The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-04-12
MEMORIES OF TIE CIVIL WAR,
Some Stirring Incidents OF an Expe-
dition Down the Coast.


dition Down the Coast.
"The first time ever beard guns fired
In earnest" said the old soldier, was In
q storm at sea- from troops ON a trans
port that was founderipg. There were
lot of troops, twenty thousand or so on
vessels, bound on an expedition down the
coast. Besides the transports there were
lot of naval vessels Of all sorts. And
then three were come vessels In tow. AL.
together, 1t was feet Of City vessels or
more. We went along down the coast
slow and easy, so as to keep togsthsr--no
use of getting there piecemeai, because
nothing could be done till all wers thore
land I'D as to accommodate the slower
boats and those that were towing
others.
''We had one day of bad weather that
finally worked up into a storm. There
was high sea all day, and the ship we
had In tow charged over 1t at great
rate. Sometimes when the steamers
nose was In n valley. and her stern In
che air, looking astern from her after
deck you couldn't see the lower masts of
the ship We we're towing. All you coull
see was her topmasts and to'aallant
masts. and upper yards. The ship was
out Of sight Ia the valley. Next minute
the steamers bow would be In the air
and her stern buried, and then looking
at the ship, as she rose pp on a great
wave. behind us. you could see her fore.
foot. A minute later the steamers stern
would be In the AIR again, and the ship
would be sliding down the face of the
wave into the valley. 1t seemed as
though it WAS about ths limit of towing,
and almost wondered they didn't cut
her loose
As this day went on TIE weather got
worse and night shut in early. with the
sky overcast and the wind blowing q
gale, the sea rougher than ever, ana the
vessels all around US rolling and tossing
We had heard once or twice. just refore
dars. whom this blasts of wind had let up
little. sounds of firing TO windward.
and we knew there must Re vessel there
In distress. After nightfail we could see
In the distance the flash of the guns; the
volley firing Of the men apparently drawn
up In line on deck. 1t wasn't our place
to help them. there were many vessels
nearer. Ihev had all the help 1t was
possible to give them. We learned later
that nearly all on the vessel were saved.
There were ABOUT twenty five lost.
when We came on deck on our ship
the next morning we saw something e
that interested US very much; the upper
part Of the altar ohimney--she steamer
had two smokestacks, ranging fore and
aft had been carried away completeiy,
and it lay on the deck over on the port
side Of the ship. On the starboard side.
aft, boat hanging on davits had been
smashed, and the steamers rail cut down
to the deck. This damage had been
done by the ship In tow. Her jibboom
had poked of tho upper sections of the
smokestack and her cutwater had
smashed tho boat and cut down the rail.
According 10 the story aboard. We had
occasion In the night to back. The story
was that there we're breakers ahead.
When we went astern the ship kept com-
Ing, and came aboard of us on the star
board quarter. They out her loose Ms
soon rs they could, and the men on the
ship made sell on her. Sha hadn't done
us very much dsmage--I have sorne-
times wondered what would have hap
pened II she had struck us little harder
blow.
I'VE went on easily enough with one
long and one short chimney. We we're
going slow and We didn't need the
uraught that we lost through the QUITTING
down of one OF thom. We didn't pick
the snip Up again. but we saw her a lew
days later. at our port OF destination,
trim and all right. IL hadn't disturbed
have no doubt that che liked IL much
better to be permitted TO make her own
way. The sun.