The times., 1898-06-19
THE vEsUvIUs INDICATED.
Her Valuable and Novel Work al
Gucnfanamo.
(From the Ne% York Sun.

(From the SeS York Sum-
There was intense interest among mill
tary and shipping men yesterday in the
performances of the pneumatic gun or
so-caIled dynamite cruiser Vesuvius fir
ing shells filed with gun cotton at the
cliffs and forts at the entrance to San
tiago harbor. To those who have been
familiar with some of the workings of
the Navy Department in recent years 1t
has been known that the Yesuvius was
on what has been called the ''black list"
Those naval officers who are opposed to
innovation disliked her from the start.
They are the kind of men VINO. at the
time of the civil war, opposed the moni-
tors and torpedoes, and they made no
secret OF their belief, when the Vesuvius
appeared. that firing of gun cotton or dy-
Mantle was something that should be lert
to the Army.
Up to the time of this weeks perform
ance of the Vesuvius there were very
few people in this country who had ever
seen her show what she could really do.
Therefore il was the general opinion that
she was impraeticable in her design and
in her work Before this week she had
never thrown high explosive cartridges
that had gone off, except on one occas-
ion That was when she had her final
test in the Delaware River in 1889, before
being accepted by the Government. Then
she had to throw a cartridge from each
one OF her guns a distance of a mile.
These cartridges had to be exploded. one
on impact one FIVE seconds after impact
and the third ten seconds after impact.
The trial took place few miles below
Chester 1t was noticeable when shoot
ing began that every man on the boat
except those whose duty required them
to remain on the VeSuvius scrambled on
a tugboat and went eff ffabout a mile from
the little cruiser. so as to be safe in case
anything serious should happen. The men
who remained on board to fire the guns
couldn't have been more serious or de-
termined in their work if they were 60
ing into action with a battleship.
After the Vesuvius had thrown two or
three dummy projectiles. the signal was
given that she would throw one filed
with gun cotton. She gave a hollow
cough with one of her guns. some vapor
darted out of the muzzle, and. about a
quarter of a mile away and 300 feet in
the air, the spectators saw the long pro-
jectie flying through space like an ar
row. 1t struck the water, and, with a
flash of fire, exploded on the surface
There was great disturbance
The second projectile struck the water
and reached the bottom before 1t explod-
ed. 1t threw the water and mud of the
river bed up TO distance of 200 feet.
The third one sank far down in the
mud of the river, and when it exploded
1t lifted a mass of mud and water fully
800 feet in the air, The mud seemed to
poke itself up through the water after
the water had reached its height, and
then, gathering itself into balls. the mud
came down again like a lot of black COM
cts with muddy fringing tails of water
trailing behind. 1t was a most pictur-
esque sight and, without exception,
every man who was there that day was
so impressed by the. power. of the little
ship that he has remained her friend ever
since There was not more than twenty
men present, and only one of them was