The Sailing Ship and. The Panama Canal 175 



cargo, the most important staple being 

 case oil, which goes from New York and 

 Philadelphia to China and Japan. 



The westward- bound contingent re- 

 turn as they went, viz, by way of Cape 

 Horn — those from South America laden 

 with nitrates; those from Central Amer- 

 ica with dyewoods and ore ; those from 

 North America with lumber and grain. 

 The eastern-bound contingent maintain 

 their easterly progress, the large ma- 

 jority ultimately fetching up at one 

 or another of the Pacific coast ports of 

 the Union ; those from Australia bring- 

 ing to that coast a cargo of coal from 

 Newcastle or Sydney; those from Hong- 

 kong, Shanghai, and Yokohama ordi- 

 narily proceeding in ballast after dis- 

 charging at those ports. In Puget 

 Sound, Portland, or San Francisco these 

 likewise are chartered to transport lum- 

 ber or grain to Europe and South 

 Africa. 



An inspection of the map w 7 ill reveal 

 the fact that the sailing highways likely 

 to be most seriously affected by the con- 

 struction of the Panama Canal, should 

 the latter prove practicable for sailing 

 vessels, are the present route between 

 the Channel and the west coast of North 

 America, outward and homeward, and 

 the homeward route from the west coast 

 of South America. Vessels outward- 

 bound to the latter coast will in any 

 event continue to round Cape Horn, 

 inasmuch as the use of the canal by a 

 vessel bound to a Chilean or a Peruvian 

 port would involve upon emerging upon 

 the Panama side a detour of several 

 thousand miles in order to circumnavi- 

 gate the southeast trades in the Pacific. 



TIME SAVED FOR SAILING VESSELS 

 BY THE PANAMA CANAL. 



As to the saving of time likely to be 

 effected by the substitution of the canal 

 for the present route around the Horn, 

 the figures are to some extent disap- 

 pointing. The length of the voyage 

 from the Channel to San Francisco by 



way of Cape Horn, following the sail- 

 ing route laid down by the Deutsche 

 Seewarte, is in the neighborhood of 

 16,000 miles. The average sailing time 

 is 139 days. The return voyage, al- 

 though 1,000 miles greater in distance, 

 is made in less time, occupying but 132 

 days, the delay on the outward-bound 

 passage being occasioned by the diffi- 

 culty of beating around the Cape. As 

 evidence of the importance of the traffic 

 following this route, it may be stated 

 that, during the year 1901-1902, 104 

 sailing vessels from the Channel entered 

 at the Pacific coast ports of the United 

 States alone, and 322 vessels cleared 

 from these ports for the Channel. 



The average sailing time from the 

 Channel to Colon is 43 days, and from 

 Panama to San Francisco 52 days. 

 Allowing two days for passage through 

 the canal, the duration of the voyage 

 by the Isthmian route will thus amount 

 to 97 days, as compared with 139 days 

 by way of Cape Horn, or a net saving 

 of 42 days. The substitution of any 

 other Pacific coast port for San Fran- 

 cisco will serve only to increase or di- 

 minish the duration of both voyages to 

 a like extent, the average sailing time 

 to San Diego being three days less than 

 to San Francisco, the average sailing 

 time to Portland and Puget Sound re- 

 spectively five days and seven days 

 greater. 



On the return voyage the saving in 

 time is likely to prove considerably less. 

 The average duration of the passage 

 from San Francisco to Panama, as de- 

 rived from the very few instances ob- 

 tainable, is 55 days, while the voyage 

 from Colon to the Channel, owing to 

 the circuitous route which a sailing 

 vessel is obliged to follow, occupies, 

 under ordinary conditions, 60 days. 

 Again adding the two days required to 

 cross the Isthmus, the duration of the 

 voyage from San Francisco to the Chan- 

 nel by way of the canal will thus prove 

 to be 117 days, giving a saving of but 



