Evening star., 1937-11-14

VA ANS'o aAN NhPA CsSOiOAts l. " 0uPRAC~
ment the necessary factual material,
there is information Of interest and
local color that holds one enraptured.
In addition to the brief biography of
each ship. hitting the high spots,
many pictures, large and small, have
been taken at different angles, max
ing it just rs effective as a motion
picture.
There are old as well as up-to-date
menus from the Potsdam, the Ivernia,
the Arabic and others. with quaint
names Of dishes that will either make
you hungry or else puzzled. In large,
albumlike books are the larger photo
graphs of camouf1aged ships used
during the war. Under designs Of
outlandish proportion, these various
ships from all nations could be easily
hidden from the enemy.
In these same volumes are the he
roic and noble Red Cross ships which
almost make you feel patriotic to
the extent Of clicking your heels and
saluting. Apropos of this. it is in
teresting to note that Mr.. Cropley
enlisted in the big war, was associated
with the American ambulance and
contagious naval hospitals.
IT WOULD take volumes Of writing
to review the magnificent MASTER
piece that has been turned over to
society in general, mainly for educa-
tional purposes. AS closely as pos
sible I shall impart to you his in
terpretation of two immortals, the
Savannah and the Mauretania. Each
is an extreme, personality OF its own
and each has played definite role
as far as mankind is concerned.
According to logs and related sea
records, the Savannah, constructed in
1919, was the first steamship ever to
make a voyage across the Atlantic
Ocean. Designed and intended spe-
cifically for sailing purposes, the
steam engine and paddles were added
afterward to entice the much inter-
ested Car of Russia who, at the time,
was in the market for steamer.
Thus came about the adventurous
journey of the Savannah, whose itin-
erary consisted of sailing and steam
ing from New York to Savannah, Ga,
to Liverpool and ultimately ended up
in St. Petersburg. Russia In all, 1t
took rs days to go from New York
to Liverpool and out of this time.
seven days were exclusively under sail
The following tale of the Savannah,
taken from the collection verbatim,
has probably been told by many a
sailor on long empty nights when
stories help to break the monotony.
Some sailors are glib at such a time,
while others listen with haphazard
attention. Here it is:
When sighted by the Coast Guard
at Cape Clear. she was under steam.
The Coast Guard reported that an
American vessel was on fire and in
need Of assistance. From Queens
town, the revenue cutter Kite was
sent to help her, much to the amuse-
ment of Capt. Moses Rodgers and his
crew. At Queenstown, the Savannah
took on enough coal to make Liver
pool. where she certainly created a
sensation by coming up the Mersey
with her sails furled.
From Liverpool she continued on
to st. Petersburg. But the perform
ances she gave were not good enough
to intrigue the Car into buying her.
So back to the United States the Sa-
vannah sailed, with her paddles
slowed on deck. And once home, her
engine was removed and she went into
trade as a coaster. In 1922 she was
wrecked on the shores of Long Island.
"Yet in her short life the Savannah
achieved imperishable fame. For she
blazed a trail across the Atlantic as
beckoning as that which Columbus
left in his wake. He had found new
worlds The Savannah offered man
the means of reaching them speedily"
A ND there you have it in simple and
forceful language all knit together
with a true underlying plot that pig
eonholes this archaic ship into a
category of its own. From such hu-
man sympathy it will be remembered
for its fine spirit of steadily aiming
toward definite goal. With that aim
achieved it will not be so important
to recall she was wooden, her length
was 100 feet, width 20 feet, depth
13 feet inches and tonnage $50.
The Mauretania or the "Old Lady Of
the Atlantic" as she is so often re-
ferred to, made her first voyage from
Liverpool to New York November 16,
1907. and her last journey September
26, 1884, at which time she left New
York Harbor to wind up her versatile
career in Scotland shipbreaker's
yard.
Neither size nor speed alone could
have given the Mauretania fame
That rested on something more secure
and more intangible-on her person.
ality. For the Mauretania was a ship
with fighting heart First and fore
most, she was not just a great and
successful liner. She was the Maure-
tania. If she hadn't been, hadn't
earned just that, now long after she
had passed into history. Americans
from al over the United States
wouldn't pause before her model in
the Smithsonian Institution, pause in
almost holy reverence and recount
her history in awed voices to their
children.
"Of the many excellent liners of the
first third Of the goth century, long be-
fore she was launched in the fall of
1906. the Mauretania had become the
most discussed ship ever planned.
Her design, her engines, her fittings
and her luxuriousness have been 30
often, and at such great detail, set
forth in print, that any long descrip-
ton Of them would be absurdly out Of
place other than to say she was 100
feet long and 88 feet wide. Her mould
ed depth was 6612 feet and the gross
tonnage was 1898. When first COM
missioned she could carry 2,165 pas
sengers and a crew Of 938. Her con-
tract speed was Is knots an hour. Yet
she made many an Atlantic crossing,
averaging 81 and more the whole way
across even in her old age having a