Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-05-09
Successful Trial Trip of the New Cruiser
Charleston.

SANTA BARBARA. May Sth.-The cruiser Char.
lesion rounded the point IN the southwest har-
Dor at half-past o'clock this afternoon. She
slackened speed and slowly entered the harbor
and dropped anchor Just inside of the kelp. ].
OBJ. Gum, T. p. Gilmore and Charles S. Diehl
came ashore soon after the vessel came to
anchor and went to the Arlington Hotel Mr.
Gilmore was interviewed by a representative of
the California Associated Press and said that
the Charleston had shown herself to be a good
sea boat and that they had pleasant trip. The
weather was very rough all the way, but the
vessel behaved admirably well in q heavy sea.
No test of speed has been made. The fastest
time made coming down was thirteen knots per
hour, and the average rate Of speed was ten
but everything worked satisfactorily The time
for making the trial trip has not been set, but
the test VIII probably be made tomorrow or
the day after large number of citizens
viewed the cruiser from the wharf this after.
noon and evening. A strong southwest wind
has been blowing here all yesterday and to-
day.
SANTA BARBARA, May Sth.-Tbe steel cruiser
Charleston steamed away from Mission Rock in
San Francisco Bay, at 2:4S o'clock Tuesday
morning for her trial trip. The storm of wind
and rain which had prevailed after midnight
broke away, and when the first modern man.of.
war built on the Pacific Coast moved slowly
away from her moorings, it was under a
|'cloudless sky and with the sun shining
brilliantly, giving the apparent presaee OF
perfect day. The scene presented on deck oj
the cruiser was in sharp contrast to the smart
appearance of the American man-of-war in
commission. In the circular bulwarks fore and
aft where eight-inch rife guns are to find posi-
ton. and the sponsons for the accommodation
OF six-inch guns were filed with pig-iron bars
in sufncient number to represent the weight oi
the powerful guns.
The brass railings and mountings lacked the
polish, while the greater portion of the wood
and metal work waScoyered with tarpaulins fol
protection.
On the berth deck sleeping accommodation
had been improvised for those on board in the
shape of straw mattresses, pillows and blankets
while lanterns were suspended in the ward
rooms and passage-ways for lighting purposes
in lieu of electric lights, the plant for which is
not yet complete. Apart from these features
which had no bearing upon the working ca
pacity of the cruiser, she was in readiness to
attempt the duty assigned her, of developing
1000 horsepower by her two compound engines
for four consecutive hours. a more severe test il
is claimed than any to which ships of war are
generally subjected to i'm making a Govern
ment test of power and speed.
prototype of the Charleston, the cruiser
Mani Wakan of the Japanese navy, was built in
England, and from whose model the Charleston
was designed. made an average OF eighteen and
nlne-tenths knots over a run of a measured mile
after series of trials. The Charleston, under
the conditions of a four-hour run, will have tc
cover distance of over eighty miles. The
cruiser was under the command of Captain
Charles M. Goodall, who remained upon the
bridge aud directed her movements in person
during the first seven hours.