The Republican journal., 1911-08-24
The Port of Dead Sims
New York now the Cemetery for Man,
Fine old Windjammers


face of the waters by steam. The
iandsman may be inclined to think this
over-estlmated, but if he will 90 down
Erie Basin way any afternoon. or stroll
over to Gowanus, or along the Kill Won
kull or the Jersey shor, of the upper
bay, he will see with his own ewes it is
not. And if he is lucky he will find some
superannuated sailorman, smoking a
short black pipe, on the shore. who will
tell him tales of the hulks that lie rot
ting or rusting. sinking gradually in The
mud, where they have been deserted
anchored in the port from which tbev
will never be cleared. What becomes
of the old sailing ships? Many are cut
down to barges, the hull being made to
serve for a few more years. After
that, If they escape accident, they some.
how reach shipyard, where they NAV
be bought for few dollars to aid in
filling land. Much of the land along,
South Brooklyn water front has had it's
foundation laid in old canal boats and
barges, and many one lies there. as
truly buried as are most of the sailormen
who once sailed them, in the DAYS when
! their sails were squared to the deep
seas breeze.
It's in the Erie and Brooklyn basins that
the great fleet of Durham square-rig-
gers lay for many years. Only one ship
/ OF the fleet remains, and her deep sea
days are over. She is the Jacob SIAM
Ter, and she now serves as hotel for
those who find too high the cost of CITY
living. John Arhbuckle, her owner has
refused to permit her great yards to be
removed, and they still hang proudly
/ from her stick, as she lies at the foot
of East Twenty Street.
/ 1t was in Erie Basin that the twenty
two swift schooners of the New York
and New Jersey pilots We're tied up
When the steam service was inaugu-
rated. In the old days they used to
cruise off Sandy Hook, 500 to 900 miles,
IN search of incoming vessels. Each
bore huge number on her mainsail and
the sighting and betting on this was an
event in the life of ocean travellers.
Sometimes these ships took the pilots
out as far as Cape Sable, 900 miles. or
down to the Delaware Capes.
There was the limejuicer Swanhilda,
four-masted square-rigger, and as trim
craft as ever flew Union jack
saying which one of the regulars at the
basin pointed to a dismasted hulk Cap
tain Fraser said he, was skipper and
on one trip he shipped big, silent chap.
He never had words with nobody, used
to read prayerbook all day long, and
, the men calls him the sky pilot. When
she reached Frisco the sky pilot was
arrested, Then he confessed to killing
twelve persons, two whole families
They takes him back there, and he was
hanged"
a Of bl h.,
Austrian bark Hungar with a cargo of
bones from Egypt, brought in derelict
off the Long Island shore. What be-
came of her captain and crew never was
known. 81 well remember the day the
steel bark Janet Court of Glasgow was
towed in here said the old-timer.
''She was picked up by some steamer or
other after being deserted by her crew.
She had cargo Of nitrate, and the boys
did well on salvage. She had been dis
masted in the West Indies by a hurri-
cane and the men took to the boats. -
Down by the Gokey dock he who strolls
may see the steamer City of Washing
on rusty and time worn, eating herself
up in watchmen hire and wharfage.
Her once black tunnels still show two
narrow white bands, the sign of we'll
known company in the Cuban trade
Time was when the Washington was we'll
known in the South seas. In those
days, before collectors like Loeb, the
/ law against smuggling was pike and
cigars were brought in by the thousands.
One of the inspectors of that day, so the
story runs, was Andrew MacCourt He
was known as a square man. and as
he could not be ''squared' he made
many enemies, for he was always trying
to spoil some ones little game to cir
cumvent the law. One day, so the story
runs, the Washington returned from
Cu'oa and tied up at her pier. The day
perance. He had been clipped off, that
there was to be ''killing," and he had
an idea he would forestall it.
Going to the engine-room with an
oiler, he demanded that the manhole
cover of one of the reserve boilers be
removed. The oiler protested that it
was against all orders. but MacCourt
insisted, and when the heavy plate
was drawn aside, MacCourt went
down into the empty boiler where he
had heard 5000 cigars had been con-
cealed. MacCourt had lantern and
began looking along the plates and
tubes He found nothing, but when
he returned to the manhole the lid
was on. He yelled and shouted for
help. No one came. Then his lamp,
which had not been overful of oil,
went out and he was left in darkness.
He had no means of keeping time,
and began to wonder what would
happen if they turned steam into the
boiler or turned water in to it and light
ed up the fires. Fear thus engendered
lent power to his arms and legs, and he
wore out his shoes, bruised his hands,
and broke his knife knicking or hammer
ing the boiler. Finally someone I'M
screwed the manhole cover, but before
he could get out the person who did so
had disappeared. MacCourt saw by bis
watch that he had been three hours in
the boiler. He learned later that while
he had been prisoner the cigars had
been taken ashore. They had been hid
den in one of the sails.
Along the shore may be seen the rot
ting timbers of the little schooner Mo-
hawk, which gained fame in her day by
muntiny of her crew. They murdered
the captain and mate and started on
piratical cruise, preying on the fishing
schooners off the Banks. From several
her crew stole fish, which were taken to
Boston and sold before their source was
discovered. When word of the piracy
! reached BOSTON the Mohawk and her