The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-08-03

of the Columbia, and that she could
no doubt OVertake any vessel af1oat on
a squirt; that is if a vessel was slgnted
in the morning the Columbia could
come up with her before night. The
Minneapolis is her equal if not superior
and the record of the Columbia shows
that the United States has the two
fastest ships afloat.
a Gratifying Point.
A prominent naval officer pointed
out what he called the most gratifying
point concerning this speed trial. He
said that when all the conditions under
which the Columbia made her Tun are
decided. the results must be regarded
as remarkable. In the first place, he
said, the coal, while good and probably
much better than the cheap variety
usually supplied our vessels at home.
was not the very best quality of Welsh
coal. Then, again, the engine depart
ments of our cruisers are not as fully
manned as either ships of the mer-
chant service or as those of foreign
governments and consequently the
endurance of the men in the engine
and fire rooms is more severely taxed.
As an illustration of this fact it is
only necessary to give the following
comparison between the Columbia and
the English cruiser Terrible:
Columbia, horse power, 10000; num-
Der of engineers, 4; men in engine de-
partment, 1856
Terrible, horse power, 10000; num-
Der of engineers, s; men in engine
department, 1874. In other words, the
work on the engineer officers is just
90 per cent harder on the Columbia
snip. while the men in our ship have
to do one-third more work than do the
men in the other service.
Among men-of-war there is abso-
lutely nothing to compare with the
Columbia. as none of them ever made
such run, and none could, not only
because they do not carry the COAL
but because they have not the power
The navy department. however. has
the report of a 24-hOur trial of the
English cruiser Royal Arthur made in
the Pacific some months ago and her
maximum speed for four hours was
only IS knots. This vessel is officially
rated at the same displacement as
the Columbia. OF the other fast Brit
iSh cruiser none of them has done any
thing at all comparable with this per-
Torrance of the Columbia. In fact
the cruiser Blenheim. on which the
British plume themselves, made only
a maximum of IA knots when return
the body of Sir John Thompson there
for interment.
The Official Notice.
The official notice of the Columbia's
remarkable performance reached the
navy department in the following tele
gram from the captain:
New York, Aug. 2.-The secretary
of the navy, Washington. Columbia
Needles, , p. m, ultO.. Sandy Hook
lightship S:59 today. Average hourly
speed for whole run, 1871 knots. Whole
run under natural draught. Twenty
six hours of fog, but no delay there
from. SUMNER.
In reply MIR McAdoo sent Captain
Sumner the following message:
Washington, Aug. =, Sumner, L. S.
S. Columbia, care of commandant.
navy yard, Brooklyn: The depart
ment tenders to you. officers and men
of the Columbia, its congratulations on
the result of the run from the Needles
to Sandy Hook lightship. thus making
an unexampled record for a warship.
McADOO, Acting Secretary.
The department was surprised to
find that Captain Sumner did not
make an effort to run the ship under
forced draught for the last twenty
four hours of the trip. He was es-
pecially instructed to do this. When
the Columbia was ready to leave
Southampton she had on her bunkers
and slowed elsewhere on board 1917
tons and GAL pounds of Welsh bitumi-
nous coal, the same as is used by the
American line steamships on their
westward voyages. This was more
coal than any vessel of the United
States navy ever had carried. 1t is
possible Captain Sumner will be called
on to explain why he failed to obey
instructions TO that effect, although it
is assumed that lack of coal will ac-
count for the omission.
Pure baking powders are one of the
chief aids to the cook in preparing per-
feet and wholesome food. While those
are TO be obtained of well-established
reputation. like the Royal, of whose
purity there has never been a question,
it is proper to avoid all others.