The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-06-01


stand out to sea until morning, when there
was every prospect of there being very
heavy IoH II was then proposed to turn
the monitor into the trough of the sea ard
"let her roll, and if she wanted TO tip
| over why give her chance"
The landsnen In the crew were entirely
satisfied with the roll on the bar, and
there were a round dozen of about the
| slckeSt-lQokng sailors down on the berth
deck when the engines were slowed down
| that was ever seen on board man-of-
war. One old gray-headed tar, who has
| served Uncle Sam as a blue jacket for
almost half century, surveyed the crowd
| of seasick men for a minute or two, and.
turning TO the reporter. said:
You hear me. there Will be a dozen
more haymakers in California than there
is now when the Monterey gets back"
Poor fellows, they laid, there and
groaned. and between spasms dreamed of
the waving fields of grain they had left to
| become mau-of-warsmen.
Remem bering the experience of the
night before, the reporter concluded to
pace the quarier-derk with Lieutenant r.
c. Mich olson, who was the officer of the
deck Sunday night from o'clock until
midnight. Lieutenant Nicholson is one
Of the most expert ordnance officers in the
United States navy, aud it it his name
that adorns not only Big Betsy and her
| mate Alice as the expert who Superin-
tended their building in whole or in part
but can also be found on Tom Thumb
ana Commodore Mutt, the two 10-inch
guns in the turret aft. His word is author
itv upon ordnance. aud he knows all about
warShps. too. To the lieutenant The
CALL man talked about putting the Mon
terey in the trough of the sea" and about
the chances OF ner turning upside down.
ut is as impossible for the Monterey to
tip over" said he, ''as it is for her to travel
on dry land. The reason is this: The
| % Aa0l II ar fro I'd nul
it, is only three feet above the water where
the cruisers are twenty feet. All the
weight in her hull is below water, and with
q breadth of beam of 50 feet she sets in
the water like buoy with heavy iron
ball on the bottom. She cau roll or turn
side Is under water and yet she will right
herself, for she is so light above and so
heavy below.
Besides the monitor has surplus buoy
ancy OF 1900 tons. la other words, she
| could ship 1000 tons of water on her decks
at one time and then have 400 tons of sur
plus buOyancy to spare. But it would be
impossible for any great amount of water
to remain on the decks of the Monterey
long enough to do her any harm, for the
decks are so HAT that the water simply
sweeps across them and Is off almost as
soon as it is on. The vessel is behaving
admirably, and she can face sea that
would wreck another type of ship. Events
proved that Lieutenant Nicholson was
right.
Monday morning broke clear and bright,
and long before o'clock the Monterey,
headed south, was in the trough of the sea.
To a landsman standing on the super
structure or upper deck, 1t seemed that
every time the ship rolled she would sure
~ turn over. Every inch of her decks
were wet. and wave after wave broke
completely Ovsr the turrets forward and
aft, hiding at times the mammoth guns
The tremendous seas she seemed to ship
slid away, leaving the vessel still tossing
from side to side. as if impatient with the
waves for their constant endeav0rs to turn
her over or sink her by their weight.
1t was just o'clock when the Monterey
made the biggest roll or "heeP of her trip
AS she turned on her side not an inch of
the deck frem stem to stern could be seen,
while man standing on the upper deck
could have reached down and touched the
water with his hand The reporter said to
himself. Here she goes" aud shut mis-
eyes, only to open them second later to
find the ship on an even keel and hear
Naval Constructor Taylor sing out from
the bridge aft to Captain Howison on the
bridge, Not quite twelve, sir"
On the bridge aft was peculiar register
| which Mr. Taylor was watching. 1t told
| exactly how many degrees the ship
"hee led" i. e., rolled over on her side, and
| the big dip was less than II degrees. II
was luily tAptCiFu TIC tticy WNuIQ
roll from II to IA and even 10 degrees,
| hence here was another surprise, for IN all
! proba biity tie ship will never encounter
a he aver sea, since she was purposely put
fn the worst possible position In order 10
give her the chance TO roll.
While all this was going on above decks
way down IN the hull the fremen were
heaping coal into the Scotch and Ward
boilers, getting the whole six in readiness
for the four hours run at maximum
speed under forced dranght. The Scotch
boilers had been running all along but no
fires were put under the Ward boilers until
$40 o'clock Monday morning. At 9
o'clock the forced draught WAS turned on
and thirty minutes later the signal was
given to commence the four hours race
against time. With the poor coal, foul
ship and green crew it was not hoped to
attain any high rate of speed, the run be-
ing made to test the boilers and machin.
cry. Again the Monterey surprised every
body. Not only was speed of u knots
attained, which was all that was ex-
pected at best, but an average speed
OF 1874 was attained, and had the
vessel run another hour Is knots and over
would have been made. Not drop of
water was put on the bearings of the en-
gnes to keep them cool, not hitch oc-
CURED in the machinery, and not drop
of water leaked from the fues OF any OF
the six boilers The reporters were given
every opportunity to see for themselves.
They were taken into the engine and fire
rooms during the run and after the run,
and the doors of the boilers were thrown
open so that the fues could be seen. Dur
ing the run he monitor was as steady as
n steamboat on the Sacramento, and her
performance not only surprised but as
tOnshed everybody. Here is the log of
the f0ur hours run:
Maximum speed attained, 1913 knots ::
total distance covered, 81 knots; average
speed. 1914 knots: maximum steam press
nre, 157 ponnds in engine-room, 100 pounds
in fireroom; mean steam pressure, 150.2
pounds; maximum revolutions per min
ute of engines, IA; coal consumption,
$3.50 pounds per hour.
While the Monterey was flying along,
sconplng up tons of water and doing won
derful work, the first gun ever lied on
beard the wnrship sent its echoes flying
across the hills beyond Point Reyes light
house. 1t wasn't Big Betsy, but one of
the siX-pOunders belonging to the sec
ondary battery, or the guns in the upper
deck, in the masts, etc, in other words,
the little guns. The bngles called the m en-
to quarters, the magazine WAS oueped, anG
one shot was fired from each OF the six
Founders and four one-poupders scattered
about the ship. The idea was 10 test the
fittings and fastenings OF the guns, and
after the fling the paint wasn't even
cracked on the deck around the fasten-
| ings, so firmly were they anchored. The
siX-pound guns sent shells skipping away
three and four miles over the water, and