The record-union., 1898-05-15
NEW YORK HARBOR.
Regulations Intended to Safe
-sf guard Vessels.

- s~ASA
Since some little time before the
declaration Of war, the work of plant
ing" mines in the harbor for defense
against the ooeration of hostile fleet
had been vigorously prosecuted. AS
everybody knows the fields have
been laid out by the engineers in
charge, and the location of each of the
groups os mines determined Soon. It
is said. the last one will be in place.
Careless navigation of the harbor IS.
therefore, sheer foolhardiness on the
part of ships Captains, and, more
over, a great menace to the IN
tegrity of the intricate system OF
electrical connections, through wMch
the operators at the firing stations
control every single mine. To guard
against the breaking of the wires ana
the dislodgment of the mines, and to
protect the property of shipowners and
the lives of ships crews, the following
directions to nayigators have been Is
sued by authority of the Secretary OF
War. .
mo vessel will be allowed to pass
Sandy Hook. the Narrows or Execu- :
ton Rock except during daylight be-
tween 4 o'clock a. m. and s o'clock p. m.
At night vessels must not approach
within three miles of Coney Island,
Gedney Channel Sandy Hook or the
Narrows at the southern entrance, or
Execution Rock at the eastern entrance.
Patrol boats will be stationed above
and below the defenses. These boats
are authorized to stop vessels, to IN
ouire into their character, or to instruct
them how to pass through the mine
fields The orders of the patrol boats
must be strictly obeyed. Sailing yes
sells and all small vessels drawing three
feet or less can pass safely through at
any part of the channels during the
daytime Steam vessels must pass at
slow speed through special channels
marked by white iron buoys on the
starboard and white can buoys on the
port side, coming into the harbor. Yes
sells are warned that if they disregard
these regulations they will expose
themselves to serious damage, and will
be liable to be fired on by the batter
les"
These explicit regulations have been
printed and distributed and posted IN
conspicuous places, so that ignorance
of them cannot fairly be pleaded in ex-
cuSe for their violation. Yet they have
been persistently ignored by some Cap
tains Rear Admiral Erben, commender
of the mosquito. fieete, that is still "on
pc per- has been trying, with, as might
be expected, little success, to patrol the
harbor with two small boats belonging
to the city Police Department. He has
made an earnest request for the first of
the mosquito fleet, and expects soon to
have two OF three armed vessels under
his command. If his expectations are
realized he promises to make it warm
for the CAPTAINS who trespasS. on the
| fields. He seems to believe that the
only way to guard the mines from in
jury is to deal roughly with some of the
trespassers, and he threatens to make
an example when a good opportunity
offers. In the meantime he will use TO
the best advantage five unarmed tug
| beats which Governor Black recently
placed at his disposal
From day to day reports of the dis
| iodgment of mines and the disarrange-
ment of wires have been printed in the
newspapers No information about the
! harbor deferses is given nowadays, for
Fobvious and very good reasons; so
really nothing is generally known of
| the structure of the mines the depart
| ment has been laying, nor of the effect
| of violent contact with them. But it
| has been said in warning that some
| time or other a rowing vessel would
| be s'blown out of the water" 1t is in
! ferred. therefore, by the men who have
| been trying to find out that shock
would be sufficient to explode some Of
them The man who has general
| charge of the mine fields declined to
| tell the reporter whether this inference
was well drawn or not. At any rate,
certain of the mines have been torn
| from their fastenings and badly batter
/ ed by the propellers of some large steam
craft How can this be? is a question
frequently asked. In answering it an
official said to-day: ..Ridded of all
technical terms, the explanation simply
| is that the mines are not always set.
| The electrical circuit is not kept COM
plete. If it were, the PROV of a vessel
scraping the mine would be enough TO
| expledesit The circuit is broken at
| the firing stations: the turning of a
switch-a seconds time-is only needed
to make it. This done, any one of. the
mines can be exploded at will by touch
! ing button. or will explode at slight
shock. New York Evening Express.