Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-27
The Reconstructed Hartford in a
New Role.
With 4 CREW OF WESTERN men
She viii Make Her Way Around
to the Atlantic.
ATTRACTIVE
CRUISE
Written for The Evening Star.

| with which the name of Admiral Farragut
| is inseparably linked.
| The ship is to be placed in commission in
! September and to proceed from Mare
Island, Cal, where she has been recon-
structed, for the eastern coast, via either
| the Suez canal or Cape Horn. She WILL in
| her new sphere, occupy the unique position
| of being the first Of Uncle Sans fighting
| craft to be used exclusively for the train
| ing of green landsmen into the ways of the
| typical man-of-war' s-man.
Already, in anticipation of her coming to
Atlantic waters, the mayor of Hartford,
Conn, has requested that she he ordere! 20
| TIE Connecticut shores where it is expected
| she will be presented with a service of sill
yer by the city of Hartford.
The homecoming of the Hartford $
something more than a local affair. The
middle and the far west are to be given a
chance to infuse their vigorous blood into
the veins of the enlisted branch of the navy.
| Three hundred able-boded Americans resi-
dents Of the sections named, are to De re-
cruited for term of four years duty. the
training period of which is to be spent on
board the reconstructed Hartford once
t'arraguts flagship.
Officers and Men.
Arrangements for the enlistment of these
men have been perfected by Rear Admiral
A. S. Crowninshield, chief of the bureau Of
navigation, and Commander John NJ. Haw-
| ley, who has been designated by the de-
partment to command the good ship when
| she is put in commission at Mare Island.
| AS a result of consideration given the mat
| ter by the officials. Lieutenant Alexander
Sharp, jr., who commanded the converted
yacht Vixen in the celebrated naval bat
| tie of Santiago de Cuba, and who has been
selected to perform the eXactng duties Of
pN of iyaiIN Shi
| start next week on a tour of the western
states, accompanied by boatswain and a
medical officer to select the men who are
To form the greater part of the Hartford's
Implement.
Lieutenant Sharp's orders require him to
visit all the large cities in the west. He will
first visit Chicago. and during his trip is
expected to establish temporary recruiting
rendezvous in that city and also at ST
Louis. Topeka, Kan; Omaha, Neb.; Denver,
Col; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Francisco
| Cal, and other points at which he may be
| able to find satisfactory material
Western Men as Sailors.
THE desirability of western men as
| jackies.' said Commander Hawley. was
fully demonstrated during the late con-
| fiict with Spain. We obtained a number
| of recruits from the west, especially from
Illinois, who performed splendid service
during those trying months and L am
lacked, perhaps, the original training of
| sailormen, their intelligence and zeal soon
| overcame this difficulty, and they quickly
grew familiar with their duties in the
| Strictest sense of the word.
Unfortunately for the United States it
has no merchant marine like Great Britain
and some other Of our European neighbors
! from which to draw for additions to the
sailors there are are now in the navy, or
somewhat similarly employed on yachts In
| consequence, deal of difficulty is being
| experienced in getting the kind of men we
want from the traditional sources of sup
| ply, /. g., our seaboard cities of the east
and a few of the Pacific coast centers
| The middle and the far west, not in touch
with the sea, undoubtedly have a large
number or young men whom We are desir-
Gus to reach. No one who is not an Amerf-
can citizen, either by birth or naturaliza-
ton, Will be accepted. We want a strictly
| American navy. and all must be able to
| read and to write, to be fairly intelligent,
and to be ready to obey the instructions of
| their superior officers. The record of the
| war with Spain has shown what the navy
can do. and there are certainly hundreds
whom the sea now appeals as it never did
| before, and to whom Old Glory is dearer
| for what she has lately borne.
An Attractive Cruise.
1T is purposed to make the service as
attractive possible for those that enlist
as far it is possible to accomplish that
along the lines of a science that must teach
| first and last to shoot straight and often.
even though your fellow-man be the target
| 1t is departure to take landsmen aboard
ship for training without some previous
| instruction on a receiving ship or the like
But 1t is believed that good results may be
more quickly reached in this way when the
material is selected with especial care. To
break the radical transfer from shore life
| to this one of the deep sea some things out
| of the ordinary will contribute TO the good
cheer, comfort and life of the recruits. A
band will be stationed on board. a luxury
allowed only the fagships of fleets, and
the ship will cruise to touch at inter
esting foreign and domestic ports, where
the men will be granted a reasonable
| amount of liberty OF course, It is not in
tended that the cruise shall be one of exclu-
slVe pleasure. The men will be given careful
ana constant instruction in the workings
OF the snip, and with her sail power they
will have an opportunity to become ia
millar with the making of shifty, hardy
seameu, upon whose self-reliance in mo-
mentS or danger we have learned to rely
| 1t is the unexpected that nerves a man to
his best, If 1t be in him. and the seaman
ship of sails is the school that has the
hardest lessons to learn from the change
full sea.
Leaven of Experience.
Besides the 800 recruits who will be at
! tached to the ship, there will be a regular
enlisted force of $50 practiced seamen
selected because of their ability to teach
and to lead their new companions. 1t will
be the duty of these older men to direct
the educational work of a practical nature
and these men will In turn be under the
supervision of officers peculiarly gifted with
the quality of leadership.
THE Hartford is not the same old craft
that stood those frightful ordeals of fire
thirty odd years ago, although she has
retained most of the fine lines that digni-
aed her in the days Of old. Except in name