The San Francisco call., 1898-07-10

"HE largest number of United
 States troops that ever went
 down to the sea in ships to in-
 -4 Jade foreign cou-try were those
 that formed the Fifth Army Corps when it sailed for Santiago The thought of sixteen thousand men on thlrty-one troop ships and their escort or fourteen warships suggests the Spanish Armada.
 1t brings up a picture of a great f7o- tlila, grim, sinister and menacing. lighting it's way through the waves on us errand or vengeance and conquest. But, as matter of fact, the expedi- tlon bore most distinct air of the com monplace. It moved through a suc- cesslon of sparkling, sunlit days. over sea as smooth as lake, undisturbed oy opanlsh cruisers or by shells from spanish forts. AS far as the eve could See 1t had the ocean entirely to itself
 Scattered over distance of seven niles the black passenger steamers and the mouse colored warships steamed in three uneven columns They suggest ed a cluster of excursion steamers yachts and tugs as one sees them com. Ing pack from Sandy Hook after an international yacht race. What the landing may be like we cannot fore see, but the voyage was uneventful ana the departure from Tampa Bay, when It came after many weary post ponements and delays, was neither pie turesque nor moving. The band did not play The Girl I Left Behind Me l" nor did crowds of weeping women cling to the bulkheads and wave their damn handkerchiefs; the men who were po- Ing to die for their country did not swarm In the rigging and cheer the last sight Of land. They had done that on the morning of June 8, and had been ingloriously lowed back to the dock; they had done it again on the morning of June 10, and had immadi. aleiy dropped anchor a few hundred yards or shore. So they were suspi- clous and wary, and when the head quarters ship, the Seguranca. from Whlch this is written, left the dock three colored women and a pathetic group of perspiring stevedores and three soldiers represented the ponuIar interest in her departure.
 The troop ships were the best nas- senger steamers the Government couId buy. They were fitted up with nine cots and a small proportion of stalls for the horses, and the first-class cabins were turned over to the officers Oh some or them the men swarmed over every part of the ship, on others the officers held the bridge to them serves, on the majority the quarterdeck was also reserved for them. There were other differences; the food on some of the snlps was very bad; on most of them IL was the regular army rations served to the men cold, with hot cof- fee. On few of the ships the food served to the officers was provided with patriotic feeling, free by the own. CTS or the line to which the transports belonged; on our ship it was charged TOT at a moderate rate per day. but if was exceedingly bad.
 IL was for every one a most tedious experience. For those who were not able to withstand the slight motion of the sea It was week of sickness. with out the comforts or seclusion that q sick man generally obtains The haa+ below decks varied from 102 deprees to Ilo Most of the men slept on the decks at the imminent risk of rolling over board; those who were quartered heIou, tossed and groaned during the night and made up for lost time by sleenin Q all day. pi-i 5
 Probably half of the men forming tba expedition had never been at sea be- lore. They probably will desire never to go again, but will say from the dentb or their experience that the dangers of the deep are vastly exaggerated. They VIII not wish to go again, because their nrst eXperlence was more full of dis comfort than any other trip will be that they are likely to take; on the other hand, they may sail the seas many times before they find it as smooth, ar tne ram as lnfrequent, the sun as beau- tl1uI, or the heavens as magnificent.
 We travelled at the rate of seven miles an hour, with long pauses for thought and consultation. Sonatiroas we moved at the rate of four miles an hour, and frequently we did not move at all -io
 The warships treated us With the most punctillous courtesy and conceal Cd contempt: And we certainly de- served 1t. We could not keen in line and we lost ourselves and each other and the gunboat and torpedo boat te were kept busy rounding us up and giving us sharp, precise orders in pass ing, through a mega phone, to which either nobody made any reply, or every one did, The gunboats were like swift keen-eyed. intelligent collies rounding up herd of bungling sheep. They looked so workmanlike and clean, and the men were so smart in their white duck, that the soldiers cheered them all along the line as they dashed up and down 1t, waving their wigwags franti- cally.
 The life on bo'rd the headquarters