The Grenada sentinel., 1898-05-21

days hard steaming. Within herself
she had the means of making all re-
pairs. This was the ship that for two
years detied the whole United States
navy and evaded nearly score of
cruisers that were sent after her. 1t is
not particularly pleasant for American
shipowners to know that scores of such
commerce destroycrs may be let loose
by Spain. But conditions have changed
since the Alabama was the bogey of
Yankee seamen. At the beginning of
the civil war our merchant marine con-
sisted almost wholly of sailing vessels.
Not ten per cent. of our ships in the
foreign trade were steamers. At pres
ent less than so per cent. of our mer-
chantmen are sailing vessels. This
means that only steamships of the
highest speed-at least 10 knots-can
hope to be successful privateers. There
are something over 100 steamships in
the Spanish merchant marine, and per-
haps one-third of these may be convert
ell into fast cruisers. Two swift liners
are now in Spanish docks, and in few
weeks they will appear as commerce
Gestroyers.
1t takes fortune to purchase pri-
vateer nowadays, and few people will
care to risk IA quarter of a million dol
lars in such a venture, so that it Is rot
probable that there will be rush by
Spanish citizens to increase the num-
ber of Spain's ''auxiliary warships." :"
The "clipper ships" Of the beginning of
the century were built at small cost in
a few months, and, the provisions once
purchased. there was no expense to the
owners for year or more. Steamships
must take in coal every five or six
weeks, and coal costs from three to six
teen dollars ton. An ordinary ship
burns ten tons Of coal day. Besides,
the United States hopes to have coal de-
clared contraband of war by European
nations. Italy will not declare it so,
but England will undoubtedly y refuse to
sell any coal to war vessels except to get
them to the nearest home port. This
will seriously interfere with Spain's pri-
watering. though it is difficult to see
why Spanish vessels at Newfoundland
cannot take on coal to bring them to
Cuba and incidentally scour our At
lantic seaboard on the journey.
But the prizes that might be taken
to-day are worth risking something for.
One of our large coasting steamers. not
to mention the Atlantic liners. is worth
more than all the prizes together of
any one of the old privateers. But
while most Of the obstacles to success
full privateering We're overcome by the
Alabama. there is one obstacle with
which she did not have to cope--the
ocean telegraph. BY means Of the SUBJ
marine cables which now connect all
portions of the world privateer may
be readily located by hostile cruisers.
The moment she is sighted at n port
the news is flashed around the world,
and thus no ship. however swift, can
hope to escape pursuing cruisers. Mer-
chantmen also will be kept informed of
the whereabouts Of privateers, and so
nay easily avoid them.
While II seems that the destruction
OF ships of commerce will never again
be so great as It was in the days of sail
ing vessels before the nations of the
earth were strung together on tele-
yiaph wires, and though Admiral
Sampson can take very good care Of the
Spanish navy, the waters of the At
lantic will soon be dotted with Spanish
ships capable of making prizes of all
but our fastest steamships. The ships
efthe United statc:c merctant marine
having more than e tons displacement
are registered at 4.7G9.oao tons. This in
cludes 1,17G vessels in the foreign trade
and 1903 in the coast trade. Besides
these there are nearly Il thousand whal.
ers and fishing ships. When war was
declared 23G large ships (mcstly steam
ers) in the foreign trade were on the
ocean, and n number of steam yachts,
including the Valiant, Nahma, Mnr'
garita, Arcturus and Sultana, were In
the Mediterranean or in foreign ports.
Spain had in the West Indies 12 gun
boats of from 100 to 500 tons and 26
small guns of from IS to 70 tons dis
placement These boats have already
given a taste of what privateering will
mean to us. Owners have not exposed
their shipping since war was declared.
South American lines have stopped run
| ming, and shipping rates from southern
ports to New York have advanced more
than one-third. Even rates between
points along the New England coast
| are is per cent. higher This has all oc-
Cured before any Spanish privateers or
auxiliary warships had been commits
stoned. and when no Spanish cruisers
could possibly have reached our coasts
except by defeating Admiral SIMPSONS
squadron. The officials Of the large
New York steamship companies en-
gagged in coastwise business state that
the coasting. trade is ruined for the
present, and dozen Spanish privateers
can cause it to remain so.
| The Spanish, Throne Room.
The throne room Of Spain is mag
nifice Mt apartment of crimson and gold
with colossal mirrors md chandelier
cf rock crystal that is considered thu