New-York tribune., 1900-11-25
BUILDING BOATS OF WOOD.
hh CRAFT FALLEN INTO DEsUETUDE.
YET HAS SOME HOPEFUL WORK
MEN HERE

1t was only last week that the formation of
union or builders of wooden boats in New
i"Ih was announced. Many people would have
supposed that in great seaport like this, and
cehtre OF industry where labor unions abound,
there must be numbers of builders of wooden
poats' and that they would form more than one
labor union. AS matter of fact it appears
| that this is not the first such union in New
YORK; the Civil War broke up the union which
formerly existed. the members having been
drafted for service, either in the Army or the
Navy
| Ihe demand for able bodied and handy" men
Tor military service. however certainly did not
operate to the depletion of this particular or
ganlzatlon with such extent as to account for
its extinction during the last thirtv-fve wears
Ii ls evidently not only priori but also as
'he result OF inquiry among the nautical inter
ests' that the handicraft of wooden boat build
ing has shrunken considerably since the en-
ployment of steel for naval architecture and the
use of steam launches as adjuncts of the big
shlps became general The various dinCies
pmnaces and long boats strung along the decks
OF the average crasting steamer if they are
not there mainly reassure nervous passengers
see little service are carefully protected from
decay and can be overhauled and effectually
caulked on occasion by the ships carpenters.
Passengers and crew commonly embark and de-
bark by gangplanks laid to the wharves Then
"H'IF Il SnpS boat is actually needed, there is
generally steam launch to answer the demand.
1t is chiefly. if not entirely. the old fashioned
sailing merchantmen or the tramp steamer that
needs strong. St rvceabe ships boat to COM
municate with landing places at the smaller
ports IN Foreign waters, and it is lamcntably
notorious that the output of sailing ships from
American ports during the period since the
Civil War has not been large If the business
of the small boat builders in this city Of which
fn l,4 only br, ,t,tf,
along the southeast waterfront OF Manhattan.
has recently given promise of an increase suf-
iicient to Justify the formation Of labor union
among their handiCraftmen. 1t should be taken
as n cheering sign that maritime industry
is rcViving herrabOuts.
All this applies only to the building OF small
boats for seag"ing ships taken as a separate
trade. The great shipbuilding establishments,
of course. can turn out an equipment of deck
boats for each ship launched from their yards.
Th" light shells and "outriggers'' used for
racing smooth river waters, canoes and all
kinds of 'collapsible'' and portable craft used
by sportsmcn on inland waters a thing apart
from the ancient craft of boat building. such as
Is practscd in South and does not belong to
maritime Nrw-York.
When member of firm on the East River
engaged in the huilding Of tugs and lighters
was asked last week where the small buatbud-
crs chiefly to lie found in his neighborhood.
his answer significant of the desuctude into
which III" craft ha,! fallen He said: Our men
make whcrri"s in their spare timr. Sometimes
they make III IN TOR their own use, sometimes
To- s'll. Auyhudy with a wooden cyc can make
Il Wh-rry skim
Tn" proprietor and chief workman in shop
takes entirely different view. He is
toned t" build such boats sailors in peril
Of shipwrcck may lock To- with hope of escape.
7" him the shaping of the stem. of the ribs an1