Connecticut western news., 1890-07-02

THE STEAMER PHILADELPHIA. S1 ,35O, 900; contract speed, nineteen knots. Her main battery consists of twelve six inch breechloading rifles and she carries number of machine guns and revolving cannon.
 Ready for the Trip.
 The trial run occurred Wednesday off Long Island, and although the conditions were unfavorable, the new cruiser made nearly twenty knots an hour. An officer on board thus describes the trip: Bustle reigns at once on shipboard. The trained crew of the Cramps disappear in the hold. Chief Engineer Patterson goes into the fire room and closes the doors air tight Six teen men are shut into the pit with him. Chief Engineer Johnson disappears in the engine rooms with sixteen engineers and twenty-four oilers. There are also eight coal passers, four water tenders and eight men at the blowers, which suck down air from the score of gaping tunnels. Twenty government engineers also go below with indicating machines to secure horse power and other data not required on the trip, but useful to the department.
 Away She Goes!
 The gleaming Dolphin is sighted appar- ently in position eight miles away A shriek from the Philadelphia's whistle tells the imprisoned crew that the race will begin and the vessel jumps at once. Capt. Steel takes his place on the bridge. Will jam Cramp, pencil and paper in hand, sits on the bridge. The trial may mean a pre- mium of $2OO, ,OOO or a loss of $2OO, 900. He seems as cool as any other interested spec tator. The vibrations of the vessel seem to cease but the subdued roar of the ma chinery keeps up. Down into the fire room runs a tube from barrel containing iced lemonade and ginger ale No man must leave that room. Its temperature is about 1O2 degs., and the men must have cooling drink. Quantities of ice are being carried to the engine room for the men down there. Long lines of hose run down there, so as to keep the machinery cool with water. Not an inch must be lost.
 Like Giant of the Sea.
 The race is on. Like giant of the sea and clouds the lead colored Philadelphia has rushed across the line. The Dolphin, little off the range, is passed half min ute later. The next marking vessel, eight miles away, cannot be discovered, and the course leads by compass only. The light wind is from the southwest and the sea is lumpy. The revolutions of the screws are 12O to the minute and the full 16O pounds of steam is on in the four boilers Steady as ray of light the ship moves on. From her two smoke stacks the black smoke pours, and, mingling, streams away be- hind the cruiser like stiff pennant in . stalwart breeze.
 The next marking vessel, the Nina, is passed 25 min. and 32 sec. after the start.
 A Little Over Nineteen Knots.
 The vessel rushes on and anxious eyes look for the next vessel, the coast survey vessel Blake. She is seen so soon that there is suspicion that the compasses have gone astray. Astern, however, the Nina is in straight line with the two. The Blake is passed 50 min. and 32 sec. away from the starting point. According to these figures the Philadelphia is going at twenty-one and a half knots, but the Blake is out of position.
 Twenty more minutes pass, and then the Petrel is sighted about two miles off the straight line to the eastward. She too is out of position on account of the fog. She was more than 30 min. from the Blake. On, on speeds the cruiser, and at last the Essex, which marks one end of the course, is passed. Snap go the chronometers. It 1 is 3 h. min. and P sec. from the start ing point, and the speedy pencils show this to be only little over nineteen knots speed.
 William Cramp comes down to the bridge deck; he suggests that perhaps the ranges l have not been found Capt. Erben rushes down and will not listen. He shouts: l "Turn her around! We got it! We got it! Turn her around! We got it'
 He gesticulates like stock broker and repeats his excited words score of times. Capt. Cramp gives him 8 searching glance, and then calmly looks to Capt. Steel on the bridge and says: Make the turn. J Perhaps scores of thousands of dollars are slipping from him, but he never loses his equanimity.
 | The Finish.
 The return trip is made at increased speed. At last the finish is in sight and there are the black hull and lofty spars of 8 sloop-of-war near the Dolphin. It is the Kearsarge-a masterpiece of the old navy | lying at the finish to cheer the flower o1 the new. Quick figuring shows an average run of almost exactly nineteen and half knots. The Cramps say they are satisfied. The board of engineers say the course waa 8O292 knots long, and they announce the speed as 19 512 knots.