The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-12-22
FROM DER THE SEA.
Naval Apprentice Dan Mendci writes of
Its iLfe on BoHrl the Training Ship

Snrai Apprentice Dan niendci writes Or
Alliance.
The following Il II lctlcr-or series ut
lettera--rccclvcd hy tho parents OF
Young Daniel Mendcl, son Of Mr.. aud
Mrs. John Il, Acndcl, of this city, who
Is naval apprentice on bolrd the
United States naval trniuMg vessel
Alliance. It win b. seen that tho rou-
tine OF HE aboard ship II not alloGrth.
or without incident:
AT SEA, Oct Gland sull It contln-
ucS for two solid weeks We have had
nothing but calm and heat. Il hus been
no hot that We have spread awnings and
that Is something extraordinary, ~ II In
tcrrcrcS with the sailing. We were to
leave Madeira, Thursday, ,hr Let. but
III" captain thought he would sail out
with a head wind. We were hravng In
an the anchor aud going out all right
when Wa ran Into poor inOIiCnslNc coal
barge that was anchored near by. We
tore things up In general. a big hole IN
the barge. and u cutter SMASHED all to
plcccI were her Injuries, which cost I'm.
Gle Sam $500. We were not hurt no
much. but enough to keep Nv until the
next day, when we sailed at . o'clock.
For the first ten or twelve dnys We went
like a railroad train. hut then a calm
struck Us ana herr we are, out Of civill-
cation, and nearly ont Of grub" and
with no prospect 81 seeing land IN sixty
days, Such IL life IN the navy We
10 All l. - 4
porpoiScS, sharks AMI many others. Dur
Ing this calm we have target practice;
We drop barrel overheard and shoot at
II with four and six Founders.
Nov. We'll, the calm has ended and
with the CRd came typhOua For
three days we had wind and rain: on
deck most Of thu time In our rain clothes.
| saw something ! never expect 10 see
again. II was about 700 or 500 yards
from the ship. The water looked Ike Il
big pillar, big at the bottom and rising
FOR IXty Or eighty feet, spreading uut
and falling In a spray. twisting and EO-
ing through tho water nj Il high rate Of
speed. After that We struck a calm
again, which Is likely to last Tor another
week or two.
The ships company had IN election to-
day, just like the students At COLLEGE.
Tho result: Mckinley and Hobart, 3N.
Palmer ana RUCkncr y; Bryan aud
Sewall. II, hope the election will turn
oitls well Ia reality. II Lieutenant Van
D"rZrr Is stIll in Wheeling. ask HIN II he
remembers Thomas Nelson. lie wanted
10 make him n lcHdsmau when GA the
Omaha. Tom ~ now our cdpuiH Tor
part NJ the ship. lie was Il GuRrtermaS-
Der hut traded with another mar.
E,V S-NN'a . ir,ttk tho plFs hrI ~ ttllt
winds the other day and have h""n SuinS
steadily six aad seven knots nm hour cvrr
since. We are about 400 miles from ~,
kits, aud begin 10 thnl; | might set
home some time. our ratiOnS have been
cut short No bread. only hard tack, aS
our flour gave out No milk for our coy
fee and regular booty" il IL; no tea. 10
SrudS. canned goods that grocer would
throw ou.. We have had polk SAUSAGE
that w"rc canned In 1851. You may
think this Is exaggerated, but 1t Is III"
plain. honest truth. ! am pretty certain
that my Christmas will br spent a, SEA,
st. kitts-Attcr many trials aud trih-
ul8tions "" are In. All hands were call
ed to drop anchor about T. O'Clock. nigh;
before last. wss thankful for your
letters and bundles Of papers.
Nov. ll-Morc letters and papers;
think VIII have enough to read going
to the states. No, dnn't know any
thing since cam" abroad. I'm rcgu-
lar dummy | found seaman with an
Algebra; borrowed il from him and
have been studying that. outside Of
that know nothing II rains here At
least once Il day. and they have. IN con-
sequence. very fine soil II rains early
In the morning and leaves the res; Of the
day cool and nice. We are having tar
get practice ! shot with tn. four-inch
yesterday and to-day my car is split in
two. They are firing the SIX Founders
now. and ! stole away In Il corner to
write. The whole ship shakes when the
guns are fired. Tomorrow and next
day we will have small arm practice.
wish target practice was over. and so do
all the second division gun captains. Of
which am one They picked us out on
our standing In our examination, rs the
officers l guess. make bets on their re-
spective divisions. Mr.. Campbell. our
officer. shows by the way he talks tina.
he expects Il lot out Of US. We have the
race boats crew. the best drilled division
and tho smartcSt fluNi"rd, Muyse,
Knott and myself. the gun captains,
were told by Mr.. Patch. that II we did
so well IN examination We would break
the record OF apprentices turned out Of
training ship. We thought that waE
very nice. aud so did MIR. Campbell for
IL was not said to anybody else. and h.
examined every apprentice on board.
The captain called us on the poop and
gave us a short examination and talk
abou: the navy. and told us we were the
most eligible second class he has seen
vet, aud he has been on training snip
FOR eleven years.