New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-11
SHIPS AND SEAMANSHIP.

The tragic experience of Admiral B,ince :
fleet off the South Carolina coast serves as n
valuable object lesson I'm the scaworthiness or
modern ships of war The storm was violent
one. such as would test The qualities of any
craft. All the ships got through it. with slight
damage TO them. though with deplorabe loss of
life and limb. But there was some difference
in the way in which the ships of various
types acquitted themselves, which Is worthy OF
more than passing notice. The Maine. we are
told. suffered worst She Is small batileship'
short. and with very high freeboard The
Marbehead also suffered much, and had To
nut out her oil-bags for safety. She Is Il gun
beat with Il high frecboard, too high, many
have thought. for her class. The New-forR
rolled heavily and was flooded by the waves
and her big guns had to he dashed fast. she Is
q big cruiser. with high freebOard. and eS-
peclally intended for seawOrthiness The Co
lumbia, also high frcebOard cruiser, appar-
emily suffered less And finally the Amphitrite
seems TO have got through with at least as
little trouble as any of them, though there was
much anxiety about her, and the flagship went
back some distance 10 search for her. She Is
q monitor. with almost no freeboard at ALL
So then the big ships that stand high out Of
the water and are meant for cruising In all seas
and in all weather suffered most; and the low
lying monitor, with little more than her fur
rets above the water level and commonly re-
garded as unseaworthy and fit only for harbor
defence, was among those that suffered least.
Nor is that at all surprising. The cruisers pre-
sented vertical walls, twenty or thirty feet
high besides the superstructures of turrets and
towering smokestacks, for the wind to press
against and the waves to pound against with
direct force. The monitor, on the other hand
presented scarcely any target for the Storm
the big waves simply swept over her. and as
long as her seams did not give way and her
matches were kept closed she was secure. a
monitor does not make the show that a big
battle-ship does and she is not nearly as pleas
ant n craft to live aboard but for efficiency in
battle she is reckoned by many expert author-
ties to have no superior and this latest incident
seems to indicate that in seagOng qualities she
can hold her own with any other type Of vessel
No occasion is apparent for calling into Ques
ton the quality Of seamanship displayed by the
officers and crews Of the vessels. The ships
seem to have been we'll managed and the loss
of life and other damage to have been unavoid
able. American seamanshp, courage and en-
durance have never needed apologies or ex-
cuses TO be made for them. At the same time
an occurrence like this strongly emphasizes the
necessity Of keeping the standard of seaman
ship at the very highest point and that can be
done only by rigid discipline and constant train
ing. Shore service Is pleasant; but it would be
a mistake to let II, I'm the case Of an active
officer, be so prolonged as to impair to the
slightest degree familiarity with the needs of
service on the open sea and readiness TO deal
with them. The ships that weathered this
storm. and the men who brought them through
it, are credit TO the Nation. and they have set
a standard Of ability beneath which no ship
nor man should ever he permitted TO fall