The Dickinson press., 1898-07-23
OUR HONOLULU LETTERS.
On Board Valencia, Bound for Manila,
July 6, 1903.

On Board Valencia, Bound for Manila,
July 6, 1893.
To the PRESS and Friends:
There is a vast amount of water be-
tween the place of present writing and
the sand hills we occupied when last
wrote. W. broke camp at Camp Merritt
at 9 a. m. on the 27th of June and at IL m.
took up our march in heavy marching
order for the wharf, where our boat, the
Valencia, lay at pier u, which place we
reached at 1890 p. m, with the boys rath-
e r'warm, as it was about the only warm
day we had while in Frisco.
Our boat not being ready we we're
compelled to wait until Tuesday ven
ing at4;3o p. m. before leaving. Four of
the boats of this expedition, including
the flag ship Indiana with Gen. Near
thur and staff on boardl Morgan City,
Ohio and City of Para, left Monday at
about 2 p. M; but we expect to beat
them into Honolulu, as they only make
about 8 knots and we have made about
II knots per hour since we left. The
Newport is expected to leave Frisco at
10 a. m, July 20, with Gen. Merritt and
staff. She is a faster boat than ours, and
will, l think, beat us in.
We have not sighted the other boats,
but as we are somewhat south of the
regular course l think we have passed
them. W. had a pretty rough sea the
first "a hours and out of the 63o men on
board l don't think there were over ten
that cared whether the ship sank or
loated. There are a few, your humble
servant among them, that have not got
sobered up yet. But l think if | can get
my feet in the sand for about 20 minutes
will be all right.
W. celebrated the 4th of July, in true
American style. in speaking, singing mu-
sic, %salutes, ETC., and in the evening the
ships officers sent up several rockets and
signal lights for fire works. We also
had egg nog served at breakfast, cham
payne at supper, and punch at 8 p. m.
all furnished by the ships officers, who
have done all in their power to make the
trip a pleasant one for US. The dining
room was gaily decorated, with the we'll
known motto. occupying a prominent
nent place; Remember the Maine, To
H with SPAIN" The Purser for the
ship writes for the San Francisco Exam
liner and he wants a few pictures of the
celebration to send with his article for
that paper. l will have a copy sent to you
and you can get a better idea of our trip
than l can give you as l am a very poor
correspondent.
We sighted the first sail last evening
that we have seen on the trip and it
caused considerable excitement as 8days
is quite a long time for a lot of land Tub.
bers to go without seeing anything but
water. We will reach Honolulu about
10 o'clock tonight. l don't know whether
we will be able to land before morning
or not, but will surely land if we can
The boys are standing the trip like vet.
Grams, only two or three of them sick and
those not serious. Ours is the only reg.
iment l think that was at Camp Merit
that did not have a deathin camp during
their stay there or before they came
We have as good a lot of men as there
are to be had and if they get the oppor'
tunity they will give a good account o.
themselves or die in the attempt. The
only thing they kick about is when theil
rations come a little short. They have
all got good appetites and when they rur
short of food they holler good and loud
The non-commissioned officers hold
court martial every night and many il
the offender that comes to grief. Among
the ones who have been tried are A. w
Link and Sergeant Whitaker, their of
Tense being the wearing of white collars
They were tried, found guilty, the collar
confscated and thrown overheard, AMI
the guilty ones bent over the capstan ant
given five stripes with a board. w
will probably be in Honolulu about fv'
or six days as the boats will all have t
take on coal there and as there is onl,
!, one coaling dock they will have to Goa
one at a time. When we left Frisco !
was thought we would have a hot race t
reach Manila before the Spanish fee
and in consequence we are somewha
anxious as we will have no news regard
ing the opposing fleet and it is a CUES
with III as to whether we will run int
Manila or into the Spanish fleet.
July 6, 2 p. m. Land Ho!" That is tn
cry that has just turned u ship into
big ant hill; the boys are filling the rig
ging or any place Ithey can get to get
good glimpse of terra 6rma once more
and l tell you it is a glad sight to a ma
who has been out of sight of it for eigt
long days. W. are still about sixty mile
from it but that does not matter SO niue
: as long as we can see it and know tia
= we are gradually. getting nearer.
July 7. We reached Honolulu thi
. morning at a. M, and were met at tn
idock with a big reception. This is tn
most beautiful place l ever saw, a pr
: feet garden of Eden. The people her
Z are wild for annexation; in fact if 20
were to see the number of our flags thu
are floating on buildings and to hea
! people talk, you would think you were i
S the United States. We expected to b
. here for two or three days and imagin
our great disappointment when we wer
! ordered on board to be ready to sail Z
= 4 p. m. this afternoon.
The Hawaiian government has passe
a resolution t receive all mail the so
diera have IN sond home and .t,~o