The Portland daily press., 1895-11-28
HARBOR NEWS.
City Government Visits the Maine
Yesterday.
GLORIOUS WEATHER In HARBOR
AT LAST.

Many People Visit the Battleship-How
They Celebrate Thanksgiving-Mrs
Greenleaf Taken to Freeport-Various
Other Items.
Yesterday morning dawned clear and
bright and gladdened the hearts of.Uncle
Sans boys about the cruiser Maine, and
the hearts of hosts of Portland people,
who were eager to visit the ship and in
certainly had rain and mist and wet
enough to satiate, as well as saturate,
anybody. The men on board the Maine
had not seen the sun since they started
for Portland last Friday. They had hard
ly got a glimpse Of the city either, be-
cause of the fogs. Many Of them had
never been here before and they found
that the bright sunshine made a decided
difference in the appearance of our beau
tiul city.
In the forenoon Captain Crowninshield
sent an invitation to the members of the
city government and to many others, in
Guiding ABOUT 200 people to come aboard
and inspect the ship. AT about 2 p. m.
a large delegation of the city officers and
others went down to the Maine on the
fire boat and the other steamers. There
were several ladies in the party. The
guests included Hon. w. W. Thomas
Jr., and Elias Thomas and their wives
George Milliken and ladies and Bishop
Medley and Rev. Mr.. Galloupe A de-
licious lunch was served. Besides the
specially invited guests there were many
others on board during the afternoon. In
the forenoon the attendance was not very
large
Though the harbor was so bright and
beautiful and the water so smooth, there
was chill in the air that rendered the
harbor very different place from what
it was when the fleet was here last sum-
mer.g AS one of the officers said: "These
ships decks are hot places in summer
and cold places in winter" 1t certainly
was cold enough on the decks of the
Maine yesterday.
The torpedoes were of special interest
to The visitors They were in large cases
and looked like big steel cigars about
ten feet long. Enclosed in the front
part Of each torpedo is 10 pounds of gun
cotton that will explode when the torpedo
strikes anything In the centre is a
cavity holding enough compressed air.
SO that the pressure is 1850 pounds to
the square inch. Since the natural pres
sure of air is but fifteen pounds to the
will 10, 81; :.
compressed air, if in its normal state
would occupy just ninety times the space
of the torpedo cavity. E sch torpedo
has two propellers, which revolve in
different directions. This ensures that
the torpedo will go straight in the di.
rection to which it is pointed.
There are twenty four messes among
the men aboard ship and their cooks are
making great preparations for the
Thanksgiving dinner today. 1t was esti-
mated that at least 400 pounds of turkey
would be required today, all of which
will be purchased on shore In the neigh
borhood of ninety mince pies will be
eaten aboard the Maine today.
There was pathetic sight on the end
of Portland Pier yesterday afternoon. A
back drove up close to the gangway of
the steamer Phantom and an elderly,
grey haired and grey bearded, weather
beaten sea-faring man got out. He held
open the door, extended his big arms in
side the hack and said: Come, darling, y
with world of affection and of sadness
in his voice. He lifted out of the hack a
little : old woman and carried her aboard
the. Phantom. Her face was wrinklod
her eyes were staring without intelli-
gence or recognition and she was NUT err
ing rapidly to herself. The mar was Cap
tain Greenleaf of the little schooner
Addie and the woman was his wife. who
became crazy last week, and was taken
to the Greedy Hospital. She had suffici-
emily recovered to be taken to the home
farm, down in South Freeport.
Monday night when the steamer Bay
State was passing Thatcher's Island. the
schooner Fannie Freeman of Gloucester
ran into her. The schooners bowsprit
struck near the paddle box of the steam
or, infiicting small damage, as the
schooner was under small headway. The
schooner proceeded on her way without
delay, being damaged only by the break
ing of her bowsprit Probably the damage
to the steamer will amount to q hundred
dollars and the schooner is damaged
about the same amount. The cause of
the collision is not explained. 1t was not
foggy at the time, but was very dark.
Yesterday morning at about z. 80 O'Clock
the Ben Hur was towing the little coast
ing schooner Matthew Vassar, Jr, in the
harbor, the former stopped to haul in her
hauser and the captainEof the latter put