The morning call., 1894-04-01
A TALE OF THE SEA.

There are many tales of the sea with less
romance in them than there is contained
in the log of the good ship Somali, which
arrived here on Friday. 147 days out from
Hong-Kong. This monster ship, which
can carry 54OS tons of freight, andis with
out a rival except the French ship La
France. is sight to see in itself. And the
story of her butfetiDgs at the hands OF
Father Neptune is tale which none OF
her sailors will forget.
She sailed from China last November.
and Captain 5Hanney having bad some ex-
perience of the power of the monsoon to
strip his maSts of sails, decided to avoid
the direct route past the island OF Barbee
and steered south. past Australia. until he
touched the latitude of 90 degrees south.
The skipper, knowing his ship, and pos
sessed of sound knowledge of wind and
water, took this enormous circuit after a
full review of his pros ects; to landsmen
his course seems extraordinary. He was
probably in part governed by the prin-
ciple that the force of the wind is In pro-
portion to the resistance. and therefore
the larger the vessel the more she is likely
10 suffer from gales. Had Captain Han
ney been in command OF a smaller craft,
ne would probably have Rugged the shore
of Formosa, and would never have made
any greater southing than 20 degrees.
AS it was. the southeast trades carried
him iAto belt OF still water. where his
average run was not over fourteen miles
in the twenty-four hours.
At last he struck westerly wind which
carried him to the latitude of Pitcairn
Island. By this time provisions had
begun to run low; the stock of vegetable
food was exhausted. The Somali made
landing at Pitcairn to replenish her
stores. Unfortunately for her, the de-
scendants of the mutineers are nothing if
not plous. The Somali'S boat touched the
shore on Saturday evening; not even
to relieve the distress of mariners on
short commons would the people of Pit
cairn break the Sabbath. Captain Han
ney had to content himself with one barrel
of potatoes, which did not 60 far among
irty-four men. Then he stood away for
the north.
The canned provisions being exhausted
the crew fell back upon the cargo. which
consisted largely of tea and rice. If the
Somali had been manned by Cinnamon
they would have asked for nothing better.
But men of the Anglo-Saxon race are not
used to appease their hunger with rice,
nor can they be said to banker after tea
without milk. But there was nothing else
to eat and the quantity was unlimited.
That the dietary was good may be inferred
from the healthy. well-fed aspect of the
men when they landed. They constitute
a living argument against Collector Wise's
notion that Ping Suey tea is unwhoiesome.
Still, obedent to the law that variety is
the spice of life, the sailors were GLAD
enough to overhaul the American ship
Kennebec and to obtain from her a supply
of beef and flour. Thus refreshed they
sailed their monster into port on Friday.
The moral of the story Of the Somali is
that the limit of size in saiing-ships has
been reached. What they gain in carry
ing capacity is Offset by the difficulty and
danger OF handling them. They stand out
against the sea like mountains and get the
full brunt of a gale, when smaller craft
bend to the wind and ride over the waves.
A few years ago the experiment of the
Great Eastern proved that stes mships OF
over given tonnage possessed no COM
mercial value. Their owners are worse eff
than the historic parsonage who drew an
elephant in lottery. 1t is not at all cer-
tain that the new 14,000-ton ships which
are being built by the British navy will
not con firm the doctrine. The SemalPs
fortunes will not lead to the building Of
more sailing-ships to carry over 5000 tons.
If a vessel bound on voyage of 1000
miles. from latitude 20 deg. to latitu.e IS
deg, has got to make circuit which nearly
doubles the course Iun in order to keep
out of the way of gales she will not make
much as freight carrier. 1t would have
been money in the owners pocket to have
split her in two and used her materials in
the construction of two ships.