The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-08-20
LUMBER TRADE IS
IN A DEAD CALM
LACK SAILING VESSELS.
FLEET OFF HATTERAS REPRE-
SENTs CARRYING PROSPECT.

In Mean Time Wharves and Yards
Are PiIing Up with Lumber and
at other End of Line Yards and
Factories Have Felt Pinch-DeaI-
ers Resorting in Some Cases to
Steam Vessels 10 Get Deliveries on
Time-Hnnds Who Load Boats Are
Also Sufferers.
Idle sails tapping helplessly off Cape
Hatteras, 500 miles away, have put the
lumber business in Savannah in al
most desperate straits.
That far away there are more than
a hundred ships whose captains are
yearning to get across the dead line,
while in Savannah there are lumber
dealers whose disappointment at the
failure of the schooners long overdue
TO get into port is more than poignant.
Lumber of all kinds is piling up on
the wharves, and in the lumber yards
until nearly all available space has
been filled
Not only in Savannah does this con-
dition obtain but at Fernandina and
Brunswick and in Georgia and Florida
interior lumber towns, where the lum-
her is being held until means of ship
ping it can be found
Using Steam Vessels.
Being unable to get sailing vessels.
dealers in the staple who have orders
booked for specific delivery have re-
sorted, in some instances, to steam
vessels, where the rates are more ex-
cessive. In a few instances forfeits
haxr koaV
them unless the calm at Cape Hat
teras is soon broken, these orders will
have to be hurried through on the
steamers.
One schooner at least has gotten
through the line while the others re-
manned idle. This was accomplished
by the captains watchfulness in taxi
ing advantage of every breath of air
and inching his way, as it were, until
he got out of the belated zone.
Another class of sufferers are the
Eastern yard men and the factories.
AS very large portion of the lumber
used in the Eastern yards and fac
tories is shipped through Southern
ports, unless the winds get busy soon
there will be something of famine,
as practically all of the sailing vessels
are caught.
LnbOrers Are Idle.
buL even the lumber men at both
ends of the line are not the only direct
losers Hundreds of hands who make
their living by loading and unloading
the lumber schooners have their means
of livelihood temporarily cut off.
AS the lumber lies on the wharves,
or in the yards. there is some deteri-
Grafton, and the owners also have the
money value of the property tied up.
thus being out the interest and insur-
ance.
Eagerly and anxiously the lumber
men are waiting daily for the news
that the schooners have started and
that trade, which has died away, will
wake UP into new life and make up
for lost time.
Cause of the Trouble.
The trouble, sea captains say, is
caused by southwest and southerly
winds, blowing head-on to south
bound boats. The winds have the eff
feet of accelerating the Gulf stream.
The result is that north bound vessels
are driven faster along their course.
while vessels bound in the opposite d.
rection are retarded and many held up
completely.
The greatest difficulty seems to be
just OF Cape Hatteras. The winds at
this point are always stronger, under
ordinary conditions, than at any other
point along the coast Vessel after
vessel is being held at that point. un-
bic to proceed on its journey, in the
face of the strong winds and the con-
seQuent currents.