The evening times., 1898-05-27
TIE OREGoNs CRUISE.
Neptune Comes en- Board as sh
CrOsses the Equator.

and fight.
The longest voyage ever made by a bat
tleship is one record of the Oregon. COM
pleted yesterday morning..
A continuous run, without a single stop
of $500 knots, ,he distance between San
Francisco and Caliao is another. never
equaled by any other battleship. the
nearest approach being the run of a
British flagship from England to China.
a distance Of 1900 miles. a few years ago.
Covering a distance of 2.4si knots at an
average speed of thirteen kno.s is still
another uneQualed record.
A run OF 155 knots in ten hours Is an
other still hitherto unparalleled.
With Spanish ships of war securing the
seas to destroy her, as a pack Of hounds
would follow the trail of hare, the Or
egon has eluded all pursuers and would
be intercepters. and arrived safey In a
home port. She has not even sighted a
Spanish flag.
She has been in neutral ports where the
ships of the enemy had preceded her by
only two days. In the night she has
steamed noiselessIy with darkened port
holes through nodding lights that indi-
Gated the presence of hostile fleets. unde-
tected, yet ever ready to give battle II
cornered.
witted and now lies pocketed in one of its
own ports with enough American ships to
send its vessels to join the Spanish squa-
dron at the bottom of Manila Bay wait
ing for 1t to show its head.
Capt. Charles E. Clark, as proud of his
command as any officer who ever trod
the decks of an American man-of-war.
left Puget Sound on March with the un-
derstanding that he was to use his judg-
t,rI st.A Col, .,
the other side of the continent and not
be hampered with any directions from
the seat of Government.
Only one order was given to him after
he started. and that reached him at Ba-
hia after war had been declared. advising
him of the presence of the enemy In
neighboring waters and commanding him
not to risk an engagement with supe-
rior force. II it could be avoided. Capt.
CLARK followed his own judgment and es-
capped The enemy sight.
The Oregon left Bremerton, Puget
Sound. where she had been in dry dock,
on March &. and arrived in San Francisco
on March 9. There she coaled. and left
on the morning Of March 10 for run OF
I.00C miles to Callao. reaching the latter
port on April 4.
From San Francisco to Cailao the run
WAS easy-seventy-five revolutions of the
propeller every minute. giving a speed Of
eleven knots an hour-in order to econo-
mize on fuel. the run being about four
Knots to a ton of coal. At Callao more
coal was in readiness TO put aboard. and
the woik of storing 1t was rushed. The
engineers and coal passers worked thirty
hours without rest. and April the Ore
gou Proceeded on her journey.
Before reaching Callao, at exactly noon
on March 81. the Oregon crossed the equa-
tor. be,ng the first American battle ship
to have the distinction of crossing the
line
The event was attended by all the cere-
raonies prescribed by ancient custom.
The evening before Father Neptune
hailed the ship and announced his visit
for the following day. The next day at
high noon he came over the bow, followed
by his retinue. Two hundred of the ships
company had never CROSSED the line,"
and each landlubber was showered with
a mixture of eggs; -molasses. salt water,
flour and rope yarn. aii except the officers.
who bought Neptune OF with plenty of
refreshments for his retinue. and even
these were made to shoot the chutes into
a tank of salt water. Each initiate was
presented with a diploma bearing the seal
of Neptune. of which the following is q
copy
L. S. S. Oregon
To All to whom These Presenss Shall Gene.
Greeting:
Know We that - has this DIV icel enr He'd
as a loyal subject of His Most Gracious Majesty,
Neptunus Rex, monarch of all the seas and in
the common landlubbers Of the earth. by royal
therefore. it is decrecd that all good
sailor men, mermaids, sharks. whales, sea SER
pents and other faithful subjects of His Royal
Sibs shall abstain from maltrcating or slapder-
ing the holder of this certificate.
Done at our royal court, the Equator. this
Slst day of March, lS9S, according to earthly
(Signed) BY THE KING
DOwNALLDITTYBOXEs,
Secretary.
Leaving Callao April Z, the Oregon.
with four boilers and natural
lraught. made twelve and a half to thir-
teen knots with heavy seas and strong
against her. the revolutions being
70 to 100 TO the minute.
The Straits of Magellan with their tor
tuous crooks and turns and hampering
and the wind blowing the worst
gale any of the Oregon's officers ever ex-
'erienced. were entered April l6. and the
wo anchors were cast at the head of the
straits. Capt. Clark in his report to
said the sea and wind were
he worst he ever experienced.
One the following day one of the MEM
'rable runs of the voyage was made. the
destination being Punta Arenas, in the
part of Chile. For ten
iours the ship ran at speed of fifteen
md one-half knots, natural draught. Pun
a Arenas was reached on the evening of
April II, the distance of 155 miles having
,een covered in ten hours.
Passing through Magellan Straits. the
oregon experienced the first warlike fears
II the voyage. Although not then in
ormed that war had been declared. the
Ulcers had their suspicious. and were led
o believe that a Spanish torpedo boat de-
troyer was lying in wait to make an at
ack. sharp lookout was kept as the
oregon rushed through the sea at almost
abroad speed.
The current was now with her and at
ome times she covered twenty knots,
ided by the current. All the light guns
Tere kept loaded. and the men constantly
t them, on the lookout for the sly craft.
'ut not sign of the Spaniard was seen.
That night. at Punta Arenas, the Ore
on was Joined by the gunboat Marietta,
nd there was great feeling of relief |
D find that she. too, had escaped a sur
eptftfous attack from the Spanish de-
troyer. On the morning of April 20 she |
'as ready to leave Punta Arenas, but |
'aited until early next morning for the |
larietta.
On the morning of April 10, In order to /
ut into the harbor of Rio Janeiro before |
ightfall, the Oregon left the Marietta /
nd made forced run, again breaking |
er record.
The weather was scorching hot The |
IN beat down with terrible force. max
lg life on deck far from comfortable,
lille down in the fire and engine rooms |
lie temperature reached $50 degrees |
ahrenheit. The Oregon plunged ahead
a speed of fourteen and a half knots
18th only natural draught For ten
ours she ran at this speed. In this run
ames McGaragle, first fireman, was
rostrated by heat, but in a few minutes
,coNared and insiSfad ~, hoi.-- 4.l<a.. i