Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-02-03
A sEAMEh's UNION.
Organizer McFarIane's Views Of
Norfolk's Shipping.
: no Gro"t Need OF Iisn,od Hnoy
channel Marking Emphn-,1cd-
The "Eddie" s,cot-n wnir,w.ma :
Marston sIoor's Arrival -rnnuhs.

cFty from portland, Me-, and was seen
by The Firginian-Pll marine re-
porter yesterday. MIR. Mcdrarlane is
here to organize n union, and says
Norfolk needs one badly, both for pro-
lection of scamen from unjust extor-
ton on the part of those they deal
with-mssters. mates and snip board
ing-house keepers, and also to protect
them from the lawless element among
themselves.
The three days he has been here con-
WINGED him of several things, one OF
which is that Norfl1 is the coming
shipping metropolis of the South An
other is that seamen and captains alike
here have need of protection OF the
law for mutual benefit. Yet another
that with whislkey at five cents a gill
1t Is wonder that any seamen can be
kept on vessels or that no more crime,
broken contracts and broken heads re-
suit than now occur. and yet another
is that a maritime exchange is one
of the most necessary adjuncts of the
future growth of the city. In all of
which observations most shipping men
will heartily concur.
AS to the law. as It at present is,
Mr.. McFarlane casually remarked that
he saw no safe and secure plan for
master and man to make contract
that would hold in the S;ate and United
States courts, but n contract with AL
vance payment "a nominal sum- clause
in 1t, such payment made and receipt
taken and witnessed. He doubted If
IN the ttttt wotrfti throw such
contract out Of court or fall to hold
the man signing it to Its fulnllment.
The hint is given for what it is
worth.
He also says he finds the abolish
ment of the allotment law gotten
around by sailors boarding house men
and tho't n strong union can break this
practice IN.
Mr.. McFar'ore fought the case of the
man imprisoned a couple days ago for
refusing to go aboard ship to COM
plc'fe his run contracted for in Boston.
Yesterday the same man deserted the
Mary e. Palmer. delaying Captain
Haskell another day, taking another
man with him He was arrested late
in the afternoon and locked up till
this morni1~. and Mr.. McFarlane de-
clined to aySin Interfere. saying It
served the sailor right and he YVES only
sorry he helped the man the first
time.
The Internat ional Seamen's Union
has its hcadnunrtcrs in San Francisco
and is n member of the American Fed
Grafton OF labor.
An afternoon contemporary publishes
the statement that continued complaint
is mode by steamer captains OF the
crowded condition of shipping at Lam
bert's Point and the consequent con-
dton of danger to them in passing
through the channel
Undoubtedly there is some truth in
the statement. but when 1t is consid-
cred that there are now in the neigh
borhood of one hundred steamers,
schooners and barges at anchor on
either side the channel land in it) be-
tween Primers Point and Craney ISL
and (for the anchorage on the western
side of the channel extends nearly If
not quite that distance, and on the
eastern side from Groners oyster
houses to Lambert's Point piers) and
the water on the flats is but twelve
to sixteen feet deep, while numerous
vessels of the fleet draw from eighteen
to twenty-one feet. it will he seen that
n crowding OF the channel is unavoida-
BILE.
The harbor masters however, assert
that few are nnchored In the channoI:
few also on the channels edge. and
that when west wind blows those on
the western edge of the channel into
1t. it also blows those on the eastern
edge out nf it, and vice versa. thus
kecping free chonnel at all times.
which. with due amount of precaution,
can he trnvcrsed at any time They
do say this condition of things. which
the rapidly growing importance of this
port is yearly making more nearly per-
manent. calls emphatically for lighted
buoy marliinG of the channel as a
greater protection of the commerce con-
tinually ira versing il and exposed to
the dangers of q crowded waterway.
They also state that none hut such YES
sells rs can anchor nowhere else are
allowed to anchor in the channel.
The schooner Eddie Captain Thomas.
arrived in port from Baltimore ycster-
day. and reports being caught in n
whirlwnd on the Horseshoe yesterday
morning, in which wird-circe she fored
hardly. having her foresqil and iib burst
and main-gaff broken. She, however.
suffered no other damage. and will re-
pair here.
The u. s. revenue cutter Ononda ga
Cantain Hamlet. which has recently
done such excellent work in crew res
cue and derclict destroying. clearing
NAVIGATION courses of dangerous OBJ
structions. &C.. started out yesterday
in quest of the abandoned schooner
Charlie r. Leet. of this port and Suf-
folk to bring her in, destroy her. or
sink her. as proved to be most neces-
sary and feasible. IF she secures her,
OwnnrS horn will he hanDy. as the cost
will be nothing.
The thanks of this paper are due the
Weather Rurnau for Information fur