New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-08-25
A CHANNEL CRUISE.
IL.
AT poRTsMoUTII-THE FLEET-Ti'E EN-
prRORS ARRIvALs-A DINNER-TIlE M
pERIAL VISIT TO TIE TEUroN1C,

,.ov r,v syauIAs CORRESPONDENT or TRIBUNE.
London. August 9.
We left Liverpool about IL Thursday morning.
NO dropncd anchor in the Solcnt about Friday
afternoon III l should spin you true s''llor
Yarn about the two voyages my letter would be
;n,erminabIe. and must ask you to take for
Granted most of what most delighted us Us We
steamed ND and down the Welsh and EngiIsn
coasts I have told You who were on board
,eave Won 10 Judge whether there was good talk
and Good time generally. We found out for our
selves by full experience how comfortable the snip
WAS and how free from the annoyances when conf
monty beset the voyager. With the engines uohs
seventy revolutions AMI the log reading twenty
knots an hour, the vibration was hardly ieit' al
,cs sreed il was not felt at all. and we had Deen
under way ten minutes before knew the snip
WIZ moving. Very different that fsoN the shiver
which the first turn OF the screw sends thro"s"
m, 4 ships There light and air everywhere
the White Star traditions of thorough Nentlauoh
have been carried out more completely thah ever
before. The stewards service was good AMI quick
and the service of the ship. ! mean the dunes
performed on deck by her crew, sngularly noise
less II WAS possible 10 sleep while decks were
washed down. The hospitality of the White star
Compapy 10 its guests was brilliant from oe-
Ginning to end of this brilliantly arranged cruise
H. was blowing fresh we neared the Isle oi
Wight Friday noon. hut Captain farseu
and Mr. Ismay elected to take tie inside passage
BY the Needles OF course we AL wanted 10 "
through the great feet, and We were mnch ooiieeu
to our nilsters for letting us do A. ana accep'hs
the risk OF handling SO big II ship in such crown
Of vessels on such n morning. We should haNe
felt still more deeply indebted had we known ~
WAS to be our only Review, but that occurred a'
that time TO nobody. SO OH we went 10 u'e
general delight. everybody on deck. the sun slhh-
ing as il shonc for us every day and all day long,
the coming unlucky tomorrow excepted; the
shores of the lovely island all OF cleaning green,
the Solent water in foam of hnid emerald anu
glittering white caps racing past us. We saw at
once rs we saw often after that we were our
selves mart of the show Glasses were leNeied at
the great ship rs she moved along the armor-ciad
line: Yachts sped toward from every quarter
excursion steamers paid MS visits every ten
minutes. often looking as If they would come
aboard without leave or license. The great Snip
stee.ed her course regardless 81 all inns No.
mitation, passing between the two nortnernmost
lines of the feet. not more than cables length
of any Of them
There Law the glory and the greatness of Eng
land two miles OF floating fortreSses IN three
,arallel lines: near a hundred of them in all and
almost as many different types as ships. We had
n raking look at the whole as we drew near. Inc
feet lay foreshortened. a clump OF masts ana
bulls filing the great harbor with their measure
less bulk and unreasonable strength. The most
powerful fleet that ever Heated; any one OF "a
score of them could have blown tine navies of
the world out OF water some thirty years ago.
Nay. Lord Charles BeresfoId. who knows all
about it, tells us that the four-nch rifed guns of
the Teutonic herself would have sunk all Nelson's
ships in half an hour Perhaps, when You come
10 close qua rters you need the help of the magma
ton in contemplating these grim monsters.
Ships they are not, some Of them are not
only floating platforms for protected guns-but
whether il be imagination or whatever else, the
impression they give you Of silent strength is
tremendous. The first we pass are torpedo boats :;
low black, treacherous craft, with no more visible
beam TO them than the edge of a knife. With
good glass you can read on their sterns the very
apt and suitable names they bear; the Spider,
the Sanddy the Serpent and many more There
are forty of them in all one which Prince George
Of Wales commands; racers all of them, all sup
posed to do their eighteen or twenty knots an
hour, which they can sometimes in smooth water,
not in rough, being then too much occupied III
turning somersaults OF other ships there are
no less than fourteen classes; three classes Of
battle-ships three of cruisers, a single soop, three
what 10 a landsman seems disorder; though the
lines are straight as pencil and ruler could draw
them each two-mile-line is Of mixed classes; smart
cruisers like the Aurora succeeding the torpedo
boats themselves succeeded by frSt-class battle
ships like the Howe the Ajax-a brute, say the
sailors-and the Rodney, at the far end toward the
sea mere masses OF wood and iron, a tumble oil
turrets and armOred decks and yawning muzzleS
OF sixty-ton guns, and black bulwarls officers
moving to and fro in strange places, blueacketS
usurping the quarterback, everything unlike
what our boyish days beheld.
The Teutonic dropped her anchor between the
two curious checkerbOard forts, painted in black
and white squares, which guard, or are supposed
to guard. the entrance TO Portsmouth liarbor
Il was not long past o'clock the voyage from
Liverpool had been performed in twenty-siN hours
under easy steam; neither now nor on the return
Journey were all the fires lighted or the engines
asked to do all they could An adventure befe
us early Friday afternoon. AS the EXmoutt
training brig sailed past her deck crowded with
boys an officer knocked overheard from the
quarterback by the boom. life buoy was hung
hira, 10 which he swan, but as he drifted down t.
us with the strong tide, it was seen that he was
losing strength fast, and cry for help was
heard stood on the upper deck amidship and
the next thing / saw the figure of mar
plunging down into the water close under the
stern. 1t was the first officer OF the Teutonic
Mr. McKnstry who had seen the peril, waited
cooly till the drowning man had come near, ther
taken header from the taffrail, thirty feet OIL
40 above the water, reached him and held him VI
ill the boats came and rescued both. A gallant
dive. we all thought, and Mr. Ismay told us this
was the second time Mr.. McKinstry had saved
life in the same way
The Emperor was timed TO arrive at o'clock
Lang before that the Soent was alive with yacht
and steamships, all standing out to to NEE
him. The Prince of Wales, in one of the Roya
yachts. was seen approaching soon after g. lie
TOO. was curious about the Teutonic, and CAM
slowly past There glitterng group on tn
,.,.ar donlr Of the Xicforin and Albert the Primo