The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1893-07-17
STORIES OF A NEW CRUISER.
How Captain Philip Was Instructed
by an Army officer.


by an Army officer.
During the trial trip of the war
ship New York some good stories of
the new naval flier were told by the
officers. Captain Philip said that
about six months ago, while the ship
was in dock at Philadelphia, he was
standing on the upper deck and
supervising some work. Two we'll
dressed men came along and one be-
gan to explain to the other the use
OF the various appliances of the ves-
sci. Now, Captain Philip is portly
man, with a big, good-humored face
and does not in the least look like
naval officer when in "undress." So
the visitors evidently took him to be
some unimportant landsman. The
stranger, who was showing off his
maritime knowledge" pointed out
the hammock MEETINGS, and explain
ed with great solemnity that they
were the armor of the ship, behind
which the crew sheltered themselves
when they went into battle. This
astonishing statement almost took
the captains breath away. But more
was to come. The guide, laying his
hand on one of the immense venti-
lating pipes by which fresh air is
conducted to the boiler-rooms be-
low, said, with an air of importance
"This is the smokestack." This was
more than Captain Philip, who is
most atfable man, and who hates to
have American citizens make mis-
takes, could stand. He approached
the pair and in a courteous manner
informed them of the true names
and purposes of the hammock net
ting and the ventilator. The stranger
drew himself up with great pride
and said loftily:
81 don't know who you are, sir, but
am Captain Black of the army, and
l ought to be able to tell smoke
stack when see it,"
"You certainly should" answered
Captain Philip, turning away. And
now he says that if he should hear a
man tell another that an S-inch rified
cannon was potato-masher for the
crew he would not correct him, but
let him go his way in ignorance.
One of the stories of the trip was
fishing incident, in which Lieute-
nant Mason, the executive officer to
be, figured as hero. There had been
some pretty good sport fishing from
the rail while the ship was at anchor
off Boston light, and the gallant
lieutenant, though not at all an ex-
pert in the gentle art of angling, was
DESTROYS of trying his hand. A line,
hook and bait were procured and
the lieutenant fished industriously
all one forenoon. But the most
ferocious of bites, which almost
made his heart stop beating with
excitement, only resulted in the cap
ture of so many grinning sculpins,
and the lieutenant was sorely disap-
pointed. Some of his brother-offi-
GERS resolved to reward such I'M
wearying patience as he had dis
played and waited until he had gone
down to lunch, leaving his line fast
ened to the rail. With considerate
forethought the conspirators had
been to the cooks domain and had
secured an enormous Goldfish, from
whose anatomy all the bony struc-
ture had been removed. The fish
hung limp as the flag on the city
hall on quiet August afternoon,
but he was expeditiously attached to
the hook and the line let down into
the Atlantic's bosom as before. Pre-
sently Lieutenant Mason, refreshed
and encouraged, emerged from the
companionway. The plotters con-
cealed themselves in the vicinity and
watched with all their eyes. The
lieutenant united the line and gave
it tentative twitch. There was an
unusual resistance. The outgoing
tide made the object on the end pull
and jerk as if alive. The lieutenant
pulled and pulled, his eyes growing
bigger and bigger every moment.
Pride, joy and establishment were
depicted on his countenance as he
lifted the Goldfish over the rail.
eli, there! Smith! Jones! Robin
SOM" he yelled. The gentlemen
came from their hiding places with
astonishing alacrity, their faces radi-
ant with mirth. Then the lieute-
nant, who is really clever fellow,
saw it all. 1t is needless to say after
the run, when the storeroom was
preached, he amply satisfied the
obligations of the situation.--Boston
Journal.