SALMON SEASON

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 136, 6 December 1926, Page 8

SALMON SEASON

THE AMERICAN FLEET /

TWENTY* OLD SQUARE RIGGKBS,

(From Our Own CorrMponOnt) SAN FRANCISCO, 3rd November. Twenty able, well-conditioned vessels, constituting what is perhaps the world's largest fleet of square riggers in active commission, are on their way home from Alaska to San Francisco. Early in April each year, they sail for Alaska, carrying an average of 130 men each. In thoir holds are quantities of tin-plate and box shooks for putting up the season's catch of salmon. Tho majority of tho passengers are cannery hands. Those who actually work the ships aro on thoir papers as "seamen-fishermen." . As soon as tho vessels reach Bohring Sea, and tie up at tho cannery, all hands "jump ship." Cannery men go to their jobs ashore. Erstwhile sailors pair off, man their boats, and settle down to tho prosaic work of fishing. While tho salmon are running, life aboard tho square riggers, with only the skipper and cook left, is very quiet. Some time in September, the ships again become a scene of life and activity. Tin-plato has been manufactured into cans and shooks into cases, which aro now swung into the holds. Theu tho vessels set out for port. Barring foul weather and head winds, thoy averago about thirty days in the return passage. The record is held by the Sterling, which mado the Golden Gate in tweuty-ono days in 1900. Next year she piled up on the rocks off Bristol Bay, and was a tptal loss. Practically all tho vessels of tho fleet carry tho prefix Star to thoir names: Star of Lapland, Star of Finland, Star of Italy, Star of Scotland, etc. Two aro of wood, six of iron, and the balance of stoel. None of them are now. The oldest, tho Star of India, 1318 tons, was built at Ramsay, Scotland, in 1863. Tho Star of Poru, 1027 tons, was laid down the same year as Sunderland. The Star of Lapland is the pride of the fleet. Her masts are 200 feet high.