The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-06-06

The Leipzig was boarded about noon by
CALL reporter, who found the entire ships
company engaged in distributing and read
ing the mail which had just been sent on
board.
The ships are fair samples Of the class TO
which they belong and are not considered
very formidable. The Leipzig is ship
rigged, the Sophie and the Alcxandrine are
both bark-rigged vessels. noticeable feat
ure on all of them is the large amount of
small arms on board. OF course there are
no more than enough to supply the crew,
but as they are kept in racks they are con-
stantly In sight, while on board an Amerl-
can ship they are kept in aTmOries provided
for that purpose.
The crews ale al young men, owing 20 the
custom in Germany Of making every man
soldier or sailor as soon as he reaches the
age prescribed by law.
The squadron left Yokohama thirty-fve
days ago, and made the trip to this city un-
der sail. 1t will remain here only long
enough to coal, and will then proceed to
Chile to relieve the German ships now there.
While the squadron has been away from
home about three years, the officers and
men have not been away more than twelve
or fifteen months, they having joined the
vessels in the Pacific, The crew OF Ger
man war-ship Is seldom away from home
longer than two years.
Tie cruise so far has been uneventful.
The passage across from Japan to this port
was a hne one, so far as weather was con-
ceTned. 1t was marked by a singular acci-
dent. On May 18th while shortening sail,
one Of the sailors fell from the mantOp-
sail yard to the deck, striking on his head.
The man was picked up Tor dead and The
surgeons found his skull fractured and the
left shoulder blade broken. He was blessed
with a very thick skull, however, and was
pointed out to the reporter walking about
the decks with his arm in sling and his
head bandaged.
The flagship Leipzig was launched at
Stettln IN 1875. She Is an iron frigate-bullt
cruiser-one of the first of the unarmOred
vessels specially designed by the Govern
ment for swlfJness and ocean cruisng-and
is a sister ship of the Sedan. Her iron
frame is sheaihed in wood which in turn is
lined with copper. Her length on the water
line is 282 10 feet; her extreme breadth
452s feet, and her mean draught q 7-12 feet.
Sne has displacement Of 1925 tons, an ind-
Gated horsepower Of $500 and maximum Of
Abs. Her engines are of the cOmpGu nd
three-cyliuder type and her maximum sp eed
is IA knots. She carries twenty Krupp guns,
Of which two aTe 17--m. equal to 6A-lnch)
5h- ton hreech-lOading rifles; ten are l7-cIn.
Sl2 ton ditto; six are machine guns, aud are
light bOat-gunS. Her cost, without arma-
ment, was &203. 055 sterling, or close upon
81 100000.
The Alexandrine is an iron, steel and
wood corvette of 2373 tons displacement
Her dimensions are: 1868 feet in length by
a. feet inches beam. She has bat single
propeller while her indicated horse power
is 2400. and her draught is 1873 feet She
was launched in 1885. cost 9i020 sterling
$500 000) and has a speed of 10 knots. Her
armament consists Of twelve 15-cm. 4-tOA
breecn-loading rifird guns, two S.7-cm. g.
cwt guns, four machine guns, ono light gun
and one fixed tube or launching carriage,
for dis3harging fish tOrpedoes.
The Sophie, the small est Of the three, Is
an open-deck corvette Of 2169 tons displace-
ment 2263 feet on the water line, and
AZ 7-12 feet beam. She is built Of iron, with
q sheathing Of wood, draws 1Ss feet, has a