The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-07-29

A Naval Officer Points Out Numer,
Expedition Is In Line with M,
Shortly after the breaking out of this
war of ours with Spain a flying squad
ron, under the command of Commodore
Schley, was formed. The suggestion
was made at that time that this squad
ron proceed to the Mediterranean, cap
ture Port Mohon, on Minorca, mi of
he Belearic islands, and, using that
well known harbor as a base, proceed
to ravage the coasts of the kingdom.
A somewhat similar plan is abou to
be adopted, and, though the details diff
fer somewhat from thise originally
suggested, the idea underlying the
scheme is practically the same. 1t is
to carry h war into Spain, so as to
impress upon the people of that be-
nighted kingdom that there is really
a serious, dangerous val being fought
against them, that they are powerless
to oppose it, and that, unless they
would suffer dire disaster, they would
better sue for peace, and be quick about
it, too.
A very powerful squadron is the one
our navy department will dispatch to
"singe the beard of the king Of Spain"
though that the unfortunate young
boy king has not yet grown his beard
will not prevent his feeling the warmth
of the shot Of our guns. It is COM
manded by Commodore John Critten-
den Watson, a man who is devoid of
the sense Of fear, who is bold to a
fault, n who will take any risk un-
~hesitatingly. Watson was Farragut's
flag lieutenant off New Orleans, Mobile,
Vicksburg and Port Hudson. He knows
we'll he music of the annon ball and
the din of battle, and, while he is a
thorough Christian gentleman, full of
Christian virtues, he relishes shooting
and being shot at.
This determination to wage war about
the distant coasts of a foreign enemy's
country, and over which he claims SOW
ereignty is not new in our history.
Repeatedly W. we made attacks upon
the coasts, the commerce and the ships
of an enemy, and victory has invari-
ably crowned our efforts.
The first American vessel of war to
show the stars and stripes abroad was
the sixteen gun brig Reprisal, com
manded by Lieutenant Lambert Wilkes
and the first time the flag was eve
foated over a foreign fortress was a
little later, when the brig Providence
captured Fort Nassau on the island of
New Providence. The Providence car
ried' twenty-five guns, and sailed in
squadron from the Delaware to attack
a British force then ravaging the
coasts of Virginia. Admiral Hopkins,
an energetic officer, was the command
er-in-chief, and, not finding the enemy,
he steered for New Providence, in the
Bahamas. He captured the place and
destroyed many stores. 1t is peculiarly
interesting in this connection to note
that Hopkins landing party consisted
of about three hundred men, and on this
occasion, the first that ever occurred
in the regular American navy, the ma
rines, under the command of Captain
Nichols, appear to have behaved with
the spirit and readiness that have dis
tinguished the corps from that hour
down to the present moment
Paul Jones, that redoubtable old
warrior who never wearied in doing
deeds of extraordinary daring, accom-
plished no less a feat than taking the
American man-of-war Ranger, a SLOW,
cranky vessel of eighteen guns, into
the port of Whitehaven. He seized
forts, spiked the guns and then boarded
a ship and set fire to it. This one man
terrrorized the coast, paralyzed trade
and set all h people into a state of
trepidation lest he return and worse
befalll them. Something akin to his
Feeling of dread alarm, of constant
fear, is what Commodore Watson will
inspire in the breasts of the Spaniards
when they see the fine ships standing
in toward their ports firing shot and
shell and hen Fastening away to some
other haven to repeat the same per-
Torrance.
Captain Wickes, with the Reprisal
and a couple of other ships. made a
tour of the coast Of ireland in 1777,
going about his work of capturing
prizes and Selling everything O his
size he could lay hands on, in much the
same way Paul Jones did, and very
much the same way we trust Commo-
dore Watson will do when he reaches
his cruising ground.
Of Conyngham, another one of those
d~aredevils of the seas, COMMISSIONS
Deane reported: "Conyngham by his
first and second expeditions is become
the terror Of all the eastern coast of
England and Scotland" This bold nav
igator commanded the Revenge. He
was searched for high and low, but
Disgusting his ship he not only went
into an English port unrecognized, but
actually fitted out his ship there with
out detection. Of course, Commodore
Watson could not possibly hope to be
able to do such an astonishing bit of
work as this. The Tripoli var furnishes
many examples of bold raiding by
ships and of great, ever astonishing,
personal bravery. Decatur's cutting
out of the Philadelphia from under the
guns of the Tripolitan forts was an act
in many ways similar to Hobson's tax
ing the Merrimac into Santiago.
A famous cruise far away from home
was that of Captain Porter in the Es-
sex. For months his resourceful COM
mander cruised in the Pacific, carrying
on his work of destruction and depre-
dalton. He drove the English flag off