The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-10-08
A VHOPPING CARGO.
WILMINGTON CLEARS A BIG SHIP
WITH 1900 BALES COTTON.

1t is the Largest Cargo Ever Shipped From
Our Port-Shipmenss in the Past &C III
pared TO Those Now-suporior Advanf-
ages of Our City.
Sixteen years ago yesterday the pio-
neers in direct steam trade between
Wilmington and Europe. Messrs. Alex
ander Sprunt & Son, cleared their first
steamer, the Barnesmore, Captain
Trenery, for Liverroo l The Barnes
more was an experiment and a very
costly one. as it brought a heavy loss
to the projectors, but with character
istic perseverance and industry they
kept ~"everlastingly at t." following up
the improvement in the river and bar,
with larger and larger boats, until to-
day we chronicle the clearance of the
largest vessel and cargo that ever left
Wilmington since the voyagers from
Barbados in 1865 took possession OF
the Cape Fear.
The Barnesmore took nine days to
load her cargo of 3,45S bales of cotton,
673 casks spirits turpent;ne and $50 bar
rels of rosin. The Sahara, which Messrs.
Alexander Sprunt e. Son cleared yes
terday, took precisely the same number
of lays to load 13, 700 bales Of cotton for
Liverpool. Captain Trenery in a compli-
mentary letter under late of October D,
1881, to the late A. III. VanBokkelen
ESQ, who was then president or the
Chamber of Commerce, remarked that
the Champion compress with
dabIe dispatch, had given the Barnes
more as much as 600 bales a day when
cotton was coming in briskly. 1t is in
teresting to compare this statement
with the fact that the Champion COM
press now loads three big steamers at
a time, and delivers 5000 bales. of cot
ton daily.
In addition to the cargo of the Sa-
hara, Messrs. Alexander Sprunt & Son
also cleared yesterday the British
steamer Amaranth with a cargo OF
S,136 bales Of cotton 4,13O,S90 %pounds),
for Bremen, Germany. The w cargoes
are valued at nearly three quarters Of
a million dollars.
Inasmuch as the cargo cleared on the
Sahara yesterday was the largest ever
sent out Of the port of Wilmington, it
will be a matter of interest to mention
the largest cargoes ever cleared from
our port. Here they are with the names
OF the ships and the date of shipment:
British steamship Magdala, 11,74O
bales (5,692, 719 pounds), November 1886.
British steamship Janita, 1886 bales,
g. sos, $50 pounds), November 1896.
British steamship Ormidale, 1873
bales, $500, 668 pounds, October 1896.
British steamship Royailist, 11,014
bales, 1928, 531 pounds). January 1896.
British steamship Janeara, 11,125
bales, 1888, 227 pounds), October 1895.
British steamship Janeara, 1880
bales, $3.50, $50 pounds). November 1894.
British steamship Sahara, 300 bales.
(6,911, 237 pounds,) October 1897.
The Messenger has heretofore called
attention to the splendid facilities Of
the Champion compress for handling
cotton, and there is NJ doubt that Will
mington can boast of superior advan-
tages over any other port in he south
in this respect. We need not again re-
peat what these advantages are, for in
IOOdy 3 messenger we ldhc lIOAl lIc
Charleston News and Courier an arti-
Gle which right fully sets it forth. That
article is a tremendous advertisement
for Wilmington, to be sure. A big cot
ton with railroads running
along side Of its platform on one side
and a river on the other where a ship
can take on 13, 700 bales of cotton is a
big thing for Any city. Wilmington,
however, has two such congresses, the
Champion and the Wilmington COM
presses.
Messrs. Alex. Sprunt & Son, with in
telligence and enterprise, AVE seized
the advantage which their facilities Of
fered. Now let the wholesale merchants
OF Wilmington take advantage Of the
superior facilities they have for the
jobbing business. They have a rail-
road running along the water front,
with side tracks into their places of
business, and most of them can stand
in their store doors n cast a stone
across the railroad into the river that
floats the big cargoes of cotton men,
toned above. What other city has such
an advantage?