The San Francisco call., 1896-08-12
A Waiting.Room and Freight.
Shed for the Valley Road
to Be Built.
PACIFIC MAIL WANTS A WHARF
1t Must Be Parallel With the Present
One in Order to Suit
Schwerin.

The Board of Harbor Com miss toner's
held long session yesterday afternoon.
| Colonel Chadbourne was not present as ne
is suffering from sewers attack OF sciatic
rheumatism. 1t has attacked his left leg
and the pain is excruciating. twill prob
ably be week before he is able to be
about again.
The first business taken up by the COM
missioners was the application of The Pa
cific Nail Steamship Company for wharf
to run parallel with the Mail dock. Two
representatives of the corporation were
present and urged the building of the new
wharf. They pointed out that LON bard
street wharf was a most inconvenient
place for the docking OF their surplus fleet,
as men and appliances had to be moved
from one end of the town to the other
whenever Panama steamer arrived In
the interest of commerce Mr.. Schwerin
thought the company's boats should be
docked as near to each other as possible.
The com missioners talked the natter over
and came to the conclusion that there was
no money on hand with which to build the
new wharf. The matter was laid over for
week, and in the meantime ways and
means will be considered. The Mail COM
pany is now running a number of extra
boats on the Panama route, and with the
Occidental and Oriental Steamship Com
pany using one side of the mail dock for
its China steamers there is not room for
its boats on the other. In consequence
about two of its boats have to land at
LON bard street wharf every month.
committee from the Grand Army of
the Republic waited on the board and
asked that mem bers of their organization
be given the precedence whenever a
vacancy occurred among the wharingers
and collectors on the front. President
Colnon promised to look into the matter.
and said the veterans would receive every
consideration. AT the present time about
one in every eight employees of the COM
mission is Grand Army veteran.
There was no work performed on the
framework of the ferry building yesterday.
mistake has been discovered in the
calculations for the beams and cross
beams and the architect submitted plans
whereby the evil might be remedied.
The matter was referred to Chief Engineer
Holmes with power TO act.
The Oregon Railway and Navigation
Company wants waiting-room on Spear
street wharf. It's steamers arrive and de-
part three or four times a week and there
is no accommodation for passengers who
may have to wait. The matter was re-
ferred 10 the chief wharfinger.
L
ment Company asked for freight office
and waiting-room on Washington street
wharf for the use of the Valley road.
Agent Clark of the navigation company
explained that in future all freight and
passengers for the railway would 60 on
his boats, and he asked for facilities for
handling the traffic. The matter was re-
ferred to the superintendent of urgent re-
pairs with power to act.
In q OriyatQ letrer rpoaivad hy, Ioh,, NJ
penheim, the well-known clothier, vester-
day, comes the news that the San Fran
cisco sealing fleet Jared very poorly on the
coast of Japan. The Alton had 624 skins.
Jane Grey 491 Rattler 693. The Louisa D
put into Atu, and cleared from there for
Bering Sea. Her catch is reported as a
poor one. The Ainsworth of Victoria. B. c..
had 700 skins, and Ed Funk, the champion
captain of the feet. only managed to get
773 with the Golden Fleece. After couple
OF months in Bering Sea the Golden Fleece
will return to japanese waters.
OF the sea-otter feet the Herman. pre-
viously reported with sixty-three skins on
July % had increased her catch to eighty
while the schooner Kodiak had 124 The
catch of these two vessels alone is easily
worth $50, 900.
In conclusion the writer states: 1.-THE
outlook Is not good for big catches of seal
this year. and on the return of the feet m
San Francisco many of the hunters and
sailors will find themselves on the wrong
side of the ledger
The schooner Volant was brought over
from Oakland Greek by the tug Alert yes
terday. When the Free Trade, now eft
the wreck of the Coiom bia, is loaded with ]
the steamers machinery she will be towed
to San Francisco and the VoIant will take
her place.
;, The barkentine s. N. Castle, lying at
folsom street wharf, was, up to YESTERDAY
afternoon, infested with rats. Captain
Hubbard determined to exterminate the
pests and accordingly employed a rat
catcher. Early yesterday the man went
to work and before noon had captured and
bagged fifty three of the rodents. The re-
malnder evidently got on to the game. be-
cause they deserted the Castle in a body
ano tooK possession OF all the hooks and
corners on the wharf. Then began een-
eral hunt. Captains Randall, Haskell
Brockaw, Silovich of the tugs, Purser Ren,
dali OF the Monowai, w. Manning clerk
IN the tueboat office, ana half a dozen
others armed themselves with clubs and
started III pursuit. The vermin conld
climb ropes faster than any sailor that
was ever porn and could make the top of
an upright beam in better time than the
smartest pole-climb in San Francisco
Over hundred of them escaped from the |
wharf ana only three bodies rewarded tbe |
hunters for an hours hard work.
The Hawaiian ship John Ena was
docked at Sausalito yesterday by the tugs |
Viglant and Reliance She took the mid |
early In the proceedings, hut the two now
erfui toWboats had no difficulty in getting
her alongside the wharf. The John Ena |
is one OF the largest vessels that come to |
san francisco and is far and awav the |
largest vessel that has ever docked at Sau- |
salito.