The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1909-08-27
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} Ad'eQtdre u
HIS LAST CAPE HORN PASSAGE.
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HORN passages, SdpIdlu USol &c Noou-
win, of the well-known American
ship Dirigio, declares he has COM
pleted his last voyage around the his
toric headland, where terrific gales
forever tear the sails off ships, where
thunderbolts rent spars into splinters
and mountainous seas leap to the
yard arms.
The Dirigio arrived several weeks
ago at Honolulu at the end of one
of the most thrilling Cape Horn runs
on record, and it was when he had
piloted his command into safe
haven that the well-known skipper,
who has followed the sea for nearly
half a century, said that he would
never again take the chances which
resulted in mis- undergoing such an
experience as the Dirigio passed
through.
Lightning, which shattered the
foreskysail mast like pipe stem;
hurricanes that stripped the sticks OF
their canvas; seas that doomed from
every point of the compass; a dan
gerous leak below the water line, that
finally compelled the good ship to
seek refuge in South American
port, are recorded in the log of the
Dirigio's eventful passage.
The Dirigio sailed from Baltimore,
October 26, 1908, laden with coal for
the United States Government at
Honolulu. Owing to heavy gale
which was blowing from the east
ward, the ship was compelled to
anchor off Cape Henry, and did not
square away for sea until the follow
ing Friday.
The Dirigio soon fell in with the
ship Acme, bound for this port, and
was in her company for some time,
each vessel piling on canvas and try
ing to outsail the other. For several
days the Dirigio and the Acme were
together, with strong west and north
west winds blowing all the time.
On November 6 heavy gale from
southeast to southwest was raging
and in the weather the two vessels
parted. And here the Dirigio's trou-
BILE began with the loss of several
sails.
"After that" as Captain Goodwin
expressed it, things came in
punches"
cat the height of the terrific
wind" says the skipper, "the ship
rolled from side to side, groaning in
every timber, shipping seas fore and
oE lob fhnY,1 frnY,o tho
northwest. and the southwark over
the BEAM"
On the afternoon of November 6
the carpenter, staggering aft on the
pitching ship, reported to the master
that the vessel was leaking. No more
startling information can come to a
shippers ears on the high seas when
the nearest port lies hundreds of
miles away over the threatening
waste of ocean.
Captain Goodwin acted quickly.
The leak was discovered to be below
through a crack in plate twelve
feet under the sea. To stop the flow
of the water, which was rapidly
flooding the hold with sickening
gurgle, Captain Goodwin made pad
out of cotton batting, soaked it in
white lead, and placed it over the
crack. Then over this was fastened
a plank.
There was no water in the hold
when the pumps were sounded at
eight o'clock that morning, but when
the leak had been stayed, it was
found that the hold contained two
and one-half feet of the brine.
1--WE pumped out as much water
as we could" continues Captain
Goodwin, "and then 1 took up the
floor and hoisted the rest up through
the lazaret hatch, using big oil
drums. We were two days getting all
of that water out. AS the leak was
so far aft, thought at first that
could build bulkhead, fill it with
cement, stop the leak, and keep on
my passage. worked on this
scheme for several days, but in spite
of all that we could do the water
continued to force it's way in and
wash the cement away. We had to
hoist from forty to fifty barrels of
water out of the hold every day.
$50 it seemed that I could do moth
ing, and 1 decided to go into Rio for
repairs. Two days after the gale we
sighted the Acme with her foretop-
gallant mast gone. She, too, had
had a taste of the medicine which
the clemens had been giving u.s.
The following Friday after the
Dirigo sprang leak she ran into an
other gale, which was accompanied
by thunder and lightning. One bolt
descended on the foreskysail mast,
rending it to splinters on the heaving
decks below, but the crew considered
themselves lu:"Gy in not suffering any
worse.
ION the evening OF November "a" -"
Capt. Goodwin relates, 1--WE saw an
unusually large comet, which seemed
to be standing on it's head. 1t had
the longest tail of any comet 1 ever
saw, and it vas in sight for two even
ings."
The Dirigo finally numbered into
the harbor of Rio Janeiro, where she
remained long enough to make re-
pairs and collect a nice bunch of
barnacles, the latter having the eff
feet, Capt. Goodwin dryly observes,
of making the old ship sail slower
than a bale of hay with paddles
The story of the vessels passage
in the Pacific was one of squalls,
calms, and unsettled trades.
This eventful passage ends my
fifty-sixth and last passage around
Cape Horn" concludes Capt. Good
win, "and I've had enough this
time San Francisco Chronicle.
AT THE MERCY OF A RHINO-