The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1862-06-02
NEWS FROM SHIP ISLAND AND NEW ORLEANS.
Our ship Island Correspondence.

Our Ship Island Correspondence.
Ship ISLAND, Miss, May rs, 1862.
The Value Of Ship Island-fts PLEASURES in Summer
Tsme-7Ae Mortar Fieet-Arripal of the Baltic ,yitA a
NortA0r kail-xors cdptwe-GensroI Doso-CapssSs
Porter IN Private, de-, dc.
II may be interesting OF your readers TO look
these lines connection with the Incidents Of this
place. II is comparatively dull to what 1t was pre-.
vious to the taking Of New Orleans. We thon had
about twenty thousand troops. all well drilled and in
good discipline, awaiting, with anxious and willing
hearts, the day whom their services might be employed
for more use than mere drilling
Ship Island 10 barren, sandy, arid waste a. resi-
dence but, for . naval and military depot, 10 Of some
considerable importance 70 our government A very
formidable fort 10 already In Of construction
Tiers Of heavy guns mounted for use although the
fort 10 not yet finished. There st troops on the
island now and they have the thsrmomstsr from IS Deg
70 95 deg In the shade with the additional pleasure OF
having the walls Of tho wooden houses ornamsntsd By
living cover Of flies. reminding person who 10 the un-
fortunate occupant that his house may move or some
day by magical wings. There are millions upon
millions Of dies; men - well IS animals are almost
devoured BY them The only native inhabitants OF the
island are two goats, which great pets with
troops. Az frst they were very wild, and
would fee from any approach but they will eat out
OF the hand These animals left BY the rebsls In
their flight when troops took possession OF this
island. Nothing else Of q living charactsr wss found
with the exception Of the native flies they emphatcay
claim the right Of possession in every nook and corner
that even tho rebels would not care to hold.
There 10 communication between New Orleans ana thu
island three four times week, and the way ia open
both BY Lake Pontchartrain and the Southwest Pass
The Union people In New Orleans least considerable
number Of them, are yet fearful q expressing their
yuon sentiments, from dread Of the rebel spies and
assassns who st largely iafsst the osty. The other
day Cen Butler or rather the Provost Court sentenced
one Of these individuals.
The bomb fotila, or "bummsrs,r - they are called
are very singular sort Of fleet One morning they viii
all DO here and the nsxt nowhere 10 be sssnappoarns
and disappearing a. " By magic. They are light
araught schoones, and selected carefully for their
sailing qualities, which they possess In Q superior
degree, although they Of little use in
that way whom tho weather Ia calm but
get them onos into pcstion where they may be towed
by steamers, and they perfect "spit ball devils az
Iheard darksy call them the other day. by an obssr-
from soft with glass; the exact distance where
tho angle once regulated IN smooth water causes the
shell " strike every time where IL rs wanted By one
party and not By tho other However by the eye alone
II s lftle difncs for officers estimate the as
lance, they being In the service The sextant IL
employed Tor approximately fixing position by taxing
the angles between any three points, which are gensra
found TO be accurately laid down ON the coast survs
eharts When the object y be assaulted is large one
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