Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-02-26

not the nerve to perform the opera =
ion. but capt. Samuels mad; he cut
off his own leg. scared the arteries
with hot iron and navigated his ves-
sell into port That was the stuff the
Yankee skipper was made of.
The captains profession made men
If steel Quick in decision, they took
svery chance for their ships.
A Salem captain of fast ship was
once running out of port alongside a
'ival ship which began to gain on him.
He did not want to heave to in order
% let the pilot off and accordingly
ut the painter of the pilots dingy and
brew the man overheard. for he knew
hat he would be sure to find his boat
While rounding the Horn Capt Put
1am heard the cry Man overboard!"
lie rushed on deck. instantly seized
md threw overheard, a heavy hen
'oop to serve as mark, brought the
ship to- sent off a boat and standing
the rigging pointed to the hen coop
With a marlinspike. The boat crew
,ould not see the man, the man never
saw the hen coop, but they pulled to
t. shouted and brought their man
back alive thanks to the instant pres
ence of mind of the captain.
f The sevefest test of the ability of a
captain was in times of fire collision,
storm or wreck: then 1t was that the
power to command men was necessary.
rhe narratives are full of the courage
and sufferings of the captain. One of
the most thrilling books of the sea is
Capt. Rileys Narrative Describing
the Loss of the ship Commerce" on the
coast of Africa. and the experiences of
himself and his crew as slaves of the
Arabs
The captains were often ingenious.
More than 100 years ago when Capt.
Williams of the ship Friendship ran
out of water, he rugged up still with
IN old gun barrel for the worm" and
made fresh water out of salt water.
But wee to the captain and woe to
the crew if the captain lost his head.
When the Peep o Day lost two of her
upper masts in the China seas because
the captain had not the sense to take
in her sails, the crew refused duty.
and the captain broke down and cried
like q baby. That ship afterward ran
ashore three times and the crew all
believed that the captain was trying to
wreck nGT ibT the Insurance..
The best period of the American ship
and the American captain was from
about 1910 to 1869 when the clipper
ships. some of which We're of a thous
and tons burden, We're the swiftest,
most graceful and best handled craft
of the ocean. Some of their records
are almost Incredible.
For instance the James Baines once
sailed from Boston to Liverpool in II
days and six hours: the Sovereign of
the Seas sailed 437 miles from noon
to noon-faster time than is made by
many passenger steamers; the Trade
Wind sailed from New York to San
Francisco. $1,000 miles in 70 days. In
amount of tonnage the American mer
chant marine was second only to that
of Great Britain, and IN shipbuilding
and navigation America was the first
country OF the world.
In those days sea captains, although
they were we'll paid, did not have the
of making money by pri-
vate trade that they had half a century
earlier. In 1893 Capt. Jonathan Carnes,
for instance fitted out the little brig
Rajah. 100 tons, and with a crew of 10
pepper-a venture on which he cleared
n profit OF 500, 900.
In 1902 Capt. De Wolf sailed in the
ship Juno to the northwest coast for
furs and fell in with a Russian noble
who wanted to go to Japan. De Wolf
persuaded him to buy his vessel He
put the proceeds into new trades and
came back i'll two years and n half
with 100000 net profit. Some sea cap
tains invested in their own ships, or,
like Capt. John Bertram. even became
owners of a feet.
For three quarters of century the
sea captain was the popular American
hero. Few military or naval men We're
as dashing as he: and the owning and
sailing of ships was one of the most
attractive cailings. 1t is odd that the
tramp steamers. the direct descendants
of the old wooden merchant ships, are
rather looked down upon nowadays.
People are interested only in the
great liners like the Kaiser Wilhelm
and tho Lusitania and the Olympic.
Probably the main reason is that the
captain OF the tramp gets his orders
by telegraph and no longer has the
same chance for choosing and loading
his own cargo. Nothing, however, can
ever take away the splendid achieve
ments of the American sailors, officers
and men, who carried the American
flag over every sea and left upon the
world the impression of American skill.
pluck and endurance.-Albert Bushnell
Earte in the Youths Companion.