Arizona republican., 1898-06-13
MATING THE MONTEREY.
Story of the Way tn Which inc
 HOnitOr Was ChriStened.

Inc story or the naming or the big
 coast defense monitor Monterey, that
 is on guard now at San Francisco, has
 never been told in print. When prep
 arations for the launching were being
 made at San Francisco Irving M. Scott, general manager of the Union Iron
 works, was at Washington and a num-
 Der of Californians wired him to use
 his influence with Benjamin F. Tracy then secretary of the navy, to have the ship named for some California town, and Scott hit upon Monterey as a name that appealed to him as appropriate and the request was accordingly pre- ferred
 ''I'll see what I can do,s said the amiable secretary, and, ringing bell, he summoned the head of the depart
 ment having the matter in charge When the matter was explained the
 chief of bureau replied:
 But you know, MT. Secretary, the
 rules require that ships of that class shall be named in honor of some naval
 battle in which the Americans have participated. So far as I know there
 has never been battle of Monterey" This rule has been changed since, but Mir. Scott, seeing the corner he
 was in as the matter stood, retorted promptly:
 "Yes, it is true that there has never been a battle of Monterey, but let me tell you story. In 1S46, when we were having our little unpleasantness with Mexico, an American man-Of-war was lying in the harbor of Mazatlan. Near him lay an Englishman who had an uncomfortable, way of keeping her guns pointed in the direction of the American. Now, that Yankee skipper. who was typical of his class, got it into his head to raise his flag at Mon terey, Cal, which was the capital of that territory, and it so happened that the Englishman got the same notion just about the same time. The Yan- kee suspected something of the kind, and made up his mind not to be out witted.
 "Late that afternoon he sent lot of his men ashore and when the boats returned to the ship without them the
 Britisher made up his mind that they would not be back until the following day. Satisfied with his conclusions, he sat down to wait. But the Yankee was a hustler, as Yankee sailors al- ways are. The night was as dark as a stack of black cats, and along about 10 o'clock the American boats, with muffied oars, rowed the crew back to the ship, and in the inky darkness
 that Yankee skipper slipped his cables and warped his ship out of the harbor without the fact even being suspected
 by the Englishman. When day broke he was fifty miles up the coast, scud- ding along before ten-knot breeze.
 "The other fellow saw he had been out-generaled, but he made an effort to rectify his blunder. He had smart crew and a fast ship. There was no reason. he figured, why he might not oyertake his rival and beat him into Monterey. He tried it and came very nearly making success of it. He sail
 ed into Monterey harbor just two hours behind the American and drop lped his anchor in time to see the stars land stripes rise to the head of the flagstaff in the plaza and flutter to the breeze. Monterey and California were
 ours''
 | "Don't say another word, Scott, :"
 said Secretary Tracy. That ship will 1 be the Monterey"
 And Monterey she is.-Chicago Chronicle.