The Osceola times., 1883-05-26
Sincerely yours,
Rear Admiral U. S. Navy.

Sincerely yours,
Rear Admiral U. 5. Navy.
Hon. GEORGE WENDELL
Sinclair Place, Boston.
An autumnal afternoon in the year
| lSS- found the taunt flagship Nomad
roundingthe treacherous and dangerous
extremity of South America. And this
day certainly intended to place itself on
record with those of its predecessors
marked stormy, its nastincss in wind and
weather giving all hands on board the
flagship their fill in hard work and dis
comforts. The record of tho N0mdd on
this cruise, which she was completing on
her homeward bound passage to Boston,
had been most disagreeable, when con-
sidered in the light of heavy weather
work. From suez to Alden, then on to
Bombay, Point de Gale, Singapore, Hong
Kong, Shanghai, Nagasaki, and Yoko-
hama, the balance sheet stood largely in
favor of old Neptune's rough character
istics, but with remarkable evenness the
health and original roster of the ships
company stood this day ~ it did three
years ago--with one exception. Through
| out the diverse and varied exposures
incidental to cruising over the Asiatic
station, where cholera, fevers, liver COM
| plants, malaria, and colds of all degrees
reign in full force, none of the crew had
suffered more than temporary neon
venience, and thus it seemed very hard
that now, in the closing days of the
cruise, there stood nine chances for, to
one against, victory being at last scored
for The destroying angel Death. When
the N.mad reached Shanghai in the early
portion of her cruise her admiral was the
healthiest man aboard. A grand spcci-
meh of manhood was he. Over six feet
in height, weighing two hundred pounds,
broad in chest and strong in limb. he
rightly claimed for himselfa full share of
Natures blessings. While returning late
one night from d diplomatic reception at
the Consulate at Shanghai, through over
heating and insufficient protection from
the dangerous effects of the peculiarly
damp and searching night air he caught
cold. "Only cold" remarked the adj
miral to the doctors of the ship "and
easy to cure.' So thought the medical
officers, but with quiet though insidious
progression, this cold clung to the admi-
raj In spite of their best efforts to eradi-
cate it, and when the time came for leav-
ing Yokohama, homeward bound the ad-
miral realized that his throat and lungs
were decidedly out of order. The doc
tors advised returning h9me by mail
steamer to San Francisco, so that greater
means for curing this persistent cough
might be found in the Naval Hospital
there but the admiral preferred to stick
to his ship, still imagining that his
trpnI Ila NNnulI aun,t,nll,, l., l..
the doctors treatment.
No one who looked at the admiral
even in those days imagined that he
would fall victim to lung trouble But
1t was the old story again typified in this
case. Only cold ut first and in spite of
orthodox treatment the peculiar climatic
effects Of China hursed it, and fastened
the sure result of such a deep seated
trouble. Time passed after leaving Yoko-
hama for Boston, bringing varying symp-
toms in the admirals case, and the doc
tors imagined that they held the disease
in check at least. But with the forma.
ton of tuberclcs, night-sweats, and the
now rapid consumption of lung tissues,
which had set in with alarming svmp-
toms, the patient realized that his cold
had laid the seeds of that fell agent of
Death, consumption, The hacking cough
of the admiral had in itself fbeen sufficient
food for serious consideration, and now.
as in the warm autumn DAYS the flagship
gallantly rode over the blue waters of the
Pacific, bound for Cape Horn, the doctors
hoped much for success. But this bois-
ferrous afternoon found the good shin
struggling with gigantic seas set off from
the Cape by n fierce northerly wind.
Leaden were the heavens and sad the
hearts of all aboard, for that morning the
usual bulletin Of the medical officers had
set forth this intelligence: "'rhe admiral
is in same condition rs reported last
night. A burning fever has been slightly
reduced, while other symptoms are as
heretofore announced" All understood
these words without questioning. The
beloved admiral had during the past two
weeks sunk very low. The symptoms of
blood,poisoning, a torpid liver intense
pains throughout the body, eyesight and
mental faculties affected, appetite gone,
through inacti II of that great regulator
the liver. These were the means which
bad reduced the admiral from the pin
nacle of health 10 the valley and shadow
of death. Consumption held full SWAY
now, and the well-known skill of naval
doctors was in this instance at least com
pletely foiled.
The admiral had issued orders for the
flagship to touch at Montevideo for coal.
and it was the intention of the doctors
to land the admiral there far treatment.
But one man in the ship was wrapped in
the gloom of despair, as standing by the
weather rigging on the poop deck he
gazed over the seething waste Of waters.
This was the admiral's son, lieutenant,
and attached to his fathers staff. He
feared that the wear and tear of ship-life
would sap his fathers strength beyond
endurance, and before the ship could
reach Montevideo Among a group of
sailors gathered around one of the great
guns on the spar deck stood the captain
of the fore top, Brown, a slight but
healthy looking man. His companions
were listening to a recital of his suffer
ings from consumption, which had de-
veloped while he was attached to the
sloop-ol-war Ranger, lying in the harbor
of Yokohama year ago, this yarn"
having been started by a discussion
about the admiral condition. The men