The record-union., 1898-09-12
ON The BATTTESHlPS. |.
THE OREGON ATTRACTS THE
CROWDS In NEW YORK.
Visit of a "Record-Union"C Corre-
spondent and What He
Saw on Board.
Especial Correspondence Record-union

/ Saw on Board.
Especial Correspondence Record Union.)
NEW YORK, Sept. 6.-"That old
hulk overe there is. the Nictheroy, or
| rather the Buffalo. as they call her
now, and the Government sunk some
dollars in her all right" The speaker
was a bright-faced, loquacious young
blue jacket, who was industriously en-
gagged in kicking, the polish off Of his
shoe heel against the low steel para
pet that encircles the upper fighting
top of the Oregon's battle mast His
audience were half a dozen civilians
who were dividing their attention be-
tween the conversation and their eff
forts to look calm and generally used
to it, in their rather crowded quar-
teTs seventy odd feet above the battle
ships deck. His remarks concerning
the Buffalo seemed to the civilians to
be borne out by appearances, which
would indicate that our Brazilian pur-
chase was a retired tramp"
when we picked her up down at
Rio we We're told that she could make
nineteen knots, but we soon found that
she had difficulty in making twelve
continued the sailor, whereat some
questions were fired at him concern
ing the trip around the Horn, and he
with rare good nature, readily veered
around on that tack.
1t was Sunday at the navy yard
and a crowd variously estimated at
from 10000 to 25,000 patriotic Amer
leans had taken advantage of the op-
portunity to visit the battle-sc
ships of SIMPSONS fleet
The Oregon, Iowa, New York. and
half a dozen torpedo boats, with some
auxiliary gunboats, constituted the at
traction, and what would the least en-
terprising theatrical manager have paid
for one half so strong? The vessel
upon which the crowd swarmed thick
est was the Oregon, though the Iowa
was a close second. The New York
was the least accessible, and the civil
ians upon her decks therefore were
fewest
On the two former ships sailors as
escorts were at a premium, and when
one was secured it wasn't long before
n his train became very numerous, and
whenever he stopped to explain the
mechanism of a gun or a searchlight
more people attached themselves there
to, until finally Jackie" must have
been at his wits end to devise some
method Of obtaining relief However
they all appeared to be good natured
about 1T, and after trailing around in
the wake of one for, half an hour or
more you can't help concluding that
J., the art of fighting isn't the only ac-
complishment he has learned They
will tell everything they know about
the mechanism and history of their
ship, and in occasional instances just
a little more, too, for which short
!. coming, however. they cannot always
be blamed. The Sun relates an in
cident apropos Of this which is GER
tainly worth repeating
Among the crowd aboard the New
York on one Of the days when she was
receiving visitors off Tompkinsville was
!, bevy of enthusiastic young ladies' en-
gagged in an animated, discussion. One
OF them ventured to- address a junior
officer who happened by "Oh, sir,
won't you tell US something about your
ship? My friend says. that the New
York is converted something, and I
say that it is an auxiliary. Now. am
I not correct?''
The officer, whe. he had recovered
from the effects of the shock. replied
that her friend was correct, and that
the vessel was "a converted barge,
now a. dispatch boat, whereat the
young woman appeared very much dis
appointed. She then asked if the pol
Il ished great guns in the turrets were
the ones they used in battle "Oh, no,
madam" said the officer. THAT is
what is known as ballast: the guns
are always kept in the cellar to prevent
their becoming overheated4" It then
became the turn Of the fair inter-
rogators to be surprised, and it is only
just to add that they departed looking
somewhat suspicious.
l heard number of questions. asked
Of this character, and while none were
quite so peculiar as those just referred
to, they were enough to test the pa
tience Of anybody but an American
blue jacket. I heard one young gen.
tleman ask a sailor on the Winslow
II he thought there was much fun in
doing blockade duty off the coast Of
Cuba. 1t is needless to say that the
reply was more emphatic than polite
Ever since the ships have come home
the navy yard officials have been
deluged with requests for passes. It
takes almost the entire time of the
| clerical force to attend to these re-
quests, and the regular routine work
is being frightfully neglected as a con-
sequence. It was soon realized that
the immense swarm of visitors on the
ships seriously interfered with the work
of repair and now all are excluded, to
the intense disgust of thousands of
pass-holders.
On the Oregon at about in the
afternoon, when the writer left her to
| visit the torpedo boats across the
ferry, there was a constant stream of
people passing UP one gang plank and
down another. On board they
swarmed on every available
| inch Of space Men, women
| and children crowded and jostled
each other in the turrets and on top
| Of them, in the officers quarters and
on the berth deck forward, in the mess
| room and in the sick bay-in fact,
| everywhere but the magazines and the
| galleys the people had penetrated to.
| BY the coming tower and by the bat
| tie mast they We're lined up awaiting
| their turn to enter.
The young sailor who acted as my
| guide was Captain Of one of the star
board six-pounders during the Santiago
| fight, and he gave glowing descrip-
| ton of the battle. He was very modest
| about the part he took in the affair.
4 hax a I,o oiv m