Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-08-01

rne and he objects to gaining reputation
as a purveyor of sea yarns. But there are
| many old salts in his forecastle, and no Old
| salt that lives could let slip chance to
| tell what they when 800 miles off the
| coast of Labrador on the LIST day of last
| July.
| 1t seems that the Tillie B. was bowling
along on her course before fair wind
| when the man forward espied something
long and black some two points off the
| starboard bow. 1t was monstrous In
| size and lay quietly ON the water awaiting
| the ship. The at the bow nom
| plused for the moment. The thing was
not land. 1t was not a snip 1t was not
whale. 1t was not anything that enters
! into the ordinary vocabulary of a man at
| the bow. 1t was mystery; that is all ii
| could be called. Recolecting his business
| the lookout cried: Something mysterious,
| sir, pint off the Sta'boardn'
The mate went to the rail and, looking
| at the thing, said: 1t is not land. 1t is
| not a ship! 1t is not whale. Then what
| is it?'
| EVERYBODY on deck went to the rail aud
| looking at the thing said: "It is not land.
1t is not ship! 1t is not whale! Then
what is it,"
Meanwhile the Tillie b. was sailing near
| and nearer to this formidable object.
| Finally the mate grew nervous and going
to the cabin stairs called down 10 Capt. Hill
Ter:
| We've sighted something. sir and it's
| not land. It's not ship and it's not
whale and we don't know what it is
| The captain came deck and going to
| the rail looked at the object and said: Its
not la" but here he seized his speaking
| trumpet and an instant later the wild or
| ders roared through the vessel: Slip the
send man back with a fiag-wire the su
perintendent-hell to pay-this here's a
sea serpent
On Board the Title ID.
Immediately all was panic on board the
| Tilie B. Men rushed to and fro dragging
| ropes and disappearing at their misfortune,
| while the captain roared more orders than
| nine shiploads Of sailors could possibly
| have obeyed. But before they could stop
| the ship she had sailed very close to the
| thing and the captain. going to the rail,
| said: Il. is not land! 1t is not ship! h
| is not a whale, 1t is bot a serpent.
but may have my own mainm'st stuffed
down my throat il it is not the famous
| lumber raft which was lost in the North
Atlantic some years ago and for which L.
| SIS. Enterprise and the revenue cutter
| Grant made such painful but useless
| search" .-..
| And so Cant. William b. Hitler of the
| bark Tiliie b., now lying in Erie basin,
| solemnly states that on July 1st he discov-
| cred the celebrated raft some $50 miles eff
the coast Of Labrador. IT was headed
southwest he says. but was not making
| much more way than a foundry. The raft
| is larger than any ocean liner and IT wo Id
be an ugly customer to meet under the con-
ditions OF twenty-hnot giant ana a aark
night. The sea serpents do not object 10
| navigation by ships, but lumber RATS are
| more unreasonable.
| John Leary, the lumber expert, who first
| conceived the plan of transporting lumber
| at sea by means of raft. was recently in
| terviewed at his Newton Creek saw mill.
Il think Capt. Killers story to be very
| probable. 1 was employed personally In the
| construction Of this raft and l know that
| 1t was constructed strong, if not strong
| err, than many ocean steamers Its gen
eral compactness and soldity made it al
| most as fnseparable as one great massive
| log.
The Largest ON Record.
'"This raft was the largest by some 300
| feet Of any ever shipped by sea. In fact, it
| was too large. Nothing like 1t is now at
| tempted. 1t was constructed on an i'm
provised dry dock at Two Rivers, Nova
| Scotia, in the fall of 1890 and launched on
| the plan of an Atlantic liners launching
The largest RATS we now undertake are 300
| feet long and weigh about 1900 tons. The
| one we lost was 600 feet in length-longer
than any liner. 1t weighs 1o,Uoo tons. The
method We used in constructing the mon
ster was new and has been patented in this
country, Canada and Europe. We now use
| 1t on smaller scale. 1t took us just one
| day over six months to build the great raft
and required the steady employment of
| ffty-five men. The distinguishing feature
| of the system now patented-and what
| makes me feel positive that wherever the
| raft Is, it is whole-is the method of fasten-
| ing the structure together with chains. 1t
| is not a matter of merely punching the logs
| and then binding them, as many might
| conclude. The method in fact is quite in
| genious. For instance, the strength is all
| concentrated in one long and powerful GEN.
| ter chain. The raft may be towed by either
| termination Of this chain. Side chains
| placed diagonally to the center are added
| at the ends that the greater the force
applied to the tow line, the stronger the
| logs are drawn together and at every yard
| or SO along the body chains leading from
| the center line are brought through to the
| surface and after being carried over a
| distance of about six feet return to the
| center chain.
It's Dimensions.
1.-THE great COO feet raft was G. feet beam
at its widest part. 1t was constructed
like monstrous cigar, as this form SEEM
| ed to US most seaworthy. The necessary
| taperlng to accomplish this design was
mainly secured by arranging the timbers
| with the butts toward the center. When
| completed the structure contained 800
| sticks of spruce and pine timber, from
4 thirty-five to ninety-five feet in length and
| a great quantity of beach, birch and maple
| making total of 100000 feet of timber
| The diameters of the logs ran from twelve
| inches to thirty-fve at the butts, and
| from six inches to ten at the tips. Al the
| time it was launched and ready to be towed
| the raft had cost us about $4,000 and the
| contract price for towing it TO our Long
| Island yards was S, 800.
| THE launching OF the raft was most n
| teresting event. vast crowd came to see
| 1t. The ways upon which 1t was slid into
| the sea were twelve hundred feet in length
1 rl a nyad -1y, httfi r.