The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1898-11-16

dressed ia white with the regulation
navy black tie. They march from one
base Of operations to another in double
column just as though they we're
soldiers. Then we saw Mamie, the
mascot Of the Indiana. It is allowed
to run around wherever it wants to
and eats paper and rags with avidity
We saw the Chicago, the Buffalo, the
Mayflower converted yacht), the tor
pedo boats Foote, Rodgers, Dupont.
Porter and Winslow. We soon found
out that we were 80 fortunate as TO be
in the yard on the day when the
Brooklyn" Schley's ship, was to be
taken out OF dry dock. The method
Of docking the ships is very simple.
The dry dock is huge V shaped
basin with the sides of the V running
down to the point terrace like. There
is channel connecting the dry dock
with the bay. When there is no OBJ
struction in this channel the dry dock
is full of water on level with the bay
or in this case with Wallabout channel.
The boat is foated out of Wallabout
channel through the little channel in
to the dock--pulled there by tug, l
should say. Then huge wedge
shaped barge is towed to the narrow
neck of the small channel and when it
lies right across the neck, gates in the
sides of the barge are opened and it
sinks, plugging the neck and separat-
ing the dock from the channel. The
gates are then closed and the water is
pumped out of the dock. As the
water slowly recedes from the ship
stays are run out from the terraces and
by the time the basin is dry complete
network of supports holds the ship in
place. This was the condition in
which we saw the BROOKLYN. A ship
never looks larger than when in dry
dock-the great twin screws, the
mighty rudder, the long narrow fins
running along the bottom of the ship
a few feet from its keel Called bilge
keels and used to keep the boat from
rocking when in action or in a heavy
sea) everything shows up so much
better. We saw the place where the
great Spanish 8 inch shot went clear
through the body of the boat They
we're patching the hole when we we're
there. A number of holes we're put
through the smoke-stack. The Brook
Ign smoke stacks are about twice as
high as those of the other ships. Then
there are a couple dozen scares all
along the belt, showing how the Har-
veyized steel repulsed the Spanish
bullets.
While the men we're putting the
finishing touches on. the Brooklyn,
Guy and I left the girls to rest while
we crossed the causeway to Cob dock.
There we saw acres and acres of anti
quated artillery arranged in rows, and
small mountains of solid shot, sup
ported at their base by railroad iron.
Some of the guns we saw we're very
large, and Guy and I got down on our
knees and stuck our heads in their
mouths "to see what it felt like" There
we're mortars, Swamp angels and
light artillery, brass, steel and cast
iron, some on wheels, while some had
rolled down onto the ground and lay
there like some great dead animal.
We learned from an old attendant
that most of this would be sold as old
iron at SO much a pound. "Scrap"
iron is very appropriate name for it.
Through some mistake we walked in
to the rear door of the great ammuni-
ton house, wandered all through the
building examining the modern styles
of ammunition. When we got tired
we went out of the front door where
the guards we're. There was quite q
stir around there for awhile and we
had many good warning mot to do
that again" etc. So we wandered
along the dock until we came to the
Vermont, the oldest ship in the navy,
whose keel was laid in 1918, now used
as receiving ship. Next was the
battleship Massachusetts. It was near
noon so we were allowed to go aboard.
We got behind her big. guns and saw
how they we're sighted and so forth.
We boarded the New York next and
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