The times., 1898-06-09


was formally delivered to the United
States soon after her arrival. AS soon as
she can be equipped she will go into COM
mission.
This vessel thus. comes for the second
time under the American flag. She was
originally the Morgan liner El CID The
vessel was one. of feet of six purchased
by Flint & Co. for the Brazilian govern
ment at the time of the revolution head
ed by Admiral MelIo and Da Cana In 1893.
President Peixoto. when the revolt broke
out, found himself without navy or naval
officers the whole naval establishment
having gone over to the rebels. He COM
missioned Flint & Co. to buy him a navy
and man 1t, and the contract was carried
out. The vessels purchased besides the
Nictheroy were the Andrade, formerly
the Britannia; Ercsson's Destroyer and
three torpedo boats.
Chief of these was the Nictheroy. She
was brought in New York and in twenty
days was transformed into a fully equip
ped war vessel. The Brazilian flag was
raised on her by Mrs. Charles r. Flint
on November 10. 1893. Her navigating
| officer was Capt. Baker and her executive
officer Lieut.. Commander HILL both An
napolis graduates. She was manned by
an American crew. Two of the torpedo
boats were transported south on her
decks s-t~s
Perhaps the most famous part of the
Nictheroy's equipment was gun capable
of throwing 500 pounds of dynamite n
mile or 200 pounds three miles. She also
carried a HalpiDe dirigible torpedo. one
55-pounder rapid fire gun. two 32-pound-
ers, two 3I-mn.' revolving cannon, eight
6-pounders and nine 1-pounders
The fleet when 1t sailed south carried Il
greater quantity of high explosives than
had ever been sent to sea before. or has
been sent since 1t stopped at Pernam-
buco, and the inhabitants knowing this.
| fled in terror to the hills and remained
there until the fleet left the harbor Its
arrival at Rio Janeiro caused the rebel
| lion to collapse.
The Nictheroy-now the Buffalo-is of
the type of the Sud, the Rio and the
Norte, which have been purchased by this
| Government for use as transports. Be-
| fore her purchase she was inspected at
Rio Janeiro by Charles Page Bryan.
| United States minister to Brazil. assisted
| by naval experts. The Government re-
! fused to take the risk of bringing her
| north. and this was assumed by Flint
! G. Co
| The Nictheroy left Rio Janeiro with the
| Oregon and the gunboat Marietta on May
| s. At Bahia, on May TO- the Oregon left
| its constor.s, and the Nictheroy and the
/ Marietta proceeded together as far as
| Para. where the Mariett left the Nicthe-
roy on May "a. The end of the dynamite
| cruisers voyage was accomplished alone.
| She was commanded by Capt Meisnerr.
| formerly Of the Brazil Mail Steamship
| line, and her crew was largely composed
of Americans.
| The Buffalo will be commanded by
! Capt. Joseph Newton Hemphill a grad
uate of Annapolis. Lieut.. Logan. who
| will be her second officer. with Surgeon
| Guthrie and Chief Engineer Zane. has
/ been conducting recruiting office in
| Buffalo since June 8, II is the desire
of these officers to man the cruiser en-
tirely with men from Buffalo.
The cruiser will receive a steel pro-
tective belt two and one-half inches
thick, and viii be armed with ten s.
| inch rapid-fire guns for her principal bat
| terry, with S-pounders and large num-
ber of small rapid-fire guns for her sec
! ondary battery.
This vessel was built at Newport News
! in 1892 and on her maiden voyage in
| 1893. made the record run from Missis-
sppi Bar to Sandy Hook in 4s2 hours and
| Is minutes. She is 405 feet long, 4S feet
beam and 81 feet deep. Her displacement
| is g. 666 tons. She is fitted throughout with
electric lights and has a telegraph sys-
| tenn for communication between the diff
| ferent paris of the vessel Before going
into commission she will be equipped
with new boilers.
The Holland.
New York. June S.-Tugboats rowboats
and sailing and steam yachts seriously in
terfered with the diving and steering tests
of the Holland boat. off Bay Ridge yes
terday afternoon Despite that fact how
ever, the tests were regarded as salts
factory.
Accompanied by the tug Major UIIrich,
the submarine boat. in charge of Mr. Hol-
land. its inventor, left the old Atlantic
| Yacht Club dock, at Fifty-ffth Street,
Brooklyn, and when few hundred feet
| off shore made her first dive going down
stern first and completely disappearing.
| She came up two and one-half minutes
later, bow first. Half a minute later she
again dived, this time bow first. Nothing
| remained above water but the jack on the
foremast. In this position a steering test
was given to her, the part of the staff
above water plainly showing how easily
she was steered while submerged.
She arose again and with the super
structure awash was sent down the main
channel to point off the Crescent -Ath-
Ietic Club. After another dive she was
relieved of 425 pounds of lead ballast and
then proceeded to her anchorage.
The Prairie.
Provincetown, Mass, June S.-Commo-
dore Howell and his staff have made q
thorough inspection of the auxiliary
cruiser Paririe, which came into port for
the purpose. The ship was cleared for
action and the crew exercised at general
quarters and at firing in action. Batter
les were overhauled and examined, and
men examined in the minute details OF
their duties. There were drills at fire
quarters and in abandoning the ship. In
this drill the men took to the boats, which
made a stirring scene. Then the boats
were fitted out for armed expeditions.
There were various other drills, such as
caring for the wounded, shifting from
steam to hand steering gear and in case
of collision. The object of the inspection
was to ascertain whether the ship is SO