The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-01-28

II was just lhlnRlns OF mat. les.
could, of course. Yet it wouldn't be
safe to take anything but an English
or. Dutch bottom. I'D want to pick
my own crew and know pretty we'll
. who were ION board: couldn't do that
: with :ene@ Of the companies boats, and
there might hdppen..to be nothing else
In port. There''s one thing that might
+ be done, and-Iguesyit would work."
Whats that r. e.
Charter. the Countess herself from
the government, for month. You
know she conpects with the Saigon
Messageries boat, taking in Yloilo on
the return trip, between the island
voyages; at least, that is the tempo
rary arrangement. Now, between each
trip we usually lay up at Cavite for two
weeks; and Ramirez has twice tried to
charter her for quick run to Hong
Kong in that time. The Countess
would easily make Guajan and Hong
Kong. out of Manila, in 10 days at the
outside, allowing a day and a half to
load at the island, if we needed 1t.
Then VIC could reach Saigon in five
days more, and turn her over to the
government in time to make the Mes
agerfes connection all right"
what would 1t cost to charter herr"
'sWell, probably little more than
what the compania pays. She'll regis
ter over 5000 tons, gross, and can do
IA knots when she wants to; that's
pretty stiff travelling for compound
engines Of this size. But the govern.
ment don't care for more'n ten knots;
so they Fay Ramirez & Co. $500 a
month. l guess we could have her at
$4,000, easy enough"
"Any expenses besides that?"
"Of course there are. Coal bills, at
least $4,000 month, if you keep SHOW.
Ing ID knots out of her. She'll burn
over SO tons q day at that speed, and
you can't get decent, free-burning coal
in Manila for less than eight dollars.
Then there are port charges, consul's
fees, demurrage and numerous Incl.
dentals, all of which fall upon the
chartcrer. The owner pays the sal.
aries Of officers and crew, repairs and
the special expenses of the ship"
$50 that we'd blow in the whole
twenty thousand on the mere use Of
the steamer Tor month";!
''H'm,well, at least eighteen, should
say. A 3,000-ton yacht is pretty ex.
pensive luxury; and she'd be practi
cally nothing more than yacht for
our purpose. There's no cargo at
Guajan worth handling"
Seems to me steamer ought to be
pretty good investment"
H'Thnf 6a oD6r rrrao& Ioo1 ,,por !, -
cargo and the time of year she's in
commission. Freights are so low ut
present that half of them don't pay
expenses; still. the tramps that make
over IL knots are doing most OF the
business, and at something of
profit"
"Dick. we've got to buy the Countess,
that's what We've got to do. How
much would Ramirez take for her?"
HIN! she cost & $4,000 to build on
the Clyde, and she's as good com.
pound tramp as there is on salt wa.
ter. But the triple expansions boats
that they're turning out carry more
cargo with less coal, and he couldn't
begin to get that for her now. If we
were to offer $780, 0U-$1O, 900 down
and the balance within six months
and he were satisfied as to our respon-
sibiity, think he'd let us have her."
"Then we'll take her. If you don't
care about the investment I'll buy her
myself. Now, how soon can you get
back to Agana?"
I'D want ut least six days in Manila
to discharge, coal up and settle mat.
ters with Ramirez. The government
may kick a little if they want the
steamer for another trip, but guess
the old man can fix that; We'll pay
them few thousand rather than have
any hitch about it. Say 10 days from
now; how would that do? Will you be
able to manage it, and beat the padre
for that length Of time?"
eyes, that's fairly safe. No matter
what he may discover, it will be inn
possible for him to head you off in
Manila this trip; and when we own the
ship the passenger list will be as lin.
tied as the mail contract. Then, again,
you'll have an entirely new crew, regu.
larry shipped for our own voyage. BY
the way, why did you speak of making
HongKong frst2"
Because the Hong-Kong G. Shang.
hal Banking corporation will undoubt-
eddy be able to handle the silver for
us. They have a capital Of ten millions,
u reserve fund of four and a half, and
Mexican dollars, coined even as far
back as 1900, are the current medium
of exchange in China to-day. Any
where else the discount on silver-es-
pecially old silver-wouldl be so heavy
that we'd have to sell the stuff by
weight; SO we would get more for them
on the Chinese coast than in any other
locality"
"Guess you're right. Ididn't think OF
that. Now, how about getting it on
board without showing what the car.
go really is?"
well. let's see. Have you noticed
whether any Of the fishermen stay
over night around Apra bay?"
Don't believe there's one. Even the
Kanakas that sebastiano brought
down on the big proa walk over to
town as soon as they've made fast for
the night, and those who belong in
Agat sail away up to the neck of the
peninsula, so they'll only have a mile
to tramp"
That's what thought. You've no.
ticed the stone building and sheds be-
longing to the harbormaster, haven't
you?-about 500 yards from the land
ing pier at Punta Piti?"