Kansas City daily journal., 1896-12-26

the treatment they are subjected to after
they are launched, does not appear-per-
haps all these have something to do with 1t
and certainly the captains of different ma
tionalities have not all got the same repute
as careful navigators however capable
they may be.
There are exceptional cases, however. of
ships which are still capable of service.
though they are regular patriarchs COM
pared with these figures denoting the or
dinary duration of ship life. In Lloyd's
lists there are entered nearly forty sailing
vessels that are between so and so years
Old; eighteen are between 60 and 70 and
thirty between 20 and 100, while there are
five or six that are actually more than a
century old.
Ihere are two steamships mentioned In
one of the board of trade casualty lists, one
of which is so and the other 80 years old.
AS these ages carry the vessels back be-
yond the date of the famous voyage of the
Sirius across the Atlantic,i 1T is obvious that
these must have been converted sailing
ships. 1t is probable enough, with regard
to the ancient sailing ships, that very lit
tie of their original structure is left for
whatever amount of patching up vessels
may undergo, their identity remains un-
changed while there is a single original
plank left. OF course, it is manifestly inn
possible, without a tremendous amount OF
research. to tell how much of the lives of
these old vessels has actually been spent
in active service, though it must be allowed
that ordinary tear and wear is not more
wasteful than the inaction of being laid
up, so distasteful to owners.
OF few famous vessels there is some
record of their fate. The Shannon, which
captured the Chesapeake, was broken up
at Chatham, parts of the hull being sold
at fancy prices. The Chesapeake is said
to be still in existence, sound and stanch as
on the day she was launched-but in the
inglorious capacity of flour mill. Taken
to England in 1914, after her capture, her
timbers were sold to John Prior, miller
of Wickham, Hants, who erected new
| mill with them, finding them admirably
| suited in size and strength for his purpose.
Many of them have yet the marks of the
| Shannon's grape shot. The Golden Hind, of
| Sir Francis Drake, was broken up at Dent.
| ford, and chair made out of her timbers
| is one of the treasures of Oxford universi-
| ty. The Resolute, which went in search
! of Sir John Franklin, and was abandoned
| in the ice, was afterward picked up by an
| American whaler, and after being retitted
by the United States government, was re-
| turned to this country, and moored in the
Medway for some years. When ultimately
| broken up, suite of furniture made from
her oak timberS was sent as memento to
| the American president.
The Sovereign of the Sets the first Brit
| ish three decker. built in Charles lis days,
4
| much and long service. Captain Cook s
i Endeavor has vanished without trace be-
| ing left, though some of his instruments
| are preserved, while several English and
| foreign warships which were sold to Nor
| way are now carrying timber. The Marl-
| borough, the famous Indian troop ship, is
| now coal hulk at Gibraltar. More curious
| is the fate of the CORVALLIS, late screw
| third rate. She is no longer a ship, but a
| quay, forming part of the jetty at Sheer
| ness.
| Our naval authorities can scarcely be
| said to make the most of things, If the
| case of the wooden line of battleship Vic
| toria sold for breaking up a year two
| ago, may be taken as sample of their
| dealings. This vessel cost G220, 900, and was
| commissioned for less than eight years,
| having been last laid off in August, 1861.
Since then until her sale she lay inactive
| in Portsmouth harbor, and might well have
| been sold twenty-five years ago. Indeed,
| our warships are not very long-lived af-
| fairs, not much, perhaps, from actually
| wearing out soon but because they so
| quickly become antiquated and obsolete.
| Not long since a batch of cruisers. sioops
| and gun vessels, built at a cost of nearly
| G400000, were condemned as unfit for serv-
! ice, and ordered to be disposed of. The
| oldest of these dated only from 1915, and
| some of them were scarcely nine years old.
| The French manage these things better,
| though their treatment of their old war
| vessels is not tinged with the sentiment
| with which we respect our old three-deck-
| ers, decorating our harbors with them.
| The French retire their frigates, as We
| do our captains, at a certain age. Wooden
| ships of sixteen to eighteen years, iron
| ones of twenty-five to twenty-eight years
| of age, are adjudged on by a sort of cor
oner's jury from the admiralty. and if the
| vessel is condemned good money is
| thrown away in tinkering her up, she is
| promptly sold broken up. Formerly the
| minor powers such as the South American
| republics, used to buy up these old war
| vessels but they were found to be dear
| bargains. One of these cruisers, built at
a cost of 100000 francs, was sold for fire.
wood, fetching $1,000 francs.
| Not very long ago an Atlantic liner
| which, between 1874 and 1877. was almost
| the swiftest on the ocean, and cost to begin
with Gl50,o00. was exposed for sale at the
upset price of $4,000 without finding pur-
chaser But the record ridiculous price for
| anything worth the name of ship is that
which was got a year or two ago for the
| German vessel Venus, stranded near
| Grangemouth. One penny purchased her
| as she stood the purchaser undertaking to
| remove the wreck within a given time.
Few valuable things decline in the market
so rapidly as a ship which has seen better
| days, but this penny bargain would seem
to mark the limit.
Our American cousins have established
| many records. but one they have set in
| shipbuiding they are not likely to be very
| proud of. AT Brooklyn they started build
| ing a fine wooden frigate some twenty
| years ago or more. For some cause or an
other they dawdled over it so that she be-
came obsolete, and was lately broken up
| without having left the stocks.
| TILE InIiDnAI DCI VuCpCn At