Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-12-28

recently left Fort Ethan Allen with the
s3d Regiment, where 1t was recruited for
! the Philippines sailing from New YORK
via Suez Canal. The iett0s are written
to Mrs Snyder now with her parents, MT.
and Mrs G. b. Drury at Essex Junction
and are very interesting. They are written
from day to day and mailed when port
is reached. Among other thlngs they con-
tain descriptions OF HE upon the trans
port Meade charming descriptions 1f
ports at which the transport mas touched
ana incidents OF the trip.
IN po.rd rransnort "Ne.do
| 49,, oo ooo
| 49, -V'''
| The vessel is about in the center OF the
Atlantic the sea is smooth as can be en-
nected The weather is and has been fine
and a rainbow is visible in the northeast.
There is every reason to be satisfied and
/ I think I can say that | am as much so
as possible under the circumstances For
the first time since last Thursday even
ing (Which meal [ did not retain) | have
heen in the dining room Have been dread
! fully seasick but almost every person in
the boat including many of the crew,
have been in the same condition.
We left New York on the morning of
the 10th, under the most favorable con-
ditions and travelled more than a hun
dred miles oceanward before the heavy
seas were encountered. Oh how she roll
cd pitched. heaved and tossed. This was
due to a number Of causes. The boat her
self is topheavy. The government paid
$4,000 for her and then spent s2JD0D in
improvements dusing which all of the
life boats and other paraphernalia Gsual-
ly kept ca the upper deck were placed
on a superstructure raised above this
deck. Again, although the weather was
fine, there was a heavy sea rolling, the
swells being 20 to 20 feet in height and
QUE course was such that we rolled d.
n ha nf Tho
storms of the past week caused this swell
and it took 100 mi es of sailing to get
away from its area Sometimes l succeed
ed In retaining an orange as meal but
usually was not SO fortunate. Everything
on the boat was tied fast. and for three
nights | lay awake. holding myself fast
in the berth. listening 20 the clatter of
tin pans and dishes in the kitchen and
suffering agon.es from continued nausea.
one two of the officers were unfor-
tunate enough to relax their grip while
asleep and were thrown out on the floor
to play hide and seek with their trunks,
etc. As | Informed you before | left, al
ter the first day out overcoats were uh-
, necessary and many of the officers have
donned Khaki uniforms. At this season of
the year, all vessels bound for Gibraltar
take quite a southerly course to avoid the
storms of the North Atlantic. We are now
in latitude of about 81 degrcess steering
directly TO Madeira which will, | presume,
correspond with the Carolinas. The Gulf
Stream brought warm wea ther and the
Equatorial return current continues the
: same The ocean water is quite warm go
that there is hardly any change at night,
and a few OF the officers slept on deck
last night. On the second night out there
was an alarm of fire. The coloners order
" came to all the state rooms and told
the officers to come to the saloon to be
with the * o. in case of n panic. I heard
ha orIprly hut in such COndi ton
that / never strred-in fact was of the
opinion that it would be a great relief il
: the ship did burn for then the Internal
rolling and pitching would stop. 1t appear
: "a that the charcoal packing around one
of the ice boxes near n steam pipe had
, taken fire and was extinguished without
much difficulty. Last night there was an
= other little hitch sonnet hing wrong wi h
g the steering apparatus, but in a short
1 time ALI was righted and we moved for
2 ward again Yesterday the total distance
3 travelled was 322 knots--each knot equal
ling la miles approximately. The en-
zines are 1000 horse power Think of that
1T means the pul! of more than fifteen
u miles of horses hitched one after the
: other nose 10 tail They are built on the
I triple EXPANSION plan The steam enters
u the first one at a pressure of about Ito
nounds. does its work there and passes ia
II the second steam chest. where il agln
. exerts a force of &C pounds on the second
= niston From here ii passes to "A third
e low pressure cylinder, where II spends It's
;. remaining force together with atmosphe riC
e nressurc and passes directly into the con-
r denser. and Is converted into water and
returned as such into the boiler to do the
r came work over again. No salt water is
used as IL corrodes the boilers. The fur
l. mace room is a dreadful place. The heat
= is intense and the men work. naked &c
J., the waist and black as negroes. The,
= looked like inns as with long hand cd
a nokers they stirred I'm the q raging fires
% naressorv to keen the shin moving I hea,
n that the stokers are sometimes seized
win a snecies of madness during which
;, do moi wonder nj IL ona hit The shin 1.
n I1o fcet long and 40 feet wide d,,iven n,
- o,o nronaller Most modern shins ar,
>, driven nv two or three propellers any on,
i, ~ which is able to keen the boat movins q
- Sucb an accident as the breaking off ant
- dronni,,g into depth OF the ocean Of =
-, nronalIeC has occurred II this should ha n
non 70 ms we would be helpless. for tn,
"Neade" carries no sails Orr table is al
,tat can h, desired-the food is ahund
On, and Of great variety Among IN.
,,oat. wa have had email on toast turkax
nbicten goose duck dsh Of many va
n rin,ias benf rnutton yea, nork fros,
u. ara salt or the Vegetables notatoes
= .u,aat and Irish tu,,,ins snus sh opiops
aa,Iieowor cabbaee heats etc NJ,
$50, di.bas of which know not ~,