The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-09-18

HARBoR DRIFT.
Items of Interest Picked Up Alongshors
Yesterday,

Yesterday was disagreeable day along
the water front with heavy fog down
tn } bay to interfere with navigation and
nasty drizzle about the wharves to make
the pedestrians uncomfortable. Up at
Union wharf the British schooner Utility
is unloading some OF the largest grind
stones ever seen here. They are monsters
and some idea of their size and weight
may be obtained when it issaid that they
are from eight to nine feet in diameter
and that only four of them can be put on
a fiat car. These stones come from
Herbert river in Nova Scotia and are in
tended for some big mill up in New
Hampshire. The method OF unloading
these big grindstoneS is very peculiar
one. They are first swung out over the
schooners side into lighter which lies
along side. Then the lighter is hauled up
to the wharf and the grind stones taken
out OF her and swung on board the Hat
cars. 1t is long job, but the men who
are doing the work seem to understand
the business and it is great fun to watch
them.
....The steam yachts Myopia and Juethnier
sailed yesterday. The Susquehanna re-
mains at anchor off Commercial wharf.
The Hermann Reesing brought in. a
cargo of Holsters for N. F. Trefethen
yesterday.
Fish and game are very scarce and the
vessels sailing into this port are doing
very little business just now. The dog
fish are ravaging the coast and driving
away oil of the fish. The travis nre use
less and the fishermen when they haul
them up either find that all of their bait
has been destroyed or that they have
caught a score or more of useless dog fish.
Many of the fishermen who have been en-
gagged in sword fishing this season are
r+1s1 4Irs,,
regular tall cruises and are fitting up
their vessels for this work The dog fish
are not expected to remain off this coast
very much longer and when they migrate
southwark the fishermen hope to get
some fish.
The tug H. Chapel, which halls from
Portland, although seldom seen here, was
nelia will tow the dredging fleet of A. r.
Wright up the Kennebec in a, few days,
where they have job of mud digging.
One of the crew of the sloop Ida F.,
which lays at Custom House wharf,
missed his footing and fell from the
wharf to the deck of the vessel yesterday,
striking on the sharp edge of some bar
rels, cutting his face badly and inficting
minor bruises.
Schooners Charity and Susan Stetson
arrived light and Amy Wixon and Julietti
brought in fish.
The big dredge and it's adjuncts seem
to be occupying considerable space in the
'harbor and render navigation rather
difficult for the harbor steamers. They
have four lines running from the bow;
two from the starboard and two from the
port side. These lines extend about two
hundred feet to anchor buoys, and by
hauling on these ropes they are able to
pull themselves ahead as they may desire.
In the night these ropes make an obstruc-
ton hard for the boats to keep clear of.
and the harbor master has asked them to
put lights on the buoys to mark their
location. Two tall red line buoys were
also put up yesterday morning. These
consist of red poles surmounted by red
cloth flags, the whole anchored in place
by weights and ropes. These line buoys
are used to take bearings from and let the
operators of the dredge know just where
they have dug.
1t is said that the handsome Inter-
national Steamship company's boat St.
Croix, which has been running between
Boston and ST. John this summer will
begin Monday to run from Boston to St.
John via Portland
The Island Belle will tie up at Deake's
wharf for the winter.
The schooner Josephine Swanton loaded
grain yesterday at the elevator for Nova
Scotia.
The schooner Sarah j. W. Rawson has
finished discharging her cargo of hard
pine for the Victoria Jubilee bridge.