming into use
more and more every day in the shipping
of the world The vessel is SO construct
ed that she can be moved to and fro in the
harbor in any stage of loading OF unload
| ing without taking in ballast, something
that nothing but an American ship can do.
| Being OF iron, she has an advantage over
| most vessels of this country in command
| NY Il DClleI rate ana insurance. he Ill
lie Starbuck is a smart sailer and has made
| some rafting passages. but this voyage
out from New York was an unfortunate
one. She sailed out September 10, and was
| twelve days making the first 500 miles,
| Forty-one days were consumed i'll reaching
the line. Western gales impeded the yes
sell progress. and off the river La Platte
the worst storm of the passage was en-
countered Ordinary weather was met
at the Horn, but it was in coming up the
west coast that most of the trouble was ex-
| perienced. Head winds all the way along
necessitated the vessel beating her way
and what would have been a fair passage
was spoiled. Not until the ship was off
| Oregon coast was the wind and weather
| favorable. All things considered. she did
remarkably well and has sustained her re-
| putation as staunch and seaworthy boat
in any kind of a sea.
| This is the Starbucks sixth visit to
Portland. She was here last year and
sailed February 18th for Liverpool with
| wheat, making the passage in III days,
returning to New York in twenty five
| days, with 1000 tons of cargo. The YES
sci now has $500 tons of merchandise. Of
this, 1900 tons consist of steel rails. The
rest includes nails, horse -shoes, agricul-
tural implements, bar iron. barbed wire.
hardware and thousand and one other
things. When the matches were opened.
as much of the cargo as could be seen
was in perfect condition. The work of
discharging will begin this morning at the
foot OF b stleet. What the vessel will be
loaded with is not vet known. as she lost
her charter by reason of her long passage
but it is thought that she will have but
lift lie trOIibIp i'm SpcuriOU another
The owner of the ship is Captain W. H.
Starbuck, OF New York, who also has the
L. +. Cakes, a vessel well known to Port
landerS. The Tillie Starbuck registered
at 1881 tons, and with full cargo aboard
such as she now carries, draws but a little
over twenty feet. Her dimensions are:
Length, 2T6 feet: beam, IS feet: depth of
hold, - feet. She carries crew of
twenty-eight men ali told. Her master
Captain Curtis. is well known in this city,
having been here several times He is ac-
companied by his wife and family. and
the ship, with children romping about the
deck, is something unusual along the city
front. The cabin is a home-like nstitu-
ton, made so by the presence of IA woman
aboard. This is another peculiarly of
American ships. for nearly every Ameri-
can captain has his family with him on
his voyage.
SHIP FREDERICK BILLINGS DIsMAsTED.
The Coast Seaman's Journal of San
Francisco, says: When the four-masted
ship Frederick Billings came into port on
March 18th, after a passage of 1876 days
from New York, no one who saw her
would dream that she had been dismasted
and virtually retitted at sea. Yet it was
tine case.
After having left New York all went
well until the ship reached latitude 81
north, longitude 80 west, on November
6th when the weather looked so threat
ening that the royals and other light sails
were taken in. Three men went aloft to
furl the fore royal and three to furl the
main royal, but of these six men only one
lived to see san Francisco While the
men were on the yards the wind suddenly
shifted and a terrible squall struck the
ship. IN an instant the starboard mar
tingale backrope parted under the heavy
strain, and the next instant the foretop-
mast carried away at the cap, and the i'm
mense mass OF spars, sails and rigging
came down with a crash to the decks
All was confusion in an instant. and, be-
fore the crew could realize what had hap
pened, the maintopmast, relieved of the
support OF its stays, also broke off at the
cap, and with its heavy tophamper came
crashing to the decks.
The jibboom also carried away at the
bowsprit cap, and thus inside "a half
minute the fine ship was transformed from
a thing of beauty to a dismantled hulk
AS sool as the officers and crew realized
what had happened their thoughts at once
turned to the six men who were on the
royal yards when the crash came. With
one exception they had disappeared for
ever, and were doubtless killed by the
mass OF falling spars and rigging. One
man alone escaped, and he managed to
seize the mzzen chain plates and drag
himself on board. All hands Immediately
set to work to clear the wreck Axes and
knives Were used with will and in spite
of the heavy sea that swept over the dis
mantled ship the crew worked SO well
that i'll few hours the vessel was freed
from the tangled mass of spars and rigging
that endangered her existence.
The Billings was headed to the south
ward and kept on her course under
courses and lower topsails and the crew
set to work to get out new spars. BY
good luck there We're enough spars on
board to make good the loss. and the
work OF preparing new maintopmast
was begun. BY March 18th the mast was
ready and was sent up.