The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1901-10-06
rnE CARGO TURNED 10 rAFTy,
A s,rauSc Mtshap to an EaSllsh shIr
Laden With sugar

| Toledo Bee
/ Her, Is the story ~ a ship that start.
! ed with cargo ~ sugar and reached
I her port with a cargV ~ tany, The S''
I has no, other story quite Ike H. or none
! tina; has ever been urc0rlcd, The snip
was the Charles cross, from Rosario
( Argentine RrpuhuG and the strange
metam0rphoSls IN her hold was not dis
covered uutN she arrived a, her dock
| In London.
| The cargo--Sl go BAGS u sugar--was
/ s,oWtd away In four different compArt'
mtutS " the ship, and the work W On-
| loading begun On The day following her
! arrival. The ship and dock hands rapid
Nv cleared the first second and Fourth
I holds withou, experiencing any Unl-
Guilty, but when they came tN unload
/ NJ. 3 they found tha, the sugar there
| had become cur solid block " dark
[ brown suhs,ancc~-swelVc thousand hags,
equal to one thousand tons " sugar
had been converted into tafry The
mass was As hard as marble. Anl ii was
found impossible to unload it In the
usual way The hard substance was
frmlv attached ta the Sides W the snip,
aud had eucompaSsed everything else IN
Its grin ~ nothing could be done but
dig ,he sun cut,
4 body ~ forty men, using picks and
shovels, was employed In hroakIng up
the ,aflv berv In the hod Ot the ship,
and after thirty days labor the men AZ
length succeeded In clearing away the
last hi; " tarfy,
II hal taken eight men only nine days
to unload the a;her three hdtchways,
containing the major balance ~ the
cargo. the minimum rate A. which
Shipload ~ sugar can be discharged De-
ing tlftv tons day ger eight men.
But the combined efforts Of forty men
engaged In clearing out the hry pl,
IN the ships hold could no, turn cut
mo:e than i've tons 4 day,
The determination " the congealI
mass 20 resist the Onslaught, ~ the
forty men resulted IN .he breaking ~
Sbou one ton ~ iron tools " all SORTS, |
Including wedges measuring three feet |
long. which got twisted and ben, like 50 |
many limp candles, pickaNes whose |
strong points ~, hat,rRel out. chains, !
the strong links ~ which snapped In |
TWO; great iron bolts that gOt Splln-
tered Tx clothes pegs, and huge crow
hars ,hl. got bent Ike halrptnS. II |
these twelve thousand blgS " /
sugar had not got converted by A mys-
,erious agency into ANY their removal
from ,ae ship would have cos, only Si65,
hu, IN tho present instance the cost ~
ligSing out The hardened SUN cost
SsS5a
The sugar market has lns; twelve
thousand bags u "hy fancy" rs sugar
: called A. the docks but confectton-
srs and brewers have bought the Ilny,
giving SIS ton for d. or less than half
Is or ginal value. All together. the loss
" 5000 in the aggregate. bu, the ship
las become famous. f1r the Charles
'ross Is now referred 20 as the 'tafry
hip"
The cause u he ,rlnsformatioH can
lot BE- discovered The sugar was load
\ in tropical weather. and those par
ocular bags which wenl wrong must
ave contained sugar which was Ia an
.bnormally moist condition. The hold
n which Il was stored IS just abaft the {
ngine room. and subject 20 great hedS
'ne subseQue1, change OF ,empera-
ure. from torr.d 20 irIgid lA,itudes,
elped TO solldry the mass