The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-19

water front, near old Fort Brooke; part
go to Ballast point, a famous picnic
ground on the outskirts of Tampa, Jut-
ting out into HillSborough bay. In
stead of sending the men down there in
the cars, Lieutenant Greene has char
tered a naphtha launch from the hotel,
which carries them from Fort Brooke
down the bay to the point in about ~
minutes. The men are always anxious
to be selected for the Ballast point de-
tau
HELIOGRAPH PRACTICE.
On arriving at the point they set up
three stations on the water front to
correspond with the three stations near
Fort Brooke, about three miles away.
Each station is provided with a hello
graph, flags, d telescope ana neld
glasses If the sun is out the hello
graph is set up at once. 1t lis a very
simple instrument, but wonderfully ef-
fective. and the men are fond of work
ing with it. 1t consists OF glass,
which is so placed on a tripod as to
catch the rays of the sun. Directly IN
front, on a similar tripod, is metal
screen, which intercepts the reflection
of the glass. The screen IS composed
of two pieces. and these are made to
open and shut sharply by means of a
lever at the side. When the glass IS
accurately trained on the station with
which communication is to be carried
on one of the men stands with ms
finger on the lever and opens and shuts
the screen according to a simple tele-
graphic code, making combinations OF
long and short flashes with pauSes.
Sometimes it so happens that the glass
cannot be so placed as TO reflect the
rays of the sun. In this case another
glass is set up, which flashes the Ight
upon the first one, and the binding
flash which is seen across the bay is
but a reflection. At a distance of one
mile the width of the fash is 10 1-3
yards, and the flash may be read at a
distance of eight or ten miles.
While one man is at the helograph
another sits with his eye TO the teIe-
scope, which is fastened to convent
ent tree, and another stands with pad
and pencil, ready 10 take down the
answering flashes, or TO read on the
message TO be sent.
FLAG SIGNALING.
Besides the work done with the hello
graph, there is daily practice with the
dags. of which there are two, namely,
q white flag with red square in the
center, and a red flag with white
square in the center. These are used
imply according to the landscape-the
dag which win show clearest against
the background Of the station being
selected.
In the signal corps the wand or stick
may he called the unit With it the
training of the novice begins. He is
made to wave it to the right and left in
spelling out messages, until he gets so
sick Of the stick that he never wants
to see one again. But he has gained
facility and is put on the flag, which
he learns TO manipulate in the same
way. until he is equally sick of that.
He finally learns to read messages or
words as a whole, just as we all read
g. word or a sentence. He is at last
hardly conscious of the separate move
ments which comprise it. The flag sig
mailing may be seen at distance of
five miles.
The old fashioned method of signaling
at night was by means of the torch.
This was composed of a cylinder of
copper half filed with OIL in which a
huge wick was thrust. 1t was fastened
to the end of a stick. Here was an in
strument to be used precisely as the
flag is used iii the day time. The torch
has been superseded by the lantern
and screen on the same principle as
the heliogrsph. But Lieutenant Greene
has on hand a supply Of the old fash
toned torches in case an emergency
should arise in which they would be
needed.
The three stations at Ballast Point
and at Fort Brooke, while not many
feet apart, work quite independently of
each other. 9 Lieutenant Greene's first
idea vas TO station the men on various