The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1900-02-21
THE OCEAN PEDDLER.
IN coNTRABAND GOODS HE FINDS
GREATEST PROFITS.

Methods of Trading Vessels That Go
to Many Out of the Way Corners of
the World-How the Captain Dis
poses Of His Cargo.
The man with pack on his back,
trudglng from village to village and of
ferlng for sale at cottage and farm
house miscellaneous collection of
wares, has his counterpart In the ocean
peddler, ranging In size from schoon-
err trading among the islands of the
Pacific TO steamer of 1000 to 1000
tons burden.
The ocean peddler starts out from
Hamburg or San Francisco, the chief
home ports of the trade, with n definite
object In view. Sailing from the for
mer city the course is generally laid
either to the coast of Africa or South
America, having In the hold varied
assortment OF goods likely to be mar
ketable In the regions visited-cotton
fabrics, trlnkets, arms, ammunition,
liquors and all spare room filled up
with coal.
As the largest profits are often de-
rived from the sale of contraband
goods, such as munitions of war to IN
surgent bodies, and as detection by
regular authorities would lead to con-
flscation, several thousand rounds of
cartridges are probably done up In In
nocent looking cases stamped Canned
| Beef aud few stands of discarded
German army rifles In packages label
ed "Glass, With Care"
The captain of such a vessel must
possess not only ability as navigator,
but an expert knowledge of the re-
qulrements of his trade In addition to
plausible tongue wherewith to barter
and win over the good will Of an Ill
disposed official. If he does not own
an interest in tho ship. It is generally
required that he shall in her cargo.
Trudging along over the ocean at
seven or eight knot gait, saving his
coal as much rs possible, the peddler
opens his trade by casting anchor In,
say. South or Central American port.
when, having squared the comman-
dant, he invites merchants and others
on board to Inspect his stock. Duty,
of course, has to be paid by the pur-
chaser, but In certain eases that diff
Guilty is often overcome by the visitor
to the ship going ashore swollen out
perhaps to three times his normal size
by as many new suits of clothing.
The greatest good fortune that can
fall In the way of an ocean peddler is
for an American or British man of-war
to put into some out of the way port in
which he IL lying, short of coal. Then
| from his spare stock he sells n few
| hundred tons at as hard a bargain as
the necessity Of the purchaser permits
| him TO drive.
On the Central American coast the
| peddler usually times his visit at about
| the opening Of the coffee season-that
/ Is, early In the new year-so that when
| he has sold out his wares he Is able to
lload up. almost to the water line, with
the principal export of the country.
That the ocean peddllng trade Is not
without its dangers Is illustrated by n
story told by mate of one of those
vessels. In order to preserve his re-
spectacle character the contraband
goods are sometimes stored In places
| likely TO escape the vlgilant eye of the
customs officer, and in the case In ques-
| tion the mates bunk was chosen as
| the safest repository for certain pack
| ages OF dynamite consigned to the lead
| ers OF IA Nicaraguan revolution.
All went well until the night before
the ship was due to arrive at her desti-
nation, when n thunderstorm occurred,
Ia aJ "a ala
In an alarming manner. The mate
confessed TINT the Idea of turning In
upon bed Of dynamite under such
circumstances was not conducive to
peaceful reposc even to one nccustom-
ed to sleep through all manner OF dan
gers, but with the reflection that IL
fash found Its way to his bunk he
would not be likely to be made aware
of the fact he slumbered serenely
| through his watch below and next day
| delivered the Canned tomatoes" safely
| to the conslgnce.
| The ocean peddllng trade on the Pa
| ciflc has been shorn of much OF its
| profit since the lnterisland passenger
| traffic In natives, who too often were
| carried as passengers, much against
| their viii, to dive for pearls on the
great Australian bank, has been eff
fectually suppressed. Stlll consider
able trade IL carried on In small ar
| ticles of hardware, old clothes, person
al trlnkets and an occasional case OF
"dry goods" which, IL seized, would
turn out to be remarkably wet.-New
York Sun.