The Portland daily press., 1900-02-17
Busy Day For The In
spectors.
Brig j. c. Hamlin, Jr., Passed
Aban dOned.

The number OF STEAMERS In this port
yesterday smashed all previous records In
the history Of the transatlantic traffic
of this city. Two of them came In during
the morning and they swelled the num-
ber to ten, the most that has ever been In
this city on any one day. Officials at the
custom house and In other various lines
Of employment Of Uncle Sam on the
watsr front hardly at first realized tais
unprecedented condition Of affairs and
were somewhat loath to believe II. But
after they had gone oyer ths books OF
past years and had examined the rec.
ords, they found that.it was true. The
nearest approach made to the record was
last year when on one day 1t happened
that there were nine steamers In port.
Then all Of them could be accom- modated.
Not so yesterday. The Strathmore which
pocked her nose into tie harbor at few
minutes before ten o'clock was obliged
to drop anchor In the stream as none Of
the wharves were in readiness to receive
her. Her pilots looked about and then
left the big steamer In that part Of the
bay out near ths end of the lower section
Of the Grand Trunk wharves. The Risb
ton which had arrived on Thursday was
again obliged to remain alongside Of the
Vancouver and to bide her time until q
vancancy should OCCUR at some wharf.
The sosns about these ten steamers.
or to be more correct nine, as the Strnth
r,ore was lying outside. was most
minated one. The federal inspectors
Is uere on the alert and SO were the big
gangs OF longshoremen. The force of in
spectors has been on the jump during the
last three days and business was so brisk
and the demands for their services from
ths foreign trade was SO great on Thurs
Say that all Of the dftssn men on tbs
farce not only worked hard all that day
but were also called out for duty for all
Of that night, somethinG almost unpre-
Cedented and which, has not occurred be-
fore this season. Tbeslongshoremen had
no time at all for the least recreation
yesterday, for they were either ut work In
disoharging from or loading oargoes on
seven OF these nine ct ,amers which were
docked. For the first time 1t WAS found
Imperative to bring into service the old
elevator, the Numidiau taking grain
from that receptacle. The stirring times
of the day causei no little comment and
one OF the small army of workers well
sized up the condition Of affairs when he
declared that Portland looked just like
Liverpool
The ten steamers which were in port
were the Numidtan and the Hihernian OF
the Allan line, the Vancouver Of the Do
miniop line, the Ribston, Strath m ore and
Keemun Of the Thomson line, the Chris.
tiapa and Canada OF the Hamburg.
American line, the Planet Mercury of the
Elder -Dempster line and the Almerian
Of the Leyland line. OF these the latter
two will sail today. The Elder -Dempste
boat goes to Bristol and will take out a
large cargo. Last night 1t was the intsn-
tion of her managers that sne should
leave Portland at daylight this morning.
The Almerian Is expeotd to sail at noon.
Shs is bound for Antwerp and will take
q cargo of about 1890 tons.
The Christiana reported rough trip
although no damage was caused. The
strathmore is from Newcastle from which
port she sailed February end. She brought
small amount OF coal and officers said