St. Paul daily globe., 1895-08-03
OFFICIALS PLEASED.

T WASHINGTON, Aug. 2.-There was
general rejoicing in the navy depart
ment today when the Associated Press
bulletin was read announcing the ar
rival of the Columbia off Sandy Hook.
Assistant Secretary McAdoo expressed
the greatest pleasure over the fast
time made by the cruiser. He went
to the West Indies aboard the Column
bia, and was confident from the start
that she would acquit herself hand
somely on this trial across the At
lantic. The Columbia beat the time
of the New York by two days and pre-
vious to this trip the New York had
the best record of any war ship cross
ing the Atlantic. Mr.. McAdoo said
today that there was no longer any
doubt about the speed of the Colum-
bia, and that she could no doubt over
take any vessel af1oat on a squirt. The
Minneapolis is her equal if not her
superior and the record of the Column
bia shows that the United States has
the two fastest ships afioat. The Off
cial notice of the Columbias S remarka-
bic performance reached the navy de-
partment in the following telegram
from the captain of the ship:
New York, Aug. 2-The Secretary
of the Navy, Washington: Columbia,
Needles 2 p. M, July &c; Sandy Hook
light, S:45 today; average hours speed
for whole run, 1885 knots; whole run
natural draught: twenty-siX hours fog
but no delay therefrom. SUMNER"
In reply, Mr.. McAdoo sent Capt
Sumner the following message:
Washington, Aug. 2.-"Sumner, u
S. S. Columbia: The department ex-
tends to you, the officers and men of
the Columbia, it's congratulations and
thanks on the result of the run from
the Needles to Sandy Hook lightship,
thus making an unexampled record
for a war ship. 'M'ADOO,
Acting Secretary
The department was surprised to
find that Capt. Sumner did not make
an effort to run the ship under forced
draught for the last twenty-four hours
of the trip. He was especially in
structed to do this, and the department
was really more desirous of attaining
the record for the twenty-four hours
that the total passage across the At
lantic. 1t is possible that he will be
called on to explain why he failed to
obey instructions to that effect, al
though it is assumed here that lack
of coal will account for the omission.
The eight main boilers and three
main engines were used during the
trip. On account of the injuries sus-
tanned by the Columbia when she was
docked in Southampton the steam
pressure was limited to 140 pounds.
The coal allowance was set at 200 tons
"a day. At 1910 Saturday tube blew
out in one of the boilers. An attempt
was made to stop the leak in the usual
manner with a wood plug, but the
pressure was so great that the plug
would not stay in place. At $50 a. m.
the fires were hauled from the boiler,
its safety valves opened and the boil
eri shut off from the steam pipe. The
effect on the ship of thus losing one
boiler was marked. The revolutions
speed from 1853 to 1888 knots. The
leak was soon repaired and for the sue
ceeding four hours the average revo-
lutions increased to 104 per minute
and the speed to 1875 knots. This
was the only serious trouble caused
by leak in the tubes. Two others
blew out, but We're plugged without
much trouble. While the instructions
from the navy department were to
run the Columbia under forced
draught on the last day, Capt. Sum-
ner was unable to comply with that
order for the reason that it was i'm
passages into the bunkers fast enough.