The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1898-11-11
rHE MEoApHoNE IN WAR.
u mas played Ncw and Important
Part In the Navy ON the
ny Cuban Coast.


almost necessity on every ship. The
megaphones used in the navy are made
Of a deep red coiored compositionrivet-
ed together and have alight handle and
an aluminium mouthpiece, The stand
ard size is about two and half feet
long and about is inches across the
end. Smaller craft and auxiliaries
carry only one, which is kept on the
bridge, but the larger ships carry
more. On the flagship New York three
are In almost constant use, one on the
bridge. one on the signal bridge, and
one on the quarter deck.
The officer of the deck uses the one
on the bridge. 1t takes the place OF
the small, heavy speaking trumpet
which used to be the sign Of that Of
flcer's rank at sea, as long glass was
In port. Speaking trumpets were gen.
orally the personal property of the OF
ficers who carried them, and were Of
ten handsome. Sometimes they were
made of silver. They possessed two
advantages over megaphones OF the
present day, the chief one being that
they were not so easily blown away in
a heavy wind. On a sailing vessel In
storm the unaided voice will not carry
from the quarter deck to the foremast-
head. nor can it be heard to windward
Of a large sail A speaking trumpet.
easily slung across the shoulder, is al
ways at hand, and concentrates the
voice sufficiently for 1t to be heard all
over a small ship, while megaphone
would not be SO handy and might be
blown away easily.
The second advantage OF the old
speaking trumpet also grows out OF It's
| size and convenience. The speaking
trumpet has always been used as sors
Of gavel, and in consequence was gen
orally pretty well battered and dented.
So also were the various parts Of the
ship adjacent to the standing place OF
the officer OF the deck. An expert
enced man with sharp eyes might
fudge OF how pleasant ships voyage
had been by inspecting the speaking
trumpets on board OF 1t as 1T came into
port. Obviously megaphone will not
stand such treatment, though some OF
them become mysteriously jammed
and twisted, as though an absent
minded officer had tried the same trick
with them.
The utility Of the speaking trumpet
in communication between vessels was
always limited, and it is because the
megaphone so far surpasses 1t in this
respect that 1t has achieved its sud
den popularity About the first neces-
sity recognized on each of the news
paper dispatch boats was mega
i phone, and the exigencies of the Key
West market suggested tin mega
phone as the best substitute for the
regular article. Some were made with
the old-fashioned oval mouthpieces
and some with none at all. These tln
megaphones have, most of them, re
ceived excellent care, and most OF
, them bid fair to last the war out.
To use a megaphmone artistically
and effectively is not nearly SO easy as
it looks. One who has heard train
load of college rooters at a boat race
roar their college yells through mega
phones at the struggling crew OF al
eight-oared shell knows pretty wei
} how the power of the voice is magn1
/ fed by the use Of megaphone, bu
probably the best illustration OF it.
use in the navy has occurred to the re
! porters and crews of the newspape'
boats in the vicinity of Havana whei
the blockade was first established
there. A boat would be lying to, pre-
sumably about five miles from tn
f feet The night would be calm an'
! dark and still, when suddenly on
would feel as though enveloped by
Q voice. 1t would be voice not to b
n recognized harsh, vibrating voice
! something like the below of an angr
animal, yet speaking the English Ian
guage with remarkable and startlin
III distinctness.
what ship is that?" would be tn
! hail. given in manner to comman
U instant attention and profound re
j. spect.
It would seem to take an unreasona
bly, long time 10 tear the IN meg
!, phone from its lashings, to point
Z, vaguely in the direction from whic
j the greatest volume of the sound tha
: still pulsated in the ears seemed I
l. come. and to scream into it the boat
l. name and occupation. Then how wea
and attenuated sounded the repi.
.. though the speaker may have straine