The sun. (Wilmington, Del.) 1897-19??, 1898-05-15
NAVAL sUPERsTITIONs
Hood0Os That Hang Over Certain
Ships and Cannot Be Shaken on.

Ships and Cannot Be Shaken on.
The crews Of modern men-of-war, pri1
cipally mechanics, men trained in the
unromantic din of shops, men who can
work iron and steel to the thousandth
part of an inch should be free from the
senseless superstitions which possessed
the souare-rigged shell. backs who sailed
with Prebe and Paul Jones.
But they are not.
A certain gun, warped and twisted
during the boring process, requiring
double the usual amount Of work to com
plete it, and costing man his job, is re-
garded with disfavor.
The gun is watched and its failings
noted. Predictions are rife that it will
yet be heard from to its discredit. Its
crew, under the ban of the hoodoo, are
conspicuous in the blacklist gang; some
OF them being always up for punish
ment. They are the unfortunates who
'get licked in alteration with de-
pissed landiubbers ashore-and are ironed
for overstaying their leave on their re-
turn.
Transfer the entire crew, and the hoo
doc leaves them, attaching itself to their
unfortunate successors.
The man in charge of a certain donkey
engine is warned to look out for it; sit s
hoodooed.' He inspects it thoroughly;
tries every nut and bolt; it is in perfect
order
Ten minutes later, while warping the
ship to her berth, the hoodoo breaks
down and she rams the pier-wth the
admiral looking on.
The crank pin on the main engine re-
spends to the minhtest tests for n1echan-
ical truth and accuracy; but it is a we'll
known hoodoo. Although flooded with
lubricant, it gets hot, causing a shut
down-while the Honorable Secretary is
Oh a tour of inspection.
1t was turned by a scab during a
strike.
These misliaps do not all occur on one
ship; no ship could withstand such a
load; she could not keep crew.
There are instances of ships that are
pursued by relentless series of mis- -ad-
ventures from the laying Of their keels.
They become exceedingly unpopular.
The ramming OF tugs and ferryboats col
liding with wharves, and discovering
with their keels---not only charted rocks,
but heretofore unknown submarine OBJ
structons by these unfortumatcs, can be
attributed to no reasonable cause. Our
naval officers are the equals of any aflOat;
they are not to blame; beside, it is to the
ship that the hoodoo attaches. The bat
bleshi p Texas is case in point. A fine
ttl hnr
name is continually appearing in print
associated with accidents so apparently
ridiculous that We're they penetrabe,
some one should have been cashiered.
The torpedo boat Somers, recently pur-
chased abroad, will hardly arrive here,
except as freight Is any man so skep-
teal OF superstition that he would viii
lingy serve in her when she does ar
rive?
The leve-neaded man, who has never
been cooped within the narrow confines
OF a ship for months, who has not lain
awake night after night, vainly cudgel-
ling brain crammed to bursting with
technical knowledge for a remedy for
these things, will sneer at the silly ST.
perstition, and hint at rascalIy contract
ors and venal Government officials.
How about the Maine?
She was built by the Government.
The naval board were on their mettle in
competition with these same willy con-
tractors. But this splendid ship, the
pride OF our navy, was-unlucky.
In August, 1896, she fouled her anchor
in Key West. and bent the plates of her
port keel. Was that n prcventable acct
dent? Evidently not, or it would rot
| have occurred.
The following February, while at tar
get practice, a one-pound shell exploded
injuring three Of her crew; yet there is
no one thing which receives more atten
ton on board nan-of-w war than the care
Of the ammunition.
1t is not customary to explode shells
among the crew.
In July, '97, to avoid rammng {
crowded excursion boat, Captain Sigsbt,
ran her into an East River pier. cutting
a barge loaded with railroad cars nearly
in two.
She was known as an unlucky ship,an,
this very knowledge contributed to the
uneasiness of her crew in Havana. She
WIS Oh uellcttc mission, ana, llhNSl
another ship might have been all right
the unexpected was liable to happen tt
the unlucky Maine at any moment.
She capped the max Of her unIuckl
career by furnishing an object lesson t'
the world Of the facility with whcI
these great steel fighting machines cal
be destroyed.
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