JAN. 13, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 

York, Boston and Portland. Coming deep with 
coal, they can return without cargoes and some- 
times make remarkably quick runs with cor- 
responding profit. Loading with the shutes is 
a short matter—a few hours suffices to fill the 
largest; a fair wind then makes the passage to 
Boston or Portland a matter of a few days; 
quick despatch means a quick return and another 
dividend. On the other hand, long delays on 
account of head winds or calms or waiting for 
other vessels or delay in the arrival of coal may 
mean just the opposite. Smaller vessels dis- 
charging at Boston go down East for ice for 
Baltimore or Philadelphia, and thus get a cargo 
both ways. The railroad ties of Georgia, the 
phosphate (rock) of Florida, the sugar of Cuba, 
the lumber of the South, the molasses of New 
Orleans, the ice and granite of Maine, the coal 
of Pennsylvania, the plaster of Nova Scotia call 
for ships, and our great fleet answers. But the 
largest schooners handle coal and look to that 
for their profit, and indeed are too large to 
seek the ordinary cargo; neither cargo nor dock 
accommodations are suitable for the largest class 
of schooners. 
The modern coaster is a marvel of marine 
architecture. What a revelation to the old-time 
skipper of thirty years ago, were he to be trans- 
planted to the deck of one of these monster 
craft! In place of the crowded decks of the 
small three-master he knew are wide, spacious 
decks, where one could give a ball; instead of 
his three masts, five or six; instead of 18 or 2oft. 
of beam, 45 or 5soft.; instead of 12oft. in length, 
300 or 400, and everything to correspond. 
Forward he would find a deck house whose 
fore part contains a donkey engine which hoists 
sails, handles cargo, warps ship and heats cabin. 
Aft he would find cabins fitted in the most 
luxurious manner, large and high, with abund- 
ant staterooms and every convenience. Bath- 
room, pantry, private cabin for the captain, 
chart room all finished in natural woods or 
painted most tastefully. A telephone at the side 
of the captain’s desk communicates with the 
engineer, and a word from the cabin can send 
steam aft if the rooms are cold, or bring the 
steward or mate. In many vessels a wheel house 
of ample size shields Jack from the weather, and 
on some bitter night off the coast when the 
mercury is well down in the tube he can give 
‘all his attention to steering and not divide it 
between that and an attempt to keep from freez- 
ing to death. Patent blocks, steel standing rig- 
ging in the largest vessels, a donkey amidships 
for small jobs, speed, seaworthiness and beauty; 
in short, a marvel of marine architecture would 
make the old skipper hold his breath. Steel is 
now being used for the hull, and divers opinions 
are expressed as to its fitness. Wood is honest 
and elastic and will “give” where necessary; 
but as to steel there seems to be doubt. Time 
alone will tell. But with all these improvements 
sails have not disappeared from the seas; and 
let us hope they never will. Until some motive 
power less expensive than steam can be found, 
sails will still whiten the ocean, and while sails 
last, sailors there must be; and while the coast- 
wise ship and sailor are very different from their 
predecessors of a half century ago, yet they have 
many traits in common, experience similar dan- 
gers and adventures, and live a life of which peo- 
ple on shore are strangely ignorant. 
From the time the keel of the schooner is 
laid in the Maine yard, and the timbers grow 
into the finished product, until the wreck is 
-hurled on some beach or is towed away to be cut 
down into a barge, the story of the craft would 
fill a volume; and while the ordinary coast- 
ing schooner discharging coal at the dock may 
not seem an object of especial interest to the 
passerby, could he follow for a week or a 
month the life abroad, he would learn that a . 
big coal schooner is something more than a 
coal barge with masts, and that swept decks and 
mutinous crews and sails torn to ribbons and 
hairbreadth escapes are not confined to fiction; 
and while he is reading this, with his feet on the 
radiator, better men than he are taking des- 
perate chances in some deeply laden craft just 
outside in the bay. For with all the improve- 
ment in marine affairs, there seems to be very 
little relief ‘for the human element. Comes a 

















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