St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-04-24
TO SAIL FOR GOTHAM,
The Naval Vessels in Hamp-
ton Roads to Move North
ward Today.
Indications That the Fleet
Will Encounter Very
Heavy Seas.
An Immense Crowd Gets a
Final Look at the Big
Men-of-War.
Provisioning OF the Ships for
Tho Hou;10 80, To%n~o1fi~
Provisioning Of the Ships for
the Cruise an Interesting
Incident.

1uSIQGuGs
FORTRESS MONROE, Va, April 23.-
Twenty-Seven ships of war will sail
from here at o'clock tomorrow for New
York. At that hour the tide running
out TO sea will have swung the massive
hulls, and the sharp prows will be
pointed towards the ocean. This is
matter of no small Importance, as all at
tempt to turn all the ships at once would
be a most dangerous experiment. There
has been no rest for Admiral Gherardi
today. Signal flags have been run
ming up and down from the yards of
the Philadelphia, blue-coated messen-
gers have been hurrying in plunging
launches from ship to ship, and the
typewriter in the admiral'S Office has
been going at a pace almost as rapid as
the life which the bellies and the beauX
have been living at the Hygeia. There
is no question but that Admiral Cher
ardi feels the responsibility which rests
upon him as the cOmmander-in-chlef of
the squadron. Several times today
he has been upon the bridge of the
Philadelphia viewing
with Anxious Eyes
the gathering clouds and wondering if
the gale would abate. Everybody here
is naturally hoping that the weather in
New York will be fair. but the seasoned
old salts, who know all about the wealth
er, shake their heads dubiously today.
The wind has been blowing from the
northeast, and is bleak and cold. 1t
whlstled this morning most omi nously
through the rigging of the Chicago
and stiffened the signal flags on the
Philadelphia into semblance of frozen
bunting. The sea ran heavy and great
waves broke against the sides of the
vessels and threatening with destruc-
tion the little launches in which vent
uresome eXcursiOnistS put off from
shore. The forbidding weather was
unfortunate for the crowds, who, with
the earliest morning boats, began to
swell the already
Too Numerous Colony
here. The steamers from Washington,
Norfolk and Baltimore were loaded
down with passengers, the incoming
trains bore their quota of sightseers,
and every craft in Norfolk haUbor
seemed to have been utilized to carry
people who wanted to get final look at
the men-of-War. In more ways than
one was the fact that this was the last
day of the rendezvous emphasized. One
of the most interesting incidents was
the provisioning Of the ships for the
cruise. The steamers from the large
cities this morning were piled high with
edible freight. Tons and tons of beef
were brought from Baltimore and trans
ferred by hands more or less unclean to
the ships cutters, which were dancing
OH the waves at the wharf. Huge crates
of canned goods and mammoth sacks of
vegetables stood side by side, food
enough to stock store. A rampant of
bread edged the wharf,a and might, if the
occasion had arisen, have served the
same purpose as the bales of cotton did
for Andrew Jackson at the Bat
tie of New Orleans. One pile
of bread contained by actual
count 1876 IoaveS, and there were sew
eral other mountains of baked dough
nearly as large. American, English,
German, Russian, French, Spanish.
Italian and Dutch sailors lowered
around the food, or transferred it amid
BabeI-Like Confusion
to their own boats. All this had to be
done today. There will be no time
for it tomorrow. Equally interesting,
although a scene entirely different,
was the regulating of the chrOnOmeters
at noon today. Shortly before II o'clock
a company of officers filed through
tn e long and narrow passage to the
room in which the telegrapherS were at
work. Some Of them carried little ma
hogany boxes under their arms, which
they placed with more than ordinary
care upon the small tables. A dozen
instruments were clicking busily. At
1850 the chief operator Manipulated a
keyboard and the rattle of one of the
saunders ceased. Instantly the lids of
the boxes were raised and disclosed the
glass-cOvered face of the chrOnOmeters.
Every officer stood with his watch in his
hand.
"Tick, tick" sounded the telegraph
slowly, beating to the oscillations of
the pendulum of the great clock in the
observatory at Washington. An officer
with a table was noting the movement
of the chronOmeters.
"Tick, tick" clicked the sounder, a
tick for each second of time. One min
ute of twelve arrived. During this
minute there was no sound. Then
short, sharp, decided click,
The Hour of Noon.
A dozen observant eyes and brains
noted the seconds, the minute, and the
hour hands of the ships timekeepers,
and then, with the chronometers again
under their arms, the officers went
down stairs and carried the delicate
mechanism back to the vessels. The
scene on the wharf today has been like
a country fair. 1t has been harvest
time for the fakirs. Little brass souve-
Mrs, worth few pennies, have sold at
15 cents and quarter apiece, and one
man even drove live business in sell.
ing at 10 cents each the large litho-
graphic pictures of the feet at anchor
in the roads, which last week did duty
as railroad advertisements. The half
dozen sandwich and beer booths, with
busy men in white aprons and red faces.
were surrounded by hungry and clam
orous countrymen. The men with cheap
photographs of the vessels yelled their
wares, the impromptu ferrymen, with
tugs and yachts gay with flags, bawled
loudly to inquiring strangers, and even
the ticket scalpers we're abroad in the
land. Thousands Of curious visitors
made a circuit of the fleet at quarter a
baod in avouTciou ctaamprS If moc tho