The Portland daily press., 1894-05-21

The harbor has been a cold dreary place
for the past two days. The east wind has
kicked up a heavy sea even up to the
wharves and outside it has been very rough.
Several Holsters smacks have been able to
come in however from the eastward along
the Maine coast and Nova Scotia because
the wind was astern. Had it been otherwise
the smacks would have had to makes the
nearest harbor to save the lives of their
precious cargoes. The Holsters cannot with
stand the shaking that head or side wind
induces.
Saturday night the smack "Kate and
Mabel of Friendship came in. She brought
some 1900 Holsters and from Nova Scotia;
also 1000 lemons. They were found floating
on the ocean about three or four miles off
Cape Island, MS. They came from the fruit
steamer that was wrecked on Half Moon"
ledge near that island some weeks ago. She
had cargo of thousands and thousands OF
crates of lemons and oranges and they.were
abandoned to the natives who swarmed over
her and carried away great quantity. But
some could not be obtained from the COM
partments till the ship broke up and the
bulkheads were opened and thus many
boxes were set adrift upon the ocean. The
lemons picked up by the Kate and Mabel
were in a fairly good condition most of them
being of value. The Pride of the Port of
Friendship also come in with Holsters Satur-
day from Nova Scotia and SO did the Edith
M. Thompson. The latter might have had a
cargo of dry fruit had she known of the
wreck day earlier. The former brought a
few oranges bought of the natives. The
little towns around there are fairly over
flowing with oranges and lemons. At
Clark Rarbor, Lockport and Woods Harbor
they could be bought, the lobster men say,
for thirty and fifty cents a box. There are
about ITO of the oranges in a box.
barrel of oranges containing 800 or 700 OF
them might have been bought for dollar.
Shed number two on the Grand Trunk
wharves looks like a huge skeleton for all
the boards have been taken off and the,
timbers will come down this week. The
wharf must be rebuilt. 1t was built about
seventeen years ago and the sea worms have
been as industrious as usual during that
time, and the piling must be replaced.
These great wharves are destroyed by sea
worms once in every seventeen or eighteen
years. The last one to be rebuilt was num-
Der three, some six or seven years ago.
Already SO many of the piles have been
eaten off that the:wharf has settled under
the great weight of the freight of the Eng
lish steamers and the ridgepole of the shed
has been pulled apart thereby. Shed num-
Der two, that is now being torn down. is all
strained apart IN the same way. 1t will
cost about $50, 600 to rebuild the wharf and
shed. Of course as there are many sheds
new one must be built oftener than every
seventeen or eighteen years. The piles on
shed number four will last longer than the
others, because many of them are of hard
pine, specially coated with tar preparation.
They are thus prepared in New York and
cost $50 apiece. The worms do not destroy
them. But a wharf built of them is so ex-
pensive that it is deemed cheaper to build
the wharves of the ordinary oak, and birch
piles, and let the worms eat them up every
fifteen years. Of course stone piers could
be built and would be permanent. and there
is good foundation of piles in the mud
there now But this also is considered too
expensive. Besides near the head of the
wharves and running along, nearly the
whole length of Commercial street, there is
soft vein in the bottom, perhaps forty or
fifty feet wide. 1t is called the aold canal
by those who remember it as a deep
channel in the flats at low water, when
Fore street was the shore of the harbor, and
the canal boats from the Sebago Lake
canal foated down this channel which
was deep enough for them at low tide. The
piling that is now driven into that ''old
canal has never reached a hard bottom
like the piling outside of it. This must be
considered in view of building stone piers.
The schooner j.. Il. Carey of Gloucester,
came into the harbor yesterday, with lime.
She had lost her topmast. 1t was blowing
very hard outside.
The tug Seguin Of Bath, that came here
last Friday has been waiting ever since for
a chance TO go back with a tow of two
empty schooners. But the strong east
wind has prevented