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The Panama Canal Review 3 Taking on a Small Hitchhiker, This Larger Boat Will Pull It Through the Canal in a Tandem Transit

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The Panama Canal Review 3 Taking on a Small Hitchhiker, This Larger Boat Will Pull It Through the Canal in a Tandem Transit UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA LIBRARIES Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries http://www.archive.org/details/panamacanalrevie1410pana ON THE INSIDE • Swiftstar Mystery • The Little Fellows • Why It's Wet i/Special Report: 50th Anniversary Stamp Issue Vol. 14, No. 10 MAY 1964 Robert J. Fleming, Jr., Governor-President Robert D. Kerr, Press Officer David S. Parker, Lieutenant Governor Publications Editors fiUJgt^»t Richard D. Peacock and Julio E. Briceno Frank A. Baldwin Panama Canal Information Officer Editorial Assistants Official Panama Canal Publication Eunice Richard, Tobi BnTEL, and Published monthly at Balboa Heights, C.Z. Tomas A. Cupas Printed at the Printing Plant, La Boca, C.Z. Distributed free of charge to all Panama Canal Employees. cTtbout Our Cover THIS MONTH The Review cover blossoms with color. Very soon, these colors, or ones very close to these, will be an every- day sight on the postage stamps that Canal Zone residents will be using during the 50th Anniversary celebration month of August after the stamps go on sale August 15 at the Balboa post office. Postal Director Earl F. Unruh and his staff have designed a special official souvenir stamp folder commemorating the 50th Anniversary. These will be available and specific instruc- tions on how to get one are included in a story in this Review. E.xtra Review copies will be printed and sent to philatelic societies over the world. Including the regular printing of The Review, more than 35,000 copies of this issue will be distributed, a record for this publication. Another article in this issue outlines the history of the Postal Service in the Canal Zone from its beginnings in 1904. A third article describes each stamp of the series, with information, on ^he scenes and sidelights on the subject matter. As part of the 50th Anniversary celebration. The Re\iew presents the stamp issue and the part it will play in paying tribute to one of the world's great achievements. Index Swiftstar Mvstery 3 The Little Fellows 4 Bottoms Up 5 Description of Stamps 6 How to Get Stamps 7 Historv of Postal Service 8 \\h\ and Where It's Wet 10 Port of New York 12 Canal Historv 14 Anni\crsaries 15 New Librarv Status 16 Site of the World's Fair and one of the greatest commercial centers Promotions, Transfers 17 in history. New York is also a port of first importance. A story on pages 12 and 13 shows in text and pictures the immensity and Shipping 18 vitality of this seaport complex. Looking past the Statue of Liberty, this is a view of part of the waterfront and the New York skyline. Framed and Locked Up 19 May 1964 Mystery Ship: The Swiftstar OLD SHIPS never die, but they sometimes sail away and are never heard from again. When they go through the Canal, however, even old ships look substantial. The tolls and port charges they pay are substantial too. But when it comes to a ship that was reported missing some 40 years ago— it just sailed away. So did its records apparendy. Such a ship was the Swift Star or Swiftstar which, according to a recent New York press release, left Cristobal for the Atlantic 40 years ago and was never heard from again. Up to July 13, 1923, the Siciftstar, built in 1920, was quite a substantial ship. It was a 464-foot tanker operated by C. B. Mallory & Co. on the intercoastal trade and made a transit through the Canal on an average of once every 6 weeks. Then it disappeared. Her sisters called Swipeagle, Swiftwind, Swiftscout were still included in the old Panama Canal records. They carried oil from the west coast to Fall River and Boston and came back through the Canal in ballast. But after July 13, 1923 no mention was made of Swiftstar. The story carried last February in the New York Standard said the Swiftstar headed out into the Atlantic from Cristobal 40 years ago and was never heard from. It just vanished into limbo. In doing so, the story said, it joined a host of missing ships, one of the most recent being the Marine Sulphur Queen. The most mysterious was the case of the brig Mary Celeste which sailed from New York in the fall of 1872 with a cargo of alcohol. A month later, it was found floating in the Atlantic 400 miles west of Gibraltar. Her sails were set, her cargo unharmed. But there were no crewmen aboard. Their fate was never determined. Perhaps the worst such disaster in modern history was in 1854. In March of that year, the liner City of Glasgow sailed out of Liverpool for Philadelphia. There were 450 passengers and crewmen aboard. No trace of the ship or those aboard has ever turned up. The City of Boston set sail from New York in 1870 with 177 passengers and crewmen bound for Liverpool— a voyage never traced. In the next decade, 10 sailing ships and steamers vanished, among them the British training ship, the Atlanta, with a crew of 290 cadets, crewmen, and officers in 1880. Forty-five years ago the U.S. Navy's Ci/clops with 309 men aboard, left Barbados and was never heard from. In 1901 the American liner Condor with 104 aboard vanished after lea\ing British Columbia for the United States. Ten years ago the French freighter Monique sailed from New Caledonia with 120 passengers and crewmen. It was never seen again. In the early days there were no such things as radio or air search—which make the modem day ship disappearances more rare but at the same time more puzzling. And barring a miracle, the mystery of the Marine Sulphur Queen, which vanished between Gulf ports and the U.S. east coast with a crew of 43, will never be solved. The Panama Canal Review 3 Taking on a small hitchhiker, this larger boat will pull it through the Canal in a tandem transit. SUDDEN VISITORS AND LITTLE BOATS WHAT HAPPENS when a ship just ed to begin transiting, the necessary ships, 50 cents per ton of displace- "pops up" and requests transit with- fees must be guaranteed. In 1934, ment. out sending a transit request in Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt pro- Such is the procedure with large advance by 48 hours? And how about claimed the toll rates for Panama craft. What about small boats, such the little fellows, the small boats? Canal traflBc as follows: as rowboats and outboards? The decision to let the ship transit 1. On merchant vessels, yachts, depends on several things. If there is Almost 5 percent of the total army and navy transports, colliers no ship transiting or about to transit, transits during fiscal year 1963 were (vessels transporting coal), hospital the ship requesting permission to small craft, 299 tons or less. These ships, and supply ships, when carry- transit is given the "ok." If there is no small boats are handled in the same ing passengers or cargo, 900 per net break in Canal traffic, the "latecomer" manner as larger vessels. They must vessel ton. must sit tight until such time as it pay fees and must present a transit can be handled by a pilot and line 2. On vessels in ballast with pas- request within the prescribed period. handlers. Latecomers, which used to sengers or cargo, 72 cents per net These small boats often transit with be frequent during the days of poor vessel ton. a larger vessel because the money communication, are a rare sight .3. On other floating craft, includ- received from the transit of a small today. ing warships, other than transports, boat does not warrant the cost of a However, before any ship is allow- colliers, hospital ships, and supply transit by itself. May 1964 -^.^"'\ After Bottoms Up, They Flip ONLY KENNETH BAILEY, the Indus- trial Division's expert boatbuilder, had few qualms when work began a year ago on the construction of the wooden mail and freight Navigation Division work launch Tarpon. Seeing that it was to be built upside- down, there was some discussion of how he expected to turn it right-side up when the proper time came. As can be seen by the pictures, there was nothing to it. Just a matter of having the right block and tackle at the right The Tarpon, finished and ready for "Opei.ai j1; l.l ,ide up." moment in the right place. A flip of the wrist and the new Tarpon turned over and settled down gently into a prepared cradle. From now the work will be con- fined to fitting her out for the work she was designed to do. Another Navigation Division launch, the Lark, was built next to the new Tarpon, and is still in the construction stage. This craft is being built in the con- ventional rnanni-r and will be used as a pilot and passenger launch in Balboa. The two boats are being built b\' the Gamboa Launch Repair Facility which is part of the Panama Canal Industrial Division. They are the handiwork of employees, most of them Panama- nians, learning boatbuilding under the direction of Bailey. In addition to boatbuilding, the em- Easy does it, as the winches and workmen begin to right the launch. ployees in this unit repair and recondi- tion most of the other small floating equipment used by the Panama Canal. At the halfway mark, all is going smoothly with the huge boat. Right side up, it's now ready for the craftsmen to complete the job.
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