Evening star., 1953-09-16
By Francis P. Douglas

A visitor to Georgetown in 1888
saw 10 square rigged ships an
chored in the river or tied up
to the quays
They took tobacco and other
commodities to England and
brought in the goods that people
of the area imported. Later on,
there were as many as 80 ships
for foreign trade registered at
the Georgetown customhouse.
Now ii a person in this area
wants to see foreign freighter,
he must go to Alexandria. There
may be one docked there.
If the Potomac at Washington
Is to become known as another
Old Man River, it will be because
of the Potomac's weight of years,
rather than the load of freight
1t totes. The freight traffic in
the Washington harbor totaled
1926, 900 tons in 1851. The 1852
tonnage has not yet been COM
puted.
Pleasure Boats Take Over.
More fame rebounds to the
river Ny reason of the pleasure
boats that use it. The Harbor
Police say there are $500 boats
registered. On pleasant holidays.
the river is alive with boats
everything from canoes to die
Sel-poWered cruisers.
When it comes to freight. sand
and gravel constitute about So
per cent of the traffic. The Smoot
sand and Gravel Corp. operates
IN this business. It keeps So steel
ScoWs IN use and five diesel
powered tow boats. It has docks
at the foot of Thirtieth street in
Georgetown and at Half and O
streets Sc. on the Anacostia. It
makes deliveries by water to a
couple of companies in Alex
andria.
The other big item of freight
is fuel oil. gasoline and other
petroleum products. They ac-
count for 46 per cent of the
freight.
Petroleum products, which
move in large quantities and
which can be pumped into and
out OF barges, are a natural for
water transportation. A barge
will hold up to $4,000 or $4,000
barrels. At 42 gallons to the bar
rel, this amounts to around 7OO,-
600 gallons. In contrast, a rail-
road tank car holds only 5000
to 10000 gallons.
The equipment used is either
a tow boat with a barge or a
self-propelled barge. The Po-
tomac does not see tows of six
or eight barges handled by one
towboat as are seen on the
Mississippi.
Most Tanks Filled.
The oil companies have their
storage tanks pretty we'll filled at
this time of year, and there is
not much oil moving now.
L. P. Steuart & Bro, Inc.
moves fuel oil and some gaso-
line from its marine terminal at
Piney Point, Md, to its dock on
the AnacoStia at the foot of
Thirteenth street Sc. The oil
comes to Piney Point by tanker
from Gulf Coast ref1neries and
from the Caribbean.
Other companies ship in oil
and gasoline from Baltimore.
Philadelphia and Norfolk. Esso
Standard Oil and Gulf Oil have
docks and storage facilities on
the Anacostia near the foot of
North Capitol street. American
Oil Co.'S terminal is at Rosslyn.
It's supplies come from Norfolk,
which is supplied, in turn, by
tankers from Texas City.
Fish forms the third largest
classification of freight in the
Washington Harbor. In 1851,
there were liza tons of shell
fish and shell fish products and
351 tons of fresh and frozen
fish. This comes into the fish
wharves on Maine avenue, car
rled by about a dozen vessels,
which have marine wholesale
licenses issued by the District
government. Those wholesalers
usually get their supplies from
fishing boats down the bay or
from shore points to which fish
is shipped.
Some Metals by Boat.
Iron and steel and other
metals and metal products
amount together to about 1000
tons a year. Some of the other
freight moving in the harbor
consists of paper, vegetable oils
and fats, machinery, trucks and
passenger cars and paints and
pigments.
The Baltimore Steam Packet
Co., which has a sailing every
other day to Norfolk and Old
Point Comfort. does a steady, if
not large. freight business in and
out of Washington. It's chief
business is carrying passengers.
1t operates the steamer District
of Columbia.
Freight includes automobiles
and auto parts and a variety of
other goods. The Government
uses the line, shipping desks.