The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-01-24
n DEwEY,s FLEET

MeCulloeh starts Homc-The Revenue
Cutter VIII be the First Vessel to
Reach America Which Was I'm the
Battle of Mania Bay-HistOry of the
voyage
Especial Correspondence Chicago Rec
ord.)
Manila, November 17.-At 2 o'clock
yesterday afternoon the McCulloch
started for home. When she left her
anchorage near Cavite and swung in
on admiral's sweep toward where the
Baltimore and Olympia lay, passing on
the way the Monadnock and Monterey,
her forecastle deck was white with can
vas suits. and underneath each blouse
was a heart made happy by the thought
that the ships destination was home.
From the main deck f1oated the
homeward bound %pennant, arching Its
ribboned length of 200 feet in a giant
curve far out over the swirling wake,
and the gilded bladder at the end Wav-
ed and snapped as the screw turned
faster and faster, and the waters OF the
sea curled in long folds away from the
stem. She looked as trim and grace
full as a yacht. Her deck was as white
Is a bread board. The brassWork
shone like gold in the sunshine. The
slender masts rcse from the leaden
sweep of her hull like lances in rest
after the battle is o The bay was
quiet and smooth, and the McCulloch
came around looking as proud and
happy as a bride, with her veil of
spray and train of foam.
FIRST OF DEWEY'S FLEET HOME.
She will be the first to reach America
of those seven gray ships Of Animal
Dewey's that sailed away from China
last April bound for Manila. To the
other ships that watched her yesterday
it was like losing a little sister. Every
man of the Baltimore, Olympia, Mon
terey and Monadnock was on deck to
see her go, and hundreds of wistful eyes
followed her course until only a smudge
of smoke showed on the horizon in
Boca Grande.
Captain Hooper was on the bridge
with several of his officers. When his
ship passed the Baltimore the band on
the big war ship struck up Aud Lang
Syne' and the sailors scrambled up
1HLO Tie IlSSIlS dlu saw L |HSNA1
for the McCulloch. The crew of the
latter answered from the rigging OF
their ship. Officers waved their caps
and tears came to the eyes OF many OF
the sailors who watched the futtering
pennant. The band played The Girl
l Left Behind Me-" which had no local
application, for there will be no aching
hearts for girls here in Manila. When
the McCulloch passed the Olympia Ad-
miral Dewey and Captain Lambertor
were waving their caps from the quar-
ter deck and the rigging was sWarmlng
with jackies, cheering her on her way.
Then she steamed across to where the
Raleigh lay, just off Manila, and there
were more cheers and more homesick
eyes.
PLAYED AN IMPORTANT PART.
The departure of the McCulloch takes
away from Manila one of the most in
teresting ships of the fleet, and one
which by combination of circumstances
has played an important part in the
war operations in the Philippines.
In view Of the part she has played
out here and the interest which must
be attached to any vessel of Admiral
Dewey's fleet, a review of her career
probably will be interesting. 1t is the
story of how a pleasure trip became
invested with certain amount of Sc
robustness and how the McCulloch I'M
intentionally happened to be just where
she was most needed at just the right
time. Last November, just a year ago.,
she was turned out of Cramps yard
in Philadelphia, and in December prac-
tically was ready for sea.
The McCulloch was the largest and
most costly vessel ever built for the
revenue service, and, being intended for
work on the Pacific coast, the secretary
of the treasury decided after some dis
cussion to send her to San Francisco
by the Suez instead of around South
America, although for a time it was
thought she would take the latter route.
There is a difference of only about 1000
miles in the two routes, but coal is
cheaper on the SueZ route.
VOYAGE BECOMES THRILLING
On February 10th, after a mill pond
trip on the Mediterranean, the ship put
into Malta, just in time to see a tWo-
line Reuter- telegram saying that the
Maine had been blown up. Port Said
ana CAIRO anu oueL Tic CCA0Slon0 W
came more alarming and the situation
seemed very threatening. The voyage
then became thrilling. In the Red sea
there was beautiful weather until the
vessel reached the lower end, when a
terrific gale from the south struck the
ship. For two days she steamed back
and forth behind a small volcanic is
land on a beat less than a mile long.
1t was too deep to anchor, but the pro-
lection afforded in the lee of the island
was sufficient to shelter the ship from
the gale in the open sea. AS the wind
went down the course was resumed on
through the ~treacherous Strait of Babel
Mandeb to Alden. 1t was less than a
week later when the big new P. and 0.
steamer China went ashore in the strait