The sun., 1902-01-12
PERIL IN THE RIGGER'S TRADE
WORK INyOLVING RISK OF ROT
TEN SPARS AND WORN ROPES.
Remarks able Escapes From Death Told of
Ship Riggers In This city The Pay
Good. Though, ana work Constant
Repairing a Storm.Beaten Vessel.

Repairing a Storm.Beaten Vessel.
A great vessel with torn and bedrag-
gled rigging. bound home from a long
cruise. was sailing slowly toward New
| York hundred miles off Sandy Hook a
fast sea-going tug picked up the vessel
and FASTENED To her assistance. The
| captain Of the battered vessel hailing
| through megaphone over a hundred
yards Of water diagnosed his ships case
tug ahoy! When you get to York
notify Jones, the rigger, that we dock at
| Wilson'S stores, and want new foremast
and new rigging throughout
-Yes. yes; We'll look out for you," halls
back the tug, which Immediately puts
back at full speed for New York
Within a few hours the dilapidated
vessel has been towed rapidly up the
harbor and warped into her dock. Al
! though il is o'clock of winters evening.
she is Immediately boarded by several self
commissioning men, who go about her
| rapidly testing her ropes, examining the
spars and estimating how much she needs. I"
II is o before a bargain has been struck
between her captain and the contracting
rigger This done, the vessel becomes at
once the scene Of tremendous activity.
llRnttT carrying VI Hukt utIIlCh NOiiles
alongside and makes fast. A clamor OF
shouted orders fills the air, the piercing
glow Of a searchlight illumines the rigging.
and In the glow of that radiance thirty
odd black figures Chamber up the mas,s.
disperse themselves along the yards and
| ropes. and begin performance that makes
one think OF a swarm of huge spiders busy
with their strange architecture. They are
the ship riggers at work.
Along the waterfront they have a prov
erb illustrative of forlorn hope. About
as good a chance as a ship rigger has with
a life insurance company" they say. For
the insurance comp anies do not banker
to write policies for men who follow this
trade. The rate Of mortality IL too far on
the wrong side of the balance.
Ever the coastwise sailor. hard and
dangerous as is his life, looks upon ship
rigging as a desperate way of making a
living. Any sailor will tell you that the
men who go aloft to patch mp dishevelled
ship follow the most perilous trade in the
world. 1t you want further proof look at
the hospital records Of any big port.
The ship rigger is jack OF all the trades.
requiring great physical strength, quick
ness Of perception and courage. The
steeple jack, the iron worker on a great
twenty-story building, even the trapeze
performer works in far less peril Of life
and limb.
Jack Of the steeple though working at
great attitudes, can rely on the solidity
! Of his support The iron worker knows
that steel beams do not break, and the
| trapeze performer usually displays his skill
above a net and always with well-tested
ropes. But the r.gger must depend upon
! footing as treacherous az rotten ice.
He must work. and work swiftly. trusting
TO ropes which would not demand his at
tention II they were Trustworthy. He
I al~n x-axpnip1 rttlfs
whose heart is eaten out by rot, He must
! climb TO the top Of masts, unsettled and
wavering in their places.
He must go aloft in rain or snow and often
pick his way 10y the binding glare Of tho
searchlight. obeying the foreman's whistle
with the unquestioning promptitude of a
soldier on duty And at every step, no
matter how sure Of foot, keen OF eye and
steady Of nerve he be, he may plunge TO
! a death below because the rope that he
! grasps or the spar on which ne sets MS loot
Is rotten.
IL a sailor falls from the masthead while
at sea the rolling of the vessel is likely
| TO send him overheard but the rgger
! must come down on hard boards. II II not
| unusual for 20 per cent. Of all igRers ac-
! lively employed to be injured In a season.
The proportion Of riggers more or less
| seriously injured In the course OF lifetime
/ is about 100 per cent. single firm OF
! riggers in New York had eight Of its men
falling on them from the top Of mast
Most Of the ship riggers' injuries ars
! received from falls Tie next greatest
danger. judging from the hospital records
. IL that Of icing struck by blocks, SPAR or
heavy ropes falling from a great height
/ Cuts and knife wounds are also very COM
] mon, since the chances Of a knife's slipping
In unstable rigging II naturally great
An experienced 1gg"f VIII tell you that
the acccideuts which have the appearance
OF great peril rarely do 30 murh damage
| ~ the ie-s spectacular ones Men who fail
from great hoignts, curiuu-ly enough, are
. seldom ~ badly hurt az tnpS" who suffer
by shorter falls Every ship ngg"r ls
! full 81 the marvellous r-caps, ~ his trade
Oniy last month "a riggcr fell from th.
crussl r,H,S 81 "a ship IN the f4irt River. He
/ shot downward hsat hfrl ipf more than
. hundred feet, when. by InHrV'lluus good
p mI. be- struck "a slack ruI", r"bouhded
ard lani,'d ON he fest Jarr-d. bat unhuri
Another uKgrr, ln falling from HiSuui
. a., raulr lulgIt. tuutd thrt-i -Iin"rtaults p
and landed Ilssu a hug" D.ll OF rul" With
. only few sIlEIi brul-'r ahl h lad shaking
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