The Washington times., 1915-03-18
FOUR W|NDJAMMERS
STILL FLY U.S.F[AG
last to Go of the Vanishing
Fleet Was the American
Bark William p. Frye.
By KENDRICK SCOFIELD.

NEWPORT NEWS. March 1s.-Many
vanishing fleets have dropped below
The horizons of the Seven Seas since ad-
venturous man first put out upon the
oceans in cockle-shell ships.
And the last to 90 of all the old-time
ships has been the American square,
rigged windjammer. of which the bark
William p. Frye. sunk by the German
sea-rader Prinz Eitel Friedrich and
whose destruction may lead to diplo-
matte complications was one of the few
surviving examples
When the Frye cleared from Seattle
laden with grain on what proved to be
her last voyage, the ranks of the thou
sands of American square-riggers which
used to round the Horn" and run
down the Bastard between, Atlantic
known as Horn pigeons" had dwindled
to pitiful handful, swept from the
seas by disaster and hurricane and
sunken reef, until but four of them now
remain to carry the Stars and Stripes.
according to the survivors of the Frye,
now In this port.
Four Windjammers Remain.
Capt. II. II. Kiehne, who command
ed the Frye. gives the list of wind
Jammers now rounding the Horn under
the American flag as consisting of only
the barks Dirigo, John Ena. Manga
Reva and Edward Sewell. without the
aid of steam and under the power fur
nished only by their great spread of
canvas. these windjammers carry Gov
crnment coal out OF Baltimore for Sc
attic and other Pacific ports.
Life today upon these four surviving
square riggerss on the run around the the
Horn has not been affected in the
slightest degree by the carch of prog
ress which aided the elements in driv-
ing from the sea lanes of the world the
wooden ship. which sailormen of the
al cole inI orr ~
Iron men," and replacing her with IL
steamers which the veteran salts de-
clare are man" d by wooden men.
Life for the seamen who man them Is
the same fO'c'Sle existence as 1t was in
the time of Dana's Two Years Be-
fore tho Mast" and every member of
her crew must be able to hand, reef.
and steer" accomplishments unknown
ing to windiamming sailormen. know
more about mops and swabs than about
ropes and rigging"
Kiehne's Father a Skipper.
Captain Kiehne. of the ill-fated Frye,
is the scion of a long line of wind
iammer sailors He himself was born
in Baltimore. where the Baltimore
Upper Ship famous in her day as
the fleetest heeled of all craft, was
first built. His immediate forebear who
bore the now obsolete title of skipper"
Kiehne, was well known among seafar-
lDRfnen OF Une past BeneTdllOn, HdNlHS
commanded such ships in the Baltimore
trade as the old bark Campanero. and
the brigs Mississippi, Dom Pedro
ii. and the Julia Rollins.
Captain Kiehne Is yet a young man.
and is typical of the present day sailing
master. An air of competency sets upon
him. His voice Is strong enough to
carry from quarter deck to main royal
yard in half a gale. His eyes hold the
cold CLINT of blue ice he has looked
upon so many times in the lower lati-
tudes, and his lean features have been
sharply chiseled and tanned deep by
the steady burn of the wind. Without
resorting to the fistic methods by which
the buCko mate controls his crew, Cap
tain Kiehne has been able to bring
the ships he has sailed in through all
the perils of the sea for many years
until his last command was sunk prac-
tiCally beneath his feet by the dynamite
charge placed by the German sea
raider.
Made First Voyage At Two.
Captain Kiehne made his first voyage
when he was but two years old, sailing
with his father, the skipper" on a
voyage to West Indies waters in search
for guano islands.
Tiring of school at the age of eleven,
he again went to sea, this time as a
sailor before the mast at seventeen
years of age. Since that time, he has
rounded the Horn nineteen times.