The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-07

OF cruising along an enemys coast Il
IS sald that Sampson has more beef in his
Meet than there is in the entire island Of
Cuba. Ice IS always served out with the
beet The cold storage experiment has
proved an entire success, ana the medical
officers declare that the good health which
prevails in the fleet is largely attributable
10 the excellent diet provided for the men.
me Old saying that an army travels upon
us belly probably applies with equal force
10 a navy. and the results of the great
sea fight of Santiago would seem to war
rant the retention of the refrigerator sup
ply ships as permanent adjuncts to the
fleet
Admiral Cervera. after surrendering
himself a prisoner of war on board the
Gloucester, expressed his establishment
that the American fleet should be SO
aouudantly supplied with ammunition.
II had thought" he is said to have re-
marked, that after your frequent and
thorough commandments of the forts,
your supply of projeotles and gunpowder
must have become fairly well exhausted"
This conclusion, perhaps had some weight
IN determining the Spanish Admiral TO
run the gauntlet Of our ships. The ter
rife and prolonged fire with which he was
received soon caused him to abandon this
theory. The secret Of the abundance. as
Cervera now knows, is that the Armenia
TO carry spare ammunition for the fight
ing ships. Whenever, for instance. the
stock of S-iuch aud 13-inch shells in the
lndaua's magazines needed replenishug,
the Armenia was signaled to come along
side, The Fern was equally ready to sup
ply S-pounder and 6-pounder projecules
10 vessels needing them. The fact that
ammunition would run low had been fore
seen and provided for IL was not neces-
sary to send a battleship hundreds of
miles TO renew her supply Of the death
dealing missiles.
on board all steamers minor accidents
to the machinery are of daily occurrence.
The compliments of our men-of-war in
clude a force of mechanics and in the
larger vessels lathe and other machine
tools are furnished, and an attempt is
made to do repair work The facilities,
however. are never good, and frequent
trips to navy yards have always been
Necessary To prevent our fleets being Grip
pied an time Of war, the Vulcan has been
added to the navy. She is in effect, a
floating machine shop. her outfit including
a foundry, blacksmith's shop, boiler shop,
and shop fitted with machine tools, such
as lathes planners. boring machines, snd
plate rollers. The complement Is made up
of machnists, electricians. gunSmiths,
blaclSsmlths, coppcrsmth s, plumbers. brass
workers, carpenters, and shipwrghts She
is commanded by ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Harris. and among her officers are Chief
Engineers Sims and Aldrich and number
of the other most prominent mechanical
engineers in the world The Vulcan makes
Il practicable for very extensive repairs to
the fleet to be made thousands Of miles
away from a navy yard. There are a
Vulcan and Hecla In the British Navy,
but less complete than ours.
From the ships enumerated It will be
clear .that Sampson can keep the sea FOR
months al o time, as indeed some of lis
ships have actually done. But the Vulcan
only enables interior repairs TO be made.
In case Of exterior work being demanded
recourse must be had to a dry dock. Tn
fortunately we have not at present any
floating dry dock in our navy. There Is,
however, a very good one in Havana that
belongs to Spain. Sampson has his eye
on it. and believes he can induce Blanco
to part with it. After borrowing il, Samp-
son will put it to good use in re1tting the
Cristobal Colon Under the circumstances,
it would be no more than polite TO send
that fine vessel back to Spain, in care OF
Schley or Watson, say.