The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1889-05-22
A WAR.SH,P'S STORY.
The Old Line Of Battle-Ship Vermont and
the Services Rendered by Her.

The Old Line of Battle Vermont and
the Services Rendered by Her.
The Oldest jack can recall many
interesting experiences upon her long
before and since she began her career
as receiving ship at the navy yard
twenty-five years ago, where she now
lies at the Cob Dock, girdled with
great spars to keep ice and other float
ing distractions from her sides. Be-
reft of spars and rooted over like a
house she looks any thing but frig-
ate of the Lord Nelson class, like the
famous Victory and the Temerairs.
She is the last of the old ships of the
line. and her triple tier of ports can be
seen in no modern built ship. Some
people have supposed that she served
in the war of 1872, and there are many
more who look upon her as one of the
defenders in the Mexican war. But
she really saw no service until the
more recent Civil war.
She was built at the Charleston
Navy Yard, and was intended to be the
flagship of Commodore Perry's men,
orable expedition to Japan in 1852.
But some thing happened and Perry
took the Mississippi. The Govern
ment then lost interest in the Vermont
and for nearly ten years she remained
on the stocks unfinished. When the
civil war broke out and every thing
that could float was sought after, the
Vermont was pushed forward and put
into commission January 20, 1862.
Her first service was to carry stores
and supplies to the squadron off Port
Royal, and it was the longest voyage
ever made by any ship from Boston to
Port Royal. The Vermont sailed from
Boston on February "a, and when off
Cape Cod was caught in a tempest
which lasted three days. Her sails
were carried away one after an
other until not so much as a ribbon
was left. On the second day her rud-
der was wrenched off by the seas, and
along with it went seven of the boats
and three anchors. With no sails and
no rudder the Vermont went along
seaward, rolling and pitching like a
great tub, until a drag could be got out
astern and canvas be puton the vessel.
That was before the efficiency of oil
to calm troubled waters had received
much thought, and so badly did she
throw herself in the sea that the chap
lain had to be dashed to a gun while
reading the brief burial servic over the
bodies of three men who had been
killed by the plunging and lurchiug of
the vessel.
The old vessel drifted in Gains and
was swept along by gales until she was
pretty nearly over to the Azores, when
the steamer Saxon, one of the two
steam vessels sent by the Government
to search for her, picked her up off
these islands and furnished her with a
new rudder and suit of sails. She
soon lost her new rudder, and on April
was picked up by the frigate Sabine,
when a jury rudder was rugged for her
and she reached Port Royal on April
ID, having been forty-nine days at sea,
thirty-eight of which she was without
rudder or sails and twenty three days
without sunshine.
After that she served as flagship,
store-ship, hospital-ship and prison
ship in the North Atlantic Squadron,
''Bill' Perry, the king of the blockade
runners, having even been prisoner
on her. She began her present career
of inactivity in 1864, and she now lies
in mud bed. A receiving ship is
not the comprehensive word that
might be used, but it is the naval
term for such service. It is sort of
nautical clearinghouse for newly
enlisted men while waiting to be de-
tailed for sea-going vessels, and for
those who have returned home at
the expiration of their enlistment
and are waiting to be paid
off. A visit to the vessel
will convince one that the country has
not an absolute American navy, at
least so far as the men are concerned,
for on her decks will be found men of
various nationalities, MANY who can
hardly interpret an order given to them
in English, or who can hardly UNDER
stand each other when attempting to
speak English, and certainly not when
speaking in their own tongue. But
when the training-school system has
been fully developed decided change
will be brought about in this respect.
IN. Y Tribune.