The times., 1898-12-26

from him, and then running with him SO
that the man behind the gun could pump
shells into him. The Brooklyn's actual
running time over the forty-five miles
from MORO to the stranded Colon was
three hours and nineteen minutes, a speed
OF 1906 knots. And her rated speed under
natural draught. full power. is eighteen
knots; under forced draught, twenty-five
knots.
But the Brooklyn was not the only ship
caught unawares on that hustling Sunday
morning off Santiago Bay. SIMPSONS
flagship. the New York was one of the
lame ducks of the feet. The trifling dis
tance between her eastward position and
the line of the dash of Ce;vera was not
what kept her out of the pattle. Her for
ward engines, by orders from the bridge,
were disconnected. There were boilers
disconnected. empty. and. of course, fire
less. Three hours after the New York
started on the westward chase she had
steam in all her boilers. Her engines are
like those in the Brooklyn. Their condi-
tion at $3.50 that Sunday morning was
precisely similar The New York's running
time, forty-five miles from the Moro to
the Colon, was four hours and eight min
utes, a speed of LOG knots Her rated
speed under natural draught, full power
is sixteen to seventeen knots; under
forced draught, twenty-one knots.
When the fiagships set such seamaalike
workmanlike, fighting examples. what can
be expected from the rest of the fleet?
Chiefly. at the last minute, dependence on
the fighting engineers to overcome need
less obstacles, put the ships into position
and held them there.
Until that morning the Brooklyn had
never been under forced draught since
her contract trial trip. / have said that
the service regulations require forced
draught trials at least twice a year. The
regulations also provide that forced
draught shall never be used except by or
der of the commanding officer.
The Iowa, under orders TO carry steam
enough TO give a seven-knot speed At
night and a five-knot speed by day was
bent chiefly on coal economy. The Ore
gon passed her like d racer. Perhaps that
Is why the C-egon's erratic chaplain
thought the Iowa was going in the Oppo-
site direction. The Indiana was more com
pletely unprepared than the Brooklyn, II
possible; as elaborately so as the Iowa
The torpedo boats had hard time in
the Spanish-AEerican war. Officers who
We're on them and officers who were not
on them, but who know the facts. tell
truths unfamiliar to the popular ear. AT
the outbreak of the war the number of
engineer officers in the United States
navy was so ridicu!ously inadequate 10
the duties required that the Navy De
partment was compelled TO experiment at
running torpedo fiotillas with a insle
engineer. Not one engineer to a boat but
one engineer to six or eight boats, Young
line officers had to look after the engine
in the intervals of their other duties.
They are not to be blamed for the defCC-
. tive results. They were faithful enough
nd hi Tsrl. ItrT D
learn engineering in three months. Some
of the United States torpedo boat boilers
were completely wrecked for lack of
water. One of the boats burned all mar
boilers so badly that when they We're
taken out the workmen. 1he contractors.
inspectors, and everybody else who saw
them were amazed at the temerity OF the
men who had kept steam in them. The
commanding officer of one torpedo boat
prepared an elaborate report on the con-
structive defects of the machinery OF his
craft -.--.--
1t Is even officially conceded that but
for the Oregon, the Colon and probably
another Spanish ship would have escaped.
So much for having engines in order. boil
ers ready, fires burning. Here was a ship
after a fifteen-thousand-m! run, four
months out of dock. with foul bottom and
increased displacement, almost equaling
her trial trip record for speed. And she
fought as she ran Inside OF fifteen min
utes after the full speed signal was given
she was making fifteen knots. Within an
hour she was making nearly seventeen.
Coming down the Pacific the Oregon had
Cardiff coal under her boilers-the best
quality of Cardiff for steaming When
she turned the corner of the continent and
got into the Atlantic she picked up in the
coal ports the best fuel she could buy. but
II was much inferior to Cardiff Mi'iigan
had a few hundred tons of Cardiff left. He
shoveled them into the fighting bunkers.
This will do for emergency.' said he.
Then he locked the bunkers. On the
blockade the coal supplied to the ship was
well. less fiery than patriotism. On the
day of the battle Milligan unlocked the
fighting bunkers, and the Cardiff coal
helped the Oregon TO make her burst of
speed. Besides. there were fires under all
her boilers when Cervera slipped out.
For Gods sake. get on more boilers,'
That was the sort of message sent from
the bridge of one of the United States
warships to the chief engineer half a
dozen times in an hour when the feet
was pelting the Spaniards. The authority
who in time of war had his boiler rooms
ready for peace chafed at the delay. His
anxious messages were beginning 10 worry
the men below-machinists water tenders
oilers. coal passers. fremen. The chiet
engineer stood in between. knowing that
his men must keep cool-headed and nc
sent Back word that aE the boilers were
connected. filed and all the fires burning
Its the only way to keep the old mar
quiet he said. But all the boilers were
not yet connected when the fight finished
II You We're sealed up In a heated iror
tank floating on the sea and hammered
at by missiles which now and then let ir
daylight and spiinters, you would get 6
dim idea of the lot of the engineers mer
aboard a battleship in action. But the
engineers men have to work in the hurry
burly and you would go mad in your tank
The enemy's shot pounds the ship. but
the engineer and his men know not wher'
the enemy is or where the ship is heading
And they can't stop to think about il
Keep that bearing cool. smother it in oil
drown 1t In water, Keep cool or TN,
games up,
The men on deck can let the splinter,
lie where they fall but the men in tn,
engine room have to keep the splinter
| out of the machinery. Steam pipes ar
| pierced. Mend em. Crawl behind tn
boilers. and stop that steam leak. I'm
possible to shut OF anything Scalded
/ Never mind Its all in the days work
| Don't let the water down. Pass the Goa
| lively. And. while you're about 1t. pu
| out that fire in the bunkers. Grimy men
| dripping with sweat. go about quietly
| with clear heads, watching everythinc
| There's no bawling. no unusual noise. n
| confusion. In the lower engine rooms TIL
thermometer shows 1856 degrees in from
| of the ventilating blowers: in the uppe
engine rooms 1870 degrees. Men dart I'M;
the. upper rooms twice an hour or SC
| look around for a minute or two, an
| then dart out again. There on the no
| seas, on July ;, the temperature abov
the boilers of rhe Texas was sometime
| 200 degrees,