CAPPY RIGKS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 56, 28 October 1931, Page 4

CAPPY RIGKS

a Correspondent.)

REAL LIFE ORIGINAL ENGAGED IN TYPICAll B'ATTLE . £m ?q;yebbhips. PICTURESQIJE AMERICAN 'SHIPDWNER.-"'!

(From i » A*.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 4. Two of the most picturesque figures • in Ameriean "Shippiilg. were ufiited r to-day in an advantageous .position . over* eas'tern interest^ fighting for con- ( troT of the United States 'lines. , • They dre Mr. RbheVt 'Dollar, 87-year-old chairman of the bpard.of the Dollar ' Lines of Sah FranciSco, and [ Mr. Kenneth Da'wson; vice-president : knd generai managfer of the States ; Steamship Co., of Portland, Ore. • AsSociatec} 'with them was another wesf erp figure, Mr. herbert I'leiscjihacker, San Francisco banker' an'd financier, ;but hP'is taking an iriactive pa'i't. " Also in the "grbup negotiatihg for the lines- was P'aul W. Chapman, of New "York," former lone opbrat'or of the ships to be purchased. They were' arrayed against tfe Internaiional '|iafercantfie" Marine Line, o| which Mr. ICermit Roo'sevelt' anc Mr- yjncerit Astor are leafiing figures. The contract' which would' 'comjjlete the sale,' ahd which has been" ofderec; to be drawn up by ihe 'ShippingBoard would' npt be finai untif giye'n' furtbbr consideratjbh, and "there ' were'" iirospects of a further con|est."' 1 "" A shipping hattle woulh be nothing new to BfrJDollar,'who ih his'l'ohg'career, hds overcome rfiahy "bb'stacles. Nor woiild ii* Worry Mr.*DaW§0n, 4 notec[ trade expert:ancf a central hhar racter ixi oceah trarispPrt?'t: r '• tl ' ^Yould Add to Dollar Rleet. Should the* deal go through, it woiiM add "the huge Leviathan,' two liners now being bttilt,* and teh'; other ships, to the' Dollar group, which now operates many freighters and passenger ships.'"' * ' ■ '*

• 'The latest of these, the Rresident HooVer, was recently complefed at a cost of £1,600, P00, and left last Week on hef maiden Voyage* to the Orient. A sister ship, Rresident Co'olidge, is now near completion. Mr. Dollar ro'se from a machinesho^'boy ih 'Scotland at'2s 6d'h We'ek, tb become dean ' of " Pacific transportation." 'Emigfating to Gknada' with his p'arents ypungDbllhr "Wefit to work' in a stavp factory; then as a lumberjack in th'e Wo'bds/ Cbnstantly stttdyihg, he rose to ' be foreniaii - and'' saVCd £1000. ' " • ' ' Thbn seeking new fields, the Dollars moVed to Califorhia in 1'8 8 7," ahd lunibered" Up and doWn the coast, until lack 'of Shipping facilities was found to he' a hahdicap to greater fiortuiie." This deficiency Mr. Dollar soughf to rehiedy. * ' Thus, through lumber, he went to sea. He saw his lines enjoy their greatest growth' after he ppsed' his 70th birthday,' and it was in the yeats between'1915 dnd 1930 that Mr. Dollar became a San Francisco legend. His friend, Peter B. Kyile,' wrote stories about "Cappy Ricks," and Mr. Dollar was Cappy Ricks, although neither Kyne npr Dollar ever' a^mitted it. . • o.r * " "" * ' *"•• Mr. Dawson is 44, approximately half Dollar's age. ?He 'likewise was born a poof b'oy in :^8t," in ^anta Aria, Cal. With only an elemehtary sch'ool education he istarted work' as a telegrapher for the Santa Fe Railroad' ahd worked in. So'uthern Galifornia and Arizona until 1909. He entered the shipping field as an employee of independent "steamship companies in Los Angeles. He developed until promoted to be manager of a -large company in New "York in 1912. *. ; Mr. Dawson came to Portland from New York in March, i920, for the GolUmbia-Pacifib line, which in 1928 added eleveh stedmers/hbught frbm the' Shipping BoarS." In that year he orga'nised his OWn States Stekmship Corripaiiy. • ' *