The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-02-14
pEDDLERs on THE GREAT OCEAN
Tramp steamers Roam Through the
Pacific.

The man with a pack on his back,
trudging from village to village and Of
fering for sale at cottage and farm.
house doors "A miscellaneous collection
OF wares, has his counterpart in the
ocean peddler, ranging in size from trim
schooner trading among the islands OF
the Pacific, TO steamer OF one or two
thousand tons.
Unlike the ocean tramp" that steams
in ballast from one port to another in
quest OF a charter the ocean peddler
starts out from Hamburg or San Fran
cisco, the chief home ports of the trade.
with definite object in view.
Sailing from the former city the
course is generally laid either to the
coasts of Africa or South America, hav-
ing in the hold varied assortment Of
goods likely to be marketable in the
regions visited-cotton fabrics. trinkets,
arms, ammunition, liquors-and all spare
rooms filed up with coal.
AS the largest profits are often de-
rived from the sale Of contrabsnd, mu-
nitfons OF war to insurgent bodies, and
their detention by regular authorities
would lead to instant confiscation. sew
eral thousand rounds OF cartridges are
probably done up in innocent looking
cases stamped canned beef" and a
few stands of discarded German army
rifles in packages labeled. "Giass. with
care"
The captain OF such a vessel must
possess not only ability as a navigator,
but An expert knowledge OF the require
ments of his trade, in addition to a
plausible tongue wherewith to success
fully barter his wares and win over the
good will Of an ill-disposed commandante.
II he does not own an interest in the
ship itself. it is generally required that
he shall do so in her ventured cargo
Trudging along over the ocean at q
seven or eight-knot gait. saving his coal
as much as possible. the peddler opens
his trade by casting anchor in, saw a
South or Central American port when.
having squared" the commandante, he
invites local merchants and others on
board 10 inspect his stock
Duty of course, has TO be paid by the
purchaser. but in certain cases that DIFF
ficulty L. 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 is lying, short of coai. Then from his
spare stock he sells a few hundred tons
at as hard a bargain az the necessity of
the purchaser permits him to drive
On the Central American coast the ped
der usually times his visit at about the
commencement OF the coffee season, that
is, early in the new year so that when he
has cold out his wares he In able to load
up, almost to the water line. with the
principal export of the country and crawl
of home round Cape Horn
The ocean pedding trade on the Pacific
has been shorn OF much of Its proft since
the interisland passenger traffic in natives.
who too often were carried as passengers
much against their will. to dive for pearls
on the great Australian banks, has been
effectually suppressed.
stii, a considerable trade is carried on
in peddling small articles OF hardware
cheap chromos, old clothes personal trim
kets and an occasional case OF dry goods +"
which, II seized, would turn out to be re-
markably wet.