The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-08-23
FL. B. NJ. S. TRIUMPH.
A Powerful Man-of-War in
This HarbOr:
HER SIZE AND ARMAMENT
Two Hundred Tars Mend the Furi
OF the Fore and Main Gallant
Sails.

of Folsom street, about Il mile from
shore. The distance is hand pull sor
the boatmen who reap an irregular live
lihoLd along the wharves, and yester-
day they had scores of patrons. a
number of curious persons were rowed
out to the Triumph and boarded her
without objection. Indeed, when there
were ladies among them, and young
and sprightly ones at that, as was ire
auently the case in the afternoon, the
faces of lieutenants, mlddies and blue
Jackets expressed a singularly unani-
nous welcome. "Ahrn sighed strip
ling cadet, with a long understanding
spyglass in one hand. ave have been
60 long away, you know, from an Anglo
Saxon port" and he touched the part
of his waistcoat which ought to nave
covered his heart. The talr visitors
gazed about them at first, after setting
foot on the deck, with timld beWllder-
ment. The big guns seemed TO troVn
askance at them, half wheeled away as
they were from the gaping. port ho4es;
but the smiling officer, a dozen blnSh-
ing middies and scores of grlnnlng faces
soon treasured them. A happy quar-
ter master was detailed to show each
party about. The mysteries OF machine
and breech-ioading guns were enthusi-
astically explained TO them. They
peeped into the cabins, and walked
boldly through the batteries; they curl
ously watched theseamen at their work !;
thew Toasted their eyes upon the scarlet
uniformed marines; and finally were
content to go, descending the gang
plank very gingerly, and SO into their
small boat again. BY the time the last
party had finished its inspection the
wind had freshened and the bay had be-
come rough. There were angry white
caps here and there, and one wave
SplaShed so fiercely over the thwartS OF
boat that lady who sat IN the stern
was thoroughly soaked.
FURL1NG THE SAILS.
The majority of the visitors missed a
spectacle which is rarely seen by lands
men. 1t was about 4 O'Clock in the
afternoon. A marine with bugle blew
a sonorous cal. Immediately all the
Junior officers tumbled up on deck, fol-
lowed by two hundred tars, all arrayed
in their white working rigs. The officer
of the deck, Lieutenant j. GIbblngs, In
his husky sea-Yoice,' gave the order:
Mend the turl of the fore gallant and
main gallant sails The boatSWain
took it up. and the "bo's'ns mate"
translated 1t to the men. At once fifty
of them stood ready on the spar deck
at the foot OF each mast. A signal was
given and then they sped up the
shrouds, one after another, like so many
SWarming white ants. At the fore and
main tops they waited anothea signal
and then they anup to the top gallantS
and In an instant had stretched them
selves out along the spars and were
busiIy untying ropes. Another gang OF
fifty, meanwhile stood ready at the foot
of the nasts. and at signal they, too,
sprang into the rigging with the agility
of monkeys, but with that silent dis
cipline of movement which can only be
the result of intelligent training. They
manned the lower spars. In short
time the .furl" OF the sails had been
"mended," and the Triumph was ia her
Sunday trim aloft. The narrow white
line along upper side of each spar, like
thin coating of snow, was all that told
of the presence of her sails.
ARRANGEMENT OF THE VESSEL.
The hull of the Triumph is pure
white, and CLEANS across the tawny ex-
panse of the harbor like the plumage
of some gigantic aquatic bird of the ex-
tinct orders. Her shapeis graceful. but
la"king in delicate lines. She has
sharp ram at the prov, and her stem is
rounded, so that looked at from behind
she suggests the idea Of a floating castle
such as the earlier maritime nations
tried to build. Her masts are tail and
her sparS very long. The former are of
iron and hollow, with ladder inside.
1t is possible for a man to climb 10 the
crosstree without being seen, a convent
ence which might be of value in action
The. ships hull tapers inward above the
water-line. The main deck amldships
projects beyond the beam-ends, giving
to the main battery the advantage Of
TWO angles on each side. a fore-and
aft, as well as a broadside, fire may
thus be delivered by the main battery.
The armor is nine inches thick in Its
heaviest part. The ship has not only
the ordinary athwartship bridges, but
also fore and-aft bridges, one running
along the top oil each bulwark. On her
spar deck is small house puilt CT heavy
iron plates, called the coming tower"
Here, when in action, the commander
may take his station and issue his or
ders, safe from the enemy's fire. The
quartermaster, who steers by the steam
gear, and the lieutenant, who has charge
of the aiming of the guns, also shelter
themselves here. The latter can view,
through small dpertures in the side of
the tower, the obj ct to be fired at.
The midshIpman in the maintop gives
the estimate of their distance, and upon
this the cunning lieutenant bases a
calculation which gives
the proper elevation of the aim. Speak
connect the tower with the
batteries and the torpedo ports and all
the other gun stations.
THE TRIUMPH's ARMAMENT.
The deck of the Triumph shines from
very cleanliness, as the decks OF mea-of-
war additionally do. The ship is a
Iittle world in itself and very popu-
lous one. There are few idlers. Jack
lars elbow grease is the best known |
preventive nj rI1St and accumulated |