Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1898-09-29
THE NAVY'S PIRATE SHIPS.
Narrow Escapes of the Crews of the
ST. Louis, the Harvard and
the Yale.

The officers and enlisted men whc
compose the crews of the American
line ships converted into auxiliary
cruisers know the full value of the old
saw: "All's we'll that ends we'll" To-
day they are duly commissioned off,
GERS and enlisted men in the United
States volunteer navy, covered with
glory and enriched with prize money,
but they think with shudders of the
fate which might have been theirs.
Without their knowledge they took
risks far greater than ordinary sea SOL
diers when the ships of the American
line passed into the hands of the United
States government; and if the stories
which have been told are true they
might have suffered the fate of pirates
had they been captured by any ship Of
the late Spanish navy.
When the St. Paul went into commits
sion Capt. Sigsbee was placed in COM
mand, and the crew of the ship, or az,
many of them as wished to enter the;
United States service, were sworn In
and became members of the volunteer,
navy. The process of enlistment and:
the formalities connected with the
transfer from the merchant to the reg
ular service was slow and took several
weeks to accomplish.
The need for ships became pressing;
and when the ST. Louis, the Paris and
the New York were placed in commits
sion formalities were dispensed with,
The crews were retained, and an officer
of the navy was placed in charge Of
each vessel. Neither the officers nor
the men seemed to think that there
was anything wrong or irregular about
the proceeding until one of the Ameril
can line vessels captured prize, and
then the question came up: What
would have been the consequence il the!
Spaniards had captured us?"
Then it occurred to some of the men
that they were not regularly enlisted,
and that if they fell into the hands of
the enemy, especially an enemy like
Spain, they might be treated as pirates.
The fear was not groundless, accord
ing to the opinion of officers who gave
the matter attention, and for that rea;
son the refusal of some of the men to
remain in the service under the COM
ditions was not charged against them.
There was an officer on board OF
each ship" said a naval officer, whose
position was similar to that of an adj
miral on board flagship. The various
captains sailed the ships, but under the
directions of the naval officers, who
were also empowered to act as the rep
resentatives of the government under
certain circumstances, and, like the
commanders of other United States
vessels, had to be familiar with inter-
national law. Even these regularly
commissioned officers took extra risk
by commanding the irregular crews;
because in case of capture they might
have been looked upon as the leaders
of pirate crews, despite the fact that
they held commissions in the United
States navy.
''It is all over now; there is no Span5
ish navy to fear, and we may confess
that there was some irregularity in the
start"
The pirate point was wiped out In
June, when all the men on board the
| ST. Louis and the Yale and the Harvard
formerly the Paris and the New York
were mustered into the service and
the officers were commissioned in regu.
lar form; hut there seems to be no
doubt that early in the war those ves-
sells We're dangerously near the pirate
class, and their men would have Jared
badly at the hands of Spanish captors
If there had been Spanish captor.-
n. Y. Tribune.