South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-01-16
BY II. II. WINDSOR. I'm FEB. POP
UIAR MECHANICS MAGAZINE.

] y ~ HlA@A AA-hNAN0 NAV AA@N 70
| The Confessions OF a Shipping
Board" or What Became of the
/ Money" which affords the subject
/ for considerable copy for the press
/ these days. tempts me TO relate an
example Of this kind which occur
red at charming village on the
| Maine coast that I visit many times
each summer. While rapidly pass
/ ing into history. with other more
/ important events OF like nature. still
I II Is interesting and instructive as an
object lesson on how costly simple
| undertakings become when the gov
ornment attempts the work.
We had fairly entered the big
war. and the cry was going up fran
| tically for more ships. T had
had a shipyard for upward of 100
years; its vessels were known on
every sea, but the building was done
in a quiet, simple way. Almost the
same day we declared war. a keel
was laid IN this yard for a fair sized
| schooner, one Of a type OF which
| scores had been successfully built.
/ They were all good ships. Only a
/ few knees had joined the keel, when
an official appeared. and after one
/ glance announced the government
would build the ship.
The owner had barely turned the
yard over, when in rushed a lobster
man. who had evidently mistaken a
porpoise for submarine. and
sounded the alarm, The Germans
are coming 10 destroy the (embryo)
ship" A council OF war resulted in
a decision TO protect the ship by the
erection of a high board fence of
I s, r. Il =
OF the ship carpenters were required
for some days. Old-timers modestly
suggested the yard was several miles
from the ocean and that the little
river which connected the two was
only navigable for a short time at
high tide; but no attention was paid
To them. The fence-a good one
cost $500.
Sees Another POrpOise.
For a few days work proceeded
on the ship. and then another lob
sherman saw another porpoise. and
then again the Germans came-this
time to burn the fence which pro
teCted the yard. There was no
doubt of II, and so a call was made
for a fire engine for the yard. and
soon a new gasoline engine arrived.
paint, it cost $4,000.
No occasion TO use the engine oc-
CURED. but il seemed a pity 20 let
such a good machine remain out in
the open with nothing on but a piece
of canvas, so the decision was to
build an engine house. Again old
timers mildly suggested that IN the
100 years past there had never been
fire but they were SCorned. That
was in peace times; now was war. So
the men against left the ship to
/ build the engine house. II too, was
n good engine house. 1t cost 5000
Resuming work once more on the
keel. a rumor sprang up that the
enemy had designs for a night at
tack, so ii was decided TO appoint a
night watChman--in fact, three Of
him-and as one crew could only
watch eight hours. it was obvious
! that three crews were necessary for
the full "a hours. The fact that for
I three generations il had been un-
necessary to employ even one
Waterman was discarded in favor Of
nine. as out OF date. Meantime the
old residents were being importuned
TO buy thrift stamps and win the
war.
Quite a few ribs had been insert
ed in the keel by this time, and ap-
parently some progress was due 70
( be made when another lobsterman
appeared. He had seen a big one
this time, and a frantic o S.
was sent the fort in Portland for
/ troops 70 repel boarders. They
came pOst-haste, an officer and 25
men. They camped in the yard, set
/ up some tents, became the admira-
ton of the young ladies. and pro-
ceeded to guard the watchmen. All
went well until the latter part of
August, when the tent jewellers took
I TO blankets on warm nights. on
cool nights they took a pair. and
! then two pairs. The native reluct-
antly admitted that the previous
winter the thermometer hung
around 90 degl ees below for week
/ or so, but that was an unusual win
ter AS some Of the soldier bows
hailed from Arizona and Texas. the
prospects Of 20 degrees below I'm
tents did not remind them of home.
J The matter was the subject Of dis
cussiOn, but unfortunately there was
no vacant house in town. AS some
! thing had to be done quickly, a
large but long unused colonial
mansion was discovered in the coun-
( try, which had been vacant and de-
serted for a long time. The heirs
/ had gone west and disappeared. The
doors and windows were mostly
gone. However the ship carpenters
rallied round the flag once more.
and when the house was rebuilt
+ with new everything, and the steam