Zurich Herald, 1927-12-08, Page 3ROMANCE QUITS THE SEA
TiOW COLD-BLOODED BUSINESS
In the Days When Seafaring Meant Uncertainty, Romance
Held Sway on the Seven Seas. But To -day the Sea
CaptainsCarry on Their Business in Just as
Unromantic A Manner as Do Our
Captains of Industry
By CAPTAIN DINGLE, No bed Writer of Sees Stories
Soxne time ago Rudyard Kipling re-
marked that romance had fled the sea
When steam came in. Ever since that
remark was made stories have been
Written' to prove Kipling in error. But
was he? One may still Bee a knight
in armor on a "movie" lot or in a air -
CUs parade; but that doesn't bring
• back the age of steel -clad knight er-
rantry, joustings and fayre laydes. No
more can a few scattered tales of true
sea happeninga, full of roil -mice still,
• bring back that romance that one
clothed ships and the sailormen who
planned them in the old days.
Chiefly, the death of sea romance
began --it was a lingering death—with
the coming of certainty. In the Ws,
when I ilest went to sea, the lad who
went off around the world in a sailing
• ship would be away anywhere from
one to three years; he would see
places that were only names to the
stay-at-homes; he would bring home
a cocoanut in the busk, a bit of coral,
a shell or a parrot, and be sure of a
wonder -eyed welcome. His folks
would be looking for him for weeks
before he arrived, only knowing that
his ship hadeiailed for home; perhaps
it had been speoken by a swifter ship
also homeward bound.
Now everybody kno-ws all about
. those strange, far -away places. A
cruising steamer, vast and swift and
steady, will carry a'wan clerk around
-tlae world in three months for MOO.
The pale clerk may sit in a deck chair
and watch coolies trotting coal aboard
hear their monotonous chaiat, smell
their romantic smell, and see more,
with no more effort than he uses to
get his living in the office, than our
young seafarers of the '80s saw in ten
years of fierce voyaging.
Everybody knows what a cocoanut
is like. Stores are full of fruits that
are commonplaces now, but which
were strange tropical luxuries then.
Shops are full of curios from the East,
the South, the frozen North. "Movies"
show pictures of savage lands, even
of the intimacies of whaling and
ewordfishing. The air is full of planes,
droning like bees, taking the young
eyes upward from the rolling, matter-
of-fact sea into the stilleto-be-mastered
air.
'Romance paceed up and started to
leave the sea when machinery brought
certainty—certainty of arrival, or
schedule, When a sailing ship un-
folded her wings for sett her crew
trampe.d around the capstan or pump-
ed up and down on the windlass, inch-
inher heavy cable in, helping the
labor with a shanty:
"Oh, Sally Brown's a bright mulatto;
Way, hey, roll and go!
Oh, she drinks rum and chews to-
bacco;
Spend my money on Sally Brown!"
But now Sally Brown's gone out of
business. Machinery snatches the
anchor from the mud. You press a
button and up she rises!
And sailing! A smart shipmaster
knew where to find winds. In seeking
them he might sail his ship over track-
less wastes and perhaps sight some
tiny gem of an island never seen ex-
cept ,by such a wandering ship. Is-
• landsthat sighted a ship once a year
or two years! Time to speak to the
folks, too. A boat out. A bucket of
fruit for some hardtack. A dozen
chickens for an axe. A carven paddle
• or a shell necklace for an aged shirt.
And no hurry. Perhaps the ship needs
water. Then out boats, out casks and
a day ashore for all hands filling fresh
water, cutting wood for the galley
stove. Then away again.
Every landfall was an event; some-
thing unecpected was to be expected.
That was in eailing. A steamer may
and often does go from port to port
on a schedule as rigid as many a pas-
senger train. Her master may and
often does see her clear of the land
• and not bother himself about her pro-
' gress again until the landfall is made.
He has other things to attend to, of
course, but things any secretary or
business man could handle. „His nave+,
gation is in the hands of two naviga-
ting officers. Unlese he wants to, he
need not stick his head outside be-
tween land and land. A lightship is
• identified, entered in the log and the
course changed. If fog conaes, radio grins at first. She goes farther over.
bearings will give the position precise-
ly. No room for romance nor time
for it.
There are Islands in the ocean such.
as Ascension, St. Helena, Tristan da
Cunha, where in the days of sailing
vessels a ship made a yearly call, a
friendly call just to signal and .ask
after the islanders' welfare, to land
books, perhaps, or clothing, or ex-
change seat beef and pork for fresh
potatoes and fish, poultry or" fruit.
-Lucky islands, then. The big clippers
or frigate built passenger sailing
ships in the Eastern and Australian
trades sighted the islands to give
their passengers a welcorae break in
the long passage monotony. Often a
ship anchored and let her people
stretch their tele ashore. The . is-
lands had half a dozen callers in a
year. But steamers don't do things
that way. Unless a steamer is sent
by the government to find out if' the
people are still alive, or a cruising
tourist steamer makes a curiosity call,
the islanders see nothing but rolling
sea year in, year out. The death of
sail robbed more than the sea of ro-
mance.
Not often. with the modern sea-
farer, man or boy, have such an ex-
perience as happened to the writer in
his first ship. It called romance if
you like. Adventure it certainly was,
judged by any boy's standard.
A big rigger, a steel four -masted
bayque, carrying 5,000 tons of cargo
when loaded; no frail craft, but a new
vessel, built as they built ships on the
Clyde in those glamorous eighties.
Her lower yards alone, of steel,
weighed seven tons apiece, and there
were three of them. There were six
steel topsail yards and six topgallant
yards, all of steel. Three royal yards
of pine, besides the lofty masts thena-
selves, towering 200 feet in the air.
And those lofty spars, clothed with
heavy canvas, the canvas full of wind.
That ship, loaded to her marks, would
carry full sail in good stiff breeze.
She was built to carry it. She had
backstays enough. When not loaded.
she needed watching, carrying that
press of sail; but she sailed fast, and
any sailor knows the thrill of watch-
ing a great square-rigger foam
through bright sparkling seas under
all the she dare carry.
This was the ship's third voyage.
She was built to make a last stand
against steam. She could carry sail
and carry cargo and, given the wind, clear of the entangling rigging that
was fast enough to compete with the
killed most of those who were lost.
seven -knot tramps that swarmed the
Two, of whom the writer wan -one, and
seas on the long passages. She had the only two of those twelve lusty
to carry her full load to pay, and on lads who could not swim! And on a
this voyage she lacked a few hundred floating hatch cover to which they
tons. were flung they survived through
She had edged in near the Ameri- thirtY-six hours of scorching daytime
can coast. The weather was fine and sun and chill nightime dews until
she was well up to her schedule for picked up by a grubby little sugar
time..The skipper decided to put in-
tramp steamer.
to a little port in Honduras and take AB, in those days, part of the busi-
in a lot of logwood to fill her up. That ness of going to sea!
was a sure cargo at the time. But the busines of going to sea to -
So watch her, in sight of land,
un. day is one of cold calculation Once it
der a dazzling blue sky and on a sea
left scope for a man's iminagination—
all crisp wavelets and glittering imagination and romance! There was
sprays. romance even in cargoes. The same
"We'll be in before dark, mister.
cargoes as steamers carry to -day; but
You can open the hatches," the old oh, hoar different! A sleepy estuaryf
man- tells the mate, and men follow tropic sun and lush jungle; wild
Chips around the decks, rolling tar- beasties slaking their thirst from the
panties as he knocks out wedges,
ilea river within sight o fthe ship. And
Mg the hitch covers, placing them canoes,. mat -sailed sampans or junks
carefully right, side up on the deck, or catamarans, fiber -fastened, built of
se that no bad luck may come upon odorous woods, carrying out woven
the ship. bags of spices, of sugar, of bird of
There are twelve boys in the ship
paradise skins. Then away, to an -
_apprentices, learning the business other little anchorage, where perha.ps
of going to sea. Half are on watch, a native go -down held copra, rattans,
halt at leisure and some are boyishly, coffee, medicinal roots, a cargo reek -
curiously, regarding the new land; ing with glamor, taken aboard to a
some are already too seasoned to crooning bong with a crazy winch and
bother with the new land in their sailorly tackles hung from aloft.
watch below. Two lads take a look Now a steamer takes up her berth
and crawl into their bunke for a at a wharf. Iler cargo is there ready.
stiooze. And the ship roars through It has been packed for shipping ac -
the leaping seas, leaning over to the cording to the best modern usage;
fresh half gale that le just what she and it comes aboard with a rattle and
wants to make tier show what she can a crash, or perhaps with less noise
do. She's logging sixteen knots, and on electric and hydraulic hoists; the
the Old -Man smiles, rubbing his great arc lights make night into day
hands. and the work never steps until the
Theu, out of the clear sky, without ship is loaded.
warning, comes a squall. Just a blast The master and the agent are fever -
et fiercer wind, that dies into the ishly busy, both impatient to get the
strength of the gale in five Minutes. ship to sea again. No fair winds to
But in that five minutes what has hap- wait for, either. Just 1111 her up and
petted? She goes over. The Old Man let's go! She may be a regular cargo
liner, touching at two ports like a
Taking Puss to the Doctor
SUPPOSE HE DIDN'T WANT TO GO? '
When Olga, a ten -year-old' leopard, went sick, the trainer, Oiga Celeste, bundled the big cat into a wheel-
barrow and astonished" Los Angeles by wheeling it through the streets to the veterinarian's.
Doubt comes into his face. He starts
to shout to order the starboard mates
to let go all light sails.
It is toe late then. She goes over
still fartiler, water pours 'over the six
foot rails, and down the open hatches.
The yards will not come down now;
she leans too much. And now the
ghastly truth cannot be blinked. She's
turning turtle.
In five minutes she lies on her side.
In two more her. sails split with the
pressure of wind and water. She
rolls right over, and slowly goes down. the method of getting them.
with all sail set. And boats and life- The crews have changed, too. That
as inevitable. See the crew of a big
deep -water square rigger going to sea
on the night tide. Up at Paddy's
trolley car on a country run. If she's
a tramp steamer she'll come nearer to
following the old sailing ehip routes;
but everything is for progress, dis-
patch and profits, and even tramp
steamers are being provided with car-
goes by "feeders," smatter steamers
plying around coasts and islands col-
lecting the scattered freights for the
bigger tramp to load at her chief port.
Cargoes are the same, ye; but some-
how different. The package and the
handling makes a difference. Also
buoys might as well be home in the
store. Hatch covers float, and the
hen coops. And bits of flotsam. But
what of the crew? Goose, with a fiddle and the girls. A
Eighteen men and boys went with room thick with smoke and the reek
the ship. And the skipper's wife, and
his young son. The skipper shot him-
self when he learned he alone, of his
little family, was' saved. And of the
twelve lads, learning the business of
going to sea, only two were saved.
They were the two who were in their
bunks. They were flung out through
the door and, 'by a miracle, hurled
of beer and rum; thick with lusty
voices, too, and shrill laughter. There
are bright eyes even through the
murky smoke. And joviality and
song:
In Amsterday there lived a maid,
_end she was mistress of her trade;
I'll go no more a -roving with you, fair
maid!
And the last call to sea! The mate
perhaps, poking his head in the door,
giving a nod to the landlord. Some
bold lad inviting the mate to drink
with them; the mate's disappearance
and the laughter. Not nice things
said about the mate by the girls. The
last drink all around, on the house; a
good, stiff one if the landlord's a good
scout.
Then the dark of the pierhead. Girls
eaying good-bye to their sailors, kiss-
ing them noisily.
• "Don't you git gay with no firemen,
Nell!"
"What d'ye think I am?" with a
wink at a new sailor just home, hang-
ing back until the big ship moves.
"Get aboard, men!" This from the
mate The tug is ready. Men tumb-
ling over the rail. Girls shrieking "So
long!"- Whistles, ropes and motion.
The night swallotis the ,hip and she
will be seen no more for a year. The
girls must live. They cannot live
alone, and there are other ships.
But the modern ship? She lies
quietly at a lighted dock. Her crew
are like any other body or employed
men. Rarely does a man have to be
sought out on sailing day. It's too
easy to fill the plate of the modern
steamboat- head. And crews are dif-
ferent. The life is different. So is
• the age. One popular souvenir large-
ly favored by windjammer sailors on
leaving a foreign port for home was
a pair of fancy garters, usually frily
things with some 'bold Motto on the
buckle or clasp. There was still seine
mystery. Some romance about a girl's
garter. And jack was as romantic
about a garter as any plumed knight
of old.
Where is the mystery of a garter
now? A garter holds no more mys-
tery or power to intrigue than a shoe.
Why should, a sailor take home gar-
ters for his girl? She doesn't care
who sees them. She wants wrist
watches or diamond rings. And in
these days of steam and steamer
wages she can almost depend on get-
ting them, if her man is the right sort
and still holds on to that other kind of
romance, which unlike the romance
of the sea, can never fade and die.—
N.Y. Herald Tribune.
London Paper Raps
Baldwin Cabinet
•
Wave of the Hand
Runs a Toy Tam
Scientist Shows 'How Grid"
Glow Tube Responds in
Test of Radio Device
LIGHTS UP CARS, TOO
• A scientist passed his hand acrose
a small silvered globe attached to a
vacuum tube and a miniature electric
train lighted up in all its windows and
began circling a track. As It approach.'
ed a little red railway station the
lights of the station glowed also and
remained alight until the train went
on. The scientist removed his hand.'
the train stopped and its lights winks
ed out.
The scientist was S. M. Kintner,
manager of the Research Department
of the Westinghouse Electric and
Manufacturing Company, and in the
course of a lecture before the Nevi
York Railroad Club in the main audi-
torium of the United Engineering Sot
ciety, in New York City.
Mr. Kintner's; railroad demonstrate
tion was one of several by which he
showed the by-product inventions
which have come with the perfection
of the vacuum tube used in ordinary
radio receiving sets.
Multiplies Its Energy.
The tube used in this darnel:ultra.,
tion, Mr. Kintner explained, was the
grid -glow tube, invented by ,p.
Knowles of the Westinghouse staff,
and capable of multiplying the energy'
used to start its operation 100,000,000
times. With such a device a fly could
start a battleship.
It resembles any ordinary radio
tube, but has no heated electrode and
contains neon gas.
"With this grid left disconnected no
current can pass," said Mr. Kintner,
"since the grid collects a charge of
some of the free electrons and blocks
operation of the tube. If, however)
the charge is removed from the grid
the tube operates and passes suill-'
cient current to operate a relay which'
in turn will close or open a circuit
which can be made to operate any
suitable electrical device. II an alter-
nating current is used this can be
done by means of a small condenser.
In this apparatus I am demonstrating
the metal -coated inner surface of this
sphere serves as one plate of the core
denser and my hand as the other."
The particular sphere used, Mr.
Kintner explained, was the same one
used by the late E. H. Gary to start
the Homestead Mills by a wave of his
hand in his New York office. Mr.
Kintner made a similar gesture, the
gas in The tube glowed pinkly, and
the little train began to move, while
the 100 railroad men present applaud-
ed.
London—"Who are the men in the
Cabinet who wrecked the Geneva dis-
armament conference?" asks the
Westminster Gazette editorially.
Winston Churchill (Chancellor of
the Exchequer), it goes on to say,
.might leave saved 250,000000 in re -
Placement, if he had supported a pol-
icy of limitation, in spite of the break-
down. The question arises, says the
paper, whether he took this line.
If declares that the breakdown was
not due to Right Hon. W. C. Bridge-
man, First Lord of the Admiralty, and
asks how Mr. Churchill came to be
the Admiralty spokesman. when
Bridgeman agreed to the United
States' claim of parity,
"The same deadlock will be repeat-
ed in 1931, when the naval tonfer-
ence re -assembles under another
government," saes the paper. "No-
thing will or can be done until the
government at least makes up its
mind regarding the importance of a
disarmament agreement and until it
contrives to put back into their prop-
er place its insurgent technical ad-
visers."
S'MATTER POP—By Payne
Atmorgor Rp %owe/
T4E-riZe8 A MA
al)V.IN1 grRee-r wijo
1,..06.41S LtVrE... -k
NO1* 6o XSOE.To
THEN HUBBY SMILED
Hubby: Why did the new maid
attempt to. serve soup before each
course tonight?
Wine: 1 haven't an idea.. I par-
ticularly told her that soup must
be served before everything, el
course.
A man entered a chemist's very
hurriedly and asked, for a dozen quin-
ine pills. "Do you want them put in a
box, sir," asked the assistant, as he
was counting them mit' "Oh, no, cer-
tainly not," replied the customer, "I
was thinking of rolling them home."
Can Light Up 'Airports.
Mr. Kintner also used other tubes—
by-products of the radio—to show
how the sound of an approaching air-
plane can turn on the landing lights
of an airport. In this case the sound
was produced from a phonograph re-
cord of au airplane engine, greatly
amplified; and the wall lights in the
auditorium were turned on.
Preceding Mr. Kintner's demon-
straion, I. F. Byrnes of the Radio En-
gineering Department of the General
Electric Company, explained a radio
telephone system for use on trains.
It is now on actual daily service on
two trains on the New York Central
Railroad, he said, though the work of
improving it is still going on.
Its principal use at present, said 't
Mr. Byrnes, is communicating from
the caboose to the cab of a long
freight train, and In communicating
with locomotives moving cars in
classification yards. Antennae are
placed on both the tender and the
caboose. and stanchly made receiving
and transmitting sets, guardiug
against vibration, shock and mois-
ture, are carried on the train.
There's an old story about a man
who after listening to abuse and villa
flcation from anotber quiety retorted,
"All that you said I was you are." An
ancient anecdote puts Burrita in the
situation of that man, and tells of
Buddha calmly inquiring of his revia
er, "If you offer something to a man
and lie 'refuses it, to whom then does
it belong?" The man replied, "It be-
longs, I suppose, to the one wbo of
fered it." "Then," returned Buddha,
"the abuse and vile names you offer
me I refuse to accept."
Judged by their intensive advertis,
ing compaigns, the better motorcars
become the more they need to be
pushed.
vorxelm _imT4mmemase
A Horse Laugh
1 0
0
eteeeenne
..,
, . .
1,-^1. • ette
ri
40110to
,41,qt f 04, 1,0' Ill 111,1111 IIP Ill
' ' 411114to
• -' • Nol,boat,orlormr,!' •
• •
. 11 fillt111111111111411111 MIK
)
• '
.