Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-27

| that transatlantic company now displays.
| Then there was the f1ier that came in ar
| mored In ice. While she was maneuvering
| in the stream her crew set to work chop
! ping away the ice from her sides. The pilot
| who took her in was a lucky man, for
| scarcely had the lines been passed and the
| ship made fast thus clearing him of all
| responsibility, than the starboard crew got
| a magnificent squirt on, which relieved the
| ship of so much weight that side that
| she toppled over to port with a roar.
smashing the roof and upper story of the
pier to flinders, wrecking her spars and
| filling her lower holds with the water that
poured into the open ports.
| Nobody likes to dock ship. The chances
| are too delicate.
There is no hard and fast harbor rule
| that prescribes any particular method.
| Usually the pilot who boards the vessel at
| sea and brings her up the harbor is respon-
| sible for the docking: and as far as he is
concerned the ship is considered locked as
soon as the first line is passed from ship to
| pier and made fast. That moment the dock
| crew takes hold ana completes the job with
| the assistance of the captain.
| Other lines make their captains RESPONSE
| BILE for the ship the moment the tugs take
| hold. In others the dock master takes
charge soon as the ship stops her own
| engines and comes within hail of the pier
| with the towboats around her.
Tugboats Reap a Harvest.
1t requires from four to six big tug
| boats to dock a liner in style. 1t has to
| be done with three and even two some
| times, but in such cases the owners take
| a long chance. A big ship, heavily loaded
| has needed as many nine tugs and every
| one of them has had to work its boiler
lungs to the last limit of endurance.
| Steamship companies are like individuals.
| Some of them are so stfngy about tugs
| that pilots hate the very thought of dock
| ing them. Others treat their ships like
| darling babies. and as soon as they STICK
| their hundred-foot tunnels into the river
panorama they are met by servile tugs that
cluster around them like lovers around
spoiled beauty.
Captains vary, like owners. Some of
them make a funeral procession out of
the way into dock, getting fits over a thou
sand possible dangers, working the ship
in by inches and afraid to give her any
touch of her own machinery except to
back her whenever possible. That kind of
a captain can keep a ship working for an
| hour before her gangway is down and the
passengers start ashore.
Whitening the Pilots Hair.
| Then there's another captain who turns
| pilots hair gray. The captain of one of
the most famous liners of ten years ago
| was type of that kind. He had the
| pleasant habit of getting his ship headed
| we'll into the dock basin and then sud
| denly ringing full speed ahead. Hardly
| had his vessel felt the startling shock
| of this sudden impetus from the seven
| foot propeller blades before he would
give the order to reverse, but by that
time the crack flyer had leaped forward
| as if about to charge the city of New
| York headlong.
1t was brilliant maneuVer and luck
| was with the captain. That sudden jump
ahead and then the checking at the criti
| cal moment made his docking spectacle
| of nautical perfection, and often saved
| his owners a precious half hour of time.
| But" says a pilot who often brought his
| ship in. that man scared me so once that
| / actually turned my head away, because
! it seemed certain that the next second
| our bow was going to crumple up against
! the sea wall
And another time, when a lighter lay
! ahead and we had to edge in l said to
| him. when he gave the full speed ahead
order as usual, Captain. you'll either bust
your ship wide open or you'll cut West
street in two some day 1t won't be my
fault said he. The chief engineer is sup
posed to be at his post, and ii never rub
the paint off so long as he obeys orders
as he should.
That's all very well. but even on the
best regulated ship men are not always
on the spot on the second with the keen
edge that all hands need when they are
under a captain who makes egg shell
| landings" like that. So most captains
prefer a more conservative form of dock
ing.
The tide plays the biggest part in the
problem. IL the snip can De tdhen iHlo
the dock at the top of the tide" the
work is easiest, for the current can do
little mischief, and the only factors to
reckon with are wind and the action of
the law of inertia on the great null
No Waiting for Time and Tide.
In the old easy-going days the ship
masters were willing to wait for time
and tide. But new race has sprung up,
and the ship must dock when she gets in,
tide or no tide.
There are crack jacks in docking
whose fame is worldwide. Each expert
has his own little pet ways. But there
are great leading rules which all must
obey The first of them is always to dock
| against the tide-that is, always to keep
the ships bow pointed toward the cur
| rent, and not away from it.
Thus the pilot sends his ship along TIL
her bow is well beyond the dock where she
| is to lie. Then tugs under her stern on
her backward side push with all the
| power of their pounding, chug-chugglng
! machinery, with their ropefended bows
| pressed straight against her side, to force
| the stern out into the river while other tugs
| push the bow in till line can be passed.
| Then with the ships screw working, the
| tugs take hawsers from the stern to pull
! forward. while tug at the bow hauis
| with all it's might to keep that clear of the
| corner of the pier If she can be headed
straight in then. a kick of the screw at just
the proper moment will send her gliding as
| daintily as duck alongside OF ner pier,
her way being checked by hawser after
hawSer.
Captains Courageous.
Now and then daring genius of cap
| tain coming in on slack water when the
| tidal current has spent its force and the
| stream is motionless for space before the
| tide turns takes big ship almost under
| her own steam. But he must have glor-
| ious faith in himself and a blind belief in
| the efficiency of engine room staff and
| dock crew TO try it. When you are ham
| ding 1900 tons that move fifteen feet
| a second even under engines shut down to
| half speed, you can't change your mind
| once she starts forward. 1t will take her
| only single minute to go the whole
length of a 1,O00-foot dock and smash
| whatever is at the other end.
In strong current and in wind blow
| ing with any considerable force from any
| direction whatever, the ship hardly
| dare give herself any except the slightest
motion. And she can't hold good steer
| age way except at a speed superior to that
| of most tugs, any motion acquired from her
| own engines is always likely to be great
| enough for her to outrun the serving tow
| boats.
| So the big ships, having raced 1000 miles
\ inGt fU1n nlFar