The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1960-09-23
By CATHERINE D. MEEKINs


had made her vicious onslaught on
the entire eastern seaboard of the
United States and was then on the
way to blowing herself out in
Canada. 1t was the morning of
Tuesday, September Is, 1860, and
we (my husband, my sister-in-law
and - were aboard the S. S. Unit
ed States, the ship having arrived
Monday just before Donna struck
her blow at New York. While we
were there the Queen Mary came
into port on one side, and on the
other side The Independence. We
learned later that The Independ-
ence was carrying q injured pas
sengers, who were victims of Dom
ma as she threw a giant wave at
the ship.
We were being shown The Unit
ed States by courtesy of Capt.
s. J. (Sollie) Topping, a "Belhaven
man who is general manager of
the, United States line and a friend
Of my husband. Capt. Topping him.
self was unable to accompany us,
because hurricane damage at other
piers required his presence, but he
sent his able assistant, Warren
Lindsay, whose gracious hospital
ity and courtesy made our tour Of
the ship a pleasure.
The United States is the worlds
fastest liner and Flagship of the
United State: Lines. She made a
record crossing of the Atlantic in
three days, 10 hours and 40 min
utes. She is 900 feet long, with a
breadth of 101 feet inches and a
depth of 122 feet from keel to top
of superstructure, and ITS feet
from keel to top of forward funnel.
She has twelve decks, with a total
capacity of 1000 passengers and
1000 crew members. She was built
in Newport Newsort News, Va,
by the Newport News Shipbuilding
and Dry Dock Company, and was
completed June 20, 1852. She
makes two round-trip voyages to
Europe each month.
It may be interesting to note
here, that the late Capt. c. p.
Midget of Mays Head, Miles
Clark of Elizabeth City and the
late Fred P. Latham of Belhaven,
a close friend of Capt. Topping,
were among the specially invited
guests who We're taken on the
shake-down cruise out of Newport
News the day the new liner was
completed. MIR. Latham was per-
mitted to take the wheel of this
great ship on this cruise which
was shortly before his death.
We were taken to see accommo-
dations in all the classes-first
class, cabin class and tourist. Even
the tourist class looked like luxur-
ious quarters. Nothing is omitted
that might add to the comfort of
the liners passengers.
In the chart room we were given
Z look at the chronometers which
Indicate time, and were shown how
TO calculate the difference in time
between Greenwich time, which is
used By the instruments, and the
time in other longitudes. Also we
had q look at the chart which had
been kept on the progress OF hurri-
cane Donna.
Speaking of hurricane Donna,
she hit the New York shore line a
devastating blow, and people were
evacuated from islands and outly-
ing places in the storms path. In
4 the city itself, where We were dry
end safe from the wind on the
18th floor Of a Manhattan hotel,
more people were out in the wealth
er than would have been expected.
After more than half day of
vainly trying to get word from
home, and being unable to get
telephone connections, or even
word of this area from newspap-
ers and television, ! decided to go
to Times Square, where there is a
Newsstand which handles nothing
hut out-of-town newspapers, to try
and get a North Carolina or Vir-
GINA newspaper. Being in need OF
| fresh air after being cooped up all
| day, walked in preference to
taking a cab. There were times
when had to brace myself to
keep from losing my footing, but
Hit was an interesting experience.
/ The New York police force was
out in numbers, and everywhere
there as loose sign the sidewalk
had been roped off. At each corner
there were several policemen tell
ing pedestrians which way it would
fIbe safe to go. One thing that
INamazed me was the number OF
people walking along in winds at
1.-The height of a hurricane, strug-
Cling with-of all things-umbrel-
HAS, One man finally gave up. The
covering had ripped from the UNI
brella's ribs, so he set it on the
sidewalk, tore off the handle, then
put both handle and top in a
trash can. Why he bothered to
sever the parts / could not faith.