The Opelousas courier., 1893-08-19
THE CRUISE OF THE CONsTEL-
LATEON.

The U. s. Practice Ship Constellation, with
the Cadets belonging to the first class of the
Naval Academy at Annapolis on beard, left
Hampton Roads on June 10th for a cruise on
the Atlantic. The Constellation is a sailing YES
sci 2O4 feet long and Al feet wide. From letters
written to hi parents by Cadet Fritz l.. Sandoz
we make th6% following interesting extracts:
AT SEA, Lat. $50 So N, Long. 500 90 W.
Sunday, june Is, 1898.
We left Hampton Roads q week ago yesterday
en- route for Fayal, one of the Azores. AS We
left Capes Charles and Henry we had a favor
able wind and it was not long before three
fourths of the cadets were sea-sick but when,
a couple of days after, "a squall struck us and
we went scudding along with close-reefed top
sails at the rate Of ten knots an hour, every
body was well enough to hustle.
The own of HOrta, Fayal, whittier we are
bound, bias about the same population us Opel
Ousas, Thence we go to Funchal, a larger town
on the Madeira Islands, near the coast of Africa.
Then we may go to Lisbon, and if we make a
vacation before the fall session begins.
Lat. $50 ST. N, Long. 47o So W, June %.
We hope to reach Horta about the 4th of July,
just in time to fire q salute to the flag. 4 + We
| have provisions for so days, so that if we are
becalmed or blown out of our course we will
not be apt to starve before righting ourselves.
| We had fresh meat until yesterday, and will
live hencef0rtho on salt meat, ham,, corned beef,
sardlneS, pork and beans, canned chicken, tlll-
Key, &c, grits, oatmeal, cracked wheat, NC. ana
fresh bread baked every day. We started with
$4,000 gallons of water, but it is used only for
drinking and cooking. To-day we are about
1000 miles from HOrta i'll Il week more we Will
be there. June 20.
We have not seen land for twenty days.
July Ave are near Fayal. having sighted it
this morning at $50. We will go ashore to-mOr-
row. All these islands are mountainous. The.
weather is Observation-Disclosures a fine breeze
and it is cool enough to wear flannel at all
times, and during the night watches overcoats
are comfortable,
Ell route for Funchal, July 9.
We left Horta on the 9th and expect to reach
Funchal in four or five days. The distance
from Horta to Funchal is about 700 miles.
The islands we have just left belong to Portu-
gal and are very fertile. The fruits of the trO-
pics as we'll as those of temperate chimes grow
we'll there, and we ate figs, apricOts, plums, or
anges, lemons, &c. There are no horses-don-
keys and oxen supply their place-and their
wagons or carts are very primitive affairs, the
wheels being sawed out of large trees and the
body being nothing more than a kind of basket
like a cage. They are a century behind the age,
and remind one of the time of Abraham. No
gas nor electric lights, not even coal oil, but
lard oil is burned. At the entrance to the town
there is a very old fort, queerly constructed,
with a small garrison, who police the town.
Nearly all the public places, the churches, the
convent and many residences are surrounded
by immense walls which themselves look like
forts. In old times, when buccaneering was at
its height, these walls afforded protection to the
inhabitants even after the town had been cap
tured. High walls surround all the parks, in
which flowers bloom all the year round. The
temperature never goes above S4onOr below 4So
F. They never saw ice. The principal prodnct
is wine, which is said to be very good, and it is
sold quite cheap. The peasants wear sandals
and wooden shoes. The ladies of the better
class wear immense sun-bonnets, something
like the nuns wear at home, but larger, and "a
stranger would take them all for nuns.
We are kept pretty busy all the time, having
to work navigation and ~seamanship every day.
Our navigation work, so far, consists in finding
every day, by means of thine sights" and
meridian attitudes" our latitude and longi-
tll6 at u O'Clock and at the time of sights. the
course sailed from day to day; the direction
and strength of the ocean currents time of
high water at6iifferent ports, &c.
AE1Anchor near Funchal, July II.
We got here e night, having come from Horta
in five days-Bfetty good sailing. We expect TO
remain here several days.