The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-07-08

thought OF sixteen thousand men o,
rhirty-one troop ships and their escort o
fourteen war ships suggested the Spanish
Armada
II brings UP picture OF great fotilla
grim, sinister and menacing, fighting II!
way through the waves on its errand O
vengence and conquest. But as matte
OF fact the expedition bore a distinct ali
Of the commonplace. It moved through {
succession Of sparkling sunlit days. oyel
a sea as smooth as lake, undisturbeC
by Spanish cruisers or by shells from
Spanish forts. AS far as the eye could see
il mad the ocean 10 itself.
| Scattered over a distance of seven nile:
the black passenger steamers and al:
mouse colored warships steamed IN three
uneven columns. They suggested a cluster
of excursion steamers. yachts and tugs 8:
noe sees them coming back from Sandy
Hook after an international yach< race
What the landing may be Ike we cannot
| foresee, but ilte voyage was uneventful
| and the departure from Tampa Bay. when
II came after many weary postponements
and delays. was neither picturesque noI
| moving. The band did not play THE
\ IAEI Lett Ce1lQQ me HOT 0lO CIONQS u
weeping women cling 10 the buikheads
and wave their damp handkerchiefs; the
| men who are going 10 die for their country
| did not swarm in the rigging and cheer
| the last sight of land. They had done
that on slte morning Of June s, and had
| been ingloriously towed back to the dock
they had done it again on the morning Of
June TO- and had immediatly dropped an
Choir a few hundred yards of shore. go
| they were suspicious and wary, and
when the headquarters ship. the Segur-
/ anca, from which this is written. left the
| dock three colored women and a pathetic
groupe of stevedores and three soldiers
represented the popular interest in her
| departure
The troop ships were the best passenger
steamers the government could buy.
They were fitted up with pine cots and a
| small. proportion of stalls for the horses,
and the first class cabins were turned
over to the officers. On some of them the
men swarmed over every part of the ship
on others the officers held the bridge TO
themselves, on the majority the quarter
deck was also reserved for them.
! Probably half of the men forming the
o4pSudLlOH HdQ NEVER USen dL STD bCAOA
They probably will never desire to go
again but will say from the depth OF their
experience that the Dangers of the deep
are vastly exaggerated. They will nor
wish to go again, because their first eX-
perience was more full of discomfort
than any other trip will be that they are
likely to take; on the other hand. they
may sail the seas many times before
they find it as smooth, or the rain as in
frequent, the sun as beautiful. or the
heavens as magnificent.
We Travelled at the rate Of seven miles
an hour, with long pauses for thought
and consultation. Some times we moved
at the rate of four miles an hour, and
frequently we did not move at all Our
delays were chiefly due to the fact that
two of the steamers were each towing a
great scow or lighter, on which the troops
were to be conveyed to shore. and because
another one was~towing schooner filled
with water. The sped of the squadron
was. of course, the speed of the slowest
snip in it, so the water boat set the pace.
The war ships treated US with the most
punctilous courtesey and concealed con-
tempt. And we certainly deserved it. We
could not keep in line and we lost our
selves and each other, and the gunboats
and the torpedo boats were kept busy
rounding us UP. and giving US sharp pre-
else orders in passing, through a mega
phone, to which either nobody made any
reply, or every one did. The gunboats
were like swift, keen eyed, intelligent
collies rounding up heard of bungling
sheep. They looked so workmenlike and
clean, and the men were so smart in their
white duck, that the soldiers cheered them
all along the line s they dashed up and
down it, waving their wiglwags frantically.
The life on board the headquarters ship
was uneventful for those who were not
in command. For these their tables and
desks were spread in the social nall"
and all day long they worked busily and
mysteriously on maps and lists and orders
and six typewriters banged on their ma
chimes unit late at night. The snip was
greatly overcrowded; it held all o General
Skaters staff. all of General Breckin-
officers and 800 men of the First regiment
all the foreign attaches, and an army of
stenographers, secretaries, clerks ser
wants, couriers Wallets, and colored walt
ers.
There were three cane chairs with seats
and TWO cane chairs without seats. If
you were so unlucky as not to capture one
of these, you chung sidewise to the bench
around the ships rail or set on the deck.
At no one moment were you alone. Your
most intimate conversation was overheard
by everyone, whether he wished to or
not; the attaches could not compare notes
on our deficiencies without being betrayed,
nor could the staff discuss its plan Of cam
paign without giving it to the whole snip.
Seven different languages were in course
of constant circulation. and the griev-
ances Of the servants and the badinage
Of the colored cooks mingled with tue
latest remarks on the war. AT night YOU
picked your way over PROSTATE forms Of
soldiers and oveUworked stewards. who
toiled eighten hours day in a tempera-
ture Of 102 degrees. Four OF the CORES
pondents. who were congratulatIug them
selves on having Obtained outs De cabins.
found out to late that they were situated
over the boiler, which would have been
most desirable on an Arctic expedition, but
whichc, as our cruise was in summer seas.
drove us TO sleep on the deck, where Fred
erick Remington kicked me in the head
all night, and TWO soldiers used my .ezs
for pillows. and Stephen Bonsal. Of Nc
Clures Magazine, and Casper Whitney.
OF the Century Magazine. walked on my
chest.
The water on board the ship was so bad
that II could not be used 10 shave with.
yard, and it tasted that way. Before we