The Sailing Ship and The Panama Canal 169 



American trade. On this voyage the 

 vessel took her departure from Oues- 

 sant March 5, 1903, and crossed the 

 line March iS, thirteen days out, es- 

 tablishing a record never before equaled 

 by a sailing ship. The parallel of 50 

 S. in the Atlantic was attained April 10, 

 and in the Pacific April 2 1 , eleven days 

 being thus spent in weathering that 

 most tempestuous of regions, Cape 

 Horn. From noon of April 23 to noon 

 of April 24 the vessel laid down 368 

 miles to her credit, this being the best 

 day's run throughout the voyage. The 

 anchor was dropped in the harbor of 

 Iquique May 1, fifty-seven days from 

 point of departure to destination. 



Prime among the factors which are 

 to exercise an influence over the rela- 

 tive use of sail and steam in navigation 

 is the question of the cost of fuel, and 

 the proportion of the steamer's carry- 

 ing capacity, which must be devoted to 

 its transportation. Given ports of de- 

 parture and destination not too remote 

 from each other, and coal cheap at both 

 ends of the line, the sailing ship has 

 but little chance of survival. In longer 

 voyages, say those of 6,000 miles and 

 upward, the space which must be al- 

 lotted to fuel in the case of the steamer 

 becomes considerable, and may cut down 

 the cargo-carrying capacity to such a 

 degree as to seriously interfere with the 

 profits of the voyage. Coaling stations 

 remedy this evil to some extent ; but at 

 these coal is always expensive, rising at 

 some points to as much as $15 per ton, 

 while their frequent use, furthermore, 

 is liable to unduly protract the voyage 

 in point of both distance and time. In 

 the event of the successful application 

 of low-grade petroleum for use as fuel 

 at sea, many of these difficulties will of 

 course disappear. 



TIME SAVED BY A KNOWLEDGE OF 

 THE METEOROLOGY OF THE SEA. 



A factor by no means generally rec- 

 ognized, but of vast importance to 



profitable navigation by sail, is the 

 better knowledge which we are gradu- 

 ally acquiring of the meteorology and 

 physical geography of the sea. The era 

 of record passages is closed, and sailing 

 ships are no longer urged to their utmost 

 speed in the hope of outstripping a rival , 

 even at the sacrifice of cost and safety. 

 As a consequence, the study of the 

 winds and currents of the sea has not 

 the vital interest which it possessed in 

 the days of Maury, when the relative 

 performance of the Sea Witch, the Drcad- 

 nought, the Invincible, the Oriental, and 

 other like fancifully named craft was a 

 matter of international discussion. The 

 investigation has, however, gone ear- 

 nestly forward, and the sailing ship has 

 reaped the benefit in the shape of greater 

 security, quicker passages, and larger 

 profits. First among the national in- 

 stitutions interested in this work is the 

 Deutsche Seewarte, having its central 

 office in Hamburg, Germany, and a 

 single instance will serve to show the 

 practical value of the results which have 

 been accomplished in this direction. 

 The exportation of saltpeter from the 

 nitrate ports along the west coast of 

 South America to Europe is handled 

 exclusively by German sailing ships, 

 and the best sailing route from the 

 English Channel to the coast of Chile 

 and return has since the inception of 

 this trade been made the subject of 

 special investigation by the Seewarte. 

 As a result of this study the time of 

 passage has steadily diminished. Dur- 

 ing the early 70' s, the epoch at which 

 the trade first became active, the voyage 

 from the Lizard to Valparaiso occupied 

 over 100 days. Careful discussion of the 

 material meanwhile accumulated, lead- 

 ing not so much to change in the route as 

 to more intelligent handling of the ves- 

 sel by the shipmaster under given me- 

 teorological conditions, has succeeded in 

 reducing this time materially, the suc- 

 cessive steps of the improvement being 

 as follows : 



