Fort Wrangel news., 1898-09-28

Ayres. He was ordered Co proceed to Sandy Point, sometimes called Punta
 Arenas, Chill, there to meet the Ore. gon, which had arrived off CallaO three days before the gunboat made Valpa raiso. Now for the first time the Mari
 etta's men knew that they were bound for the scene of action in the coming war. On April 9 anchor was weighed once more, and the vessel continued down the coast. In driving rain and snow storm the vessel approached the entrance of Tuesday bay, at the west ern end of the Straits of Magellan, at 1 o'clock on the afternoon of April b,
 "rhe mouth of the bay looked like a hole in the mountains" said an officer in describing this part of the voyage. "rhe entrance is very narrow and the bare rocks rise out of the sea to d height of 2,OOO foot on either side. It seemed us if We were steaming into the internal regions. That night we lay by a British steamship in that dismal place. The weather continued very thick until three o'clock the next af- ternoon, when it cleared for an hour, and at this time the officer of the deck, looking out through the hole in the mountains, spied the old Oregon. She was going under four bells. This was a grand sight to us.' On the next morning at daylight the Marietta, de spite the thick weather, started through the straits, hoping to oyertake the bat tleship. At seven o'clock that evening, while forty miles to the westward of Sandy Point, the glow of searchlight was seen in tho clouds. The gunboat's officers knew that the Oregon was sig naling to them, but they could not an- Swer as they had not searchlight of sufficient power 10 make signals dis cernible forty miles away, the distance between the two vessels. The gunboat pushed on harder, and at II o'clock reached Sandy Point, where she found the battleship at anchor. The Oregon had had clear weather during the pass age of the straits, but had raced ahead of bank of clouds in the center of which the gunboat was groping her way
 Both warships lay at San dy Point coaling for four days, and on the morn ing of April 2l started for Rio. The Marietta made a fine run to the Bra gillian port, covering the distance of 2,2O6 miles in nine days. Heavy head seas interfered with her speed, but not withstanding this she developed S6O horse power while her contract called for only 800. She kept up a ten knot gait right along and pitched from 8 to F degrees. On the morning of April 90 the Oregon ran ahead of her compan- ion, and when the gunboat steamed in to Rio harbor that night at nine o'clock she found the battleship there, and re ceived from her signal announcing that war had been declared on April 2l. The news was received in silence. As one of the officers put it:
 1t was too serious for cheers. We had long been expecting it, and when the news did come there was a kind of a hushed feeling over the ship"
 The officials in Rio treated the men and officers with the greatest courtesy. Here was found the same condition as existed in all the South American ports. The people generally were inclined to regard the American sailor with hostil- ity, while the government officials were profuse in their kindness.
 Mr. Bryan, the American minister, boarded the Marietta one day and gave Captain Symonds telegram announc- ing the victory at Manila. The crew were called aft and Lieutenant Me Crackin, the executive officer, read the dispatch to them. Then bedlam broke loose and the sailors indulged in wild demonstrations of joy.
 The commanders of the Marietta and OreSou "eIe iiloI uicu 1iiho Ihe ieihci- ario had left Buenos Ayres, and that Cervera's squadron had sailed from the Cape Verd islands, and an attempt might be made to intercept them off Cape San Roque. The warships sailed from Rio on the morning of May f. They were held for day, having to wait for the Buffalo which they were to ,o,yn,, pnrth Vba for,nar pra1;I;on