Evening star., 1893-10-04
Every Variety Can Be Found on the
Potomac.
THE TWIN PROPELLERS TO NORFOLK.
The Dean and the Bantam Of the
Fleet.
NE OF THE ACHT s

Of its tides. Craft Of all ages and condi-
tions. There are boats as poetic as the sea-
shell cruisers of Neptune and Cythera; as
graceful as the gondola that strolls along
the streets of Venice; as gay as the light
draught batteaux-a-vapeur that ply the
river Seine; as curious an eastern junk.
and as ugly as a caravel
First entitled to remark are the Norfolk
and Washington propellers. They are
named after the cities they connect claim
Wilmington as their birthport, and have
been in the business only two years. They
are twins. They are the babies of the fleet
They eat the river to the tune Of seventeen
miles an hour. and bring Norfolk and
Washington into such close communion that
a passenger almost fills the two pieces of
geography at the same time These boats
are doing big service in the commercial
development OF Washington. Daily they
bring tons OF Boston, Providence, New
York. Philadelphia and southern freight in
on railroad time This traffic is on the in
crease. and there is a mirage of a new
steamer in the air. These vessels are the
Cunarders of the Potomac river
The L. V. Arrowsmith is a steamboat that
river men have delighted to honor. Fifteen
years ago she was the belle Of the river
she Is native of Keyport, N. ]. She was
oorn Ior the Hudson trade, and lived there
until she was brought down south. She
came down here to do things up. And she
did she owned the river. Few of the other
poats cared TO look at her. and always
SOUNDED nine blasts in passing. Finally
the old Armenia, broke out in open rebel
non against the arrogance Of the Arrow
smith. Race? Well. you bet. One night at
Alexandria, the Armenia went to chaos on
wings of flame. The Smith Continued her
reckless career little longer, and then as
II In sorrow for the fate of her old foe en-
tered commercial life and settled down.
me old racy spirit still turks about her and
when she whets an appetite for coal and
turns her paddles round like an electric
ran, she Is apt to make her rival fade into
the after horizon.
The Venerable MattaaO
Then there is the Mattano 1t is said that
the Matte was in use among the Chinese
oerore the Christian era, but her manage
ment denies this. 1t is said that the fem
mime gender is applied to the Mattano be-
cause OF her antiquity. The official blue
book says: "Mattano. Keyport, N. j., 1853. -
me Mattano Is one Of the famous river
oDats. She has grown up with the country
Inc Matte Is not far-famed as a ten-thous-
ana dollar beauty, but everybody knows her
SO well and so favorably, that they can tell
her before she's a roundin of the bend i"
Inc Mary Washington! The gallery of
MIND Is hung with Mary Washington MEM
ories. 1t Is believed that a large percentage
or marriage licenses and minor Washing
tonians has resulted from Irritation and
eourtship on her decks. "Our Marry" as
the river people say, has the most eccentric
voice on record. Comic opera couldn't show
It's equal. Another of the peculiarities of
the Mary Washington Is the popularity of
ner gait. She wasn't cut out for a marine
Nancy Hanks and a street car could run
her down, but she gets there She was
built down in Virginia for the trucking
trade. but did not I'LL contract requirements
being unnt to carry cabbage and green
vegetables, she engaged in the trade of car
rying summer excursionists. She has been
at that business so long, that she is ALWAYS
saluted as the dean of the excursion CORPS.
Well up In commercial Importance is the
steamer Sue Of the Maryland and Virginia
Company. She shakes hands with Baltimore
once a week. and keeps southern MARYLAND
partially In touch with the United States.
She mas the widest acquaintance of any
boat on local and nearby waters For
many years she belonged to the Clyde line
The Goliath of the SidewheeIers.
The George Leary. the Goliath Of the home
sidewheelers, and who has never had a
David, Is somewhat Of a steamboat She
came upon the earth at Brooklyn, N Y, in
1854, served an apprenticeship in northern
waters. and came down about 1874 to take
the place of the old Vanderbilt Later she
fell into the hands of the Upper Potomac
Steamboat Company, and has had all kinds
OF ups and downs. For years she served
with the Bay line. out of Baltimore and
worked with the Brady, Havana and Pew
ton. She has. also, run excursions off the
capes.
A good deal of interest attaches to the
George Law. In her day and generation
she was a smart boat. Just now She is suf-
ferfng from innocuous desuetude She is
fast going to pieces and will soon be rocked
In the cradle of the deep. She was born in
1852, Is the oldest steamboat on the river
and for several years has been on the de-
scending scale.
The Lady of the Lake came into being in
1866 at Wilmington, came to Washington
Tor DUTY on the Inland and Seaboard Coast
ing Company, was burned at Norfolk re-
built, and Is now partner of the Sue in
the Baltimore and Washington trade
OF the fast-going palace steamers that
bind Washington to the green lawns of
Marshall Hail. and to the monarch of
summer resorts" River View, a great ded
might be said, but mustn't. The rea,Ier
could be told on the quiet which is the
ablest boat, the River Queen, Samue ].
Pentz or Charles Manchester, but to say 1t
out in the loud tones of printers' ink and
type would be suicidal. 1t would get h;m
licked by the crews of those boats which
were not the best When We shun Scylla we
are lost in Charybdis. You may nirt with
river mans sweetheart; YOU NAV refuse
to take chaw off his plug; you may forget
to ante; you may even decline to take
something, but breathe one breath again ct
the chastity, the glory and the beauty Of
his boat and medical aid will arrive to,o
late. Whenever the Manchester gets ,asscd
1t Is because she had no steam: when the
Pentz is laid low it is because her wheels
went round the wrong way and when the
Queen gets her crown knocked off 1t is pe-
cause her bottom was foul. A van,u uished
boat is always fluent in reasons for defeat
This has been a good season. All WASH
ington has gone down the river several
times over, and the summer girl has bloom
ed in rank and radiant luxuriance New
boats are promised.
The Bnntaln of the Fleet.
The Florence is the bantam OF the ex-
cursion fleet. She came down here from
Harlem river to run the Buena Vista route
and has crowded great experience into her
brief career. She has indulged in the Alex
andria ferry business and has run all kinds
of charters from Washington to the sea
and from Paradise to Pohick. She boasts a
water-brake. Flippers fit along Fer hull and
when occasion demands can be thrown out
in opposition to her headway. The Flor
ence Is not the VamoOsest boat on the Poto-
mac by several miles, and the ;lpplica ton
of brake to her is analogous to driving
a cart horse with pulleys.
There are very few boats better lockers
than the Harry Randall. There Is Il COIN
cidence connected with her She was
brought here good many years back as
the John w. Thompson AMI put IN the
Werts' wharf route and pitted against the
Mattano. She was routed. Then she as
sociated herself with the Lady of the Lake
and the Jane Moseley in the Norfolk trade
Last year when the Washington ard Nor
folkSteamboat Company blew out the gas
nn al rIxx 81