The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-11-16

Disappearance Fro the a OF tho
Famous Old Ship.

Within the past month the maritime
Journals have contained the adver.
tisements Of three ships and barques
and two brigs offered for sale by their
owners, Immediately upon their return
from their voyages. The presumption
is that these vessels will be dismasted
and join the increasing feet of coal
barges recruited from the ranks of the
old square-riggers. This process,
which has been going On steadily for
many years past, appears to be more
rapid than ever of late. Between 1894
and the present time the number of
vessels of this class under the Ameri-
can flag decreased from 633 to 290.
The United States commissioner of
navigation predicts their entire dis
appearance inside of twenty years.
The interesting feature of this ma
rine evolution is that 1t is not the
sailing vessel as such that is disap-
pearing, but this particular type of
sailing vessel. The schooner, as has
been often pointed out, was never so
popular as at the present time. 1t has
been developed, enlarged, and invest
ed with more masts than the old-time
skipper ever dreamed OF. James G.
McCurdy, who writes in THE World
Today on Ships That Are PASSING.
after abiding to the conversion of
ships inta cargo barges, says: But
lately, as though our fleet of square
riggers was not being retired fast
enough by wreck ano condemnation,
the plan Of transforming sound, sea-
worthy ships and barks into schOOners
has been tried with such signal sue
cess hat the practice seems destined
TO become quite general" His article
is illustrated by Photographs of sew
eral ships SO transformed.
Thus the square-rigger is doomed,
not because the steamship is doing all
the carrying by sea, but because the
particular qualities which it possessed
are no longer worth paying for. The
square-rigger is the elder type, to be-
gin with. According to Mr.. McCurdy,
the first fore-and-aft rugged vessel was
built at Gloucester in 1913. The ia
nous Baltimore clippers combined
both rigs with the graceful sharp hull
that was their characteristic. The
superiority Of the square-rigger for
transatlantic travel lay in the ability
to carry sail. She could not sail so
close to the wind; she could not be
manned as cheaply. But the square
rigger could build up her structure of
canvas till the term moonrakers be-
- 40 n III ira h1r 1noorir+iu1 coil
area a third greater than that pro-
VIded by the most effective fOre-and-
aft rig-that was the approximate
equivalent of a one-tnird increase in
the coal consumption of a steamship.
Both involve increased expense, but
both are worth while whenever the de-
rCand for speed is paramount over
considerations of economy.
h square trigger necessarily car
Tied a larger crew, and the old Yam
kee shippers would sometimes have
the mountain of canvass reset several
times in a sight that the last pound
of wind pressure might be effectively
applied. That is not worth while now
for any traffic that is carried on at all
in sailing vessels. The prevailing
winds of the cOastw1se trade, more
over, are such as to favor the schoon-
er, which would be at a considerable
disadvantage in the deep-sea trade.
Since the cOaStwise trade is assured
TO the American \ vessel, the odds
against the square-rigger seem heav-
Ter than ever.
An interesting point is raised with
regard to the possible dedication of
the Square-rigger to the function of
training the sailing-masters Of the fu-
ture and its survival for that one pur-
pose. THE best authorities continue
to hole" says Mr.. McCurdy, that safe
navigation will suffer a setback if the
sailing fleet is allowed to disappear
from the ocean highways, for train
ing on sailing ships is thought to be
essential to the successful navigation
of stamships." He continues:
Germany which has one of the most
aggressive merchant marines afloat, has
taken the initiative in the matter of
obtaining sailor-bred recruits for her
steamship lines, and has ~co-operated
with the North German Lloyd Steam
ship Co., in maintaining several full-rig
ged sailing ships in commission,
where young men can secure thorough
sea training. Such a plan has ire
quently been urged for the considera-
ton of American shipowners."
1t might be added that the city Of
New York does maintain a training
ship of a similar sort as do the cities
of Boston and Philadelphia, while the
United States government is more and
more training its young officers on
steamers. This is true of both the
revenue marine and the navy, the for
mer having just given up its practice
barque in favor Of the gunboat Ban
croft. So far as Annapolis is on
cerned. while the cadets are still
taught how to sail, there was not this
year a single sailing ship among the
vessels assigned for the annual prac-
tice Cruise.
If II is demOnStrated that a course