St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-04-17
Seventeen Men-of War Are
Now Lying at Anchor in
Hampton Roads.
Arrival Of the Italian GiO-
Vanni BauSan and the
French Jean Bart.
The Big Armored Cruiser Re-
eeiVed With the Usual
Naval Pomp.
Brilliant Description Of the
Scene by an Associated
Press Writer.


FORTRESS MONROE, Va, April TO-
The broad green, white and red bars,
with snowy cross on a scarlet shield
the flag of Itaiy-and the tri-color OF
France float today over the white-capped
waves which restlessly rise and fall in
Hampton Roads. Two new foreign yes
sells have arrived-the Giovanni Bausan
and the Jean Bart-making seventeen
men-ofwar now in the harbor. All this
afternoon, and until the setting sun
caused the shadows of the prOtruding
cannons to fall like dark index fingers
aslant the dazzling sides of the ships, a
brilliant picture was presented. The
launches and cutters of the vessels, each
displaying the snowy colOrs of its ma
tiOnality, sped TO and fro across the
waters. carrying lively parties to tue
men-Of-war and back again.
The Golden Sunlight
was unbrOken by cloud. The air was
so wonderfully transparent that the
CLINT of the brass work upon the distant
Atlanta shone like a star point in the
heavens. The sky was blue and the
water bluer still, with each wave crested
with fleecy rim of foam, as soft and
dainty as the fur which encircleS
woman'S opera cloak. The excursion
boats. thronged with spectators of the
scene, were monuments of flags. A score
of yachts, with signals and pennants
as varied as kaleidoscope, add
ed the beauty of their grace
ful forms and widespread sails.
Upon the shore, the bustling throngs
in the hotel lobby, with the officers con-
spicuOuS in their uniforms. the gay
throng of stylishly dressed women on
the broad and sunny piaZZas, radiant in
spring coStu mes, and with huge punches
of lilacs on their breasts, and the merry
chatter of conversation in half dozen
languages, gave spirit of animation to
a Sunday scene that would have made
the Puritan father seek refuge in the
bleak forest of another continent. The
Giovanni Bausan was sighted early this
morning, but not too early for the usual
Burning OF Powder.
She is not stranger to the American
waters, having participated in the last
review in New York, but her arrival
was nevertheless the occasion for much
ceremony. She is partially protected
cruiser, with two mammoth ten-Inch
guns, which send half ton of steel as
straight as an arrow to the horizons
edge. She is not fair to look upon, with
her black and yellow pains, but she can
fight. She came to an anchor in the
vicinity of the American fleet, about
600 yards from the wharf, and
after she had flung the United
States flag at the main mast
and saluted it with twenty-one guns,
which was answered from the fort, an
officer of the Baltimore went on board
of her with all ceremony. Ere the for
mality Of the Bausan's reception had
been concluded, the quartermaster on
the bridge of the Philadelphia cast his
weather eye over toward the wide
stretch of water between the capes and
sighted another man-Of-war inward
bound. Like silhouette, her black
hull was outlined against the
White, Fleecy Clouds
which hung laziiy upon the horizon.
Unlike the Russian ships, she had no
tapering maSts or graceful yards or del
icate tracery of rigging. Her two masts
were thick and dwarfed, and but for the
"crow's nests" which surmounted them,
and which betrayed military purpose,
the craft might have been mistaken for
some gigantic coal barge. AS she
steamed nearer the French ensign at
her stern told her nationality, and the
viclouS-lOOking ram which extended
from her Prov proclaimed her name
the Jean Bart, a formidable ar
mOred cruiser added to the French
navy within the last five years.
As the cruiser moved slowly down to
her anchorage, with scarcely ripple
breaking from either side of her long
and slender nose, the Jean Bart pre-
Sented a striking, although somber
picture. Her tall sides were dark as
night itself, save where the peeling
black paint disclosed the under-coating
of red lead. The furnishings of her
decks. the smOke-stacks, and the steel
masts were dirty yellowish drab, like
a beach of sand upon cloudy day, and
even her guns, instead of rejecting the
brilliant sunlight, were dull brown.
Through
Her Open Ports
the broadSide of five and siX-inch guns.
each weapon surrounded by its appoint
ed crew, was conspicuous. Her hollow
mastS were penetrated by the long muz-
Zles of her rapid-fring guns. Splash
and rattle went the anchor to the bot
tom. The same instant the glorious
stars and stripes were run up to the
summit Of the mainmast, just under
meath the slender pennant. The gentle
sound breeze tenderly caught the ma
tiOnal emblem and seemed to caress
it, while underneath the big guns
honored the flag with an in
ternational salute of twenty-one
guns. The echo of the firing
had not died away when reverberat-
ing boom from the distant fort thun-
dered back recognition and well
come. Just at this instance the officers
from the Bart ran to the side to gaze
curiOusly upon strange craft that had
come up unObseryed behind them and
was silently gliding by. 1t had the
form and build of torpedo boat, with
round deck scarcely above the level of
the water and /sheeted with metal
painted brown. Over its stern was
House on Stills
not much larger than hen-coop of re-
spectacle size. 1t was a whale-back,
common enough on the lakes, but de-