New Britain Herald Newspaper, March 2, 1923, Page 20

By SEABURY LAWRENCE. EARS ago, in the days of the clipper ships and whalers, i1+ tustrious Yankee skippers—or #o0 the legend goes—on reaching the proverbial “threescore years and ten” were wont to retire to a “rose cov- ered cottage" in or near New Bed- ford, Newburyport, Salem or Bath, perhaps, and spend the sunset years calmly smoking the old pipe and con- templating the golden adventures of “pygone days." The hold of the sea fs strong and captains of the old days seldom retired before reaching an ndvanced age. Some, of course, quit the quarterdeck for the build- ing yard In the prosperous days of the clipper ship era, but these cases were comparatively few. Some re- tired, bnt didn't stay retired. A case In point in that connection was the noted Capt, Jim Murphy of Bath, Me, one of the few latter day clipper captains the writer was priv- ileged to Capt. Murphy, a commander of famous Bath ships for meet, vears, and a “native son” of Emma Eames's home town, on giving up command of the great Shenandoah said he would have no more of the sea, which was not anything like it used to be a \ He would re- tire to the “rose c red cottage” at Bath—and what a lovely cottage it was!—and, by the great horn spoon, tread the quarterdeck no more. But he couldn't stand it. Hale and hearty, and not much over sixty at the time, Cap'n Jim found he simply couldn't sit and calmly smole. Soon he was outward bound once more in command of a fine new steel four masted bark built by the Sewalls— the Erskine M. Pheips—a beautiful vessel, though not as fleet as the Shenandoah, and a sister ship to ths William P. Frye, sunk early in the war by the German raider Eitel Friedrich. It was some years before Cap'n Jim could make up his mind to retire again, and for good. Unsafe on Broadway Reaches. Another clipper captain of our knowledge—Capt. Walter Joscelyn, skipper for many years of the Amer- jcan bark Nuanuv--was one of those commanders who “felt safer on a rolling deck off Cape Horn than navigating the uncertain reaches of Broadway," or so he often said. His vessel made a round voyage a year between New York and Honolulu. Well over seventy when he died, he was still in active command and had just returned around the Horn to Philadelphia and had no idea of re- tiring when a sudden stroke of heart failure caused his death. If the captains of the old sailing ship days gererally sought the seclu- sion of a country cottage after leav- ing the sea it may be a fair question to ask what coucse latter day cap- tains pursue under the same circum- stance Do the men who wear gold braid and walk the bridges of the great liners, or small ones, have more ambiticus about the after vears? Bevause of possible close contact with men of great affairs travellng s passengers on their ships do these more aristocratic skippers have more ambitious plans than the cid cantains did for the after retirement period? The ansv to this question in the main is that your modern skipper, for all the gold braid and the gla- mour of a command, when the “shadow line” is reached when he must break away from his long sea life, does just wha' the old time skip- per did—-lays a course off for the rose covered cottage For there are no more home loving men in the world than shipmagters, a majority of whom want the snug anchorage ideas Transatlantic Captains of Former 'Days Among these sea commanders, Charles, commander of the Berengaria, Majestic, the world's largest lner, Smith, the bearded officer in white in Cunard line, who commanded the Lusitania on the trip next to Capt. Poncelet, American flag. Capt. Dow is the central portrait. of home to look forward to at the end of the long voyage Fads of Retired Captains. Many a captain nas a hobby or fad which he 5 able to indulge more freely after retivement than whean engaged in making constant and ar- duous voyages. Some have avoca- tions which hecome professions more or less after reticement. Literature is one of them, the most noted case in that cornectivn being that of Capt. Joseph Conrac, who lives in his “rose cover:d cottage"” at Capelstone, Kent, England, and writes the most fascinating ¢f modern sea tales. Capt. David Bon: the Anchor Line skipper, is another shipmaster of lit- erary inclinations, but one who is far from thinking of retiring., He is only about 50 and of a hardy Scotch parentage ard a member of a very talented family. Capt. Bone, who is now in command of the Anchor Line steamship Cclumbia, the only one of the old fleet not sunk by torpedo in the great war, is the author of that charming and very successful sea story “The Brasshounder,” which 's the story from the apprentice boy's point of view of a voyage around Cape Horn with a “hard bitten" skip- per in a Seotch bark. Those who have enjoyed this delightfully writ- ten book porhaps wish that Capt. Bone might retire from active sea service and devote his entire time to degerting the fascinating business of command just yet. Capt. Relsenberg, who commanded the schoolship Newport, is another excellent example of the literary seafaring man whose vocabulary and command of words are quite as sure as his word of law on the bridge. Relsenberg is far from the retire- ment age and is true to the old call. Retirement comes to some skip- pers, less fortunate than their brother captains, prematurely, through some mishap over which they have no control. Fate wills that they shall be exiled from the life on the bottom row; Capt. the center, who was lost with the ill fated Titanic, and Capt. Dow, retired, of the before the last and took the noted ship into Liverpool flying the many of whom must be recognized by Amefican travelers, are Capt. Sir James the tall central figure in the top row; Sir Bertram Hayes, popular French skipper, now commander of the E. J. they have chosen in very miuch the same way destiny diverts the aims of men in shore jobs. One of the skippers suddenly wrenched away from his chosen profession was Capt. Inman Sealby, who was in command of the White Star liner Republic when that ill-fated craft was in col- lision with the Italian liner Florida in a February fog off Nantucket. The Republic was crowded with passengers bound on a pleasure cruise: for the Mediterranean. She was cut down so by the Florida that it was necessary to transfer the passengers first to the Florida and then to the Baltic af the White Star Line, then in her youth and one of Many of These Well-Known Com- manders Have Retired Since the War, Others Still Active. the crack ships of the Atlantic pas- senger trade. The passengers were brought back to New York on the Baltic, then commanded by Capt. J. B, Ranson, but Sealby and the officers and ‘crew stuck to the Re- public untll she sank under them the next day and they were picked up by the derelict destroyer Seneca and brought to this port. Twenty-four hours may make a great difference in the hopes and aims of a shipmaster. One of the younger skippers of the line, Sealby seemed marked for o successtul career with the White Star fleet, which was at that time planning the great Olympicand Titanic. He prob- ably looked forward to the time when he would walk the bridge of one of the line's floating palaces, the most envied perhaps of all captains, But the fog that cold day off Nantucket changed all that, It was a rule of the line that no captain who lost his ship under like circumstances should command again, It is un- likely that he could have gotten command of any passenger liner at that time. Fortunately, Sealby had studied maritime law for a time during his echool days, and it was to this pro- fession he turned after an accident had arbitrarily ended his days as a sea commander, Capt, Sealby opened a law office in San Francisco and was very successful in handling admi- ralty cases. It may be recalled that the Republic case was the first “wireless rescue” of any consequence, Jack Binns, now a reporter on the staff of the Tribune, was the wireless man on the Republic and he came into prominence through his fast work in sending out the calls for aid. Retirement comes to ship masters in peculiar ways at times, and a very vnusual case was that of Capt. Paul Kreibohm, formerly in command of the Red Star liner Kroonland. It was Kreibohm’s ship that brought in Capt. Inch and many survivors of the ill-fated Volturno, which was burned in mid-Atlantic, Many vessels afterward lost by torpedo attack during the war were involved in the rescue of the 1,300 passengers and 850 of the crew on board. It fell to the Kroonland's lot to rescue the valiant Inch and many of the passengers, for which Rrei- bohm received a medal for heroism t. add to others of the same sort in his collection. Kreibohm was very highly regarded by the International Mercantile Marine Company after this exploit. But ill luck was walting for him. The European conflagration was beginning to boil and Kreibohm was marked for temporary downfall. This captain was born in Hanover when that little nation flew its own flag and had not yet been absorbed by the fast developing Prussia. He had, morenver, gone to sea when a boy and served his time in British sailing ships of the Lamport & Holt Line and he was in command of an American shipat the outbreak of the war, His interests seemed to lie wholly toward the Allies, but because of the fact of his near German birth he was removed from command and rlaced on half pay ashore, It was kard lines, as he was a married man with a family, but the line was very = determined Lo have nebedy even es motely connected with, dermany ia 1tx employ, Ko the herolc exlle stood until the ~lose of the way, when he came out of retirement (o take command o a former German lirer for the Bhipping Board, Many of the noted transatlan skippers has the last decade, IlulI:‘: ing the arduous war years, sent inte retirement. Most of the old #kippery of the Lusitania, most beautiful of Cunarders, have passed along to the “rose covered cottages” outside Liv~ erpool or Bouthampton, Capt, John Watt, the grasied old Sea commander who brought this vessel out on her first trip, retired & year or so afterward and was suoc- ceeded In the command by Capt, John Pritchard, a robust and sturdy skipper who afterward took the Mauretania and was in charge of her bridge on some of the liner's fastest trips. Capt, Pritchard, who had the reputation of belng able to dock the 780 foot Cunarders “like a forry- boat,” long since retired, as have Warr, Barr, Dow and Turner, all ot whom at some time anded the il fated Lusitania, an excep- tlonally popular - captain, took the ‘Lucy” into Liverpool flying the American flag on the trip previous to her fatal crossing. On the last voy- 4ge the great Cunarder was in com: mand of Capt. W. T, Turner, Capt. Barr, known as one of the safest and most c tive of Cunard commander: d who had the Carmania for y trangely enough was the navigator of that vessel when, in the only stand up, #ive and take battle between nrmeti liners during the war, she sank the German liner Cap Trafalgar. Barr retired after his war service. Many Veterans Going Strong. Many of the British sea, command- ers, especlally those in the Atlantic passenger trade, had enough worri- ment and trouble during four years of war to drive them into retirement, but many of the veterans are stiI; going strong. These finclude Sir James Charles, now commander of the Aquitania; the genial and rub; cund Hambleton, commander of the great Olympic, and W. R, D. Irvine, who was in command of the Cun: arder Laconia when she was sunk and suffered from submersion in the cold water. ; Scores of those war trips across the war zone, involving sleepless nights and endless vigilance, wen: unmarked and unrecorded because “nothing happened,§ but those war years of unremitting service prob- ably added gray hairs to the head o* many a brave skipper. A winter crossing In war time made them think, as Capt. John Bradshaw of the Lapland used to say, as if “God had forgotten you.” And Bradshaw was there, trip in and trip out. through the long war years, Two noted and popular skippers of the American Line reached the re- tirement age soon after the war, and, strangely enough, sought their “rose covered cottages” in England, where they figured, perhaps, life was more tranquil and more conducive te the contemplation of golden youth, These sturdy and old experienced com- manders were Capt. Arthur H. Mills, who for many years had the old Thiladelphia and afterward the St. Paul, and Capt. W. T. Roberts, who for many years was in charge of the New York, a vessel which in recent times has survived many wiclssi- tudes. Started in Sailing Ships. It is safe to say that these two Yankee skippers coverea more sea miles than any other American mer- chant commander afloat during a like period of time. Both started out in sailing ships and so have some of the glorious old clipper period to re- member when they start up the ru- minative pipes these days. Bats Their Value in Destruction of Malarious Insects By W. T. HORNADAY. ITH a tuning fork and a V‘, fiying mammal, a sclentist rids the world of one of it3 deadliest diseases. The dark and se- cretive bat with its wings of velvet and sable performs this service while the world sleeps. Malaria, the dis- ease that competes with tuberculosis and cances in its heavy toll of life, has found its decrease when scienc? protects and shelters the bat as the natural enemy of the malarial mos- quito, Preparing a home for bats and safeguarding the life of each bat with a flne of $5 to §200 was the resuit of Dr. Charles A, R, Campbell's dis- coveries and scientific work with bats and mosquitoes. It was in San An- tonio, the home of Dr. Campbell, that the first bat roost was built for the purpose of ridding the city of the pestilential malarial mosquito, For years and years Dr. Campbell experimented on bats to discover why they were immune from the dis- ease that wrought such havoc with human beings. The results of his re- d(;:ivfien é Place gearch have received worldwide at- tention of sclentists. It took a great many years for Dr. «©ampbell to be sure of the causd for the difference in the susceptibility of the bat and that of other mammals. The great difference in the anatomy of the bat was found to be in its relatively much larger spleen. It is to this origin that Dr. Campbel] at- tributes the of the bat to thrive on the malarial carriers and consume large numbers of engorged mosquitoes without being affected. Bats Abhor Jazz. In his experiments with bats Dr, Campbell has come across several pe- characteristics of the animal, For instance, bats abhor jazz. A phonograph, a Jazz record and a small boy stationed on the top of a hunting lodge infested with bats so startled animals in morning hours as they returned to ability culiar the the early roost that they flew some two miles away, entered another hunting lodge and never returned to the one in which they lhad been living for two years past. The explanation of this is that the ear of the bat is so deli- cate that discordant or strident noises are to them the most irritating of ali sensations 8o finely tuned is the ear drum of the mammal that no sound belew high C will vibrate the drum. Dr. Campbell ascertained this with tha uge of a tuning fork. A farmer in east Texas was losing great num- bers of cattle from the effects of the to Roost mosquitoes thriving in and around the watering tanks on his farm. He imported bats and soon had a thriv- fng colony, but the mosquitoes did not decrease in number. An inv-s- tigation showed that the mosqui- {oes sang a note below high C ard the blind bats were unable to hear anad catch them, A Bat Cemetery. Another odd thing about bats I3 that they cepogit their dead:in bat cemeteries. Heaps of bones fornd in caves inhabited by bats and in roosts preve that the bats had a feeling for order and sanitation. The remarkable value of bats ns a health service was demonstrated in San Antonio when the malaria- infested swamp region around Luke Mitchell where there was ahundant grazing for cattle experimented on. It has been said that formerly {t was impossible to build fences uround this land bordering the lake strong enough to hold the cattle, The myriads of mosquitoes were not enly dangerous on account of their germ carrying pr ties, they were, too, painful *.en for beasta having shoe leather hides to endure. Dr. Campbell erected a bat roost on a rise in the neighborhood of the lake and in a year the place was cleared of mosquitoes, and miiliors of bats had taken their places. The grazing land is now inhabited by fine healthy cattle, and the farm land is irrigated from the waters ot the lake. Malaria' is almost un- known among the people dwelling in that locality. * TMUNICIPALBEFAGOST) [ i} B g N iy It requires ten to fourteen days for the malarial parasite to develep in the blood of the mosquito after the insect has been infected. With mil- lions of bats flying about each night in search of just such important atoms as mosquitoes there is little chance that a mosquito lives ten days after it Is old enough to fiv abroad at night. After the success of this campaizn against malaria bat roosts were es- tablished in the southwest outskirts of 8an Antonio. This was so success- ful in ridding that portion of the city of mosquitoes that the State erected another at the Bouthwestern Insana Asylum in San Antonio. Another wvas erected at the West Texas Mill- tary Academy in Alamo Helghts. The residents of the Heights took up a collection ameng themselves to put this roost up. Summer homes and farms are now taking up the idea, and all about that city the country residents are taking this precaution against malaria. Famous naturalists all over the world have become in- terested and duplicateq the sclen- tific construction of the roost as de- signed by Dr, Campbell. The healtn boards of :San Antonio, of Bexar county, and of the State have in- vestigated the matter and com- mended Dr. Campbell on his re- search work, and the legislature of Texas passed the following resolu- tion: “Whereas, Dr. C. A, R. Campbell of San Antonio has rendered the State of Texas and hur'm.nlty val- uable service in his original ahd con- clusive experiments during the past seventeen years for the eradication of malaria by the cultivation of bats, the natural enemy of mosquitoes; and “Whereas, the world’s greates" eanitarian, Gen. W. C. Gorgas, the Board of Health of the State of Texas, the San Antonio Medical So- clety and other sections have given this natural hygienic measure their unqualified Indorsement; and “Whereas, the Ttallan Government has given special recognition to his work and distinguished service, as well as other foreign countries; and ““Whereas, the colossal economic loss caused by malaria is sufficient to warrant the State and nation to give this natural hygienic measure full encouragement; therefore be it “Resolved, by the House of Repre- sentatives, the Senate concurring, that the Legislature of the State of Texas indorse the work of Dr, Charles A. R. Campbell ih his original and thoroughly scientific work, and re- spectfully suggest and commend hi. name as worthy of the greatest Nobel prize.” The malarial disease destroys al- most as much life annually as does tuberculosis and cancer, according to vital statistics. It is found every- where that the malarial mosquito lives, and the malarial mosquito lives in every country in the world that has a warm season, including even Alaska, “ In tropical countries the lives of the natives are actually shortened by the existence of infected malarial mosquitoes, and they are chiefly responsible for the fact that foreigners often lose their lives in Central Africa and other hot cli- mates, The gervice to humanity and the protection of property made posgible by Dr, Campbell’'s research is of inestimablo value, .according to physicians and sclentists who have observed the efficacy of tho bat roost,