San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-02-13
PEKILs OF The SEA.

how many people know thaG over
4400 British seameu are lost at sea
every year, that over $50 human lives
are lost on American vessels during
the same period, and that
six vessels are wrecked or
lost every day in the year? Yet
carefully prepared statistics prove
that these figures, appalling though
they are, truthfully represent the
mortality In the merchant marine.
The British board OF trade stated
some years ago that the calling of o
British sailor was more hazardous
than that of any other In which Eng
lishmen we're engaged. Data are not
obtainable to prove that this is also
true of the American merchant ma.
rine. but students of the subject do
not doubt that it would apply.
Any one familiar with the docks of
our leading commercial cities will fire.
quently see new spsrs anon the hosts
of old ones at the piers. Some new
vess@s hae been launched in Maine
and sent for 8 cargo. If she is large,
with tall masts and skysail yards
crossed, you will see parties of gentle
men in silk hats and well.dressed
ladies about the docks every pleasant
day while she loads. Every one ad.
mires her trim lines, her well.
proportioned yards, her lofty
tings sof her cabin. Practical
men note that certain sized timbers
L. tn kAr {aa,
that certain rules have been followed
in arranging and securing them.
When her cargo is In aud she drops
down the bay, these men speak of
having risks on the AL Clipper They
have insured her at the lowest rates.
Her owners talk of the top freight
rates they have received, because she
is stanch and swift. The ladies
who examined her remem Der the
cabin, the tapering mast and
the snowy canvas, and talk
of her as perfectly lovely" Even
the crew speak well of her until the
new canvas wears the skin from the
ends of their fingers while they take
in sail during the gale of wind which
she Is sure to encounter before she is
many days at sea. But the ship does
not mind the gale; if it is fair it is
lust what she wanted. Other vessels
that are beating against 1T may be
wallOwing along under close reefed
topsails, but with the wind on her
quarter the clipper carries her top
gallant sails, and piles the foaming
alter high under her bows,
until it rolls roaring away
beyond the end of her
bowsprit as she plunges down the
waves and then rears her head again.
A ship under full sail is a truly mag.
nificent spectacle, and there Is an ex-
hilaration in the wind that sweeps
across her decks which can be appre-
ciated only by those who have
breathed it. That is the way q new
chip goes out, but If you were tween
decks when she is flying along in
such grand style you would hear
creakipg and croakipg with every mo
ton. 4 snip is built of perpendicular
frames and horizontal planning,
aud as the waves shift their pressure
the ship WORKS" This wears cut
the caulking in the seams first, and
later on the frames themselves begin
to weaken, If the ship is strictly A
and we'll cared for she will hold her
racing for twelve years. Thep she
must be carefully examined, andif
found in good condition her rating
may be con tinued four years longer.
But long before the end. of the
twelve years the captain is care
full not to carry on sail as he
did the first trip. Even with the
fair gale the topgallant sails are
furled and the mainsail elewed up
she is getting "tender" and must be
watched. If she has aged pretty fast,
as she would, under q captain dis.
posed to "drive" her, the chances are
that the ambitious captain gets out of
her and INTO a new ship. A new man
takes the old ship, and then che drops
out of the general merchandise trade
TO Frisco, or the China tea trade, and
carries guano or coal. When ship
has carried cargo for fifteen years,
even under favorable conditions, she
is an old ship. She is like an over
worked horse; she totters on her
way. In heavy sea she Is a long
time rising on the swells, for she has
lost much of her buoyaucy. Last OF
all, she goes into the lumber trade,
and there she wallows her way from
port to port, until some day her bones
are laid upon lee shore, or she fails
to rise when some heavy wave strikes
her, and thus adds one more to the
already appalling list of mysteries
of the sea.n
Some idea of the enormous number
of casualties to vessels may be OBJ.
tanned when we reflect that along
our coast in the past fourteen years
there have been 1871 casualties to
vessels. On our Atlantic and Gulf
coasts during the year Guiding June
80, 1889, there were 662 disasters to