Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-09-11
THE STRELOK STORY.
HOW THE RUSSIAN wAR-sHlP GAVE
THE GARNET THE SLIP.
Inaccuracies of the New York Times Cor
rected-A Kidnapped Piiet-wberc the
Real strategy Came In.
rcOrro.poua.poeo >, the richmond pispatch.l

follows:
A paragraph recently appeared In New iorx
| ioarnal concerning Commodore skryhion OF me
russian navy. THIS gentleman eonl.lDu us "a, a
ginian waters In 1887. says the New lork
| Times.
| II viii be remembered that 10 that year war
| appeared TO be impending between Great brl-
| tain aud Russia. A declaration OF war between
those powers II IL needless 10 recall, never came,
but while II was hourly In prospect the interest
| In the question at Norfolk, Va, Was enlTensd
| by the arrival IN that port Of Russian man-ot-
| war, with British one at her heels. The then
Commander Skrydlor dropped anchor from
| HIS Command the Strelok, of Fort Norfolk. and
| an hour or two aftorward Captain HAND. hoyai
! navy, appeared in her Majesty ship 0arnet, ana
| let cut his cable only 20 much further IRON the
| Tort that the vessels could clear each Der IN
| swinging with the tide.
Then follows the account OF the escape
| Of the Strelok from the Garnet. but 1t is
| full of inaccuracies, and as IL happens in
| this instance that truth IS more interesting
THAI fiction, ! propose to relate this story
as II is. was at that time CITY editor OF
| the Norfolk VirGfnidR. and visited ooth
vessels repeatedly while they were an
chored in the Norfolk harbor.
u was in the spring OF 1888 (and not
| 1851. as the Tins has it. that the two YES
! sells dropped anchor of Atlantic CITY.
Norfolk suburb. and as o declaration OF
war between England and Russia Yves
| hourly expected the simultaneous appear
ance of the hostile gunboats IN Norfolk
waters made great sensation in the city.
As soon as | heard OF it ! procured
row-boat and after nightfall went out TO
"intervlew the vessels. Long before |
reached the Russian corvette was hailed
| by the nght.watch, but after making my
| self known was allowed 10 board the YES
4 sel but the officer IN charge, who spoke
| broken English, declined to speak of the
vessels mission 10 Norfolk. The Garnet
| was next boarded, but Captain Hand was
also as mum as an oyster, and ! returned
! TO my Office no wiser than when went
out
The vessels remained in port several
| DAYS and / visited them constantly, but
| while the officers were always courteous
! they would not talk of the threatened
war nor Of the fact they were likely to
| take IN 1t.
| READY TALKEB.
Finally, however. 1 met a non. COM
| mi7siOned officer of the Garnet, who did
| not know that ] was q reporter, and no did
not hesitate to say that tho Garnet had
| followed the Strelok to Norfolk. She
! slipped on If N Havana" he said, 81 in the
| nighttime, but we had steam up in an
| hour aud were after or. We found her
| here and she won't get out OF our SIGHT
| either until the dispute between England
|
In the event OF war what would Toe
| the line OF action ?" | asked.
! We'll" he replied, "if war had been
| declared we would wait until she was TWEEN
| ty-four hours out Of port before we should
| chase her. Then we would probably fol-
| low, and # we fould her as much as three
leagues from shore we would try to cap
| tUro herr
Don't the men on board feel bit ner.
| vous ?"
ON the contrary, they are oil anxious
for q fight They would like the prize
You know, and, moreover, II gets to be
mouotonous on sh;pboard with nothing to
do"
he then gave me his estimate Of the
relative fighting capacity o. the two YES
| sells. and the interview ended.
Captain Hand was greatly incensed at
this publication. which was made in the
| TrgiuidH, aud | learned afterwards that
the unfortunate man who talked go freely
was swung up by the thumbs for bis To-
quacity.
THE VESSELS.
The next day | again visited the vessels
! and wrote o description Of them. The
! Garnet was built NJ Chatham in 1872. and
| her Dimensions were as follows: Length,
2G0 teet: breadth Of beam. IL feet, and
| drawing 10 feet Of water Her armament
cXs. FIVE broadside guns. and stern
! aNi bow "chnser.n In addition 10 these
! were tour NOrdeufeldt guns, four barrels
| each, and two " Gardners." The ship was
also provided with 300 brcec h-loading guns.
Her tonnage was 2.l20 and she carried z3l
men. ] also published description OF the
! commanders private apartments. ana told
a bit of n Joke on Rev. r. Venable Will
| son. the chaplain, and thereby hangs
| tale which Will appear hereafter.
The Strelok was built at ST. Petersburg
IN 1850. She was 2l4 feet long, 30 feet
breadth of beam. AZ feet depth of hold.
| tonnage 1859. She carried 100 men and
twelve breech-loaders of fine make.
| She had also a torpedo arrangement
by which she could knock the spots out Of
an antagonist at 500 yards range. Her
| armament was far superior to that OF the
! Garnet. and she was a much taster vessel.
In fight she could easily have kept be-
/ yond the range of the Garnets guns and
vet have pelted the Garnet with her long
range rifle guns.
CAPTAIN Strelok, the commander. had
distinguished himself in the TuTko-Rus-
sian war by blowing up two of the Turkish
| meu-of-war IN the Danube. lie went over
| TO the vesses under cover of night, placed
| some explosive material under their bulls,
made an electric communication there
| with. and blew the vessels to atoms; For
| tuls y tlltnL act lAt v ~ NlOblOApN w. WV ~
sition of commander in the navy.
| WHY Hr LEFT.
After these publications appeared, Cap
tam Hand announced his intention TO
| quit the Norfolk harbor. and it was learned
| from the chaplain that his reasons for so
| doing was that he might escape the
| vicious onslaughts of that beastly re-
porter which the Same was /. Accord
ingly he dropped down TO Old Point, and
the reporter got the credit of having put
TO flight H.. NJ. S. Garnet.
The Garnet was therefore at Old Point,
and not alongside Of the Strelok, as the
| Times man has l., when the Strelok made
| her escape.
ENGAGED PILOT.
On the evening preceding the night upon
which this interesting episode occurred
Captain Skrydlod approached CAPTAIN W.;
| Ii. Face, the veteran pilot OF Norfolk, ana
| engaged his services 10 take the Strelok
out of port early the following morning.
| Captain Face said he would be on board IN
ample time.
yes" said the Russian but You sleep
and YOU might not come" He suggested
that the pilot should come on board at
night. promising to tako good care OF MIN.
| Captain Face finally consented TO CON-
ply with Skrydloffs request and accompa-
| MED him 70 the vessel which, as has al
ready been said, WAS lying just oil Atlantic
CITY
Not long after this Captain Skrydlof
and three of his officers, ali in full uni
form. walked into the Blues Armory TO At
tend concert by the st. Cecilia Society.
ABRUPTLY LETT.
He and the officers laughed and chstted
with some of the ladies as though they
had never heard of the Garnet. Finally,
however, before the concert had ended, be
ran his hand along the backs OF his officers.
who We're sitting IN front Of him, ana at
this signal the party abruptly lett the hail.
attracting mnch attention, OF course as
they went
They went at once aboard the yesse,.
Captain Face was now on board, and was
Just getting ready to retire, when he heard
the gong sound, and TO his amazement,
found that the vessel was under way anu
rapidly moving down stream.
RUSSIAN JOKE.
He went on deck and was soon ushered
into the pIiot-house. He observed that
there were no lights on the vessel and te-
fused to steer the vessel. but the com;
mander told him IL was all right, ana
ordered HIM TO take the wheel. captain
| lace insisted that IL WAS A violation OF the