Show F 4 ak PRO MON w v Z thrilling spectacle of a full rigged ship at sea prepared by the national geographic society r oc lety washington D C lowly but romantic tramp tand steamer whose rusty iron sides and smoky stacks are known to every seaport in the world has largely joined the sailing ship at anchor whereas but a third of the worlds tonnage was carried in regularly scheduled liters liners in 1913 1013 now more than three quarters Is transported in this fashion leaving very little for the independent roving steamer or sailing balling ship canadian grain once crossed in tramp steamers now a half balf dozen regular lines fines ply the north atlantic norwegian timber and pacific coast timber even are moved on big liners following a schedule changing economic and social conditions are last vestiges of the pioneer spirit of the seamen of another day the seamen themselves are different they want steady work and fixed wages and they like to ship on steamers with a regular schedule allowing them to make plans in port out of the way parts of the world are again becoming the lonely isolated spots they were before the days of the great explorers or the era of sailing clippers the number of ships that round cape horn for instance instances i now Is few and becoming steadily fewer steamers have no need to go that way if they are coming from australia to europe suez and good hope ere are shorter and kinder routes if they are bound from or to new zealand there Is panama it if they are outward or homeward bound in the west coast trade panama canal too la Is much more convenient even tor for the far southern port of valparaiso in the unusual event of a steamer passing to the s south of the american continent say on passage from bunos buenos aires to talcahuano nine times out of ten she will use the magellan pas sage cage or failing that for visibility Is often bad there and currents treacherous she will pass between tierra del fuego and the small island the southern tip of which ts Is the dreaded horn some sailing ships round the horn even sailing ships avoid cape horn now when they can it Is a regular thing for the guano barks coming up from guanape Gua nape lobos and santa rosa tor for jacksonville wilmington or ral fal mouth for orders to pass through the canal instead of cf using the old highway to the south and doubling the horn indeed in the grain race of 1830 1930 one sailor from australia the swedish four masted bark 0 B pedersen actually made her way into the atlantic by way of panama instead of the horn an aa entirely unprecedented experience that would make a thousand old shell backs turn in thor their graves but there still remains a small coterie of wind ships regularly using the cape norn horn road there are the german nitrate carriers the big four masters of the hamburg line padua bassat parma kriwall priwall wall and peking peb ing all splendid upstanding four masted barks powerful clean lined speedy and economical they remain in commiss loa to carry nitrate from german mines in chile to german factories on the elbe they are manned largely by boys who must see service tn in deepwater deep water square rigged ships before their country will allow them to sit for examination as officers they are well found and make good voyages some of them are comparatively new ships two have been built since rince the world Worl dwar war one of them the padua na as late as 1925 1025 they carry no auxiliary engines of any kind one of them rigged ship was lost la in 1029 1020 these germans with the sailors of at the finnish fleet and one or two swedes just about comprise the whole of the worlds sea going square rigged ships america still has one or two but except for the four masted mo noll nonga galiel liela la which was in port adelaide in january 1028 where she discharged a cargo of lumber and the full rigged ship chip tusitala tala which Is a more or less regular user of the panama canal none Is still in commission how the sailor gets cargoes Caro oes the majority of the square riggers FAIR rounding the horn are in the grain trade from australia this Is the last happy hunting ground of the big sa sailing ailing ship which has been steadily ousted from every other trade it ever enjoyed even tho the carrying of peruvian guano when australian Austra llau aliat wheat harvests are heavy and steamers are inclined to ask high freights because of the difficulty of getting outward cargoes the tailor still has a chance of sneaking an odd cargo carco here in and d there she Is prepared to accept a much lower rate of freight than tho the steamer she will go to tiny any outlandish port and register no objections to spending six weeks or more at loading sue she will ft discharge lier her own ballast at her own expense she does doe not mind salling sailing halfway round the world in ballast if only there is the chance of a cargo lit at the end of it and she carries canles her wheat well and delivers it in good condition she has the added advantage sometimes of biln bringing ing something of a gam blo ble to her she may load on it a falling market and set out with her wheat worth woith shillings below a payable price she takes months on her voyage providing good tree free wa ware hous ing on the way and sometimes has the luck to arrive in time to take addan ange of tin an upward trend of which there was no sign when she left for this reason shippers still like to take an odd gamble with a sailing ship particularly in recent seasons when wheat prices have been so BO dull that the growers main hope lies in some unforeseen upward trend when bottom has been touched the swedish four masted bark barit beatrice in 1930 was chartered to bring homo home wool from melbourne to london a trade which throughout this century has been religiously the exclusive right of the steamer simply because sho she provided long warehouse ware hous ing by the duration of her voyage and there was a chance that prices would rise while she was on her way she was days on the passage and her had the satis faL tion of clearing better prices for the wool they sent cent icher in her Ah than anthey they th ey obtained for any they had sent in fit steamers the steamers had bad discharged their wool on en a falling market months earlier the beatrice arrived to find stocks lower and prices slightly higher As her freight rate was lower than the steamers her chartering was profitable to the wool owners but against the lower freight rate has to be offset the tendency on the part of underwriters natural perhaps to ch charge arge a higher premium for the insurance of sailing ships cargoes races that are not races since the world war a few sailing ships have been able annually to obtain wheat charters from australia to the english channel tor for orders since they all leave about the same time and since their scarcity brings them to the notice of the press and of the tha public their sailings have come to be known as races though they are not really anything of the kind some of those ships are to in no fit condition to race some of them never were they are not proud clipper ships built to run fleetly before the gale and to carry steerageway through calms they are great cargo carry ing steel wagons wall sided and heavy lined with bluff bows and heavy sterns and under undermanned manneL the they y make rare visits to dry docks since dry docking costs money and must be a luxury to them they run upon the border line with crews ot 0 inexperienced boys their gear Is old sometimes their plates leak a little here and there and they are badly off for sails there are still a few ships which are arc able to give good accounts of themselves and generally do tle the finnish four roasted masted birk bark b irk Herz ogin cecile which was formerly a Nord deutscher lloyd training ship the swedish four masted bark beatrice formerly the Clydes lder Routen burn the ex eng lishman archibald russell and the old dundee built lawmill but the bulk of the ships progress slowly over great wat waters IL and are content if they come coma to pir p port ir at all without racin racing they are more concerned concer concerned new with the safe delivery of their cargoes and the tha return to their homes of idl those who set out to sea in them than spectacular and thrilling holding on of ban in heavy gales galea and forcing the ship in short tacks against head winds they sail leisurely and would not ran more than nine knots it if a gale blew right behind them on a sea of perfect calm it if such a thing were possible they steer badly and their great backbreaking back breaking sails and yards are extremely difficult to handle in anything of a breeze they accept their wheat gratefully and aro are glad of any cargoes they spend months and even years sailing balling round the seven seas in ballast hunting for charters they rarely get if avei ever they chance upon a charter they are not tools fools enough to throw away good money on blown out I 1 sails |