The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1918-02-15
OLD SEA PORTS
come TO LIFE
Revival in Shipping Brings Pros
perity to American Sea-
board Towns.
ONCE BUSY MARTS or TRADE
Same Spirit That Made Old Salem
Rich Now Seen In Merchant Ma
rines's Development-New
Ports Springino UP.

: Washington-One effect OF the pres
; ent rapid expansion OF the America
merchant marine Is a sudden and un
precedented revival OF business at Ger
tain American ports which a few year
ago were thought to have pissed theI
zenith
Bath. Me-. Is cited as an example
In the prosperous nineteenth centur.
days Of sailing ships Bath was III,
eountry's leading shlpbuiiding port i
declined steadily after the introduc
tion Of steel as building material.
/ Now Bath. building both steel and
wood vessels is 70 prosperous that th'
housing Of the workmen taking job.
there b pressing problem. The sam,
is true Of several other North Atlantic
porta while 10 other sections port
are springing up where none existed
before.
Close observers OF the present re-
uval In shipping say that before the
United States shipping boards present
construction plan is completed--a plan
by which vast new merchant feet Is
to be brought into being-the develop
ment Of American ports will parallel
on larger scale that which took
place In the good old days OF the
square riggers."
In earlier times. as AZ present. every
body In n port touched by the pros
perity OF seagoing was kecnly inter
ested In shipping. Present-day secre.
cy about contracts. salllngs and diyi.
dends, had Its prototype In the secrecy
that developed such matters more than
hundred years ago, in a score OF
American ports, notably In Salem,
Mass.
In those days we nre told. rival
merchants sometimes drove the work
of preparation for voyages night and
day. Ships which set out for foreign
ports were watched when they slipped
their cables and sailed away by night"
Personal Touch In Voyages
In those times there was more per
sonal touch In voyages than now. az
every man making voyage wns al
lowed q ccrtain space IN the hold for
goods OF his own. People in the home
port Of ship outward bound lntrnst.
cd their savings 20 their scafaring
neighbors for ventures in far coun-
tries
This spirit Of commercial adventure
is finding expression today on larger
md less personal scale, say the experts
OF the shipping board; and these stu
dents OF conditions trace the present
enthusiasm OF the nation for scafnring
to beginnings In definite periods In
which our old-tlme ports were nj the
height Of their prosperity. In 30 do
ing, they cite Salem as good exam
pie OF what venturesome people may
gain upon the sea.
Salem nj one time stood nj the head
Of the cities Of the United States In
the value OF its Imports
In 1872 It had 125 ships In the deep.
water trade, and Of these, IS were
East Indlamen. These vessels brought
home cargoes OF fabulous richness
silks, indigo, spices, ivory and other
products OF the far East.
There are old people living in Salem
who remember when the city's ancient
warehouses were full OF "hemp from
Luzon. pepper from Sumatra. coffee
from Arabia, palm oil from the west
coast Of Africa, cotton from Bombay.
duck and iron from the Baltic. tallow
from Madagascar salt from Cndiz, I
wine from Portugal and the Madeiras.
figs, rhislns md almonds from the
Mediterranean; tens and silks from
China; rum, sugar and moasses from /
the West Indies ivory and gum-copal |
from Zanzibar; rubber, hides and wool
from South America, whale oil from the
Arctic and Antarctic, and the sperm !
from the South Seas"
Pioneers In Commerce.
Salem ships were pioneers in omen \
Ing new routes Of commerce. Salem
merchants were the first to bring pep.
per from Sumatra, rubber from South I,
America and coffee from Mocha. The
Salem ship Recovery, Capt. John
Ropes, was the coffee pioneer, and be-
-ween the landing of her first cargo OF
he fragrant berry in 1913 and 1905.
Salem imported not less than 12,0O0.-
400, pounds of Mocha coffee.
Salem men were perhaps no more
lctlve thnn other American deep-water
'ailors Of the period but their records
we're better kept. They abound in
tories Of their adventures.
Examining the causes OF Salem's
,reat fame won upon the sea, recent
historian Of the merchant marine found
hat 1t was mot In her harbor nor in
Ter store Of shlpbuilding timber.
{ was Salem men. Americans
4 the Americans who built up the ro-
mantle commerce that left no sea I'M
isited, no land UNEMPLOYED.
heir business required iron viii and
ron nerve noble Imagination, belief
! themselves and In their fellow man.
The case OF old Salem. and of the
ever ports now hourishlng under the
npetus Of the country's present com
lercinl expansion, conyinces the mari
me specialists that the quality which
ron In both cases Is a constant one.
cling nothing less than American en-
'rprlse.