Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-05-17
Copyright, Associated Press.)

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is sent TO the front The first of those
who will attend the wounded On board
ship reached Key West on Wednesday
in the United States ambulance ship
Solace. The Solace has been at anchor
for several weeks at Hampton Roads.
Her ofncers, surgeons and others were
anxious to get to work. if there was
work to be DONE On the Saturday pre-
yiCus she received orders to get near
the scene Of action. OF course the plan
is to have the Solace where she will
do the most good
The Solace has a mission to fulfill be-
side caring for the wounded, and that
is to cross the Florida strait End visit
each Of the warsihips Of the blockadlng
fleet. Among the sick of the blockad-
ing feet the delicacies provided by the
Colonial Danes will be distributed, or
else they will be stored on the various
ships for future use. The ambulance
ship has been bountifully provided by
the women of America with the good
things that are generally lacking at sea
and in the field. Perhaps no ship Of
the war will be the center of so much
concern as the Solace. Her white sides
and her Red Cross flag Will mark her
to friend and foe. Her mission will be
one Of mercy-to build up $hat which
has been partially destroyed: to care
for the wounded. to
CCMFCRRT THE DYING.
She is staunch and fast, and geo or
more wounded sailors can be accommo-
dated on board this floating hospital.
While the battle RACES the Solace will
occupy position similar to that of the
hospital tents ashore, and after the bat
tie her boats will be sent to the ships
and the wounded will be removed Then
so soon as possible she will carry her
patients to the hospitals at some port
Of safety.
AT Newport News and at other ports
at which the Solace has touched the
work Of fitting her out has been COM
pleted, and now she in every way re-
sembles the most modern hospitals. She
is divided into wards, with hunks, mar
row but each separated from &ne other
by passageways. The operating room
is finely equipped with surgical instru
ments, and there is tiled bathroom
with an appliance for heating or cool
ing the water: complete parapherna-
liza for treating wounds and GONZALES
cents room.
The commander of the Solace is An
drew Dunlap, pleasant, hearty, genial
naval officer. The surgeon is DR.. Thomas
H Streets, and DR.. G. F. Stokes, Spast
assistant surgeon of the United States
navy, is chief assistant The other sur
geons on board the Solace are Dr.. G. It.
Smith and DR.. E. S. Bogart. There are
eight nurses from the Bellevue school
on board, and three apothecaries have
been provided.
There as CHASTITY department to the
floating ambulance The Solace
CARRIES COFFINS
in a section Of the boat set aside for the
care Of the dead. No one known or I'M
known, need be buried at sea or be
placed away in desolate corner of the
Cuban coast. Arrangements have been
made for the embalming of bodies, after
which they may be deposited in metal
lined boxes, a number of which are
stored away on the Solace.
The officers of the Solace believe she
will prove a model boat of her class.
The day of modern warship, with her
vast turrets, and great guns, her closed
compartments, and everything cleared
away for battle, has so changed the con-
dition which formerly prevailed that
there is no room for the working of
guns, and the caring for the wounded
at one and the same time. Those who
fall in a naval battle of to-day are not
to be suffocated in the grimy fighting
boxes, until the ambulance boat can
gather up the wounded and care for
them.
Those who have been taught ''the first
aid to the injured on board the Solace
have been led step further in the last
few weeks. They have been taught
how best to carry wounded by hand or
hammocks through the narrow passage
of the hospital ship where a stretcher
would fail to pass.
The Solace has a displacement of g.
900 tons and an average speed of IA
knots. She is $40 feet over all and is a
sharp-nosed boat of fine lines A dark
stripe runs around her white side, and
with the red cross flag flying, she will
be protected by the articles of the Ge-
neya convention.