The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1922-03-16
Who Knows "GIory of the Seas
or any of Her Commanders?


Washington, formerly of Searsport, sends
the Journal the following clipping from
the Portland, Oregon, Oregonian of Feb.
9stn with the request that we try to locate
some of her history:
TACOMA, Wash, Feb. Is -(Special)-
The Glory of the Seas is her name and
shs lies here moored to the Glacier Fish
& compsny's docks in the quiet waters Of
4 commencement bay. Bruised and batter
"a worn and enarled with age, the black
corpse of the swift semi clipper once
known to seamen the world over as the
sturdy veteran of turbulent seas and his
toric storms has made her last voyage
and will now be freighted to the dead sea
of ships that were.
Glory of the >easl The pride and boast
Of every skipper that manned her wheel,
the joy of every seamen that ever trod
n her ancient decks, the proud mistress of
the seas in the dim days now all but for
gotten, lies a neglected, waste hulk, a
used-up veteran, in the shadows of the
lights of Tacoma, shallow harmless rip
pies tapping her veteran PROV.
Little do the demands of commerce and
the relentless march of time care about
sentiment.
Days OF Service Cnded
V hat if the Glory of the Seas was once
Il upon time the widest known and most be-
loved square-rigged clipper on the seven
seas2 Her days of service are over. Con-
sdered in the cold light of business, the
prosaic announcement that Maingault &
Graham of Tacoma, whose operations in
n clude salvaging, are dismantling the old
hulk and will place even her sturdy old
tmbers on auction, stirs no landlubbers
10 sigh of regret.
What do landlubbers with their book
u keeping, their street cars and automobile
IL Their daily whirl at business, know about
u ships and sea romance, anyway
s. For almost two weeks hard visaged,
III tough muscled workmen have been rip
y ping the interior of an old hulk.
An old hukl The ghosts of sailors in
Davy Jones' locker would rise en- masse in
protest If they could hear. Yet the work
of dismantling proceeds, and in two weeks
according to John G. Graham, superin-
tending the work of destruction, the last
timber in tue old vessel will be laid out on
/ the unromantic gray dock.
Tale Of History Int resting
If the ghost of the Glory of the Seas
| could speak it would tell tale of the
bounding main to make landlubb S
ears Jingle.
Does any tenderfoot know, for example
that when the Prov of the glory in years
gone by plunged through break RS 'as
4 high as house" on unchsrted seas, the
u spirit of her first skipper returned to take
4 its station in the fo'caste and stayed
q rooted there until the Glory found a safe
Il harbor2
II Look up some of the Glory's old sailors,
Ill won AN and vnu'Il hear he al Cap-
Il tain L. c. Ramsey, who has had charge
Of the vessel since its convalescence, has
heard it. He told it as it came to him.
OF course he was skeptica for he is
veteran seaman himself, but the tale per-
sists, nevertheless.
Legend, just legend, that's ALL" says
NJ Captain Ramsey. But ask any sea sailed
NJ sailor asout it and he would not be SO sure
& II was only legend. There are other tales
but If they belong to legend only there's
no use repeating And no one has been
# found to verify the ghostly tales which
are legion OF the Glory's career.
M But this much is Known and can be veri-
III ned, Captain Ramsey said The Glory of
81 the Seas was built by "McCay of Boston"
H and took the sea in 1869
III She was first famed as being master
piece of shipbuildina and afterward for
having made a record passage from Aus
tralla to San Francisco. The time was 35
days and, according to Captain Ramsey,
has not been eQualled by any square-rig-
ged, three-skysal-yards vessel since built
She sailed every sea and was known to
seafaring men in all parts of the world
Four years ago, her life on the open seas
at an end, she came to Puget sound. Z.
Il A. Sims, now chairman of the state fish
~ cries board, is said to be the man who
converted her into a floating cannery,
IS sending her on her first trip to Alaska,
n towed by tugs, in 1912. Subsequently she
was converted into floating cold-storage
plant with freezing capacity of $4,000
pounds and cold-storage capacity of g.
600, 900 pounds.
She was taken over by the Glacier
FISH company, Tacoma, in 1917 and con-
uhued her ilsh runs to Alaska. In 1917
she made her last trip from the north
with full cargo of fish. Since then she
mas been used as cold storage plant ex-
cluslvely alongside the Glaci Fish COM
pany's plant. The company has decided
10 use the cold storage equipment on
shore The vessel is considered no longer
competent to make the Alaskan voyage.
30 the owners have come to the conclu-
sion that dism antling of the old veteran
Is all that is left to be done. And the dis
"dhtiing is going along apace.
from stem to stern the Glory of the
peas measured 240 feet-quite stretch
LOT four-rgged semi-clipper in the real
sea days. Her beam is-or was, for the men
are working rapidly-40 feet. Even the
ola iigurehead of Neptune's daughter-or
Neptune's wife, Capt Ramsey isn't sure
whlch-has been removed and sent to
| daughter of one of the Glory's former
Shippers, Captain Knowles back east
Seamen the world over will be inter-
4 ested in the demise of the Glory" said
captain Ramsey. "She the wonder of her
aQe