Evening journal., 1898-02-24
THE MARITIME AROUSED
Lightship Exchange Worked
Hard To Get Gone Elsewhere.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS INDIGNANT


MOUTH OF DELAWARE BAY, BUT
WAS QUIETLY TAKEN TO CAPE
HATTERAS LAST MONDAY.
The maritime interests of this port
and Philadelphia, especially in the
Maritime Exchange, of Philadelphia,
are very indignant over the departure |
on Monday CT the new lightship, No. z,
built especially for the OverfaGls shoals |
at the entrance to Delaware bay for |
some point in the neighbOrho0d of Cape |
Hatteras. The Maritime Exchange mas |
been endeavoring for ten years to get |
] lightship for the Overfalls shoals, and |
when the new vessel arrived two or |
| three days from Bath, Me-, where it |
was built, much satisfaction was ex-
| pressed and the word was pass ID |
around among the shipping interests |
that the new lightship would be put on |
her station in a day or so.
But on Monday afternoon the Mari |
time Exchange Reporting Station, at
Reedy Island, wired to .he Maritime
Exchange that the new vessel hal pass
ed that point, bound out, in tow Of the
| lighthouse tender Maple. Suspicion was
at once aroused. for the Maple is the
tender for the fifth lighthouse district
which includes the coasts of a portion
| Virginia and North Carolina, including
Cape Hatteras. The Zizanio is the ten
der for the fourth lighthouse district,
in which Delaware bay is included.
An inquiry was made at once at the
| lighthouse inspectors Office in Phila-
delphia, and it was ascertained that the
vessel wits bound for Cape Hatteras,
| f.- -I.1 -.
iieve the lightship on D,amon1 III ais
or some ether vessel in the fifth dis
ltrict rhe Maple and NO. II were re-
ported as passing out TO sea from the
Delaware Pieakwater.
| Secretary Sherwood, of the Phila1e,-
phia MAJ time Exchange. expressed
himself very warmly regarding the de-
parture OF the new vessel for another
point uhan that fer which she was
built and intended. He said that the
board of directors of the exchange
would probably take immediate action,
and would make an emphatic protest. .
The lighthouse board recommended
the construction of a Mghtship for The
Overfalls shoals in several annual re-
pOrts before Senator Quay secured an
appropriation Of $4,000 for the vessel
in the sundry civil bill Of June A, 1897.
AS stated before, the new ship ar
rived at Philadelphia from Bath, Me-,
last week, and it was expected that she
would be anchored on The Overfalls
shoals some day this week. The Over
fails shoals are just outside of a line
drawn from Cape May to Cape Hen
lopen lying nearer to Cape May than
to Cape HenlOpen. There is from ten
to eighteen or twenty feet of water over
| oh L. Il ~nI Of %
present time by buoy.
The lightship is intended for the
benefit of vessels entering tn bay SO
- that they can tell in stormy weather
or at night when they are far enough
south in their course to turn into the
Q bay with safety, avoiding the shoals,
| which are of a dangerous character.
!. Vessels coming direct from Europe, af-
. | ter making the Five Fsthom bank
lightship, which is stationed
| twenty miles at sea could
S steer direct for the Overfalgs
. hghtship, no matter what the weather,
for the new ship is equipped with a
powerful steam fog hc-a.
In the reports Of the lighthouse board
it is stated that the entrance to Della
ware bay is difficult and dangerous in
thick and stormy weather. Neither
= bhe whistling buoy on South shOal nor
+ the trumpet ON the Delaware Break
water can be heard always at a safe
o distance in bad weather. The petitions
for the Overfalls lightship were made
|, not only by the Philadelphia Mari
j, time Exchange, but by the Associations
= of Masters and Pilots of Camden, anC
3 there were petitions from Boston ant
: New London and from the officers @.
- the Reading railway collers and sel
n tugs.
The subject of a relief lghtship fol
the fourth district is another matte
=, on which the Maritime Exchange take
. the ground that the port of Philadel
> phia has not been treated fairly. FO
4 more than fouryears there has net bsel
n a relief lightship belonging to that dis
trict, and the result is, that wheneve
it is necessary to take any of the fou
lightships in this district from thei
~ stations, their places are marked tenn
10 porarily by an ordinary buoy.
Captains of inbound vessels, VIII
rt cannot get notice of any Of the light
d ships being AWAY from their stations
6 frequently look in vain for them, espe
~ cially in stormy weather, and 1t Is re
nv markable that no wrecks have result
mr. ed There has been no relief ship /
In | InlS district since five fdiHOh DAN
10 ightship was lost w4th her crew 1
n the great storm of August, 1898. Ever
Mt year since, the lighthouse beard ma
A. recommended the construction OF a II
70 lief vessel but without success.
W. There are four hghtslhips " IN
4 fourth district-Five Fathom Bank
ke northeast end of Five Fathom Bani
~. Fenwick Island and Winter Quarts
ShOal. 1t is necessary to repair an
overhaul them at least once yea
and sometimes Oftener, and during u
an week or so occupied in this work the
oi- place is taken by whistling or be
mi buoy.
ma Notwithstanding numerous appdc
laS tions from the Maritime Exchange tn
on a relief vessel be brought from son
Nv other district to take the place Of reg
mi lar vessels whenitis necessary to tai
,r.f,. %