The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-08-05
JERSEY TARS At ANCHOR
The Portsmouth in Della
ware Bay OFF
LeWes.
ALL WE'LL AND WORKING HARD
Neptune Visits the Ship and the
aJonah" Who Caused the
Calm Punished.
rspecial to ..The Jersey city News"

DELAWARE BREAKWATER, Aug. 8
1s97.-The U. s. S. Portsmouth, with the
Battalion of the East of the New Jersey
Naval Reserves, lies at anchor in this
harbor, after being five days and fouI
nights at sea out of sight of land.
Anchor was weighed early Friday morn
ing off Fishers Island, and by ten O'Clock
the Portsmouth was under easy sail,
making her way out of Fishers Island
Sound into the broad Atlantic. The wind
forced her to cross Block Island Sound
and pass out etwee Montauk Point and
Block Island. The old sloop of war set
tied over on her side and went tearing
through the water at the rate which
made her at one time the fastest sail
ing vessel in the United States Navy.
As the heavy swell appeared and the
ship rose on the crest and made her
oheisance to Father Neptune, several of
New Jerseys tars took a deep interest in
the depths of the sea as viewed from the
lee rail. Still, the number of cases of
seasickness was remarkably small. The
novelty of sailing the ocean green, as 1t
turned out to be. was thoroughly appre-
ciated by those of the reserves who did
not fall victims to the habit of embracing
the lee rail.
Eighty miles were reeled off on Fri
day. but the wind blew the Portsmouth
from her course, and it was a dead beat
to windward. Then the course began to
slacken, and on Saturday fifty-six miles
were logged. Sunday the wind held about
the same. and fifty miles were made. On
Monday, however, it became almost a
dead calm. and only-thirty-five miles
were placed to the credit of the navy's
old racer.
Through Monday night the wind was
ftful and yesterday at sunrise died out
entirely. 1t was most ~aggravating to the
reserves, Inasmuch as observations TAX
en- by Navigator Peters showed that the
Portsmouth was headed directly for the
channel etwee Five Fathom Lightship
and the Northeast End Lightship. Not
a breath of air stirred, and the spar deck
where the sun struck, was SO hot that it
almost burned through the soles of the
| mems shoes. The sea was as smooth as
a country mill pond, and the young sai-
Iors who had never been at sea could
| scarcely realize that this was the wild,
| stormy Atlantic of which they had read.
Every experiment known to old tars for
whistling up a win was resorted to by
| the reserves, and the officers ordered the
royals, which had lain in the sail locker
ever since they came from the Navy
Yard, broken out and set. But all this
was in vain, and the men finally became
convinced that there was a Jonah on
board.
Suspicion fell upon Kemble, of the engi-
neer division, and he was tried by a
| court-martial on the charge. Lieutenant
| Harvey presided and chief Engineer Hart
defended the member of his division.
chief Boatswain's Mate Vreeland prose-
| cuted the prisoner, and the trial created
| much amusement. notwithstanding the
entire lack of evidence, Kemble was con-
victed and condemned to crawl through
the wine sail.
He had no sooner served his sentence
to ruffle and a light draught of cool salt
air struck the faces of those on deck.
| The breeze rapidly increased, until just
after the noon mess it became a fair
wind, and once more the Portsmouth was
flying through the water. About three
o'clock she passed Five Fathom Shoa1
and was saluted by the lightship. Two
Cape May lighthouses were sighted.
The time of the Reserves did not drag,
Notwithstanding the calm. Gun drills,
| practice with the single sticks, and the
general routine of a man-of-war kept the
men busy from reveille to taps. The off
watch found plenty with which to amuse
themselves.
The "Cathead'' society has a rival now
in the "Admirals," whose functions are
elaborate. Its membership is confined to
the third division. The officers are Lord
High Admiral, r. S. Scott, Jr.; Vice-High
Admiral, A. T. Hart: Rear High Admiral,
w. D. Dupont; Commodore, "Chappy"
| Kirby; Messenger, e. Suffer; Captain Of
| Marines, Officer Ransom.
On Monday afternoon the Portsmouth
| received a visit from Father Neptune.
Although the vessel was no where near
the equator, Neptune said that it was
only an imaginary line anyhow, and, as
he was anxious to see New Jerseys re-
| serves. whose fame had penetrated ever
the depths he inhabited, he con-
| cluded to imagine that it was in that vi
| cinity and come aboard.
The officer of the deck, Mr.. Craven, re-
| ceived the stOid Boy, and gave him the
| freedom of the ship. In the mean time
a sail a been rugged IN the f~orecas-
| tie, held up at the corners and filled
with water.
Neptune addressed the ships company
and announced that he had come to
look over the crew and find If there
were any who had d~isregarded his rules.
The secretary stepped up and said that
Seaman Gardner was a transgressor
Gardner was dragged up by the sstaff"
and questioned. His answers not being
satisfactory, he was shaved by the
barber and given a bath Other VIC
| Tins were Seamen Fisher, Mills, Bogart,
MacCracken Kerby and Robinson.
Each initiate waited for his successor,
and the last men soused "for fair" After
disposing Of these Father Neptune bade
the crowd goodbye until next year and
returned over the bows.
Chief Engineer Hart, as Neptune, was
a sight to behold. He was decked out
with MANILA rope "Lambrekin" his
Paddy Gaskin's rubber boots, and a har-
pooh. Hts face was made UP by Gus
| Herman, the always ready" Chief. Mate
Vreeland was the secretary, Water Ten
| der Bennett the doctor, Boatswain's Mate
Bennett the barber, and the staff was
made up of Seamen Kemble, Harting,
| Geayer, Nelliger, Foster and Burke.
On Monday night there were tugs-of-
war between the divisions and the Jersey
I City division defeated all corners. The
contest wound up with a pull between
/ the colored cooks and walters on board.
LIT was a most comical spectacle. The
| anchor Of the cooks was a corpulent.
dignified man Of over two hundred
pounds, and when the walters pulled the
cooks over the line the manner in which
he was hauled around the deck was
While the Portsmouth was becalmed
/ several tugs from the -reakwat hailed
her and solicited the JOB Ct towing her IN,
! started out to sail the vessel and they
were going to bring her In themselves
IF 1t took them all summer.
Tuesday afternoon there was an ex
cellent fire drill. About two O'clock the
Arms running down the deck as fast as
I he could. He reported to Commander