The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1915-07-22
The Cotton Carriers of the
Sixties i.

Sixties
A Renaissance by Capt. George L. Norton.
Editor OF the Marine Journal, New York.
A call from Capt. A. D. Lothrop, of
the U. S. Army Transport Sumner gave
both him and the writer a pleasant half
hour in recalling the many officers and
friends of former period and the ships
they commanded in the good old days of
the late sixties when the sailing ship was
a money maker in the cotton trade be-
tween New Orleans and the United
Kingdom. At that time the writer was
harbor master at the Crescent City and
Capt. Lothrop was young sailing ves-
sci officer frequenting that port. All
the ships l remember assigning berths
at the levee, and their masters, that l
named in this interview were known to
Capt. Lothrop, and no doubt many of
our readers will remember them when
seen in print. One of the first mention
ed was the Boston ship Kentuckian,
Capt. Elisha Sears; then there was the
Victory, Cushing; Harvester, Thompson;
Crescent City, Delano; Western Empire,
Grozier; Expounder, Croker; Parthia,
McLoon; Sterling. Baker; Ell Captain.
Lincoln; Shawmut, Soule; Northamp-
ton, Trask; Genevieve Strickland, Strick-
land; United States, Lunt; Adorpa,
DAVIS; Carondelet, Stetson; Forest
Eagle, Woodward; Sandusky, Baker;
North Star, Owen, and many others
that we fail to recall.
At the years referred to-1871 to
1875-in the winter season these big
hips lay at the levee head up stream
frequently four abreast, and with five
knnt a hirb rixyor 1nx1,v, ctr
it took some hawser and solid piles to
hold a tier of four, and especially the
outside ship, while this current was con-
tinuous. A sailorman can imagine the
responsibility and the difficulty the har-
Dor master experienced in "breaking
out" the inside ship after she was loaded
and ready for sea. A powerful tug was
at our disposal to aid in putting the
three ships, made fast together in the
tier of ships ahead, temporarily, and
holding them up through the tug while
the dock-berth ship was taken out of the
tier and headed down river toward the
Gulf of Mexico. The tiers of ships ahead
and astern of each other were so close
together that the inside one had very
little space to get headed out into the |
river; as consequence, this was one of |
the most difficult Jobs that ever fell to |
the writer. We mastered it, however,
for five years successfully without
serions accident, largely with the aid of !
the shipmasters and officers who were
familiar with the usages and necessities
of that great Southern cotton and to-
bacco shipping port.
These cotton carriers came to New
Orleans from northern ports or Europe
in ballast, freights being so high that
they could afford to cross the oc an
light, Notwithstanding the fact that they
were from thirty to forty days loading,
while a 1,200-ton ships port charges
the heavy expense of being towed up the
Mississippi from its mouth to New Or
leans, distance of 112 miles each way.
Two causes contributed to the extraor-
binary length of time these vessels We're
detained in port. Congestion in the cot
ton presses and slow stowage, as a large
amount of the cotton bales were screwed
into the tiers of bales and all spaces
filled with one, many of which We're
smaller than the tightly squeezed bale
which had previously been in the power
full press. When the last bale was stow
ed and the ships matches battened down
it would have been Impossible to force
air fore and aft IN these ships holds, so
closely were the bales screwed into them
To offset the bulky, lightweight cotton
cargo, every vessel had to carry more or
less ballast of heavy character, and
even then l have seen ships after their
lines had been cast from the levee list
over several degrees, one way or the
other. Consequently the voyage across
the ocean with heavy list made very
ship, but perfectly safe
one If kept afioat, as she would ride the
waves as comfortably and lightly as an
old gray gull. Since American sailing
ships atioat now can almost be counted
on ones fingers, cotton is carried by
steamships altogether, and the quick
dispatch necessary has caused to large
extent the disuse of cotton screws and
the extraordinary close stowage of the
cargo, as the tramp steamers holds are
practically large square warehouses,
easily and therefore expeditiously filled.
We do not find any Belfast-b built ships
in this list, although many were engaged
in that trade before the war and if mem
DRY serves Alright the rate of freight |
then was penny 1.-TWO cents) pound,
or $40 bale, as the bales averaged 500
pounds. In those days our new ships
were reported as paying for themselves
in single voyage. For many years past |
cotton carrying from New Orleans and |
other Southern ports has been done by
tramp steamers at a mere fraction of |
the freight paid to the old-time sailing
craft.