The San Francisco call., 1898-06-26

but these things take up so little room as to be hardly noticeable. From stem to stern the ship measures 311 feet, while her beam is 49 feet. She claims the proud privilege of being the larg- est wooden ship in the world; and, in deed, there are only few iron ships larger, chief among these being the France, Glasgow built vessel owned In France, which measures nearly four thousand tons. The Roanoke is 3589 gross tonnage, so there is not a great deal of difference, after all.
 The people of San Francisco have seen the Roanoke before; since she was built some six years ago she has paid a couple of visits to this port. Also the famous ship Shenandoah, which recently attained distinction through not being captured by the Spaniards. The two vessels are almost sister ships. They have the same breath and the same depth, but an extra length of some twenty feet gives the Roanoke an additional two hundred tons. They are rigged modern fashion, as four masted barks, and from keelson to to truck the spars of the Roanoke tower to a height of 175 feet With all sail set she spreads 17,000 yards of can- vas, and can make, under the most favorable conditions. with a good breeze on her quarter, fourteen knots an hour. The lower yards, and there are three of them, are huge spars nine ty-five feet in length. so that it is easy to understand the great rropellilg power of this mass of canvas.
 A melancholy interest attaches to the Roanoke because she is the last of her class She is the largest, and one of the finest wooden sailing ships ever built, but no American shipbuilder is likely to repeat the order Even the enterprising firm at Bath, Me, which built and own the Shenandoah and Roanoke, have abandoned the con- struction of wooden vessels, and are likely in the~future to use only iron and steel in their work Economic considerations have sounded the doom of the wooden ship, and for the matter of that the day of the sailing ships is not for long. The tramp steamer with her smoothly running engines and light coal consumption, is rapidly driv- ing her from the seas. Only a few long voyage trades, such as the trip from San Francisco to Europe or the Eastern States are left for the sailor, and soon the ubiquitous tramp steamer will swamp these routes.
 With the passing of the sailing ship passes also the picturesque. There Is no more beautiful sight on the seas than an American clipper ship under full sail. There is an airy grace and beauty about her spars, lightness of movement and perfection of propor- tion which belong to the vessels of no other nationality. The English sailing vessels are strong and seaworthy, but they are too heavy in their hull and rigging for beauty. However, all alike, whether 1t be the substantial British four master or the light American clip per, are doomed, and another genera tion will see no more of these winged messengers of the sea.
 The present war has done more than anything else to bring home to the American people the decay of the mer- cantile marine. Time was when the American clippers flew the stars and stripes on every sea, carrying tea from China and wool from Australia, and Tightening up the Western Ocean with their constantly crossing flags. Be- tween the f1fties and sixties the sail- ing ship reached its highest point of evolution, and of all ships the Ameri- can were the most famed for their