The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-04-19
SAILORS COURTESIES.
The Fleet Commanders Exohang-
ing Calls at Hampton Roads.
MANY MILLIONS REPRESENTED.

admiral Gherardi Places tho Value of the
Vessels at the Rendezvous at Twenty
i've Millions of DoIIars-Nine Thousand
Sailors in the Fleet.
FORTRESS MHiRoE, Va, April ia
strange thing happened yesterday. Ad-
miral Gherarti visited seventeen ships and
not a gun was fired. Ordinarily such a
round Of visits would have been made the
occasion for filling the atmosphere with
sulphurous smoke, but when he left his
Ships the admiral ordered that no salute
be fired, and Of the foreigners he made a
request that the same noisy honor be
omitted.
These official visits, by the way, have be-
come so numerous that they tax to the ut
most not only the already busy moments
of Admiral Gherardi, but the hardly less
leisure moments of the officers who are
lower in rank. From early morning until
late at might the dainty and snowy launches
of the Americans, the neat little cutters OF
the Englishmen and the numbering barges
of the other foreigners swing like pendu-
lums from one ship to another. The ad-
mirals call upon each other, the command
ing officers visit all day long, and the Off
GERS OF lower rank keep up brisk pace
with their ward room calls. With twenty
seven ships in the harbor it can easily by
imagined that there is little time for other
duties, to say nothing Of pleasures.
Even with eleven more men, -of-war to
arrive the naval rendezvous has already
assumed proportions which entities it to
rank as one of the greatest aggregations
of floating batteries which the world has
ever witnessed. 1t does not, to be entirely
accurate, compare with the naval review
of the British navy off Spithead, on the
occasion of the jubilee celebrated in 1887,
when over a hundred ships were gathered
together. Since that time, however, there
have been enough improvement in the con-
struction and armoring of naval fighters
to make the exhibition here thoroughly
unique.
Admiral Gherida paused moment as
he stood upon the deck of the Philadelphia
yesterday afternoon when your correspon-
dent asked him how many million dollars
would be represented upon the water when
all the ships assembled. twenty-five"
he said, making a mental calculation.
"Yes, fully twenty-five million dollars.
And do you know" he added, "how many
men there will be on board the ships2 No.
Well, there will be 5000 men. There are
5000 men upon my own ships"
The crowd here continues to increase. II
has long since filled up every building at
Old Point and is now spilling over into the
boarding houses and country hotels of the
vicinity. Prices are high in proportion.
1t is a harvest time for the watermen, the
hack drivers, and the hotel keeper. 1t
costs S. an hour to 20 out to the nearest
ship, and the rate increases In double the
ratio of the distance
The German squadron steamed into the
harbor SO late yesterday afternoon that il
the kaiserin Augusta had not begun to
boom her cannons some distance down the
roads she would have had to slip into her
anchorage officially unnoticed. She saluted
first the United States flag and flags of the
American and English admirals as she
steamed slowly to place near the Rus
slams Behiud her came the Zeadler, a
small gunboat of 800 tons. The Kaiserin
Augusta is the most modern warship now
in the fleet and presents many points of
interest Her captain speaks English
fiuently,