The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-03-12
OUT OF COMMISSION.

AiAN NSih lh DEOUDtu From the Navy-Was q Famous Fighter
 Good Stories That Still Cling to Her
 She Was With Farragut at New Orleans
 in the Spring of 1so2.
 IFrom the New York Prcs.l
 The waves of many seas have tossed her, Great guns have thundered from her decks, With honor to herself and to her country the gallant Portsmouth has borne the Stars and Stripes through the dangers Of war and tenn pest for half a century. But now, grown old, she lies in the Brooklyn navy yard dismantled and forsaken. Her white sails will never again swell in the soft breezes of the Azores or strain in the shrieking winds off Cape Horn; her cannon will never more belch out smoke and fire, for Uncle sam, whom she has served so faithfully, no longer wants her.
 She was taken out of commission last Tuesday Her flag was lowered, and the Portsmouth ceased to be part of the United States navy Her officers anu illSii ilclNG BQiiG lO lHe AllldHGG dl Norfolk, Va. She is deserted in her old age. The grimy decks and dull brass mountings that once glistened in the sun, and the dreary emptiness of the formerly busting forecastle tell nov ing story, It seems, moreover, like adding insult to injury to moor the old ship beside a vessel that she must re- gard as an upstart and a usurper-be- side one of the great white cruisers that have been the cause ofthe undoing of the Portsmouth and her sister ships. reducing them with their wooden hulls and sails to the condition of second childhood in naval power
 Only one consolation has the Ports mouth and that is that she Is not alone in her misery The Hartford. Ohio, Vermont, Monongahela, Saratoga, Con- stitutlon St Mary's and Jamestown longest survivors of the fleet of grace full taper masted wooden vessels, which were all conquering in war and our pride in peace, have met similar fates. The Portsmouth will probably be loaned to the naval reserve of the state of Connecticut.
 For forty years the Portsmouth |
 
 afloat. Those who were present at her baptism in 1843 saw a vessel of about | one thousand tons, one hundred and fif- | ty-one feet long and with a draught of seventeen feet Her armament, light | but in those days effective consisted of | four eight-inch smooth bore guns and | eighteen thirty-two- -pounders, besides | small arms, etc, Her complement of | officers and men amounted to two hun lred and ten souls, Her pay roll per | year was about one hundred thousand | dollars, and she had been built at a cost of one hundred and seventy thou sand dollars. A sloop of war she was called, and 1t is certain that the nav1es If the world could boast of few vessels 1eeter or better equipped.
 The Portsmouth got her first taste of blood in the Mexican war. Out in the Pacific, off San Jose, she met the big ull rigged ship Admittance, which was the employ of Mexico. It was like a l. nt between a mastiff and bull dog. 'he Portsmouth flew at her huge an- agonist with her thirty y-two-pounders, md received hot fire in return. In an lour the Admittance had struck her olors and the Portsmouth lowed her  rst prize triumphantly to port. On October 10th she and the Congress bonn arded the town of Guaymas, on the fluff of California, and captured it af- CT a fierce resistance. That night, as he victorious vessels lay at anchor, the Lillian brigantine Argo sailed into the arbor, unaware of the capture. Si- ently a. handful of men, commanded by
 lieutenant and two midshipmen, put if in boats from the Portsmouth, and ] the dark approached and boarded he Chilian craft while her startled rev were rubbing the sleep from their yes. She was taken without firing a hot.
 During the next two years the Ports louth saw much perilous service along he western coast of Mexico. A num- CT of prizes were captured, and the lidshipmen had their thirst for adven- lre amply gratifed by many sorties lland and daring midnight excursions. n one occasion a party was hemmed l on the shore by a large force of Mex ans. They took refuge in a stone ouse and for hours kept the enemy at