Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1898-08-12
ION A TORPEDO BOAT

ION A TORPEDO BOAT.
UGLY BEHAVIOR OF THE DANGEROUS
CRAFT IN ROUGH SEAS.
The Terrible Voyage Of Eve Eaglish YES.
sells 20 Halifax and the sansriags q tie
Crew on the Trip = A Marrow Hsaps
For Both Mon aud Boat.
At midnight on the 18th Of June, 1890.
ewo English torpedo boats, Nos. 81 and 90,
Get out from Plymouth under convoy Of
the storeship Tyne to cross the ocean TO
Halifax. Both boats rated a. first class,
both were built by the famous Yarrows,
and both measured 1875 feet in length by
IS feet greatest breadth. OF their expert.
ences on the voyage q lieutenant, second
in command Of one Of the pair, bears wit.
ness in q narrative, fully Endorsed by 9TH
or torpedo boat officers.
Daybreak Of the first morning found the
lieutenant and his captain sitting in the
dingey, dashed amidahips on deck. Evezyl
man aboard, excepting only themselves,
was violently sick, and that though theI
crew had been picked from the finest sail
ors In the service. The man at tho WHEEL
could barely stand to his work. tho stokersI
toked feebly n only bccu,,,.. they must,
while as for the cook, all iluLds might
starve, put he could not and would mott
get Yet the two in the dingey,'
py shadows OF events to come,
Fatner i6nc!eo tnelr novel adventure.
indeed. says the lieutenant, I'VE
Fd1c ecc iittie attention to our own safety,
tor suddenly q poaS gave q sharp lurch,
ana In q we were both flung out
OF tne aingey. Inc other man scrambled
20 MS ieet at once, but ! was not so lucky,
Tor l hit the slightly convex deck as I fell
ana IN another second vas overheard
Ihere are no bulwarks, OF course, to .
sorpeao poat' only "stanchions, supporting
% intervals wire rope. Between these
stancnions ! slipped. AZ ! 80 l hung
rope as ! passed under. Down went the
little ship, down, down, till the sea hub.
bled up around my shoulders, and I won
dered II I could hold on It the water went
over my head. By the strain on my hands
I knew 1t was not possible, but quickly
the boat rolled back again, and In another
m the skipper and the man at the
wheel had hauled me on board"
There was little or nothing to d o BY
way OF recreation in the hours on watch.
Coming towers, the chart table, the
dingey, etc., SO cumbered. the dingey deck
as to leave no room for promenading, an
exercise otherwise sufficiently debarred BY
the outrageous pitching and rolling OF the
vessel. Nor were the quarters below much
more comfortable. Ventilators were gem
orally kept shut because of the great wash
OF waves over the whole craft, and, al
though enough water leaked down to keep
the spare clothes In the lockers continual
~ soaked, the air was 90. close that under
other circumstances 9 man would not havO
tried to sleep In 1T. These men, however,
battered n exhausted BY each tour hours
OF work, soon learned to turn II at every
opportunity, packing themselves Into their
berths with boards, pillows, etc., holding
tight TO any firm object within reach and
continuing 20 sleep IN spite OF everything.
"Ouf Q too, VA . diiftculty. As Q
1ole' We l1ved on nam, saroines AND Inn
soups, TOE most OF the linn the weather
coulo 90 70 get Q little wafer boiled. We
-
eabits' Tut 1t was no good having 1t laid,
tor notning would stay on IT: The usual
plan was ior one man to bold the sardine
TN wnlle the other picked q sardines ~
their tals ana transferTed them to his
mouth. Ham Away required two men,
q to hold 1T and the other to cut 1t, q
the soups were capital. l DO not know
what we should have lone without those
tlnneo cup !hey were Y stand BY.
we heated the tin, then carefully opened
corner. Each man held MS plate, had q
little poured In and drank It before he got
any more"
Presently the always. bad weather
worked into . true gale. "The wind came
up with surprising qufokness, and the sea
rose with 1T literally mountains high. Up,
up, up We climbed TIL we were on the
Drink OF . precipioe' looking down into .
bottomless abyss, mt then we zigzagged
slowly down that precipioe, like . man
who fears to come too straight down .
steep hillside. We steereds slowly head to
sea, following closely IN the wake OF the