The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-01-25
WAITING FOR SNOW.
Commercial Street Merchants Hoping
for Long Storm.

| Hard Weather at Sea and Remarkably
Thick vapor-That Old Cottage City
Good Day. The Austrian Probably
Off the Coast-The Largest Cargo Ever
| Taken from Portland Now Loading
for Liverpool,
Commercial street merchants are hop
| ing that the storm now off this coast may
extend all over Maine and help to revive
business. The street is feeling the I'M
seasonable weather very keenly, and
big storm would set the wheels Of bust
ness in motion wonderfully.
Captain Whitley, of the Gloucester
schooner Norman Fisher, is of the
opinion that it will be found that the
rough weather OIL the banks has greatly
interferred with fishing. All the schoon-
ers he saw there have been reported here
or at Gloucester, showing that their skip
pers gave up all hope of securing good
catch, while he held on and brought in
%, 600 pounds, the largest arrival for
many days. Yesterday J. W. Trefethen
reported the arrival of practically the
entire fishing fleet, bnt none of them
with large catch, and supply was great
| ly needed. as the stock on hand had been
cleaned up before the first schooner was
| reported in sight The supply of fish
brought In by the schooners of the feet
was rapidly distributed among the deal
x-,L,< A. a.; o
week to fill all orders promptly. There
was some trouble experienced by the YES
sells of the feet Thursday. After the
shippers had SOUNDED out" their
grounds the sohooners became somewhat
punched, with the result of tangling up
The schooners came in well together, and
business was active for short time on
the wharves. Quite number of the
sohooners cleared for their home ports
down the coast during the afternoon.
Captain Whitley said that he never
knew such thick and cold vapor to hang
over the sea for days, as was the case
when he was on the banks, and when, as
he said, ''We couldn't see twice the
length of the schooner ahead"
No vessels other than those employed
in the fisheries arrived yesterday, and as
Captain Tenney, of the tow boat com-
pany put it Everything will remain in
side until the storm is over. II The fisher
men reported very rough sea, and a
heavy blow Thursday evening.
The steamer Scotsman, is now taking
loose grains, an operation that requires
time. She will take $4,000 bushels at
this time. The Dominion people would
| 1.000 900 bushels at first, but due regard
for other steamers prevented. Later she
many be taken back to the elevator if
more grain arrives. She will take out
over 1900 cattle. the largest number ever
taken by an ocean steamer from this
port. Large as she is. there is freight
enough in the sheds now to load. her with
the grain she will receive, and the cattle
that will be here next week. Boxed
meats, and the like will help out her
cargo
Yesterday was a very quiet day as far
as the receipts of steamer freight was con-
cerned Next week will be very lively.
The Allan line steamer Austrian is
probably somewhere off this coast. She
is from London direct, and worry likely
has had very stormy passage. She will
go to New York for her cargo.
| The storm was so thick outside that the
boat for Boston, and the one from Boston
l e., Ill ut hot IN
wharves. The Manhattan was storm
bound last night at Cottage City, and the
Cottage City was reported to have pas
ed Chatham at 8 o'clock Friday morning,
so the storm must have found her some
where in the Sound, land of course all
rig bit with Cape Cod far behind her.
The old life RATS condemned and
! thrown overheard from the steamer Cot
tage City, create decided sensation.
They were tried and judged to be unfit
for the service that possibly might be re-
quired of them. Each was designed to
hold thirty men, and as they were old and
out of date they were replaced with mod
ern metallic life RATS, and the old, and as
it was thought useless RATS, were thrown
overheard, the idea being that they
would go down. Probably in time the
condemned life RATS with the name
Manhattan" on the side will be found,
and will create another sensation.
Considering the state Of the weather
but very few vessels OF any kind are In
port, and they are ready for sea- Nearly
every co aster in port has a large portion
of her load on board, and is ready to take
advantage of the first opportunity to get
outside.
The hay crop along the coast is coming
into the market now. 1t takes great
deal of hay to feed the cattle taken over
on the steamers and the sloops are kept
busy freighting it. A considerable
amount has also been brought down the
Grand Trunk, from points between here
and Gorham.