The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1916-11-09
Old Seaports Awakened.
Ralph Paine in Scribner's Describes Visit
he Made to Shows Shipyard, Rockland.

he Made to SHOWS Shlpyafd, Rockland.
One of the most interesting maya
zine articles of this month comes from
the pen of Ralph Paine, and deals with
the awakened activities of the ship
building business along the Maine coast
Mr.. Paine visited the yards of such ia
nous old shipbuilders as the Deerings of
Bath, the Beans of Camden, and the
Shows of Rockland. OF Rockland he
says:
''Rockland is a port familiar for the
smudge of its ever burning lime kilns
and for the speed trials of battleships.
1t managed to preserve certain cheer
fu aspect of energy while Bath was GO
ing to sleep with the decadence of its
shipyards. And the busiest place on
this curving bit of deep-water shore was
Shows Marine Railway. Hther came
the coasters to be dragged out and re-
pared, many of them old and forlorn
drudges of the ocean which still weather
ed the winter passages by dint of good
luck and better seamanship. And as
fewer schooners were built. more of this
work came to Israel Snow and his broth
er OF the third generation of sailors and
shipwrights. No other yard north of
Boston helped to keep as many vessels
af1oat and hardly sailing in quest of
pittance of profit.
Now and then they launched a hand
some fOur-masted schooner in accordance
with the family tradition, for there was
worthy pride in maintaining ship
yard, as well as hospital for tired and
broken craft that limped in from sea-
ward. An Israel Snow had built stout,
square Triggers on this same spot when
a Pol Of
across the western ocean from Sandy
Hook to Liverpool in fortnight, and
the yards were braced to the lusty chorus
of 'Whiskey Johnny and BLOW the Man
Down. Now, when Yankee bottoms are
again at a premium in the world s carry
ing trade, you may be sure that Israel
Snow has mustered his mer and material
to add to the fleet of fine new schooners
which the stored ports of Name are
swiftly sending forth to reap an unex-
pected harvest
"a staiWart man and vehement is this
Israel Snow, his face bronzed by wind
and sun, very much of a pattern of
master mariner of the old New England
breed. He talks of ships and their ways
with an ardent enthusiasm, and it is
plain to see that his zest for work is not
wholly inspired for dollars. He had
halted beside the gaunt length of a new
ly laid keel, at the farther end OF which
rose the rounded outline of the transom
timbers, first hint of the tapered lines
and intricate structure of a four
Sweating in his snirtsleeves, he indicat-
ed the uncouth stacks of timber and eX-
claimed:
% 1t takes all kinds of wood to make
good vessel, more than land lubber
would dream of. This stuff has been
shipped from the Pacific coast, from
Virginia, Georgia and Nova Scotia, pine,
oak, spruce and cypress. And there's
difference in trees same's there is in
men. Take the native spruce that is
cut inland. 1t is sheltered, so it grows
soft. What We put into vessel is the
black spruce that grows on the rocky
islands off the coast. 1t wrestles for It's
life with the northeasterly winds and
there is nothing between it and the
freezing Atlantic. The tree that lives
through 40 years of this-is tough. You
can depend on it to stand up under strain
It's question of character you might
say
There trudged into the yard a mid
dle-aged man, who walked with a slight
roll. His skin was burned richer tint
than Israel Shows and the black clothes,
slightly wrlntled, suggested that they
had been laid away for going oc
caslons. This was Capt. 'Cort' Perry,
just home from South America in one of
the Snow four masters and reporting to
the owners to settle accounts for the
voyage. Character had been built into
this vessel of his, and for years it had
safely come and gone under his COM
mand. Not since boyhood had he sailed
in any other employ. He was sedate,
taciturn, showing no citation that this
was the prodigious moment OF his career
No doubt he would face his adversely
with this same patient, Unconditional de-
meanor.
''He had taken lumber to Para and re-
turned with cargo of iogWood from
Hayti, despatching the whole business
in three months, which signified that
Capt. Perry was not afraid to crack on
sail. For older than the system of wages
is the arrangement by which the skipper
shares expense and profits with the own
er. This is how Snow vessels are man
aged, an account book for each one. The
captain buys the provisions and pays the
wages of his crew, besides one-haIf of
the port charges. He receives so per
cent of the gross earnings of his schoon-
err, and it follows that if freight is scarce
and rates low he finds himself consider
ably out of pocket. This ancient custom
is in high favor with the mariners of
present times, and the bookkeeping in
the instance of Capt. Perry divulL ed
that he was richer by $4,000 by his voy
age to Para.
''He had nothing to say of the hazards
of The off shore trade, but the large
schooner was designed to fit the peculiar
conditions of the coastwlse navigation.
For long voyages and continuously heavy
seas, or spells of calm, she is much more
difficult to manage than the square rig
ged ship or bark. While running before
the wind the immense sails are danger
ously unwieldly, and to reef them in bad
weather is herculean task. American
lads have ceased to go in the forecastles,
and the crews are strange assortments of
negroes, Scandinavians, and what not,
but in the afterhouse is to be found the
Yankee master, true to type, who will
take his vessel anywhere.
"The square rig would be handler for
this rush of deep water trade" gustily
exclaimed Israel Snow. Certainly; but
how long will these fancy rates last, and
where can you find man who knows
how to rig bark? You would have to
look in a graveyard. Why. there's my
own son"-and his gesture expressed
tolerant contemplate came to me one
dav and ask od uyhot hind If uuoor voouol