Evening journal., 1898-04-25
DELAWARE BATTERY.
Government Work on the
River Shore Progressing.
SUBMARINE MINES PLANTED NOW
PILOT BOAT PHILADELPHIA AND
AMERICAN LINER ST. PAUL TO
EQUIP FOR WAR-MONITOR
CATSKIIlL PASSES DOWN.

EQUIP FUR WAR-MONllOR
CATSKIIlL PASSES DOWN.
The defences of the Delaware river
are being rapidly made to correspond
with the complete and extensive plans
of Major Raymond, under whose direct
supervision they are constructed.
They will soon be rated among the
strongest fortifcations on the coast.
Much work is yet to be done on the
government reservation battery at Del
aware City before it will be as formid-
able as the others, and large force OF
men is working day and night on 1t,
Sunday included.
The bright light seen off in that d.
rection last night by residents Of this
city about IL o'clock was caused by the
destruction by fire of the blacksmith
shop on the reservation. 1t was COM
pletely destroyed, also a number of
valuable tools, bars Of fine steel and
iron, and, in fact, everything that was
in the building was damaged or entire
ly ruined.
The w. & N. railroad floats are kept
| busy carrying material, such as stone,
| for the building of the block houses,
gun carriages, guns, and many other
| things that are required in the work
now going on there. The Charles War
ner Company's sand barge, No. g. is
| unloading sand at the reservation. The
sand is loaded on cars at the govern
| men pier and conveyed to the work.
men, who use it in making the emlbank-
ment.
Eight carloads of gun carriage cast
ings were floated to Fort Mott to-day
! from Delaware pier. The float was
| towed to the fort by the w. & n. tug
Laura b.
There are about fifty carloads of
| stone of different sizes in this city
ready to be taken to the different for
tifications on the river. Most OF 1t,
however, is for the government reser-
vation work. Saturday night, all day
| Sunday and Sunday night the work
| of placing the submarine mines In the
river was quietly, though rapidly exc
cuted. AS a guide to the divers the
places where the mines were to be put
were marked by an anchor, with a
small red buoy to it. The divers and
electricians removed the buOys and
placed mines loaded with 25O pounds o.
gun cotton in their stead.
The boat used in laying the cable
was supplied with large reel, arounc
which the cable was coiled, and as th'
boat moved the revolutions Of the rec
uncoiled it, and 1t was slowly and care
| fully lowered by this means to the Dot
| tom in the required course. Thes'
mines are arranged in such manne
by an electrical contrivance so tina
when any one of them is exploded Tn
! switchboard indicator at all OF tn
other forts in that part OF the rive
- can tell which one has been set on
9 thereby avoiding the danger OF tryin
0 to set of mine that has already bee
lexploded.
i MANY persons who have never see
3 gun cotton have no idea of what 1t
= like" said a man who had seen som
of the mines loaded Il was surprise
: myself when I saw it. Instead OF sein
an article resembling cotton l SAY
Ismall blocks OF white substance not un
: like cakes Of sandsosp, such as is use
!. In the polishing of kitchen utensils.
: The little single turret monito
I Catskill passed down the Delawar
), river yesterday morning on her way I
. Boston so heavily loaded that her atte
r deck was awash. She was saluted o
all sides as she passed down and ou
The steam pilot boat Philadelphi
! passed up the river to League sian
late Yesterday afternoon, where sh
will he officially transferred to the na
val authorities by the Pilots Associi
ton. The Philadelphia is to be titte
up as a torpedo boat, and will be pl
into commission under a new name q
quickly as possible.