The San Francisco call., 1897-12-21
VESSELS ARE
VERY SCARCE
Three Cargoes for Aus
tralia, but No Ships to
Carry Them.
Now Over 10000 Tons OF
Merchandise Afloat From
San Francisco.
The Last Of the Overdue Fleet OF
Coasters Has Been Outside
Three Days.

Vessels for the Australian trade are
almost unobtainable. There are now
three cargoes awaiting shipment from
this port to Sydney, Melbourne and
Adelaide, and a vessel to take them
over can hardly be procured for love
nor money. There is at the present
time 100000 feet of sugar pine lumber
on Fremont street wharf destined for
Adelaide, for which j. J. Moore & Co.
would gladly secure a bottom. They
offered lump sum, or, so much per
thousand feet, and almost had one bar
gain closed when the managing owner
backed out. He preferred to keep his
vessel in Oakland creek and wait for
the spring trade to the Klondike than
to run the chances of not having his
vessel here when the season opens.
Consequently the charter party was
not signed, and Moore & Co. are look
ing for another ship.
All kinds of craft are very hard to
charter in San Francisco just now. An
attempt was made to get the bark
Mauna Ala, but she had already been
secured to carry merchandise to Hon
olulu. The bark Alden BesSe was also
sought for and it is said that the
would-be purchasers were willing to
bid as high as $4,000 for her, but the
only answer they got from the owners
was mot for sale" For the Highland
Light George E. Plummer wants $16,-
900, while a year ago she would not
| have brought a great deal more than
half that sum. Three months ago the
| bark COloma was sold for 81, 500, while
! a half interest in the bark Empire was
sold by Captain Krebs for $500 It
will thus be seen that the value of
available vessels is on the jump.
The sealing schooner Rather has at
| last changed hands She was pur-
chased yesterday by the Columbia
River pilots for $4,000, and will be
| taken to Astoria, where she will be fit
ted out for work on the bar. Another
sale was that of the sealing schooner
Luisa D. She was sold to Oakland
parties for $4,000 to take a party of
miners to Copper River. From that
point they will make their way over
land to the Klondike. These schooners
have been on the market for months
and no one seemed to want them un-
til the scarcity came.
/ Shippers are now turning to England
for relief. All the vessels on the way
| are under charter, so available ships
have to be purchased. The Star of
Italy, now out 104 days from Swansea,
| is one of these, and on her arrival she
Will De placed III the trade.
At the present time there are over 250
| vessels afloat from San Francisco with
| grain or lumber, and these represent a
| carrying capacity of 900 tons, so it
will be seen that if there are few
available ships in port the merchants
have not been idle.
| There is also great dearth of ships
| in Australia, and freightS from coal
ports to San Francisco are now los
| and Sd, whereas year ago the ruling
| rate was SIS. All the available coast
ers here have been chartered to go to
| the Yukon next spring, the larger YES
sells being chartered by the day and
the smaller ones by the month, so Aus
| tralia can look for no relief from this
port for another twelve months at least
| Owing to this fact there will be very
few vessels to carry coal and lumber
next spring and the price of those
| commodities is sure to advance
Captain Davidson, late of the wreck
ed ship Commodore has been appoint
ed master of the ship Wachusett, vice
| Captain Hogan, resigned. The Com
modore was wrecked on Maiden Island
some months ago, and Captain David
son only got back from the wreck on
| the last Australian steamer
The steam whaler ThraSher arrived
from the canneries last Saturday
night. She brought down the fisher
men and salmon that should have been
brought by the Jennie, but as that