West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1899-03-02
HER NAME AZ THE TOP.
~. 6. S. I~:oos!yn" Went Ah9va
- =. 5. Sphinx"
A reroic Feat at MuseIt by Some OF
Uncle Sans oid 1ime Jack rars
That Thrilled the Hearts Of a hole
Ship Crew.

lyn, the "f"r'runner Uf the present
armOrrd cruiser. but the old Brook
lyn. which, during the civil war.
gained the Hane OF the Butcher
Shop mi no resemblance To the
foatln fortress that hurled de-
structi On into the fleet Of Admiral
CerveeI.
Thu old chip bore n great spread
o. carv1s and had but auxiliary
sto IN power. Her lofty NESTS and
crraking yards would seem singu-
larly out Of place today, but they
served their purpose in their own
time. Her open deck, with double
row of muzzle loading. snootbore
guns. looked like II scene from u
medieval drama, and when she
went to sea, the tapping of the
sails and the snap of the cordage
were not an u%nwelceme lullaSy to
those who slept beneath her cold
white decks.
This old Brooklyn sailed one
day from New York, bound upon a
rowing cruise and came in time to
the Azores islands, whence she
sailed for Lisbon and Gibralter and
passing through the Mediterranean
and the Suez canal, steamed slowly
down the scorehing Red sca. A
stop at Alden for u day or two made
her ready for a journey to the
Persian gulf, bat when the galf Of
Ormaz was re ched the skipper
thought 10 take u look ut Muscat,
and so the course was shaped for
the capital Ct the son Of Abraham,
whose forefathers for hundreds,
nay, thousands, of years, had been
sheiks of the desert.
In all her journey the good ship
had entered not a port wher. the
proud cross OF St. George could
not be seen from The staff of a
British man ef-war, but here at
Muscat 1t was thought that at least
u flag would be the only token
of western civilization in evidence.
But 1t was nor so, for. MS the
Brooklyn rounded n high promon
tory that shut in The llttle harbor.
there, lying 1T unchor, vas SEEN
the English gunboat Sphinx with
her milk white flag floating above
her.
Muscat had much that was
strange and weird to interest the
Americans, but neither the palace
OF the sultan, with its double wall,
between the two parts of which are
Kept the tigers whose duty it is to
guard the palace at night, nor the
gorgeous apparel of the sultan him
self had half the attraction for the
westerners that the grim, sheer
face OF the promontory that shuts
in the harbor had for thgre upon
the bleak wall of this towering
height were painted the names Of
many ships aad high above them
all, in a place that seemed ,naccss.
sible, were the words, Oh. NJ. S.
Sphinx"
The men Of the Brooklyn stared
at that name day after day, until
it seemed burned into their brairs,
and the spirit of emulation grew
within them.
The night before the Brooklyn
was to sail for Persian waters
there were evidences Of a secret
movement among the crew,
and after the night had fallen still
and black a boat pulled of from
the vessels side, and with mufisd
oars made rapidly for Che shore.
1t carried many things Of Various
sorts, and among them a lantern
whose tiny glimmer those on the
ships watched with bated breath as
it reached the shore and slowly be
gan the ascent Of the promoutory.
Now it would disappear aud then
glitter again like 4 star Of hope and
comfort, and so it went slowly on,
ever Up and up the face Of the out.
lined precipice.
The hours dragged slowly by,
and 10 was faT into the night when
90 n