The Portland daily press., 1895-02-18
TWO HAND-LINERS
That Rode Out All the Past Months
Gales.

And Brought in Good Fares of Fish-The
Matte Winship's Good and Bad Luck
The Rough Weather on Georges-The
"Head-first' Popularity of Hand
Liners-rhe Big Solemn Captains De-
scription of an Interesting Harbor
| Scene in Winter.
The harbor was very attractive place
Sunday afternoon. The weather was clear
| and bright and pleasant. and the water
very blue and beautiful. Occasional great
cakes of ice floated down with the tide and
fiocks of screaming gulls fought for stray
bits of food on the surface. A few off-shore
fishermen. trawlers, had come in since sun
set, the day before and lay at the wharves
with their deck-bins full of fresh fish. Be-
| tween four and five O'Clock, two hand
liners came through the passage and stood
slowly up the harboI. The group Of fisher
men on the end of Custom House wharf
watched them with interest. A hand-liner
OF 'f1at-roofer,'' because of the absence of
topmasts, goes farther away than the off,
shore trawlers. stays longer time, brings
back more fish and encounters more
dangerous weather. Hence the absence of
topmasts.
That's rhe Matte Winsbip.'' said one
man. pointing to the leading schooner. land
she's lost an anchor" he added as she drew
Learer. When nearly opposite the end of
the wharf her mainsail and foresail came
down. 'She's going up to Commercial
wharf" said one "She's coming in here"
I,o,, s.. ls.11 4,
her helm ana make head first for this
wharf," said the man, whose keen eyes had
seen her loss Of an anchor long before any
| one else. She came along. apparently un-
certain where to go and forged ahead
| straight for the end of Potland Pier. The
| captain shouted something, but it was too
late. and the end Of her short, stout bow
spirit struck the end of the United States
barge officers boat house and pushed across
| it, bending it in like pasteboard. just be-
yond was stout pile which the bowsprit
struck fair and the vessel rebounded and
began to drift back towards Custom House
wharf.
| Didn't tell YER" said tee man who had
made the ''head-frst'' prediction, that's
| nothing for hand liner That's what them
fellers like whereby it may be inferred
that hand-liners have propensity for 60
ing head first at the ends Of wharves.
Finally. the schooner was made fast to
the end of Custom House wharf, and the
captain came ashore. He was big, grave.
silent and little deaf. There was some
thing of the dignity of the quiet ocean
about him. but nothing of it's tumuit. In a
deep, slew voice he said that they left
| Gloucester four weeks ago next Tuesday
and went to Georges Banks. They were out
in all the gales and he never experienced
worse weather. During all that time, it
was not until Sunday morning, the day of
their safe arrival in Portland, that they
saw the sun rise clear. 1t was either snow
ing or blowing gale under cloudy skies OF
the thick fog was around them.
They caught no fish on Georges, and
while riding out a furious gale. lost the
anchor and part of the cable. They let her
drift for about sixty miles till they reached
Browns Banks. when they dropped another
anchor. Then they stayed in rough water
all the time and were very fortunate for in
weeks time. they had pulled in over the
sides thirty-three Thousand pounds of fish;
10000 of iced fish, 1000 of halibut and 5000 Of
sailed fish was the fare they brought to
Portland. They had just used all their
bait and were about to start for home when
the tugglng vessel broke away second
time and second anchor was lost. They
had third and brought that home with
them. The two lost anchors and cable
were worth about $l75. The second hand
liner apparently warned by the first
'head-first" performance dropped its sail
when SO far from the wharf that it became
becalned. When coming by Bug light the
keen-eyed man had seen that this vessel
had lost her boat from the stern davits. Sc
there they laid becalmed. The big, solemn
captain of the first schooner said: boys,
she can't get no line ashore. Take the dory
and go ont to her. 1t seems kinder mean
not to help her OUT
So the other schooner's line was taken to
the wharf and SIZE was pulled alongside
and her crew reported very rough weather.
She had been out from Gloucester about a
month Oh the Maine fishing grounds. Her
name was the Henry W. Longfellow. Her
bulwark on the side of the stern was badly
stove by the weight OF water. and her boat
had been washed away by huge wave. Her
i forward bait-kit was also gone, and she toe
had lost an anchor. She brought $4,000 of
split fish, 1000 of iced fish and 1000 of hall
but.
The wild weather of those fishing grounds
may be somewhat realized by the fact that
the Longfellcw saw three other sohooners
all of which had had their boats swep,
away.
8 The decks of both scho 3ners were as clean
as if scrubbed by Dutch housewives. In re-
Spouse to question, the solemn captain
said that they'd had enough water on ZEN
to scour 'em.