Evening journal., 1895-08-26
LIFE on THE OCEAN WAVE
Pilot Rowland Chats Interest
ingly of His Experience.
FLOTsAM AND JBTsAM OF THE SEA

A Sharp Lookout Kept for Ambergris.
the Value Of which is $500 Pound i.
Gold In Sea water-The Mystery of the
Atlantic Cable-The sunken Treasure of
the DeBraak.
The American pilot boat, as II appears
now, is a reflex Of type contemporary
with the best days Of the commercial
supremacy Of the United States among
maritime nations At a time when the
famous clipper ships Of Baltimore Boston
and New York carried "O,d Glory" into
every nook and Granny Of the globe,
they gave their peculiar aud character
istic lines 10 these boats, which alone
remain to tell Of the lost empire Of the
seas Now the uncouth and grimy
tramp steamship, belching forth volumes
Of black smoke as she forces her way
into the great loading ports, marks the
decadence and almost com plete cblitera
tion OF tho neat aud trim American
clipper ship.
Following this comes the change,
slowly and surely. working TO supplant
the magnificent feet OF coastiDg, sailing
vessels by cheap towing barRes. In
conversation with Pilot John s. Row
land, OF the pilot boat Thomas
Bsyard, recently overhauled at the
Jackson and Sharp ship yard. the
writer learned much concerning the
busy life OF this class OF msn.
There are at present eight boats at the
BrsakwAter TO handle the large feet Of
vessels coming from all parts Of the
world Eesklng orders or proceeding up
the Delaware The Delaware contingent
comprises the Bayard. Tunnel, Cope and
Howard The New Jersey boats are the
@ Knight, Whilidin and Edmunds,
while Pennsylvania is represented by a
single boat, the William Ker In add
tion there are six "Parlor Car Pilots, "
shat is, pilots who do not cruise of shore
but 20 to Baltimore, New York or Bos
ton and engage Philadelphia bound ton
mage aud come along with them. Three
of this class belong to the Howard and
three to the Ksr. They take by this
means some Of the profit and All OF the
romance from the psrllous and Oft times
hard lot Of the cruising pilots
In regard TO the treasure lost on the
De Braak, do you think the present
expedition will succeed In finding it2'
asked the writer Of Pilot Rowland.
mo, do not, simply because II It
ever was there the heavy surge and
currents have long ago scattered the
wreck aud It's contents" he replied
'As a rule wrecks are not allowed 70
gather much moss of the point Of
Cape Henlopen. Too much money is
being sunk IN finding or locating the
millions supposed to have been on the
De Braak when she capsized nearly a
hundred years ago Il would be far
safer to try to.extract the small quantity
OF gold known to be present In sea
water That would be something
tangible II it we're only salt left In the
pans
Regarding ocean currents, do you not
believe they are to some extent magnetic
In their action, or rather are electrical
cireu,tsf'
Yes, do For instance, you
remember at the time Of the laying of
the Atlantic cable, aud after the shore
ends Ia Ireland and az New Foundiand
had been completed. break occurred In
mid ocean aud while the cable ships
were graphing for the broken ends, the
operator sitting In the darkened room at
Valencia. was astounded to see the
message fash on the mirror before him
God save the Queen. Some one en- the
other side was manipulating the keys
and the message came, although he
cable lay broken on tho ocean bsd
hundreds OF miles away. This was clearly
case OF electrical magnetic attraction.
The ends OF the cable lay either Ia a
current or else on a bed Of ore electrically
charged.
speaking of lost treasure finding.
continued the pilot, returning to the
frst subject. the hunt after or the find
ing Of ambergris is the most lucrative
aud profitable fnd one can come across al
sea
"Ambsrgris, you must know, resembles
q piscs Of meat Of 8 pinkish white color,
with shs edges frayed and standing out
from the lump. IL Is entirely tasteless
but so valuable Ia the refining Of high
grade perfumes that It commands q pric'
OF $500 pound. | assure you we looh
about aud scan the water very closely
when anything appears looking llk'
ambergris. Very often we pick up othei
good finds. One Of our boats found 1
splendid piano q short while ago, floating
about in its case, and the music Of thu
waves Was its accompaniment
The worst luck that we ever strike
Is when we are carried across the Allan
tic by some ship we pilot to sea, wher
the weather is so rough as to make
IL impossible to let of the pilots Ther
we are taken to some foreign poi
without having said good bye to oui
families So you ses, In this. like All
other professions, all is not gold tha
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