The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-02-24
sAILMAKING A DYING CRAFT.
Years Ago the Sailmakers Wore Silk
Hats and Carried Canes.

Years Ago the Sailmakers Wore Silk
Hats and Carried Canes.
New York Commercial Advertiser)
Richard Hathaway, perhaps the old
est sailmaker along the water front, in
talking over the gradual disappear
ance from the sea of the old-time sail
ing vessels, as their place is taken by
steamboats,, gives an alarming prOphe-
cy in regard to his one-time famous
trade.
II his opinion twenty-five years
hence the art of sailmaking will be
unknown, since no more boys are ap-
prenticed to the trade nowadays and
the old hands at the work are disap-
pearing at a rapid rate.
Fifty years ago" says this old man,
as he sits alone in his lOw-studded loft.
with its whitewashed brick walls, at
the top of a building on South street.
when the swift packets Of the Black
Ball line were sailing across the West
ern ocean, it was hard work for a YES
sci to get a berth at any of these
dOckS'
'Sailmakers." says this disciple of
the palm and needle. were men of d
very different position in the old days.
Each morning they came to the sail
lofts with their high hats, canes and
Kid gloves. None of them ever asked
for a job.
Instead, they were at once recog-
nized by the boss and begged TO go to
work. often when there was a crowd
ct packets in port there were not
enough men to satisfy all the master
sailmakers. Then the custom of those
who fell short was TO wait at the foot
OF their rivals stairs towards sun
down. AS the journeymen came down
from their days work. they were asked
TO come to another loft 10 work till 8
O'Clock.
The pay then was 81 for ten hours
work. Today it has risen to SO for nine
hours work, but the demand for work
has become so slack that it is doubtful
if any sailmaker along the front aver
ages more than $3.50 a day throughout
the entire year. The question of the
masters of vessels never used to be
How much will you charge for the
work?' but rather How quickly can
you get it done?"
In 1850 there were upwards of fifty
lofts in New York. all of them over
crowded with work Today there are
scarcely fifteen, and those lucky if
they are busy half the time. While
there used to be from 25A 10 800 jour
neymen sailmakers, now there are only
the few old-timers that are left, and no
more boys serving their time.
Like caulking, rigging, and sparmak-
| ing, the old trade will be forgotten be-
fore many years have passed.
Circus tents, too, another thing that
gave the sailmakers work, as ships
grew less, are now going out Of use.
The principal work left is the making
of awnings, and. most of those at pres
ent can be made by machinery, or
/ sewed by women.
Even the oyster boats in these times
are propelled by motors. as we'll as
many of the yachts which were origi-
nally equipped with masts.
( As for the sails of any yacht running
( up to fifty feet in length, they can
| readily be turned out by a machine.
/ This old sailmaker has now reached
1 the age of y. although he is still as
active and hearty as the average man
/ of so. At the age of 16 he began his
apprenticeship, and kept at that for
/ four years. The first year his pay was
! 81 a week. after that 1925, then $2.5G
/ finally SO. His working time during that
i period was eleven hours day.
/ In 1854 he began in charge of a loft
of his own. Starting at 6 in the morn
/ ing from his house, situated in the open
/ country at a spot where the court
house now stands in Brooklyn. he rare
/ ~ reached his loft before half past
/ twelve
So much cutting and slashing was
| going on in the loft that the shop rent
4 never had to be considered. The rags
swept from the floor each night and
/ sold for 1-2 cents a pound more than
| covered that item.
| The old man, when he becomes rem
/ iniscent, tells of it being d common
! sight in those days TO see twenty OF
! thirty schoCners of 100 odd tons sailing
down the East river together at the
4 turn of the tide.
/ In speaking of the large schOOners OF
! late years, the old sailmaker says that
/ he expects them to prove failures. As
/ for the naming OF their masts he I'M
/ derStandS them TO be fore, main miz-
zen, crossjack. spencer. driver and
/ pusher, but thinks it would be quite as
well if they were called after the DAYS
of the week.
He figures that where twenty mer
are used now on vessels of 5000 tons
/ 500 men would have been REQUIRED fol
the same amount of tonnage in hi.
/ early days.
There he sits smoking in his old loft
one Of the connecting links wits the
:fips and the sailors Of the days befor,
The civil war His own summary of tht
case is this:
I'm glad I'm old, else I should Ger,
tainly have to start an apple stand
Before a great many years have passed
the only sailmaker in existence IvilI b,
a curiosity in dime museum-but
Z won't be the one"