Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-05-05
THE CUSHING GETS HERE.
The Little Boat Runs from New York In
Twenty-Eight Hours.


HER ARRIVAL AT THE NAVY YARD-DEsCRIPTroS
OF THE WONDERFUL LITTLE vEssEL-sHE WILL
REMAIN HERE SOME TIME-To BE FILLED WITH
TORPEDO TUBES.
A long, low. narrow little boat painted a
dirty gray, with two fat smoke stacks and a
couple of warty-looking turrets protruding
from her round back, lies tied to a wharf at
the navy yard. the center of admiration
and comment. Her crew. consisting of
sixteen brawny-looking fellows, with their
wide trousers rolled up to their knees, we're
splashing around on the wharves this morning
with water buckets and cleaning a lot of
wooden gratings. The little vessel was the new
torpedo boat Gushing, recently built by Herre-
schof. the blind inventor. for the Us. navy.
and she arrived at the yard last evening
at about o'clock. after twenty-eight-hour
run from New York in a heavy sea. This ves-
sci Is probably one of the swiftest ever put
into the water, her record last week of running
from Newport to New York in e hours and 81
minutes being the best on record by min
utes.
AyIsIT TO THE BOAT.
A STAR reporter visited the wharf where the
Gushing lies this morning shortly after 10
o'clock and found everything in a hustle.
chip cleaning. Lieut. Herbert Winslow,
the commander of the brisk little
vessel, had gone to the Navy Department to
report his arrival, and Ensign William Trux-
tun, the executive, was IN charge. He said
that he was sorry, awfuily sorry, but he could
not take the reporter over the little boat, for
everything was III such confusion below that it
would be extremely disagreeabe to go aboard
I'VE passed, under the Brooklyn Bridge Satur-
day afternoon at o'clock precisely" said En-
sign TruXtun headed for sea, and when we
struck the outside weather found it very
rough. The seas were quite high. and We were
almost completely covered with spray. We ran
along easily, however. with only one boiler
working, and after a steady passage reached
here at p.m yesterday, making the trip in
twenty eight hours. Our speed averaged over
fifteen knots and sometimes We ran as high
seventeen knots an hour. We are
all torn up down below, trying to
get the vessel clean, for we have not had
chance to make her look at all decent since
took her from the hands of the contractors.
Everything is very dirty and We want to
brighten up bit.
BUILT FOR GREAT SPEED.
The Gushing is torpedo boat of the first
class. built entirely of iron and steel, about l35
feet in length and 10 feet beam. She carries two
Ihonnycroft boilers, fore and aft
with an engine room in the middle.
and can make, on spurts of
hour or more about 22 knots an hour On her
trial trip, when she made her tasted speed, she
ran for four consecutive hours without a break
OF any description.
HER FUTURE ARMAMENT.
At present she has no armament whatever,
but when completed by the government she
will be provided with two torpedo tubes amid
ships and one in the bow
The ordnance department of the navy is now
waiting, before putting IN the tubes, to find
out whether or not the Howell automobile
tried by board and IL found to come
up to the Claims of the inventor
will be used OH the Gushing. A number of
rapid-fire guns will be mounted Oh the deck Of
the vesse Zen eschelon" and this will COM
plete the biting powers of the boat.
HOW SHE WILL FIGHT
She is designed to run up on an enemy under
cover of heavy fire from her own feet. to sur
prise the Antagonist If possible, and shoot out
a torpedo before she is discovered If shot
should strike her. good bye,
Her sides and deck are covered with quarter
inch steel, which is the heaviest material used
on her, and tins only protection she has from
an enemy's fire comes from her coal bunkers
| on each side, extending from one boiler to the
other. She carries about 80 tons of coal
THE LOOKOUT TOWER.
Near her sharp prov, on the highest part of
her curved deck, is pilot house or coming
| tower OF iron, round, with sides slanting
| slightly and a turtle-back roof that screws up
| and down, thus allowing ventilating
space of several inches all round Glass ports
| are fixed IN the sides for sighting. From this
tower the vessel is run and fought. her steering
apparatus being controlled by steam worked by
hand gear in the tower Here is also the
| firing gear of the torpedo tube. which comes
! up from near the water line to within foot or
| two of the tower. Abaft the smokestacks is a
second tower. to be used in case the forward
one is shot away, and here is hand steering
| apparatus.
HER BEHAVIOR AT SEA.
The vessel is very low and sharp and cuts
| long waves very easily. She rolls slightly, but
not unpleasantly recovering herself without
| Jerk. She lis extremely steady in a sea way
her disproportionate length keeping her from
pitching.
A little Japanese servant was hanging the
officers pea jackets on a line to dry this morn
| ing ana the reporter asked him how the vessel
acted. He shrugged his shoulders and SAID
| that she shook too much.
! this was told him. ''He lives right over the
screw and feels every turn.
TO REMAIN HERE SOME TIME.
The Cushing will probably be here for
month or six weeks and may be fitted with her
armament while here. 1t is quite possible that
| Secretary Tracy may send her down the river
on test run, and Ill this case she will open the
ewes of the river boatmen.
The Old Dominion steamers from New York
| to Norfolk take twenty-four hours for the trip
while the Cushing, running all the way from
New York to Washington further, with one
boiler, came In twenty-eight hours.
TWENTY MILLION SCHEDULES.