The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-12
The Dangers Going
Through Canal
AROUND THE HORN
That is Sometimes the
Easier Trip.
suez canal? humph,

DeeL through the canal-a dozen times
each way. We of the China trade know
both trails equally well, and it matters
little TO a sailor which his owners or
der him to take.
cit isn't pleasant coming by the Cape
Horn way. There are sure to be ice
bergs and storms, snow, fog and gales,
and you take your chance of terrible
hammering every time you invade the
southern domains os Boreas.
But the things a man is prepared
for are less trying in realization than
those that come to vex him from un-
suspected sources in unusual ways.
And in my opinion the SueZ canal can
turn uD more uncanny troubles for a
sailor than he's likely to meet off the
Horn. That don't sound likely, but it's
true
So spoke First Officer Best of the Big
Mogul liner GhaZee Just arrived from
Hong Kong with a cargo of tea and
story of weird experiences at sea and
in the Suez canal, to a Washington
Star reporter.
1T can't be regarded as proper and
decent fora ship. to run right over
lighthouse and tear it down." continued
Mr.. Best. solemnly. But that is the
unnatural thing the British steamer
Strathard, that went through the canal
ahead of US. did. And her people, from
Capt. Mcintyre down, are not to be.
blamed in the slightest degree for the
accident.
How did it happen? Mirage-desert
mirage-one of those cussed uncanny
things I was speaking of that make It
more bother to come through that canal
than to trot around the Horn under
canvas.
The Strathard was steaming slow
you are only allowed to go six knots
through the canal-and one of the canal
company's crack pilots was on the
bridge and in charge. That was on
Noy. u at O'Clock in the morning.
THE ship was just passing into the
Bitter Lakes section of the ditch
where Moses and his Israelites turned
toward the Red Sea on their flight
from Egypt; at least that's where the
natives say they turned.
1T was broad daylight, of course,
and the lighthouse, d tower so feet
high built on piles driven into the
sand at the bottom of the canal, doomed
up, glaring white, apparently about
three miles off the port bow. The Ian
tern is kept burning all the time, fed
by compressed gas.
How far off is that light? Capt
Mcintyre asked the pilot.
About three miles, the man an
swered.
Just then the quartermaster on
watch announced the hour on the ships
bell for'ard. 1t was three bells.
Now, I don't know, and nobody
else knows, what influences a bell has
on desert mirages, but as soon as the
Strathard's bell sounded that lighthouse
just seemed to run toward the ship
and brought up, all standing right un-
der her bows.
THE Strathard was steaming half
speed, but she couldn't be stopped, and
she went right through that lighthouse
and scattered it over the placid surface
of the water, like kindling wood The
ship got to Port Said next day leaking
like lobster pot. It costs a lot of
money to get her fixed up and pumped
out, and then. by Jove, the canal COM
pany's officers had the nerve to come
aboard and demand that Mcintyre
should pay $4,000 for moving down their
OF their own pilots that did it,
Those mirages Of the desert are Won
derful things" continued Mr.. Best, re-
fiectiVely. Under ordinary conditions
from the deck of a ship passing
through the canal, we can see the des-
ert stretching away for miles, gilt
tering waste of sand so glaring white
blinds ones eyes to look long at it. But
when mirage occurs, one sees mar
velous things-or thinks he sees
The effect is that of a double hori-
zon, one merging into the other. Arabs
mounted on camels and clumps of palm
trees will appear where a moment be-
fore there was nothing visible but a
barren waste of sand as far as the eye
can reach. Distances and relative po-
sitions are entirely confused An OBJ
ject that appears to be five miles away
may be twenty, and one that looks to
be twenty miles inland may be right
under the ships forefoot. It's uncan-
NY positively uncanny.
Then there are sand storms, too. to
make navigation of the canal a trial to
mariners. They're worse than mi
RACES. Seamen are used to storms
that pelt and beat and blind them with
clean salt spray or hail wind-driven
and merciless. But it isn't natural
that ship should be navigated through
a storm of sand that cuts the hands
and face like a million needles and
leavesea man nearly blind for a fort
night afterward.
But that's what we got last trip
through the canal and I shall never
forget the experience. A sand storm
looks like fog coming on to the mex
perienced eye, but it is much more ter
rible than any fog that ever blew up at
sea. The sand is driven in clouds so
thick that they turn the tropic daylight
into darkness at a seconds notice, The
flying atoms are sifted through every
nook and Granny, however small, We
had to stop the engines and put the
canvas covers over the machinery to
keep it from being ruined by the intru-
sion of the sharp. wind-driven particles
that no matches ever battened can keen
out of the engine room.
It's a costly and troublesome Job
coming through the canal, even if one
happens to escape mirages' and sand
storms. Traffic is subject to a. LOT OF
rigid rules and regulations, charges
penalties and what-not that make a
man long for a good old Cape Horn
hurricane by way Of contrast.
In the first place. there is the pilot
age, which is compulsory, OF course.
When the ship reaches the bar off
FORT said the Jack is hoisted at the
fore-peak, or If 1t be night time three
lights are hoisted. Then she takes
aboard pilot No. l. He is harbor pilot
ard only brings her into Port Said bav
After coaling there, a regular canal
pilot comes aboard to take the vessel
as far as Ismaili. But he doesn't come
until an official has made the CAPTAIN
subscribe to list of rules longer than
the shipping articles and pay over the
gross amount OF a highway robbery
schedule Of charges, including every
ina ginable item.
The canal official first demands the
name and nationality of the ship name
OF her captain, owners and charter
holders, port of sailing and destination
draught of water, number of passen,
gers, statement of crew and schedule az
cargo. capacity Of the vessel according
to official measurement and statement
OF equipment regarding electric search |