VOL. 15
1792 MARINE DRIVE, ASTORIA, OREGON 97103
NO. 4
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THE ANNIE M. REID AT SAN FRANCISCO, CIRCA 1917 The last and biggest ship in a fleet of merchantmen operated since the 1840's by the Troop family of Saint John, New Brunswick was launched by Robert Duncan & Company, Ltd. at its shipyard in Glasgow, Scotland in 1892. This was the steel, four-masted barque Howard D. Troop, of 2,165 gross tons, with a length of 291.3 feet and a breadth of 42.2 feet . The Howard D . Troop quickly proved herself very fast and made several record passages. On her maiden voyage, she crossed the Atlantic to New York City in just thirteen days and two hours, including a run of 330 miles in 24 hours. In January 1899 the Howard D. Troop left Hong Kong in ballast for Astoria under a time limit charter. Unfavorable winds delayed her for 35 days on passage to Japan, but she picked up westerlies off
Yokohama and then crossed the Pacific in only 22 days, arriving at Astoria at dusk on the very day her charter expired, thus saving the owners $5,000. The Howard D. Troop's best passage was made in 1909, when she sailed for Astoria in ballast from Yokohama, with a crew of Japanese seamen. While in Yokohama, Captain Ervine Durkee discharged the previous crew for refusing to work, after he had hauled them before the British Consul on suspicion of having set a fire aboard ship. Astoria was reached in 21 days, with the best 24-hour run being 351 miles, the wind strong at S.S.W. In 1912 the Troop family sold the Howard D. Troop (which was renamed the Annie M . Reid} for £7,250, to the Rolph (continued on page 6/