The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1910-02-17

Nld' tieSt llilt I'lopclitio iiohi pt'it'iN
although perhaps not as many As by raj
to Milwaukee and thence 10y steamer
to Manitowoc. The local passenger
steamers were in the early days all
Side-wheelers of the same general
type as the ones still running although
smaller craft. These line propellerS
of old days were a distinct type of pass
enger and freight steamer which has
now almost disappeared from the lakes.
There is nothing resembling them to
/ be seen on the lower lakes. The big
| outside arches on the Nyack and the
Goodrich Company Georgia are relics
OF one of their striking features.
| Their Buffalo crews contained some
tough characters who occasionally
livened up things in the village streets.
OF the sailing craft | wish | could
write as | would like to but it would
be perhaps technical, uninteresting
and serve no good purpose. In them |
grew up and spent most of my youth
and young manhood. | will briefly
sketch the various kind. 1t must be
remembered that in the time of which
! | speak Il steamer was only an Occa-
sional thing the sailing boat an every
! day affair: the steamers few, the wind
jammer legion. recall counting in
the early Cos tifty-tive sailing boats in
sight from the mouth of the river.
! How these craft are classified, ire
spective of their size. by the manner
of the rigging of their sails and mastS,
any encyclopedia or even dictionary
will inform you. In early days on the
lakes the vessels were mostly square
rugged on the fore mast. The early
sailors coming up from salt water of
course brought their ideas with them
and rugged the vessels accordingly.
There were also several full rugged
brigs. square rugged on both fore and
main masts. one was the Robt. Burns
and another the Oleander, and | re-
member one full rugged barque, the d.
Y. Morgan. That rig soon proved to
be too expensive and not practical for
the lakes and the three masted schoon-
er soon followed which remained uutil
the end of the schooners usefulness,
they being supplanted by the steamer
and tow barges.
have mentioned the salt water sail
orS we had on the lakes. a large part
of the crews of the big sailing boats
were of this class. Every ship had its
| ''foc's'le lawyer whose talk to his
own satisfaction at least showed a
more intimate knowledge of sailors
rights than any admiralty lawyer
could boast. Many of these salt water
men had practice of returning to the
coast during the winter months. Every
| fo'c'sle had some of them. They made
Al seamen of the boys and every
branch of the sailors craft, the very eX-
istence of the details of which a lands
man knows nothing, was thoroughly
ground into us, not at all uncommonly
|
end for the deep water men and the
! good seamen We're not all in the for
ward end of the boat Even in my
earliest recollections the splendid sea
men that Norway has given us had be-
gun to come. It was the delight of the
| boys to be on watch with one or more
| IDf al IL
spun of weird things in dis ant seas
was a never ending delight to us. We
| knew the names and the regulations
of the New York Liverpool clipper
masters who were notorious for their
| brutality to the seamen. We heard
and believed Them tales of wondrous
things in the South and China seas.
| The lunches served at change of watch
! at night were bread and Seaman's )
| ''Salt horse" 1t was never in quantity
sufficient to satisfy all hands and the
| boys suffered in consequence. Stories
of ship wrecks and nying fish were
pleasant, but did not satisfy young
ster's appetite. Many of these salt
seamen did not know how to sit up to
table at meals, and some Of them
have told me that they had no such
| things as dining tables in foc'sles on
sea-going ships. Some CT them would
not use table fork, making a sheath
knife serve as knife and fork But the
old time salt has now gone. Well
never see him on the lakes again. He
couldn't fit into modern conditions, but
his passing to give way to deck-hands,
whose necessary qualification is the
ability to scrub decks, took much of
the Capt. Marryat-Clark Russell flavor
from sailing on the lakes.
That the carrying Of freights on the
lakes has been revolutionized is ap-
parent. shall speak of that little
later. Here | mention one feature
that worked big change. Big boats
now are dispatched by wire almost like
trains. In my early days Il telegram
! from owners was unknown. In Chica-
90 with our grain in, in April, waiting
for the straits TO open We could not
learn Immediately when it was possible
to get through. SO when some one Of
the feet thought the weather ought to
have made the passage possible away
he would 90 out Of Chicago for Buffalo
and like a flock Of pigeons the rest
would be right after him. The rival