St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1919-02-08
SHIPYARDS DISCOy.
Erred.
(By Lord Dare)

shipyards, in the interest of the AL
lies, | finally landed in New Orleans,
Madisonville being on my advisory
route, and on account of its isolated
location | came near passing it up,
which | would have done but for
some official advice received in New
Orleans. However, | landed in Mad
isonville at last after humping the
bumps on the trip from Covington
during the journey here in the snake
like slippery trail. l thought it was
some huge joke, and that there was
no such place as Madisonville at all.
But after a few more love in the
tub bumps and a few more shoot
the shoots and a few glides and dips,
the driver finally said there's the
town. / asked where. He said
there, can't you see it. l said no; is
that it hiding behind that peanut?
He said no, can't you see them
houses. Oh, yes. You see it's rather
scattered. j said / guess it is-just
like falling down stairs with a bowl
of soup. Well it was all there, any
way, and We went thru it in jig time,
and that's pretty quick.
When | arrived in the yards ! was
very pleased to find it looked like a
real ship yard, and upon closer in
spectlon Was agreeably surprised to
hnd out for sure that one of the al
most lost arts of building wooden
ships was here in full blast and to
It's utmost perfection.
For several days | watched the
big ribs that were being built for
what they called No. shTp on No. 2
ways, although l gave casual obser-
vatiOn of the other various depart
ments connected with the shipyards
and they ran like clock work. They
all certainly seemed to know just
what they were doing. 1t certainly
made me think of the big little ship
yards at the Clyde Northumberland,
on the Tyne, and several
other shipyards in the northern part
of England. They seemed to accom-
plish SO much without that slave
driving method often indulged in
large building plants.
Mr.. Jahncke certainly deserves
credit, for | never saw a defective
III lluuDSA VI q Aoh4SJ PASSS VI
work during the many weeks | watch
ed them. Well, what's the reason?
Here it is:
Emile Oulliber, of the we'll known
Ouliber shipbuiTding family, is the
foreman. | never met a nicer or more
pleasant gentleman ever in a ship
yard, and / soon found out that he
certainly knew all about ships and
ship building.
Ed. Knight, with the outside gang
on the big ribs, is a hustler of MO
mean degree, and turns out the for
ward ribs faster than they can raise
them Some hustling, and no one
pushed at that.
On the inside of the platform, was
another gang on the after ribs,
handled by Rufus Perrin. Although
they called him RIP" / guess be-
cause he is rip roaring good fell
low, and when you think he don't
know anything about building ships
you are sadly mistaken, because he
certainly does, and his men work
swift and sure and never seem to
stir hair, and Rips right hand man,
Frank Lanier, is surely some help,
although he is rather big fellow he
lops around like a feather-weight
md is some Hercules too, and wheth-
sr Rips there or not the ribs turn
,ut just the same. Frank is always |
/ must say that
never met a nicer set of bosses in |
Ill my travels and the men seemed |
% ibe perfectly contented and work
I'd like a lot of bees around a bee
live, each one thoroughly under |
standing what he was doing.
/ stayed until they finished the big
lbs for No. Z, that being the only |
particular part of the ship construc-
ion was interested in, officially,
,hough l certainly admired all the
work, especially as the yard is only |
about half as large as it ought to be,
md that being taken into special
consideration the yard is 100 per
,ent efficient what I saw of 1t.
Several of the "boys" who reside
n Houltonville have facetiously
,ermed their return trip across the
liver as "going over the Styx." Now
IS everyone is familiar with the name
If the "city across the Styx," we
would like to know just what they
mean. Perhaps they catch h when |
hey arrive home.
Poor little Jimmy Fuhrmann!
Are you still nursing those three sick
,rucks? You had best equip them
With "fat bottoms" so they will float
iown the road from Goodbee. We
ire willing ito take the contract for
he bottoms at the yard, and guar
sntee to give satisfaction in rainy
Weather on that road.
A certain store-keeper in town told
small colored boy, who was trying
% sneeze his head off, to fly out the
loor with his "f1u" while the flying
vas good-and the youngster flew.
We folks down here in this neck
II the woods are certainly glad to see
IN Improvement in weather condi-
ions. as it is so nearly impossible to
get in and out by way of the dirt
roads, and owing to the fact that our
worthy little steamer "Reverie" is
laid UP indefinitely for boiler re-
pairs is the cause Of great hardship
IN the people in and around Madi-
sonville.
We also attribute the improvement
In the flu situation due to the fact
that we are having a great deal of
drier and cooler weather.
Al t. %1vr