The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1924-12-25
TRIOOF FAMOUS
Banks QUIT sea
Norwegian Craft Among
Last of Sailing
Vessels.

More than forty years ago, when
steam on the seas was just approach
ing a lusty maturity and sails yet dot
ted the far-lung horizons of Neptune
in every quarter of the globe, three
banks, destined by a grim fate to be
among the last of their proud species,
set sail from the famous shipyards of
the Clyde for adventures in storms
and Gains on all the seven seas.
They were the Dova LiSboa, the
DOva Rio and the AleXandria-three
sister sailing ships that have carried
the flag of Norway to the ports of the
world. weathered many wild seas and
faithfully brought their cargoes to
scores of ports without injury and but
with little delay. All three are well
known in the port of Mobile, and all
three were laid up there from two to
four years.
Among Prides of the Sea.
These three banks were among the
prldes of the sea when they set forth
on their countless voyages, and no
finer three banks have ever been built.
Their design was of the best, they
were constructed of Swedish iron, the
finest material ever known for ship
building, and worth, according to ]. b.
Oliver & Co., their Mobile agents,
S750,000 apiece.
Swedish iron is practically rust
proof and almost indestructible 1t is
no longer used, however, in the build
ing of ships because of its tremendous
cost, and although the modern steam
vessels can boast of many superiori-
ties and comforts that sailing ships
never knew, not one IN a thousand IS
built Of this fine and rare metal that
a half century ago marked the zenith
of shipbuilding material.
Neither rust nor corrosion attacks
Swedish iron and the hulls Of vessels
constructed of it are much priced
among marine men and make some old
sailing ships very valuable today,
which would be almost worthless if
built Of any other material.
Manned by Hardy Seamen.
In addition to being constructed Of
Swedish iron, all three banks have
been manned by the stern, stanch
sailors of the land of Eric the Red,
sailors Of a breed who dared to sail
oceans of uncharted waves long before
the compass was ever invented, and
whose descendants today are among
the hardest of men of the sea.
But these banks, like their sister
sailing ships Of every nationality. are
now to retire from their sea, or per-
hapS have their Wave-scarred old hulls
filled with engines and wireless appa-
ratus-and that is the point of this
story.
Sails have reached their dotage,
steam is in its full-grown maturity,
and oii-burners are in lusty Adde'S
cence. Consequently the Alexandria,
the Dova Rio and the Dova Lisboa
have but very short time in which
to proudly float their sails as they
pillow the deep with their iron-nosed
bows.
The Dova Lisbon commanded by a
doughty Morse skipper, is now cutting
the Atlantic on her last voyage as a
sailing ship. She is bound for Grange
mouth, Scotland and has been sold to
German interests. The Lisboa was
laid up at Mobile for nearly four years.
Days of Adventure End.
The Doya Rio, commanded by an
other doughty Norseman, Captain
Larsen, departed from Mobile last
September after being laid up over
two years. She went first to Pensacola.
and then to Fleetwood, England, also,
it is said, on her final sailing voyage.
She too has been sold and it is IN
derstood that she will be strapped.
The Alexandria, which came to Mo-
bile Ala, over three years ago, is now
In the southern drydocks prior to sail
ing on what is said to be her farewell
voyage to sail and sea. She, too, has
been sold and will probably be
scrapped.
Commanded by Capt. Il. Anderson,
the Alexandria will take a cargo Of
lumber out of that port In two or
three weeks for Birkenhead, England
She will be the last of that famous
trio of old-time banks who will spread
her sails to the wind outside Mobile
bay, unless the interests who have
purchased her decide to keep her in
sailing service, which is unlikely in
these days of the rapid passing of
sails from the ocean.
But these three banks are only a
few Of many that have gone to the
graveyard" of sailing ships in these
days Of steam and wireless. It
will be but brief time until the 9TH
ers will go. And as rapidly as they
pass, so passes romance and adven.