The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume], April 21, 1898, Page 9, Image 9

About The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921

Image provided by: University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI

                
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"S" HOUSE
FLAG
floats Over Best anil Fastest Am
erican Sailing Ships.
BUSINESS OF MR. SEWALL
Talks of Building and Maintenance
of Vessels Known Here Yards
Sending Out the Clippers.
HATH, Me. Without break for near
y .seventy-five years has the Sewall
private signal, a white "S" on a blue
ground, fluttered from the maintop of
some of the stanchest, finest, swiftest
vessels in the American merchant ma
rine, carrying the Stars and Stripes
into every foreign port. From the
first ship, built entirely from American
material, cut on the banks of the Ken
nebec, to that now being built entirely
of American material from the mines
and forges of Pennsylvania, the Se
walls have been pioneers in ship-build
ing and shipping masters.
Arthur .Sewa.l, the present head of
the yard and of tho family, is best
known to the American public as the
recent candidate with 'Mr. Bryan on
the Democratic Presidential ticket, but
o every person who has -given the
American marine the least attention
he is known as the leading shipping
merchant and ship-builder of New-
England.
As has been shown by his political
course, Mr. Sewall is in all things a
radical, but more successfully so in
shipping than in politics. When he
began building the great wooden ships
which are largest of their class and
the pride of the American marin
the Rappahannock, the Shenandoah
the Susquehanna ?nd the Roan ok
he was laughed at, and his bankruptcy
was .predicted, yet it is a fact that
these ships have been the only ones
nia'L nave pant well during the recent
repression in frieghts. The Rappahan
nock was burned as the result nf nnn
taneous combusti On in its parori Kiit
tho other three have been steady
iiiuney-winners.
Again Mr. Sewall Was laughed at
ana considered all but insane when he
announced his intention of hnnrfino- c
steel sailing ship at Bath. But ,the
dirigo, .01 z,bib tons burden, which .was
launched in the spring of 1S94, lias
jjioveci nis wisdom. Although built cn
liiw MVfimeuec Dy American workmen
tho Dirigo contains considerable for
eign material, her angle irons, plates
frames and strakes havine- hPPn im.
ported from the Clyde under the act
cn. congress admitting them duty free.
But this dissatisfied !Mr. Sewall, and
he obtained estimates from the Carne
gie .and other steel wonks, with such
resuus tnat he says today:
"We can put down material for stpei
ships cheaper on the Kennebec after
three years' experience than the fa
mous Scotch bui'.ders can on the Clyde
after thirty. We have today .the cheap
est steel in the world. Last year we
produced almost as much steel as
Great Britain, and I believe thrt
fore .this year has closed -we shall have
oecome the first steel-nroducins- conn
try in the world. This is the result
of the Government encourasdne- the
steel industry, and I believe the same
results can be produced in our mer
chant marine by pursuing the same
policy.
"I have one shin on the wnvs Tin tv
almost framed in, which will be built
irom bow to stern from American steel
put together by American workmen
under the American flasr. nn.i WiM,i o
very short time win io-; '
anocher and larger ship. Neither has
been named yet. The one now in the
,s i'racucany a duplicate of the
Uirigo. except that her lines have been
made a little finer, especially in that
she is. sharper aft. She will be about
three thousand tons, and much faster
than the Dirigo. The one which will
c uum soon win be about twentv feet
iiufet-r ana on similar lines, and with
a carrying canacitv nf r,,. v,..
:LlnS- B,ot!Vcf thp ships will be
"iiiiii; vessels.
"Then you do no: believe that the
day icr sailing ships has passed a
seems to be the opinion of the Fn-
"As long as the wind blows and the
trees grow there will be sailing ships
built and business to keep them busy
There will always be a chance for
them to compete against steam in traf
fic where time is not a factor, or where
delay is actually a good thing. For in
stance there is the wheat crop. In July
or August it begins to be ready for de
livery, and in a short time the whole
.rear's supply is ready for shipment.
But the consumption of a crop stretches
over the whole year. Shipping wheat
in sailing vessels consumes several
months' time, which would otherwise
require the storing of the wheat. Sail
ing freights are. actually less than
steam freights phis storage charges.
So. you see. here is business which
sailing ships can hold. Then, again,
take railroad materials, especially
rails, which are manufactured faster
than they can be used, and where the
delay of sails over steam is better thin
storage.
"Of course, as in all business, it is
a case of the survival of the fittest,
and as smaller ships are relatively
rnore expensive than large ones, small
ships cannot malke money, and will
have to make way for large ones. For
instance, the only ships of our firm
which have paid of late have been the
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The above illustrations were reproduced from drawings furnished by the designer, Vi.o Jacob-en, expressly for the Pacific
Commercial Advertiser, with a view of giving- the public an idea of the prizes offered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Cooper for a Military Shooting contest. The shield will be of polished silver, convex in shape and with the ornamentation in
high relief. It will be mounted upon a plaque or bracket covered with dark velvet, and is intended for a wall decoration. The
medal is to be of gold, about the size of one of the three interlaced laurel wreaths, and goes to the highest individual scorer.
THE PACIFIC COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER: HONOLULU, APRIL 21,
'1 jm-
DEPARTMENT TROPHIES.
oooooooocooooooo 0000000000000000000000000
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three big wooden ones and tho. biff
Dirigo. AVo are actually building moro
steel tonnage today on the Kennebec
than the Sco:ch are on the Clyde. Tha
significance of this may 00 read in
two ways. It may be that wo are more
or it may be we are less progressive
than the Scotch. Outside of this quc3-
I uwn i minK tnat the explanation may
I be that, thanks to our wise coasting
;laws, the New York -San Francisco
i trade, which gives the bst business
to sailing ships, is confined to Amer
ican bottoms.
"The advantage of sttvl over wool
is great. While the first cost is more,
the expense, of maintenance is much
less, und even after years of usage
you still have a good steel ship, for
steel Is practically indestructible, and
costs little to keep going.
"Two things have prevented our
turning to steel sooner. First, the fact
that wo could build the best and cheap
est wooden ships in the wxjrld, and
knew how to handle them, from the
first design to the last days afloat. On
the other hand, steel was expensive,
and we did not have the plants nor
the experienced workmen. But the ex
perience of my yard has shown that
we can obtain materia! cheaper oil
the Kennebec than the Scotch can onj
the Clyde, and can equip on short no
tice a better plant at less expense than
our competitors across the water. Our
only handicaps are the greater cost oZ
labor and the lack of established busi
ness for our ships. If we can only re
ceive temporary encouragement for our
shipping from the Government, steel
ship yards will spring up everywhere,
and it will not "be long before, as has
been the case with steel, competition,
will reduce the cost, so that wo can
build more cheaply than any other
country in the world.
"We don't ask for anything abnor
mal nor permanent. We merely desire
to receive some encouragement from
the Government to help us over the first
few hard years of the business. As it
is now, there is no disposition on the
part of capital to go into shipping,
but with such encouragement it would
not be long before capital would enter
the field. And once so established, tho
business would soon maintain itself
and draw fresh capital, as needexl, with
out further aid from the Government.
COMPETITION MUST RE AfET.
'But instead of this encouragement
at the present time there is a disposi
tion among some shiping men to avoid
offending our 'British friends,' and so
encouragement is refused us. But we
r ust stand on our own bottom. We ar
; big enough, brave enough, strong
enougn country to go it alone in the
face of the whole world, if cnly we
will recognize our own strength. To
day our ships and the cargoes sent in)
them are discriminated against with
out mercy by the great English, insur
ance powers; and this is right. Eng.
land ever seeks to protect lier own
in every way. But we must seek ta
meet this competition. We must have
some help to meet tme unfair advan-
tages of our competitors.
"It is urged against the proposal to
give American ships discriminating
duties that foreigners would retaliate
to our disaster. But what if they did?
Our exports are greater than our im
ports, and it would simply result In
an additional tax on the foreigners
who consume what we produce. They
don't buy from us because they wand
to, but because the' wouldn't be in-?
clined to spite themselves to a very
great extent.
"I tell you what," said Mr. Sewall,
his clear, blue eyes fairly flashing ak
'he walked up and down the room, la
his intense interest, "I want to see q
more American policy toward our ship
ping. I would like to see a law passed
obliging not only every officer, as now,
but every man on board American
ships, to be an American citizen. It
is a disgrace to our flag to have it
carried around the world by 'Dago
crews. Let every soul on board, no
matter where born, owe allegiance to
the flag that flies above him. Tbe
United States has inherent strength,
to do anything, and it can repossess
itself of the carrying trade of th
world if it only will. See what the
Germans have done. The North Ger
man Lloyd lines, among the strongest
aflcat, owe their existence and pros
perity to the wise policy of the Ger
man Government in giving them ma
terial encouragement and in building
them up. Every man on board a Ger
man ship is a German subject, and
wherever a German sees his flag afloat
he is fil'.ed with pride and patriotism.
"His flag afloat always excites pride
in a man, and this is only one of the
reasons which makes a strong mer
chant marine the great school for patri
otism. Young men going into the Ger
man service find no foreigners on their
ships, and grow to regard shipping
as a privilege that they get frcm the
Government, to go into the service and
to stay in it. Aside from the commer
cial profits of building up our shipping
! American patriotism, and require Am
erican citizenship as a qua- nicationi
for shipping on an American vessel.
We would not onlj- build up patriotism,
we would lipvplnn nnirk. read v. natrio-
tic young men of the greatest value to
j us m case ct war or other emergency,
j whether they would be called upon to
i serve afloat or on shore."
j "How would y:u arrive at th's end,
!Mr. Sewall?"
! "I would begin at the prf.s-ent session
j of Congress, for the sooner the better,
i with a resolution by both branches
j setting forth that there is an absolute
meed of American ships. This would
j be followed up with a little eno:urage
j ment, which need only be temporary,
j to enable us to repossess ourselves
j of our old position as mistress of the
j seas. Personally, I favor a policy of
jsmall discriminating duties in fav:r of
! cargoes brought in American bottoms.
IBut better than that, thousrh less nrae-
tica', would be a widespread sentiment
on the part of the American people in
favor of American shipping and a
determination to buy only such goods
as were brought in under the Ameri
can flag. If foreigners won't give our
(Continued on Page 12.)
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