Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-11-10

AhSSF c 80
a distance from the ship.
The lanchas themselves are heavily con-
structed. open wooden boats from . to
40 feet long. usually brought alongside by
the strong arms and straining backs OF
the six or seven native lancheros. who, In
their queer hats and color striped jerseys,
often resemble the pirates of the old
prints.
The second officer opens the matches and
the checkers and freight handlers drop
down the narrow iron ladder into the dark
depths of the hold. AT the open hatch
stands the mate bossing the discharge, one
foot on an angle-iron at the side of the
ship and a leg stretched across a corner
of the black chasm of the hatchway; a
position enabling him to see the men
straining in the semi-darkness of, the
tween-decks or to signal across the open
hatch to the man at the steam winch
the winchero-or to curse in Spanish at
the lancheros below. balancing with out
spread bare legs and looking up from the
lancha rising and falling with the Pacific
rollers. The winchero releases the brakes
on the drum of his hoist and sends a line
of rope shaking into the hold, where II
is fastened to the first packing case.
"Listo?" (ready?) calls the mate h Is
directing operations, and from the hold
below floats up "Arriba /. a" up)
The mate signals the winchero with an
P"oAN AiiNNSh VI AAS
the hosting rope tightens; a case below
hits the iron sides of the ship with a crash,
shoots into view, and swings over the side.
dangling at the end of the line. TIL mate
watches the roll Of the ship, the rise and
fall of the lancha, and the swinging and
twisting of the case at the end OF a 30
foot line. When there seems to be a
fair chance of the case landing In the
lanclla and not In the ocean, he lowers his
s~emaphoric right arm a hair, the winchero
releases the brakes, and the case drops In
to the lancha.
If all conditions are favorable, the case
strikes with more or less violence, depend
ing on the skill and Judgment OF the mate.
II. however, the lancha happens to be ris-
ing rapidly on a swell while the ship Is
rolling down. the resulting crash requires
strong boxing to resist 1t. Or II the lancha
is sliding into the hollow of a wave, and
the steamer is rolling away and showing
the red below her water line to the
lancheros, then the case may be dropped
into salt water In place of into the lancha.
In any event. IL the steamer is a little be-
hind time, and several hundred tons of
cargo have to be discharged in a few
hours. the cases are dropped into tho
lanchas as fast as they can be yanked
from the hold. II the weather 10 bad,
the waves may send their spray over the
goods in the lanchas and rust and injure
poorly protected shipments.
Many American shipments are very
carelessly packed. One OF the photographs
shows an American drill press shipped
from Connecticut and packed In a case OF
half-inch pine: the end was smashed, the
drill press rusty. and each time the case
was lifted a few more small parts drtb-
bled out into the water. Another manu-
facturer sent several dozen shiny gal
vanized pals merely wired together n
nestled without any Grating. Now, pals
are useful household equipment anywhere
along the coast, and many a lanchero de-
lighted his family with a new American
pail. The rest were well denied where
boxes had fallen on them. Another of the
illustrations shows the confused tumble in
the bottom of a lancha: bales of cotton
goods, medicines. a windmil from Chi
cago, and SO on. AS a contrast to some
American packing, note the heavily con-
lstructed. iron-strapped German packing
case from Hamburg. and in the rear a
Ransomes farm engine from England,
both landed on shore in perfect cOndi-
ton.
OF course many American concerns,
such as some of the big electrical COM
/ panies, know how to take care of their
export shipments, and handle them well,
using heavy lumber. iron Swapping. and
where necessary. waterproof paper or
cloth as a lining for the cases. American
%car-building concern that recently sup
piled some excellent sleeping cars to the
Chilean State railways shipped its finer
woodwork in zinc-lined, Theoretically
sealed boxes, the best possible protec-
ton. .
When the average American shipper
has learned to pack his products so that
his customer in Timbuctoo or Chile re-
ceives them in as good condition as when
they left the factory. then America will
lhave made a decided advance in the pre-
'uE uAMnc