The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-05-04

electric lights would be deemed dan
gerous, so that the magazine men
would have to gropc for it and take
Out their nervous curiosity as to what
might be happening to their ship or
fleet in wondering.
The officer would have no advantage
whatever over the enlisted man in the
matter Of greater safety in modern
naval engagement. The sword-carry
ing men with the rangc-fnders were
Topped off with complete impartiality
in the Yalu fight. An officer in COM
mand of gun has even bit the worst
of the chance in comparison with the
men handling the gun, for in order to
get line on the enemy he must ne
cessarily expose himself to the enc
my's scientific rapid-6re play, while
the gunners have the protection Of the
gun shields and barbettes. Even the
commanding officer is no better as a
war risk than the humblest mess at
tendant in a fight. His station on
modern ships will generally be in his
ships coming tower, and, we'll as
coming towers on ships of war OF to-
day are protected, eminent naval au-
thor;ties haven't much faith in their
invulnerability. Coming towers are
necessarily in exposed spots = al
most always away forward, beneath
where the bridge ought to be, but ism t
when the ship is cleared for action
and gunners Of the enemy are natural
ly expected to do what they can to-
ward sending the commanding officer
Of an antagonistic ship into the next
world before his time.
The man in the bunkers, viz. the
humble coal passer, is likely to have a
dismal, unsatisfactory timeof it dur
ing the progress OF fight. He sees
absolutely nothing, but what he does
not see is more than atoned for by
what he hears. Any man who has
ever listened to the intonation of great
guns during target practice from the
shelter of half empty coal bunker is
|
likely to remember the twenty times
amplifed laundering that threatens
to rip his ear drums in twain. Theo-
retically, the coal passer is supposed
to shovel buckets full Of coal and
trundle them along the trolleys in the
mellow light Of many 16-candle incan-
descent lights, and as matter of fact
all modern ships coal bunkers are
lighted. But the writer, who has
crawled through the bunkers of many
modern man-of-war. American and
foreign, has found that standing elec-
trio bunker lamps rarely illuminate.
The glass around the wires is smashed
in the process of coaling ship, and, Of
course the lamps do not work. Naval
constructors are still trying to find
some scheme to illuminate bunkers.
The coal passer; standiug his watch in
the bunker of ship in action, then,
has the additional gloom of darkness
to fight, unless he violates rigid reg
ulation by carrying an open light into
his bunker. He does not know when
an piercing shell is going to
pass directly through the bunker he is
working in, and altogether his station
in fight is not desirable one. Nor
has the fireman or the water tender a
very cheerful station. Both Of these
members of the black gang, Of course,
are in the boiler rooms, and they have
perpetually before them the possibility
of great shell ripping its way through
boiler, thus insuring them death
by scalding. The oileris another man
Of the black gang who has title to
feel nervous when his ship is fighting
for he is always more or less tangled
up in the machinery, apparently en-
deavoring to sec how near he can ap-
proach death without actually compass
sing his own, and in the event of a
shot dropping through the deck and
among the intertwisted masses of ma
chinery, he is liable to be torn to
pieces by the same, racing Wild as
the engineers call it, even if he is not
done for by the explosion.
"The soft spot, as an old gunner 5
mate put it, SIS about five fathoms be-
meath her, in diving suit.
Curiosities OF the Bible.