The Republican journal., 1912-05-02
In the Bahamas.
Capt. Rob" White and his Steamship
Miami. Belfast People at Nassau.

Miami. Belfast People at Nassau.
To THE EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL:
Since writing you from New Orleans l
have been to Cuba and Nassau. Cuba.
with it's foreign life and language, has
much of interest, but for recreation.
pure and simple. have never been In
winter resort that has so much to offer
as Nassau The Colonial Hotel is first
class, and full of nice people, and the
sailing and swimming are the best l
have ever seen anywhere. The bathing
beach is on an, island, and for shilling
they sail you over there, give you the
use of bathhouse, and after your swim
allow YOU to eat all the fruit-orapges,
cocoanuts, grape fruit, bananas, sapa-
dillos, etc.--you want, right off the
trees. The water is so mild and warm
that most people stay in, or lie on the
white, sandy beach all the morning. The
weather for the past month has been
about perfect. 1t being the dry season,
there was scarcely rainy day, one clear
sunny morning succeeding another, the
sky toward afternoon being full of white,
fieecy clouds, driven on by the soft trade
wind, which never seems to die out, as
does our sea breeze, and leave one be-
Gained. The temperature during March
ranged from Csc $500, and the wealth
bn ybo1n hos
during August, except that there is very
little change at night, or from day to
day. The houses have no artificial heat.
All the cooking is done in small houses
picturesquely situated, usually in the
gardens surrounded by roses and covered
with vines. 1t seemed odd to see town
full of houses without even single
chimney in them. went out to the Ba-
hamas with Captain "nob" White on his
steamship, the Miami, and was his guest
for two days aboard. HIS run is an un-
usual one, and you may be interested in
a few facts that struck me regarding it.
The bars at each end of the trip, both
at Miami, Florida, and at Nassau, N. T.,
have very little water on them, and the
Miami, which was built for the route, is
the largest vessel that can ent, r either
port, and, in fact, is the only one of any
size that attempted to do so during my
stay, the Ward line boats lying outside
the bar in the open at Nassau, and large
- to- g
steamer is of about 2, 900 tons and draws
eleven feet of water and requires very
high tide to get out of the beautiful
stretch of inland water called Biscayne
Bay, on which Miami is situated. Con-
sequently the sailing schedule is ar
ranged to leave each port at high water,
and, of course, the time of leaving must
vary daily. When we went out we struck
bottom dozen times, practically drag
cling through the sand and humping over
the ridges, at times all but sticking. In
fact, it requires the greatest skill and
familiarity with the channel, to work the
ship through the lower dredged passage,
80 feet wide and 1-2 miles long. Capt.
White always takes the wheel himself
here, and everybody in the pilot house
holds his breath. 1t was only by con-
slant maneuvering of the twin screws
at times reversing one to get around the
sharp turns, and at others full speed
ahead on both, to force her over tie
bars-that we avoided being sucked into
one bank or the other, or stuck altogeth-
er in the middle.
This channel, in two sections, totaling
about IL miles in length, is dredged
and staked by the Florida East Coast
Company, which owns the steamship line,
as well as the railroad and half dozen
mammoth, first class hotels on the Flor
ida coast, and two, equally good, at
Nassau.
The work of stalking and dredging the
channel at Miami is entirely plotted and
supervised by Capt. White every fall
before the steamer goes on the route
for the winters run. In the summer
she makes, as you know, daily trips be-
tween Key West and Havana, Cuba.
On the Miami's Nassau run, after
leaving Biscayne Bay, the course is E. N.
E. 81 miles, to the nearest island of the
Bahama group, diagonally across the
gulf stream, which here runs at the rate
of from to IL knots per hour, and
I have never seen nast;er, short cross
sea, either on the proverbial stormy
passage to Bermuda, or in crossing the
English Channel, than l was in on this
stretch of water last February. The
rest of the distance, though somewhat
sheltered by the islands, lies across water
more than IA miles deep, quite con-
trast to the shadows at each end, and
then runs along the edge of the great
bahama Bank, where if the sun chances
to be bright and astern one may see the
white sandy bottom or the coral heads at
a depth of 60 feet under the ship.
The islands Of this group are, judge,
practically table land, or plateaux, on the
tops of mountains whose sides are very
steep; for instance, the water just out
side the bar of Nassau harbor is mile
H.