The Brinkley argus., 1898-09-08
Fishing for Submarine Mines.

locked harbor in a launch, towing
 chain behind you and seraping
 bed of ooze with it to find iron
 cases of guncotton is held in the
 navy to be the finest kind of fish
 ing, says the New York Sun. The
 first time that you go out to drag
 for mines you will find it very
 difficult to look blase and uncon-
 cerned and you will wonder why
 the older hands at the business
 are apparently so very careless in
 handing the treacherous creatures.
 For what reas~n on earth the Spaniards sowed fifty mines i'll the long Guantanamo bay, at $500 mine, does not yet appear.
 But the mines were put there just
 before the war began, and it was
 part of the process of converting the harbor into a United States
 naval station to remove them.
 The work was begun on Tuesday, July 26, and instructed to the
 Marblehead. Her commander,
 the lndefatigable McCalla, served notice on the Newark that day | that he would like to borrow a
 steam launch and whale boat with
 crews to go with a similar outfit
 of his own and sweep tbe waters
 of the upper bay. The boats were
 sent him manned by the regular
 crews. "It is no use to ask for
 volunteers in thls navy any more. We've learned that in this war,
 and hereafter, when there's any
 thing up, we will ask to know who won't volunteer" said one of the
 officers. Heroism is joke among
 Uncle Sam's men-of-war, typifed by bos'n's mate on the Yankee,
 who is pleased to repeat orders in phrases like this, roaring in u voice like siren in a fog: "Now then thousand of ycu heroes tumble up here J
 Operations against the mines were begun at once, and this IS
 the way the experts went about 1t: A chain 125 feet long, fast ened to ropes Ill each of the whaleboats, was let out. This chain, called "the sweep" sank to the bottom by It's weight, and then the launches, some hundred feet apart, headed for the mine, dragging the sweep in big loop behind them. The mines were all contact mines; that is, mines which explode by contact with a ships bottom. They were anch- ored to the bed of the bay lying about twelve feet below the sur face of the water, and the sweep, sweeping over this bed, dragged the mine and anchorage along with 1t. At least, that is what it did usually.
 The boats would sweep down to l the mine lines and at some point 1 of the distance the ropes holding the sweep would begin to quiver and shake, and then the boats would approach. When the bows came together they were dashed i close, the sterns being also dashed but held huff oars length apart.
 With much heaving and grunt- l ing, foot after foot of it would { come over the gnnnels until some one of the sharp-eyed watchers, peering over the side, would yell out something about "stopv.
 From this part of the proceed i ings on great precaution was ex- ercised. The sweep was hauled in firmly, but very gently, the mine rising gradually, and then, just before it reached tho surface, Il brawny sailor, with leather gloves on his hands, in one of which he held a screwdriver, plung ed his hands into the water, in- serted the screwdriver under q wire stretched across the top of the mine. twisted the wire until 1t broke, put his forefnger through a convient ring, gave tremend- ous lift, and brought away cheesebox looking thing with n below like a milk-shake cup, which was the detopator, tine capgset to fire the mine.
 You could afford to be careless then. You conld punch and ham, mer the mine quite vigorously, |