The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-08-31


And this is another problem that I'm
Gle Sam is bound to solve now.
Uncle Sam has lost fish. He does
not let season go by without asking
everybody who plies the ocean whether
or not they have found it. Besides ask
ing questions he also sends out his
own fishing vessels to look for it. He
wants to find that fish because he is
a big and beautiful and delicious one.
1t probably would mean added wealth
for the American fishing industry II
Uncle Sam could find it again, and new
food for all his people.
| The story OF this fish is a real mys-
terry story. One day a smack came
| into famous old Gloucester with a load
of new fish such as no American fish
erman ever had seen before. They
were large, weighing from five to fif-
| teen pounds each, brilliantly colored
with orange spots and bright scales,
| and most excellent to eat. as the crew
| of the smack had discovered. The
| fisherman reported that the new fish
was plentiful, and that there were
enough of them on the fishing grounds
| to fill the holds of all the smacks in
Gloucester harbor
Uncle Sam heard of the catch, and
his fish-wise men Identified the crea-
lures as tile fish. At once the govern
| ment made ready to help the fishermen
develop the new opportunity.
But, before anything could be done,
before any other smack even reached
| the ground, a steamship arrived and
reported that 1t had steamed for many
| miles through dead fish. The water,
said the captain, was covered with
them as far as the eye could reach.
Some of the fish were scooped up and
taken aboard to be examined. The
| description proved that they were tile
| fish.
| Uncle Sam fitted out his own vessel,
| the Fish Hawk, at once, and she hur-
| ried to the scene. The ocean bottom
| was examined with a deep sea dredge
| temperatures were taken at all sorts
| of depths, and the nets were used to
| scoop up the minute creatures that
| live in the sea, so that they could be
examined to see If anything was the
| matter with them to explain the NOR
tality among the tile fish.
But no conclusion was reached ex-
cept that some unknown ocean acct
| dent had killed them. Years passed
and no fishing smack caught any more
| tile fish. Then quite unexpectedly a
| vessel came sailing in again with a
| good fare" which Is what the fisher
men call a catch of fish. Uncle Sam
was nightly pleased, you may be
| sure, and at once he sent his Fish
grounds and find the best way to catch
the fish. But once more there was
mystery. The Fish Hawk caught a few
tile fish, but not enough to make It
profitable for the smacks to go for
them.
Uncle Sam is not going to give 1t up,
however. He knows that somewhere
in the ocean off his coasts there are
immense schools OF valuable fish and
he does not propose to lose them any
more than he would lose money out
of his mint. So he is fishing as pa
tlently as any barefooted boy ever
fshed.
The shrewd old gentleman is an
noyed whenever he thinks of all the
deserts that he has on his hands. He
Is planning all the time to change
them into farms. Sometimes he tries
to do it by finding crops that can be
grown there. This line of experiment.
ing has led him to import date palms
from the desert of Sahara into Arizo-
ma. Other places he attempts to i'm
prove by watering them. He has help
ed to build hundreds of miles of irri-
eating ditches Some of them lead
the water from the tops OF mountains
Others lead the supply from river far
away. In places where water is es-
pecially scarce there are locks in the
bitches wherever they reach a mans
land. Each lock is opened Just long
enough to give that particular land
the water 1t needs. Then the next
lock Is opened and the next mans
land is watered, and so on.
His ships keep Uncle Sam thinking
all the time. He is continually at 1t
devising new things in lighthouses and
huoys and landmarks that shall guide
the vessels safely into harbor. One
of his most interesting experiments is
with great buoys with voices. He
wants to use them. if they will work,
because often when the sea fog is very
thick, no light, even the most power
full, can pierce the gloom far enough
TO be reliable as a guide to sailors.
Now Uncle Sam thinks that il he could
mark his channels with lines of float
ing buoys that make noises, the sail
ors would not need to be able to see.
SO ne is trying queer contrivances
now. Some of them toll deep melan-
choly bells as they roll and rise and
fall in the waves. Others blow whis-
ties with each motion that the sea
gives them. Still others roar to diff
ferent keys. Some of the contrivances
do not depend on the waves to make
them work, but are operated by cleo
tricity from shore. All are designed
to roar or foot or whistle or clang so
that the pilots shall be able to tell by
the ear alone where they are. II I'm
Gle Sam is successful in this, he pro-
poses to line channels with them for
miles from the open sea clear into
the safe inner harbor Of the great
ports. Each buoy is to have a note
Of its own, different from any other in
that harbor. Then, II a pilot comes
into port on dark. foggy night and
can see no lights of any kind, he need
merely listen. II he hears O great
wailing sound on his right, he can
say. "Ah, we are In the bend of the
main channel, so many feet from So
and-so point. Starboard your helm"
Then he listens again as he leaves the
waiiing buoy behind, until he hears
whistiing one ahead and he knows that
he must turn again. Perhaps the next
buoy he hearts is tolling a bell. The
next one may be footing like a from
bone. The next may be a shrleklng
buoy, and 20 on. The pilot knows Just
where each one Of these sounding
buoys Is anchored. So he IL as sure
- his whereabouts as II be were sail
ing M the channel IA broad fay-