The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-04-28

On sheets and lacks
To fellow a newborn dream.
We read. ia a tails
OF the DAYS Of sat
Bat these are the days Of steam,
The Yankee CiipInr" is gone.
Her ssipper-
He's Captain Of steam to-day.
And the Old 4. BIS
Who ruled the seas
And Travelled the world
On an ocean breeze,
From the cid Bay State
70 the Hebrdes.
And North and South
And kast % please
The faucg-
Where are theys
The greatest menace 20 the future Of
the American sailing ship win be the
completion of the Panama Canal, says
the Boston Herald
As the cutting Of the Suez destroyed
the Jndiaman and the fast freighter Of
far Eastern ports, the great tea fleets
and the Australian fiiers, so will the
opening Of the Panama trench deal 4
fatal blow al The last remnants OF the
sailing trade of America. epit0mlzed IN
this instance by the great fleet Of wind
tanners that yearly rounds Cape Horn.
Statistics show that unless marine ar
chitects grapple promptly with the prob
lem of improving the DESIGNS OF sailing
ships, they VIII very soon be supplanted
by the steamer in every branch Of marine
enterprise save The fisheries and coast
wise trades
This rapid decline In the construction OF
sailing ships and the apparently inevi-
table placement Of them eventually Is
looked upon as one Of the most striking
features of marine architecture IN the
twentieth century.
While this applies TO the shipping Of
the world at large, it is especially true
of the merchant marine Of the United
States.
EXccIIed in OIden Days.
In lSl0, when steam as "a marine. acces-
sorry was unknown. the infant republic
had 10000 tons more forcigu-going mer-
chant shipping than she possesses to-day.
In lS5S her tonnage exceeded Britaiu's.
In 1850 she was turning out the stanchest
speediest, ana most useful sailors tba
world has ever known. the famous yam
kee clippers. of which Baltimore tea car-
Flers were examples
IN 1850 she was ssnI second ownership
Of seagoius argosias, her tonnage aggre-
eating 2590co0, aud she competed success
fully with Britain, carrying q per cent
OF American produce To-day she trans
ports but S per cent OF it ana has
little prospect OF lettering the proportion.
She has only % large shipyards. though
S0.0ol 100 people and 10O10 miles
of coast. Britain. with but half the pop
ulatioH and only 1000 miles Of coast. has
100 shipyards Of first rank
The civil war was the chief cause Of
the decline in American shipping. though
subsidiary conditions contributed not "a
little. When hosuHues opened, American
shipoWners sought the transfers of their
houlias TO foreign flags. but Congress re-
fused, and they had TO be sold outright
Between 1850 and 1850 no fewer than 900
bottoms, built In the single port OF Bath J
and aggregating 5a0oo0 tons. were So dis
posed of, and many other New England
ports could tel a similar story.
These immense fleets were never re-
placed, because foreigners secured control /
Of American commerce while the war
waged. and after It terminated the req
nited people turned their whole cnergies /
10 developing their great West and 10
solving the problems of inland access
which this involved.
Rapid Decline Recently.
Only two vessels flying TIE Stars ana
stripes have entered the port Of bordeaux. /
France, in ten years. Both were private (
Yachts, seeking protection during theI
Spanish-American war. IN the first six
of 1906 l12 American vessels en-
tered Bordeaux. They traded between 4
America and France in cotton. sugar. /
tobacco. slaves. whale oil. logwood. and .
vice versa, in wine, brandy, dry goods, /
fruits. and hardware. In 1895 only 2310t
IONS Of wooden shipping were built in F.
his country. and "a great deal of even
hat amount was for inland. lake. river.
ana such traffic, and for the coastwisc
rade
In England the same general conditions
sXist. Last year only 65 Sailors of 60.Sl5l
Ons were built out of n total of I.62303S
ons, and SO per cent were of steel The
annual reduction in English sailship tom
lage is 10 per cent. which portends the
'8Tly extinction of the British sailor on
he waters OF the world.
Few sailors traverse the Atlantic to-day
ave the humble fish and salt carriers OF
he Newfoundland trade. Few of these
.Xceed 100 tons and the pathos Of their
attempts % battle with the great ocean
S proved by the fact that within three
'ears 43 of them have never returned %
BESIDES these there are In trans-Atianuel
rade the French trawIers which cross
rom St Malo TO the Banks and the
Norwegian lumber wains. whose ir-re.
ha rfFr PA.
cas-.
BecaImed Near Azores.
Not long ago a well-known writer of
ga tales remarked that he recalled the
ime when he counted. one day, 63 sailing
esseIs becalned, as if within "a. magic
ing, near the Azores. These he counted
rom the crows nest OF his own vessel
which was no other than the famous
eet-footed Tweed, which held the record
f having beaten by day and a half
he mail steamship from Hongkong TO
singapore, She made several renowned
ashes from RangoOn to Madras across
iengal bay with rice during the great
IindOo famine of the seventies, and so
eet was she that ofttimes officers Of the
oval navy went aboard her and took
areful measurements to ascertain. if pos
ible, the secret Of Ter speed. But the
pirit IN her never divulged itself.
The Tweed suggests another. one. we'll
nown sailing vessel, the fast American
Upper Roanoke, burned 10 the waters
dye only a few months ago. She was
ne of the real old Yankee type, built
y the Sewalls of Maine ia 1892 She was
fa LARGEST CQIf9 ri urcreT of mol