Norwich bulletin., 1922-04-29

above the guards But little freight was carried, the wood taking up all the avail able room"
 The time consumed for the voyages of these ships and their early successors averaged from eighteen hours-as an ex- eeptionaI feat-to forty hours, according to the favor. of wind and weather. Some times the steamers Hay to" for eight and ten hours at a stretch, waiting for the wind to change or the sea to fall. Even so, the packet boats could not always be sure of outstripping the steamers. Eighteen hours WIS a quick voyage even for the fastest of the packets; and sometimes the sailing ships, when badly becalmed, spent a whole week on the water between New York and Providence. But the packets and their masters were very popular and what with rate-cut- ting, and all the legislation they could secure restricting steamer traffic, they long maintained sharp competition.
 In the competition for speed, the Lex ington had long held a reputation as the fastest boat in the service. Her com mander was Captain Jacob Vanderbilt, famous for his competence and reckless daring. The John w. Richmond was another ship of the time which develop ed high speed. Indeed. when the Bos- ton 6 Providence Railroad organized it's | first steamer service on the sound, the directors of the new company were | chagrined to find that both the Richmond and the Lexington regularly outdistanced l the ships of the railroad line. After sev- ] eral attempts the company despaired of l building a boat of it's own as fast as i either of these two steamers, and of l fered Captain Vanderbilt very handsome terms if he would run his ship as part 1 If nd Sh COIIl6 beat the Richmond.
 Here Dow's story is worth repitition 1 verbatim:
 l There was some excitement in going 1 to New York in those days. Races were 1 unceasing and they were not always unattended with danger. On one occa- sion the Richmond had lain in Newport over night. In the morning she went out and ran to Stonineton. The train from Boston was due and the Lexington 1 which should have met the train had not
 arrived. Presently the train came, and part of the passengers took one boat and
 part the other. The two boats were iH motion about the same instant, bEt the
 Richmond had the advantaee of posi-
 tion, and was soon a few Hundred yards ahead.
 l Tor ten or a dozen miles down the
 sound there was no perceptiblc change in the relative position of the two boats
 Then dense clouds of smoke began tc
 pour from the Lexington. a sheet oi l flame shot up from her 'smoke-stack. he1 l wheels turned swifter, and a cheer burs from her passengers as they realized tha
 the gap between them and the Rich 1 mond was closing between them. It wa l an anxious moment on board the Rich
 mond The Lexington was eainine fast
 Where was Captain Townsend? Ther
 was no reply. He was not to be found
 But the movements on board the Lex 1 ington had not escaped his eve. Tn
 moment that his boat left Stonington
 men had been set at picking out th
 most resinous wood on boa~F and plin'
 it up for immediate use The eneinee had been tighteniro the bolts and in ] screws and the Richmond was read!
 for the race.
 ''At the first puffs of black snoo ol1e iron the Lexington. Captafn Townsend had
 rushed to the engine room and was con sulting the engineer. Oh. she can stan' considerable more' said that officer. ant
 the captain answered. Well. nut in tn fat wood and let her go.' She did go 1 Volumes of smoke poured from her fun
 nel and the roar of her fires could b. 1 heard all over the boat. A colGnn o
 fame stood a pillar of fire. above her 1
 was a movine volcano. Slowly. steadily
 she moved away from tlfe Lexingtan , wider and wider grew the interval be 1 tween them. until at last the Pichrnon, l dashed throueh the rocks at Hell Gate | and the Lexington was seen no nor , until she came by half an hour after tn Richmond had made fast to her pier.
 "Vanderbilt never forgave the Rich mond for that days work. The Levin ton was without doubt. the faster boat 1 but the Richmond had fairly beaten he once and nobody could say that she wa unable to do it again."
 : The Lexington, as a matter of fact finally came to a terrible end. On tn night of Jan. 13. 1S4o in the course of : frir which was to have taken her fror
 New York to Stonington. she capqh fire off Huntineton T.. T., and burned t the waters edee. The nioht was in tenselv cold, with the therr orneteT be low zero. All on board wore lost sav only four. who escaped on bales of col ton thrown overheard from the care' l 10 serve as liferafts One man. the ser 2 ona mate. mana oed to burrow into tn
 bale he had launched and thus nartia e " protected from the freeZing wind an = water, he kept a7ost for fortv-siX hour :. untii the bale finally drifted ashore. La N l CT. a cotton nllu Deu"HI the Ddle an 0 gave the name Lexirrton to a ne o brand of cloth which it then manufactu e ed.
 g The steamboat. at best. has har S time to compete. in marine pioturesn1t r ness, with the clirner-s7'ip un8er- fu t sail. But she has won her modern s' p premacv in a fair fight and not witho- = the expenditure of vast dAal of hun17 s ingenuity, patience and hardihood. S' d deserves now and then. in New England 5t mind, a place alongside the tales whit = men like to tell of old sailing days.