Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-03-26
AFTER THE LAUNCH.
Items of Interest About the Grentxst Event
of the Naval Age. -.


Items of Interest About the Grent.st Event
." 49,. of the Naval Age. -..N
The Union Signal. a temperance -
San, publishes ulle following regard.
the christening Of ships With water
More uls,n usual interest cent, ns
about battls'hi ps+tut present. The words
lucky AND ulli'ucky serve as raiuyLng
cries for those who believe in 's.oodoos,
or Mho chunk 1T necessary to panuer to
the current superstltiors of ,a.t,rs We
are told THAT Mrs. Wlnsiow, IN defe-
renee tO the Wishes or her husband,
Lieutenant Winslow, u S. N, Will
break q bottle of Wine across the bow
OF the kearsarge as 1T leaves the ways.
and that Miss Bradley, the dIughlsr
of Governor Bradley, of Kentucky. is
Il kelly to be required to use champagne
IN christening tine Kentucky, i'll spite
OF frequent announcements that she
would use sprung water. Cha nlpagne
is alleged to he necessary because. II
the fears entertained 10y naval officers
and jack tars THAT a vesSel christen4d
with water Will be a Iiloodoo.'
ILtlwul,d T.. Lincoln, late of the U. S.
Navy, and past csuptai1l OF the naval
veteran associa tiorr or Illinois. has kind
" furnished us Hhe oi1ic'ia'l record of
{, number of United States steamships
in the matter of christie ming.
THE Cons ttuuc;pn, Old lronsides.'
1.-THE pet ship OF the navy in the 1872 war
and thereafter, celebrated In song ana
story and known and loved 10y every
scihootboy, was chris tened With water
taken from q spring ON Cops Hill, Where
the battle of Bunker Hin was foush,.
and bottle of salt water. broken over
her tigureh=;aM us she LETT the Ways.
The United States ship Hacii,rd,
bui.t in the Cha rlesss W-n navy :ard
and launched November %, 1855 was
IN. -iS,.. a in
across its ngurehead b,ttle OF Comes
tiouul river water and by another
young fady who broke a bottle of Hart
ford spring wafer. and by THE d.e Ast-
,,":al Pres. then = Lieutenant Mn MO
co.scluded the ceremony with 4 like
lua.:itv OF ocean brine. No ship en-
cept the Constructors has had anything
like the record Of the Hartford. SIZE
left the CharcstoNn navy yard III lso3
consigned 30 the East India squadron,
commanded by Commodore G. IL. Strhb-
hing, and returned 10 THE United States
December TO- 1861.
She. was commissioned Januslr-yI IL,
1862, at Philadelphia, Pa. as the nag
ship OF Commodore David Glascoe Far
rogut, of the West Gulf squadron She
was in thu battles, as is We'll known, be-
:ow New Orleans, Apr.l "a, 1862. and IN
all of the enga gements above New Or
leans and was hit ova: 240 times by
s:leh! from the Confederate works. She
also did noble work at Galveston and
Mobile Bays. 1t was to Fer mast that
most of the fight at Mobile By that he
might clearly observe and dir CT the
movements OF MS fleet. She now lies
at Mare Island navy yard, San Fran
cisco. Cal. being pat in first class or
der for future service. The Hartford
has a rs cord second to no vesse! i'm the
world as a lucky ship. She never Fad
an accident, or any i'll Nu'- k, and every
cid sailor IS proud of her. and gives
unstinted praise for her services-and
yet she was christenl with nothing
stronger than water. a"
In contrast With these two 'wa:er'
ships, lucky, renowned III history, and
We'll beloved, n ad tie 5c+ I'd OF the h-l-
lowing ilt-starred wine Strips. The
President, large gun exploded and
killed several visitors. govetsi1nent Of
flcials. on thu Potomac river. The Mis-
in the CIVIL war. The Huron, lost off
cape Hatteras, over one 'huqldre-d lives
lost. The O4.nado. run into by an Eng
hsh vessel in Bombay harbor, OVER one
hundred officers and men lost. The New
lIoneftes. destroyed by a torpedo in
Charleston haraor. witt, Lar ge loss of
life. The Tecums= h, lost in Mobile Bay,
With every one on beard. The Nipsic.
the Eandalia and Trenton. all lost in a
hurricane near the Samoan Islands. Pa
GttiS N'Se-' me 1eAdS, ran aS!tHHu.
was sunk, had many mishaps and is
known us the hoodoo Of tal~ navy. The
Name the pride ofe the navy was
BLOWN up in THE harDor OF Havana
Cuba. and near,y three hundred men
lest"
AS suddenly as tG,ey came the great
tarung OF visitors to THE it,lnnching de-
parted Thursday might and yesteray for
their homes in oil sections of the coun-
try. ."U. '."
There is MO longer amy doubt thar
Newport News entertained fully IS 900
people Thursday. A great many seem
to think iillar, Including the lgurse num-
Der or persons on the river, more tina |
$4,000 strangers saw the ketir,Sil,ge and
Kentucky successfully launched but AN
agree than this mum Der is q fair eSti-
mate of the numerical strength of the
visiting multitude.
Governor Bradley and party left for
Lexington, Ky, yesterday morning.
Among the distinguished people who
left Yesterday was. Mr.. Melville f.
Ingalls, president off the Chesapeake &
OHIO and Big Four RarlMuy systems.
MIR. Ingalls, came down on Wednesday.
Among tine floral presentations made
Thursday was tfat to Miss Helen Lee,
daughter of Gen. and Mrs. Fi'tDhugh
Lee. by Mrs. George w. Nelrns, ON be
half of the Daughters of the Confeder-
acE, THE Confederate Veterans and
Sons and the friends of the distinguish
was expected to attend the launching,
but was detained in 1eicEinlond by I'LL
Mss. of. 44 . lHa
OLIVER BYRON NEXT WEEK