Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-15
A BERING SEA PATROL
Reported to Have Been Ordered by
the Navy Department. But
SECRETARY TRACY DENIES IT.
Activityat Mare Island Goes to Prove Some
things Afoot.
THE SEALS SURE TO BE PROTECTED
THE SEALS SURE TO BE PROTECTED

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH,
| WASHINGTON, March IA report has
been current in Washington that the cruiser
Baltimore has been ordered to do patrol
duty in the Bering Sea. The Baltimore is
supposed to be under orders for three
years. cruise on the China station, hence
there was considerable speculation
when the rumor reached here that she was
really destined for the seal islands 1t was
also reported that several other naval ves-
sells would be sent to join the Baltimore and
assist the revenue cutters in protecting the
seals from the feet of poachers already un-
der way for the sealing grounds.
Such policy on the part of the admins
tration would be in touch with the senti-
ment expressed in executive session of the
| Senate this afternoon. When the report of
the joint commission was sent in, showing
that the English and American experts
who visited the seal islands agreed
that the seal life on the ISL
and is being rapidly diminished by the
hand of man, nearly every Senator who
spoke on the subject advocated the policy
of sending feet of ships into Bering Sea
with as little delay as possible, to protect
the sealbearing animals from slaughter by
poachers.
Both Governments Interested.
Senator Faulkner, of West Virginia, is
credited with saying that the United States
are equally interested in protecting the
seals, as Americans catch them and English
men cure the skins. In view of
these facts both Governments ought
to be willing, he thinks, to join in
any reasonable scheme calculated
to protect the seals. If England is not
willing to offer her share of protection, then
the United States should 60 right ahead and
do her duty, leaving England to abide the
consequences.
Several naval officers who were spoken to
on this subject tonight, said they had re-
ceived no official information as to the
movement of war ships in the direction of
Bering Sea, but there is general feeling
that such action on the part of the United
States would go long way toward a final
adjustment of the seal fisheries.
When Secretary Tracy was interviewed
on this subject tonight by The DISPATCH
reporter, he gave an emphatic denial of the
report relative to the Baltfmore's alleged
mysterious orders. In a reply to direct
question, whether the Baltimore had been
ordered to Bering Sea under nominal orders
to China, he said:
Secretary Tracy's Denial.
'Tt is mistake. There is absolutely no
foundation for such a rumor. The Balti-
more has not been ordered in that direction,
and there is no intention of sending
her there. On the contrary, Ad-
miral Brown has been ordered
in command of the Baltimore, to sail for
Honolulu, almost in the opposite direction,
and on no account will she go skirmishing
around in the neighborhood of Vancouver
Island. More than that, no other vessel
has been as yet ordered into that neighbor-
hood.
"what do think of the propriety of hav-
ing some of our war vessels in that locality?
Well, don't think anything about that
point, just now. We are all waiting for
Salisbury's answer to the Presidents last
letters touching the renewal of the
modus vivendi. All will depend on that an
swer. At present the Navy Department is
very dull. Nothing doing of especial in
terest. The department has no news to-
night of any movements of British vessels
or fleets"
Cannot Credit the Denials.
Other officials of the State and Navy
Departments add their denials to that of
Secretary Tracy. Several of the naval
officers, however-those who do not occupy
places requiring them. to maintain absolute
silence on diplomatic questions-are in
clined to believe that preparations are now
under way for fitting out naval vessels for
Bering Sea duty. They remember that during
the recent troubles with Chile, Assistant Sec
Of fha Calo nd ntho t,,
charge of department business denied Wig
orously and persistently that active prepara-
tions for war were in progress, when they
were perfectly we'll aware that the entire
Department was on complete war footing
Navy officers are as patriotic and enthu-
siastic now at the prospect of a war with
England as they were then at the promise
of war with Chile They think also, now as
then, that official denials OF warlike pre-
paration must be taken with large grains of
allowance.
The Seals to Be Protected.
It is very well known to everybody
in Washington that President Harrison has
determined to protect the seals by policing
the Bering sea waters in case Lord
Salisbury persists in his refusal
to renew the modus vivendi. To
do this the President must send more yes
selS uOTIu Indn Lne revenue CUTTERS WHICH
have been relied upon il, former years, and
OF course must call upon the navy for ships.
The language of Secretary Tracy's state
ment, moreover, that "no vessels have yet
been ordered in the direction of Bering
Sea-" Is significant as indicating that
such orders are contemplated. The
Secretary appears to have disposed
of the Baltimore by sending her to Homo
lulu, but there are other cruisers that could,
and perhaps will be, pressed into service.
The United States steamship Thetis,
which has been surveying off the coast OF !
Lower California, has arrived in San Diego,
and will be ordered to San Francisco, to be |
fitted out for service in Bering Sea-
A telegram from San Francisco says:
The same activity that prevailed at Mare |
Island Navy Yard during the discussion of |
the Chilean affair has been revived by |
the reason of the Bering Sea controversy,
and every indication points strongly to the
fact that the United States proposes to send |
North all the available naval
vessels on the Pacific coast station.