Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1905-09-07
HAPPY GO-LUCKY Us.
SHIPS THAT ARE MUCH LIKE
FLOATING COUNTRY STORES.
Sail, When They Get Ready, Between
New York and Capetown with
Oddly Composed Car
goes.

Inc steamships IudI ply DSLWcCh
New York and Cape Town are about
as irregular in their sailings as the
summer schedule for Dutch picnics.
For the most part, says the New York
Evening Post, they are big rowing
tramp steamers, carrying cargoes as
general as the inventory Of a country
store. Advertisements tell shippers Of
goods that such and such boat Is lex
pected to SAIL on such a date. AS
matter of fact, the boat usually gets
away anywhere from a week to ten
days later. For example. the Kybfels,
which was expected to leave New
York on the 18th of the month, had
her departure postponed to the goth,
and now it has been put forward again
to the 22d.
The ships do not turn back at Cape
Town. They go on up the coast, touch
ing at Mosel Bay, Port Elizabeth,
East London, Port Natal, Delagoa
Bay and Beira. Some of them continue
on across the Indian ocean to Cal
cutta, from whence they swing back
to this port by way Of Hamburg.
Few of them carry passengers, and
those that are booked go along to
look after big shipments Of goods or
cattle. 1t takes from % to IS days to
make Cape Town from New York,
sizzling hot days, too, with the decks
under the rays Of an equatorial sun
for a good part Of the distance. The
mail steamships, via Southampton, can
do the trip in "a days. That is one
reason why more passengers are not
found aboard the Cape Town ships
out of New York.
The best reason, however, Is that
the ships have no staterooms. All
spare space is given over to cargo
and winches. The crew, some so odd
men, lives in the fo'castle, tiny lit
tie house it looks, perched up in the
ships bows. The chart house, bridge
and officers cabins are elevated amid
ships, and over the stern is another
cabin structure. The rest of the ship
has no superstructure, so to speak,
the sides being cut away to permit
working room for the derrick masts
and winches, which stand over the
cavernous mouths of the matches.
Down below there is little save the
hold, with space enough for several
freight trains to pile their loads one
upon top of the other.
The Kybfels was lying alongside
Central pier B In South Brooklyn, and
cargo was still coming aboard. She
began loading a week ago. AS fast
as truck or lighter was unloaded on
the pier, the reckoning derrick arms
aboard ship would begin to wave, the
winches would rattle, and the big pile
Of freight moved as If by magic. There
seemed to be a dozen pair OF derrick
arms moving at once, and the az full
Of bales and boxes.
A crate of steam pipes would shoot
straight upwards, swing over the ship,
and then drop out Of sight. Bundle
upon bundle of brooms followed the
steam pipes, and then in quick sue
cession went wheelbarrows, furniture,
boxes of shoes, crates of prepared
food, crates of shovels, picks, axes and
everything imaginable for man to use
and eat. Each derrick seemed to con-
meet with it's own goods. There was
no tangle, but good deal of noise.
Oaths in German and English, in
Spanish and Portuguese, mixed with
the creak of the pulley blocks and
the puff and snort of engines.
Over all was the odor of salt water
and the grocery store jumbled into
one. Mild-eyed Lascars, naked save
for breeches that resembled swim
ming trunks, passed in single file from
the fireroom to fo'castle. The Kyb-
fels had 80 of them, all Calcutta men,
and the chief officer said they were
the best firemen in the world, because
they could stand any extreme OF
heat or cold. They never leave the
ship in a foreign port, and are seldom
seen with any. covering on their feet.
The hot floor Of the fireroom has no
more effect on their tough soles than
icy decks along the German coast in
winter.