Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-11


plucky a fighter as in the days when num-
bers were on its side and 1t could show
clean pair of heels evensto the lusty infant
steam. And 1t has kept pace with pro.
gress 1t has increased It's tonnage. 1t
has added hundreds of square yards to its
sail area 1t has turned from wood to iron
and steel for It's hull and spars; and of late
years 1t has tough. steam by employing
half the number of the crew. reducing rum
ming expenses materially. and making 1t
more profitable than ever before to take
cargoes at charters that would be impos-
sible for its steam rlYaissi
Low Freight Rates.
Herein lies the chief reason of the hardy
survival of the windjammer in the face
OF all the body blows which 1t has re-
ceived in the course of a hundred years.
There are many cargoes that do not have
to be hustled to market in the shortest
possible time in steam bottoms. These
cargoes go by sail. and the consignees save
in freight what the fuel would cost to carry
, them by steam. Today there are tied up
in the Clyde and Mersey scores of steam
vessels, built for the carrying trade over
year ago, that are yet to have their first
cargoes stored in their holds. They can
not get cargoes at charter profitable
enough to put them in commission, be-
cause, forsooth, the windjammers have cut
away under their lowest possible charters
ana are taking Oul lIoHl European pOi -
to the uttermost parts of the earth the
very cargoes they were especially built to
carry-coal, hardware, wines, salt. what
not The windjammer is not without in
| nings of IT'S own in this battle to the
death.
glance at the merchant marine sta
tistics of the world shows surprising
number of sailing vessels engaged In get
ting the worlds products to markets, de-
spite the steady decrease of such bottoms
since 1868, when the United States for ex-
| ample, had nearly two thousand registered
windjammers, q registered vessel being one
engaged in foreign trade and an enrolled
vessel one In coastwise trade.
OF the steam and sailing vessels of over
100 tons Of the several countries of the
world I.loyd's Register for 19O4-5 records
Is, 500 steam and nearly 900 sailing yes
sels with net tonnages, respectively, or
seventeen and a half and six millions. For
this country there are recorded over Two
thousand sailing and thousand and a
quarter steam vessels; for Great Britain,
| twenty-five hundred sail and almost nine
thousand steam
Worlds Merchant Marine.
Another leading authority on the worlds
shipping, the Repertoire Generate of the
Bureau Veritas, includes in a similar state
ment all sailing vessels over fifty tons net,
thus bringing the windjamming portion of
the worlds merchant marine to nearly 81
| 600 vessels, with tonnage of eight mil
lions That every country still sends forth
its exports in great measure by sail is fur
| Their attested by the fact that last year our
government collected tonnage tax from
lust 53O2 sailing vessels coming from for
eign ports, a similar tax being levied on
almost a thousand more steam vessels.
The merchant marine of this country at
present has $50 sailing and 34S steam YES
sells engaged in foreign trade. OF our sail
ing vessels IS are square riggers 12I banks
S. barkentines and y briggs and brigan-
tines All over the world the brig and bar
kentine have fallen. out of favor, and sail
ing ships that are built today are elther
souare-rigged or barES.,.-
These registered wIndjammers of ours,
which are representatives of their KIND the
world over poke their noses whithersoever
they can get a charter, and are making
good money for their owners. Before he
died not five years ago. one man VINO
owned twelve square-rlggers, had made
fortune out of them, anu today his estate
is adding to these millions in the same way
Have Found New Cargoes.
Though many of the old trades are gone
from them. the windjammers have found
new cargoes by the aid, of science and in
vention. In the days before cold storage
was dreamed off the sailing vessel did not
dare to load with many Of the more perish
able fruits of the tropics, and when they
did they were liable 10 make port with. a
lofd OF F0tlilS sun s4SplW luieo q .tVn
their, refrigerating plants, and bring, up
| from the Caribbean, the most spo1lable OF
| tropical luxuries. Among these fruit car
| riers is a line of brigantines; while the
cocoanut ships that go to the Belize coast.
there stand off shore and have their cargoes
brought. out to- them in boats by the IN
dams make almost as fast time as steam
| ships, on account of the steady weather
| that sends them bowling toward port with
scarcely care on board. Speed Is
requisite of all fruit ships whether they
carry such perishable stuff as green Dan-
anas and grape fruit. OF more hardy fruits,
as cocoanuts; and the runs these sailing
ships make are a constant source OF Won
derment to even hardened old salts.
These fruit ships frequently develop
habit of making port several Gays ahead OF
schedule time Because of this tendency.
| the fruit market has been disarranged more
| than once. This was particularly the case
| in the lime market several summers ago
when a steamship, bound for New YORK
with a cargo of lines went to pieces on
| Brigantine shoals, off, Atlantic CITY. ana
peppered the waves with her freight. Lines
had been none too plentiful In New YORK
| before the wreck, and Immediately on re-
ceipt of the news of the disaster some en-
terprising chaps set about to corner the
| lime market. Prices shot up instanter' the
fruit became scarce that lemon was SUD
stituted for 1t In gin rickeyS, the promoters
were about ready to gather In fortune
when 10 and behold! a brigantlne with lines
aboard that had not been expected TOT an
other week was reported OH the HOOK, tHe
consignees sent out a tug to tow her IN
the bottom fell out of the market, the pro-
motors went broke, and the gin rickey was
saved in all it's pristine purity to swelter-
| ing humanity.
Garry Costly Woods.
The West Indies also furnish the wind
TANNER with another of its staple cargoes
lumber There is a steady procession OF
sailing vessels TO the states and Europe
with cargoes of the costliest of all logs
mahogany, mahoe and ebony Let
schooner in the West Indian lumber traoe
meet disaster off Hatteras, and valuable
woods worth thousands of dollars are fed
! to the seas. In this quarter OF the world,
also, the wlndjammer gets its freisht OF
logwood whose extract, besides being USED
legitlmately as dye, frequently enters into
many cheap wines. being used to give the
stuff the desired color.
Just as every Caribbean port KNOWS the
windjammer intimately, so Is 1t known IN
the Mediterranean and in the Western Is
l. n