Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1911-11-01

Manila, and the skipper, o. u. Chapman.
Carrying cargo OF coal, the Shenandoah
arrived q Manila, on March 2, 1eCo, fairly
good weather and NO untowsrd accidents
marring the voyage.
From Aanita The Shenandoah sailed to
Port Blaksly. On this journey, With all
satls ct large part Of the time, tht crack
Maine ship developed the speed Of nrst-
class tramp steamer. On the sixteenth day
out she Travelled go knots. 30 the log reads:
''6trong breeze, fns weather, few clouds,
moderate sea, all sails ST." The average
for the first nine hours siightly exceeded
twelve knots an hour. Towards evening
came "a heavy rain, squall, wind banning,
hauling, northward SEQ and wind, in
creased high cross rhoppy ssa, ship roll
ing very heady, took in maintop g'sail'.
Yet under such conditions the shenan-
doah managed to average eleven knots an
hour for the remainder OF the day.
On April q, 1905, in latitude 36.14, longi-
tude 1929, the Shenandoah covered 2O4
knots. The following day, In ''strong
breeze and rain, the ship made thirteen
knots for five consecutive hours and .
total of 27s for the entire twenty four
hoursv. On April rs the weather cleared
little and breczes were s.s:rong, mod
crate and fresh. That day the total
number OF knots wss 80. For the first
eight hours the Shenandoah averaged
thirteen knots an hour.
Sewsll's pride was doing some sailing
on this trip, as the record for the next few
days shows. On April %, 20 the log reads,
the weather was favorable to gvod sailing.
s'Strong breeze" the entry states. ''Squal-
", rain, sea making up. Took in sky
sails, and royal furled cross jack. Ligbts.
Pumps. Lookout carefully attended to.
sss Strong breeze. Squally. Main-top-
gallant quarter. Block carried away and
took in sail and furled it. 80 Strong
breeze. Heavy squalls. Took fore and
mizzen top gallant in. Hail and snow
squalls. Sea making up. Men standing
by. - 8 .. m, took in mainsail.
Heavy, rough sea. Snow squalls. Pumps
tried twenty-four days out"
And in such tempestuous weather as
this, the Shenandoah, built at Bath, Me-,
measuring 322 feet in length, fifty feet
beam and twenty-nine feet deep, snd
carrying total sail spread OF II 600 square
feet-on this day sailing from Manila to
Port BIakely the Shenandoah made no less
than 3lS knots! In the annals OF Ameri-
can merchant marine, even as far back as
the records OF the clippers, it would take
pagnifying glass to discover half dozen
duplicates OF such an achievement.
AVERAGE TWELVE KNOTS.
The log in Capt. Gardeners possession
on the barge Shenandoah states that for
the first six hours OF this memorial BILE day
the ship Shenandoah averaged twelve
knots. Then for four hours an average of
thirteen knots was maintained. BY that
time the seas were kicking up strong, but
the Shenandoah still carrying a huge
spread OF canvas scurried foc the next
eight hours at an average OF twelve knots.
Not until shortly before midnight did she
slacken here pace in the slightest, and
then coming down only knot.
As if this feat OF sailing were not
enough, the Shenandoah, on the following
day, April 81, rode through small gale
at twelve knot clip. In spite Of beaving
waves and snow squalls she covers 291
knots. For twenty-one out OF the twenty
four hours her pace was twelve knots;
during the other three hours an average OF
thirteen knots. At no time in that day
was her speed less than twelve knots.
The rains and snow squalls continued.
or mn in or
flight. On April % she averaged exactly
twelve knots. On April % her total was
III knots. Next day was Sunday, but
Capt. Chapman's blood was up and he
wanted to get to Port Blakely as far ahead
OF time as possible, SO the ship, was sent
along under as much sail as the stormy
weather permitted. The Sunday total was
the respectable figure, 249 knots. Next
day the weather became SO bad that q
few sails had to be taken, in, reducing
the total knots to 215. But the first day of
May brought little letup in the ele-
ments, with the result that Shenan-
doah finished up with an hourly average
of eleven knots, days total of 264 knots.
Said Barge Captain 8. L. Gardiner, when
he had finished reading these old records
Of the ship Shenandoah.
'sWhat shame that such a ship should
be nothing more than coal barge! Hear
that steam shovel ripping away at her
beamsi She's nothing hurt up to date,
but let her stay in this business few
years and there'll be precious little left to
remind you that the Shenandoah was once
the fastest ship, American, German,
French or Italian, afioat. But how can
you help it? You can't run an American
ship to profit any longer. They build
cheaper across the water, and it costs
nothing to pay or feed the sailors. You
can't compete with them, even though
you've got the ships = even though
you've got such shipsas this one. Look at
her now, all grimy and sooty, the finest
thing that ever'sailed under spread can
vas! Hear that steam shovel banging
away at her beamsP