The Portland daily press., 1895-06-12
LAST OF THE SHIPS.
Only Hundred and Eighty Two Fly
Old Glory.
Some Have Became Barges and Some are
Under Foreign Flagship Foreign Iron
Ships Make Difficult Competition.


Under Foreign Flagship Foreign Iron
Ships Make Difficult Competition.
Captain William Leavitt, of this city,
who used to sail some of the best ships on
the ocean, has compiled from the records
a list cf the full-rigged ships now flying
the American flag. 1t is a sad showing
compared with those glorious days when
the ships were numbered by the
thousands, and Bath alone built fifty or
more in one year. There are now just one
hundred and eightytwo ships flying our
flag. The Oldest was built in 1885, and is
the ship Eliza Adams, 3SS tons. She was
built in Fairhaven, Mass, for whaler.
Another old ship is the Niger of New
Bedford, 391 tons, built in 1914. She
also is a whaler. The oil saturates their
timbers, and they do not rot. The dates
of the building of the ships straggle
along q few in each year, until 1874 is
reached. Fourteen launched that year are
still afloat For TO there are fourteen
also; for '76 also fourteen; and for III
there are twenty y-two. Twelve built in
SO are ahoat
Most of the one hundred and eighty two
survivors were built in Maine. Some of
the best of them are the A. G. Ropes,
(1684), Arayn, (93), BENZ. f. Packard
('S3), Cyrus Wakefield ('S2) Dirigo (only
one built in 1894, and of iron), Edward
O Brien ('S2), George R. Skolfield (S5),
India (68), Ivanho C65), Hamilton Fish
('56) Guardian C63), Great Admiral '(69),
Kate Davenport C66), Louis Walsh (61),
Annie NJ Snaull '(6s), Canada ('59).
Some of the best American ships are
now under other flags One of these is
the old ship Montebelle, built in Thomas
ton, Me-, in 1859, and now the Russian
bark Ceres.
A great many more ol d ships have been
cut down into barks or altered into
barges In the list of one hundred and
eighty two survivors all but two are built
year, and the Tillie E. Starback built in
1883, at Chester, Pa, by John Roach, are
the iron ones
1t is doubtful if another wooden ship is
built in America. Their days are gone
by. Some Americans are now buying iron
ships abroad, sailing them under the
English flag generally. The ship Puritan,
owned by company in Brunswick, Me-,
and commanded by Captain Dunning,
of Brunswick, is one of these. She was
built in Glasgow, and has four masts.
The English call her bark, because the
after mast is bark rugged, but the three
forward mass are square rugged and she
passes for ship in America The Puritan
is very large, being 22S3 tons. But some
of the great four masters of this class are
even larger like the Dunfern line, now in
New York, which is of 2773 tons, on the
Hiddekel, also in New York, $500 tons.
The iron ships have a great advantage.
They are classed Al for hundred years,
while a wooden vessel cannot be classed
Al for more than fifteen years, with ex-
tensions up to twenty -one years. There
are other advantages in the way of in
surance, etc. Nearly all the ships now
built in England are very large, and this
is considered the only kind that is very
profitable. The Liverpool, of 3134 tons,
and with four masts, all square rugged,
is said to be the largest ship for cargo
now afloat and is fair specimen of the
m odern iron ship.
Arthur Sewall's wooden ship Ronoake,
built in Bath in 1892, is registered 34oO
tons but being wooden and having
different measurement cannot carry so
much as the Liverpool