The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-09-28
FIFTY YEARS
ON PACIFIC

What would happen If the good ship
Alameda ceased to run to sunny Ha-
wall can only be conjectured, but what
would happen if she should appear
without her Chief Steward is a oalam-
ity unthinkable. For nearly half a
century Father Neptune has sailed
the broad Pacific and this month he
completes his twentieth year of con-
tinuous service on the Alameda What
the voyage would be without Father
Neptune is inconceivable by the host
that have at one time or another cross
ed the big pond in the ocean kamaai-
ma. The stewards smiling face as he
collects the tickets after the ship
backs out from the dock and before
the gentle motion of the bouadless
deep has driven the luckless pass 4ng4r
below; his dignified walk as he ac-
companies the captain and the doctor
on the daily inspection of the ship
and his fatherly care for the fast thin
ming ranks in the saloon as one by
one the little company are called a.
bove-these are the things that have
endeared the name OF Father Nep-
tune" to the Alameda's patrons. Go
down to the ship some day and ask
him If he remembers you and ten to
one he Will say, .'Oh, yes, you are the
man that had room N four trips ago
and never ate thing but chicken
broth for four days out OF Frisco"
You can tell your friends about your
seamanship but you can't fool Father
Neptune" for he knows what you had
to eat.
Osmer Newton Clark, of course this
is a legal technicality, for everyone
knows that his real name is Father
Neptune" was born in Jamaica, Win
dom County, Vermont on the sixth of
1885. This is the statement
that the official records make although
it is currently reported among the
shipping fraternity that he sprang
from the sea Ike tabled Venus and
that his first situation was that of ta-
Bile steward of Neah's Ark On the
second day of March. 1855, he began
his service as steward on the Pacific.
His first ship was the Sonora, a pad
lie wheel steamer OF the Pacific Mail
running between San Fran
CISCO and the isthnlus Of Panama.
Those We're the days when the gold
seekers were flocking by the thousands
o California and Mr. Clark saw some
strenuous times
The Pacific Mail Company was coin |
ng money then and charged between |
hree and four hundred dollars for the |
rip while the stock scared to 1866 per
hare At that early date the shipping |
avs of the United States were in a
cry embryonic stage and the company |
vas allowed to crowd its frail steamers
o the rails in defiance Of every prin-
iple of safety. From twelve to six
cen hundred gold seekers damned the
ecks of each vessel, taxing the stew
rd's resources to the limit. While
t Panama Clark was at the hotel
nth NJ De Lessons when that ILL
ated promoter arrived to join the
ceans by the Panama Canal. Then |
he enthusiasm was for the French
1an's gigantic scheme but it remains
1r American brains and American en-
erprise to complete the work. Clark
'as on the first passenger train ever
an on the Panama railroad. Travel !
lg was an uncertain business in those
avs and the tlimited express" after
licking its way through the fever
den swamps for several hours left
le track and the wheezy engine
urfed it's nose in mud bank, laid |
own with a grunt and died. Three
avs later the ''lightning express" pull
l into Panama.
For twenty-six long years Steward
fark remained in the service Of the
acfffc Mail being one Of the first to
, on its Transpacifc run. For years
. crossed the. ocean in the old paddle
heel steamers that piled between the
RENT and the Golden Gate. It was
lille in this service that he had the
ost exciting experience of his ocean
areer. He was Chief Steward Of the
d liner Japan when she was burned