The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1899-10-11
ADMIRAL DEWEY'S
NAVAL PAGEANT
Vivid Description of the Parade as
1t Passed Up the Hudson.
THE CROWD STUPENDOUS
GreateSI Spectacle OF the Kind Ever
Seen In the WOhd--NO Un-
toward Incident,
THE CROWD STuPENDOUS

The naval parade from the vantage
point Of the warships was an Immense
marine picture. water pageant with
80 little Of incident compared with its
great size that 1t appealed to the eye
as q painting rather than a drama.
The vast gathering Of water craft
maintalned an average speed of eight
knots, but so magnificent was its area
that the impression to an observer
stationed on the New York was one OF
exceedingly slow and stately move
ment. The picture was continually
changing. but It melted so steadily and
In such measured rhythm from the
form to form that the sense Of motion
was largely lost. 1t started under q
brilliant sky. passed at the mouth Of
the Hudson through the threat Of an
ugly storm. and emerged through a
rainbow arch that stretched from shore
to shore into a clear and brilliant sun
set on Grants tomb.
The night had been a busy one in
the feet Of warships OF Tompkinsville
The last details Of the coming days
ceremony were hardly settled before
the day itself broke on a scene Of
greater activity than the old time an
chorage had ever witnessed before.
The great vessels Of the White squad
ron swung at their anchorage as for
the last two days, but the crowd Of
neighboring craft had been swelled past
counting. AS far as could Be seen the
water was a mass Of moving steamers
from Stapleton across the wide reach
Of the harbor to the Erie Basin, and
from the Battery to the Narrows the
water was alive. It was a modern ar
mada. against which the Armada
launched by Philip Of Spain would have
seemed childs toy. 1t was a moving,
shifting picture OF tugs, police boats,
freboats. torpedo boats. yachts.
launches, tramp steamers and ocean
liners, and sailing craft Of every rig.
with big ferry boats and excursion
boats ploughlng their way through the
mass in mysterious paths that opened
before them and closed again behind
them like the ice Of an Arctic foe.
The only stable points in the scene
at the early hour were the warships.
They lay like great, white, grounded
bergs, about which the pack ice turned
and swirled without moving them from
their moorings 1t was a morning Of
repressed excitement on board the New
York and the other ships behind the
Olympia. Every thing had been clean
ed and Furnished from ram to rudder.
The crew was as spotless as the vessel,
every one, from the admiral to the
ensigns, groomed to drawing-room
fitness.
There were few callers. Sir Thomas
Upton came aboard from the torpedo
boat Norris with Chevalier de Martlno,
the queens maritime artist The art
ist remained for the day. but Sir
Thomas Upton, after a hurried chat
with Admiral Sampson and Captain
Chadwick, ran down the ladder like a
boy and scurried off to the Erin, En-
sign Della Georges, of the Greek navy,
also came aboard, and remained
throughout the day.
Noon was ushered in with scream
Of whistles that lasted five minutes,
during which steam enough was vast
ed to run an ocean liner to the
Azores.
The last faraway echo had hardly
drifted back from the Staten island
hills when a sudden impulse seemed to
seize the far reaching mass Of tugs
and other craft. Instead Of drifting
idly round and round the warships, like
chips in an eddy they began to steam
away to the south in parallel lines, as
though an unseen current were bearing
them out to sea. But as they vanished
in scores toward the Narrows there
were hundreds more that swept down
from up the harbor. Then there was
scurrying home of the white hooded
steam cutters Of the warships. The
great boat cranes amidships reached
down their graphing hooks and whlsk-
ed the pinnaces aboard. Megaphone
commands flung across the water
brought the torpedo boats to the olym-
pia's quarters.