Evening star., 1898-10-05
SOLDIER LIFE ABOARD SHIP
Experiences of Volunteers On the Trip by
Transport to Honolulu
Fourth Expedition to Manlla-TroOps
without Adequate Air Space
Dangers ineCase of Storm.

An officer who accompanied the fourth
military expedition from San Francisco TO
the Philippines wrote a letter to his wife
" hile on the way and mailed it at Homo
lulu detailing the experiences of the troops
aboard ship during the progress of the
journey from the Golden Gate to the first
landing. ~
The letter is as follows:
Amidst the booming of cannon, shrieks
of sirens and whistles, the hurralls ana
God bless you, boys, from no insigniii-
cant part Of the population of San Fran
cisco, the advances ezrd Of the fourth ex-
ppeditfonar forceG for Manila under COM
nland Of Maj. Gems Dtis, started for Homo
lula July 10, 1888. Accompanied by sew
eral steamers. heavily laden with pleasure
seekers and personal friends of those on
board, the flagship, Peru, and her consort.
the city of Puebia, following, passed AL
catraz, Black Point, Forts Point and Ma
son, whose combined armament with tor
pedo fields-easy laid in week when re-
quired-make San Francisco the best-pro
tected city in the United States - and
steamed leisarely out through the beauti-
tul Golden Gate into the vast Pacific. One
by one the accompanying boats turned to-
ward shore; the last good-byes were said.
and for veal or wee, We were fastening
alone toward our countrys new possess
sions. Nearly a round thousand enlisted
Puebla, with their officers and the crews
OF the vessels, make 1000 souls on both
ships, which have less than 6,000 tons ton
mage.
the mastery naval successes of Dewey
and Sampson, the terrible engagements at
Santiago with minor enterprises of blood
have been the theme of breakfast, the
talks of our people for weeks. 1t may
therefore be expected that the readers of
The Star will turn with some pleasure from
the horribleS TO Il few WordS-factS-
which disclose the daily life of the soldier
on the transports. About 315 feet long and
is wide amidships, with draft of % feet
when loaded, give the outside dimensions
of the Peru, which is the larger of our two
ships. Her main deck, which runs on an
average line some four feet below her bull
warks, is taken up mainly by dining ROOM
Kitchen, pantries. state rooms and bath
rooms, used in her regular traffic by her
frst-class passengers. She is Pacific
mail steamer-iS now mainly occupied by
the ohscers-two in each state room-a few
non-commissioned officers and clerks, three
in a room-in those left over. Away up
forward is little cubby house, irregular
in shape. having less surface space than a
room . feet by 10 feet. 1t contains the
&C oking appliances for all the enlisted men.
Provision for the Sick.
Farther aft a room three or four feet wide
by twelve long, with seven tiers of hunks,
three beds in each tier, is substantially the
pTONlSlOu Hldue lOT tHe eIlllSlcu SIGN ana
their attendants. Many stairways of vary
ing dimensions-they are called ''hatches'-
run upward from this deck to an upper
one, called the hurricane deck, which COW
ers the entire ships surface above. Other
matches run down into the body of the ship
to the berth deck below. Each of these
latter decks is about eight feet. respective
ly, above and below the main deck. rne
hurricane deck has a few choice rooms,
fore and aft, occupied by the ships Off
small smoking room used by the officers OF
the troops.
Uncle Sam has arranged for $50 of his
gallant defenders to sleep o nights on the
berth deck full twelve1 feet below the top
Of the ships skim, Take a pencil and pad
and draw the horizontal projection of
ship 31ox3s feet sRuni around 1t gang
way three feet wide from the outer skin
inward, cut out reasonable spaces for
hatchways. for engine rooms, and you have
the floor space forgtbis use The average
height is seven feet, into when three rows
of bunks are crowded. with just interval
enough between rows for men to shoulder
along, going sidewise when trey pass.
Wire springs and straw makes each bed
comfortable. But air space! Seventy cubic
feet per man is the roughly calculated
amount down here, twelve feet below, with
only an occasionally small port hole for the
ingress of fresh air, Eight hundred cubic
feet is considered NECESSARY in barracks.
What will be the result when, TINS normal
requirement reduced twelve times, storms
cCme, ports are closed, ana perhaps hatch-
ways are battened down.
A New Problem.
This transportation problem Is new for
Uncle Saris representatives. 1t is imper-
ative that as large force shall he carried
as possible. Mistakes re expected Grad
ually they will be reincdied, and if this is
to be 4 new occupation We can safely trust
to an carry. satisfactory and complete So
luton of tne difficulties as they arise.
But what a me nstrous oversight Is this!
7 he ships which bear our brave seamen
are often necessarily greatly crowded. Ar
Snafis. turbine wheels and forced draught
so distribute as to renew all the al: with
in {. short time remedies the trouble. An
exI Ienditurc OF a few hundreds would have
improvised 5, hiciently Tor temporary pur-
poses here. Who can tell the suffering
shoulI We have even one serious storm dtr-
ing our tr1p2 ~ -~sssss ss.ss -.se~s.
It will be the season for tYph(,ons SeYopd