The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1908-12-03
Menace of the Coast.
Long Ocean Going Tows Thus Stismatized

Menace ana nuisance were Cne
terms applied to ocean lows OF a mile
and mile-and- a-half length at the hear
ing on the regulation of tow-llne lengths
at the Chamber Of Commerce this fore
noon. Coastwise steamship lines, schoon-
err fleets, barge owners, pilots, toWboat
lines and underwriters were represented
before the special board which is to pre-
pare regulations in this matter of hawser
commissioner of navigation, the third
member of the board, was obliged to be
absent. The testimony was heard by
Rear Admiral A. Mark, U. S. N, and
General George Uhler, Inspector general
of the steamboat inspection service. Prac-
tically every vessel interest of size in
Boston was heard from, and the masters
of the coastwise sailing fleet told several
hair-raising tales of narrow escapes due
to excessive lengths of toWlines. The
general opinion seemed to be that, while
towboat captains often suffer great hard
ship, and need to be given their dlscre-
ton in the matter of frightening lows in
a heavy sea, they cannot, as class, be
counted on to shorten their lows IN fine
weather, which often causes annoyance,
if not disaster, to steamers, SchOoners
and square-riggers. The other side was
courteously put by Captain George W.
Lawler, the Boston pilot: ''We don't
want to make life harder for the barge
and towboat men, We all know that
they have bad enough time as it is.
Conditions should govern. If the captain
can shorten his hawser before coming
inside the harhor, he should be obliged
to do so. 1t would be much safer for
all concerned. In an easterly gale out
side of Boston Light this might be i'm
possible, and all who go to sea in the
winter time have hard enough life.
The consensus of Boston opinion, as
announced by Captain John c. Ross, pilot
commissioner of Boston, at the opening
of the hearing, was that lows should be
limited to 2600 feet outside the harpor,
and 1900 feet inside, and should be limit
ed to the towing vessel and two barges.
Around these propositions the discus
sion focused, and general debate fol
lowed. The opposition, so far as there
was any, was led by Captain F. Hamilton
Murrell of the Baltimore & Boston Barge
Company, himself a former shipmaster
of many years experience. He made the
point, that the towboat captains them
selves took which was a surprise to many,
pains to shorten hawser crossing Nan
tucket Shoals, since their failure to do so
would allow the towline to drag on the
bottom, chafe and break.
Captain Murrell gave the present prac-
tice of the Baltimore and Boston barges
to be IT'S fathoms OF towline, or 1000 odd
feet to barge, of which there are usual
" two or three, this meaning two light
and one loaded, or else two loaded. His
remarks were seconded by Richard H.
Borden, representing barge interests,
who echoed the sentiment that ICON
ditions must govern.
The steamship interests were next
heard from. Charles Skentelbery, ma
rine superintendent of the Massachusetts
Steamship Company, which has three
golfers plying between Boston and Baltl-
more, read letters from their three cap
tains. Captain William NJ Smith of the
Maiden, an old towboat man, wrote that
it would be impossible to shorten hawser
outside of Boston light in some weathers,
but that any conscientious tug captain
should do so when possible. Captain
Frostad of the Merose said that long
tows had come to be real nuisance, "
that they stick to the middle of the chan
mel whether they need it or not, and that
everybody is afraid of them. Captain
Abbott of the Everett wrote that two
barge lows would involve comparatively
little danger to other craft.
George W. Apsey, representing the
Metropolitan Steamship Company, spoke
feelingly of the two accidents to the H.
NJ. Whitney in He'll Gate, and introduced
the senior captain of the company's
fleet, Captain Groves of the steamer
Yale. who reported having seen Lehigh
Valley tugs with six barges in tow, and
said that in heavy weather it was i'm
possible to hear the tugs signals. Capt.
Murrell then elected in evidence that the
accidents to the Whitney could not be
primarily attributed to ocean-going
barges. Mr.. Apsey admitted that the
first nishap was due largely to fog,
while the second was caused by city
scows which, he SAID, monopolized the
Hell-Gate channel.
Captain William H. Allen of the steam
err Bay State, representing the Eastern
Steamship Company, was present to say
that, using the harbor almost every
night, he found the long lows inside the
harbor limits a source of constant anX-
iety and menace.
The main objection Of the sailing YES
sci masters seemed to be that these long
tows had changed the rules of the road.
1T is at sea and on the Nantucket
shoals that we have our plentiful troub-
lie, - said Captain L. K. McKown OF the
five-masted schooner Davis Palmer.
1--WE used to think that if we went to
the stern of vessel we were safe, but
now the chances are you fall foul of a
tow-line and as likely as not another
barge. We all know that the channel
across the shoals is narrow, and there is
not much room for man9uvring when it
is full of lows. ;"
William F. Palmer managing owner
of the Palmer fleet Of some fifteen large
schooners, said that 70 per cent Of his
sea risks were on collisions. 81 hear the
same story from every incoming cap
tain said Mr.. Palmer, land the pres
ent request for a limit of 2, $50 feet is, if
anything, too moderate. By far the
greater number of our collisions have
been with barges. We are not wholly
satisfied with the two-barge regulation
and think the reduction must in time be
made to one This resolution denotes a
compromise, and 1500 feet in the har-
bors is pure gift to the convenience of
towboats. But it is hard to see how any
body can in reason object to the 1850
foot limit Long lows are the burden on
our commerce.
Captain Arthur Crowley, formerly
master of the schooner Thomas W. Law
son, told of several encounters with
barges in lows of undue lengsh from
which the masters of the feet had come
off ooIv NV means of suDerb SeamanShip