The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-01-01

of excitement may be a qualification.
One of the feverish accounts of the
sinking of Cervera's fleet began: las
the smoke from the Spanish vessels
rose from behind the hills at the mar
row entrance of Santiago harbor, a
hurried signal from the Brooklyn was
followed by a rush of the American
crews to the winches. and then all the
Yankee ships weighed anchor and
started full speed after the enemy"
The account was possibly graphic,
but it was not true. The crews did
not rush to the Winches, because they
We're not ordered to do so; there would
have been no object. The ships did
not weigh anchor, because in weeks
they had not dropped an anchor. They
did not start at full speed, because
they were not in condition.
On a modern warShip all the facts
of a fight are not to be seen from the
bridge. There are important facts
which lurk in what the word-mongers
call the bowels of the ship" Some
news seekers appear inclined to think
that on the bridge and in the cabin of
the commander they will find the foun-
tainS of all knowledge. Besides, it is
pleasanter there than in the depths.
How was it that the correspondents at
Santiago omitted to mention fact no
less important than thiS-that on that.
Sunday morning when the Spanish fleet
broke out from the harbor of Santiago
the American fleet was unprepared to
make a quick movement of any kind
in the face of the enemy?
For the navy the war with Spain in
American waters was an engineers war
The man behind the gun" gave splen-
did SerVice-none better-and won glory
for it. So much praise was used up
on him that the supply was inadequate
for distribution among all branches of
the navy. Jackie deserved his honors
But even American warships do not
move by wishing or by gun fire. The
engineers put the ships where 1.-The
man behind the gun" could give an
account of himself Admirals and cap
tains are brave enough, and keen tao
ticians no doubt, but the best part of
the Spanish fleet would have slipped
through somebody's fingers that Sun
day morning at Santiago if Americas
lighting engineers had not by the
hardest of work, overcome the obsta-
Giles imposed upon them by orders from
the bridge If the fighting had been
against men more nearly kin-say
English or German-under conditions
identical with those off Santiago on the
morning of July 3, some American hulks
might now be rusting at the bottom Of
tropic seas. For engines were uncou-
pied, and many fires out, and steam so
lew that all the energy of the stokers
was required to get it up again.
COULDN'T GIVE CHASE.
The American ships had been off the
coast for weeks, waiting for the enemy
to come out. When the enemy came
out the American ships We're ready to
shoot, but not to give chase This was
no fault Of the engineers. It was not
the effect of overconfidence 1t was the
result of condition. The condition is
peculiar to naval practice. It was long
ago discarded in the merchant marine
In the merchant service a chief en-
gineer controls his department. In the
navy the captain controls the engin-
GERS, and is in turn controlled by the
commanding officer of the fleet. The
chief engineer of an Atlantic liner
looks to his captain for starting and
stopping signals only; for the rest, he
takes his orders from his owners and
reports to them. The chief engineer
alone is responsible for the care, OPP
GRAFTON and economy of the machinery.
In the navy the ships captain decides
how many boilers shall be used, how
much coal shall be burned, what pres
sure shall be carried. And the Amer
lean captains at Santiago had every
thing in readiness except their boilers
and engines. There were two eXcep-
tions-the oregon and the Gloucester.
The whole world, not excepting the
Spanish officers, has praised the Ore
CONS wonderful work-cruising and
fighting. What the Oregon did other
American ships could do with similar
men. The Oregon's record is a tribute
to the lighting engineers. 1t is a tribute
to the good sense of the commanding
officer who permitted his chief engi-
neer to control the engines. 1t is a
tribute to the engineer-in chief of the
navy, Commodore Melville who de-
signed the engines. 1t shows the re-
lation of the engineer to modern sea
fighting
From Bremerton, On Puget sound to
Jupiter inlet, on the Florida coast, Is
14,5OO nautical miles. The Oregon
steamed this distance in ! ,299 hours, in
Guiding stops for orders and coal; she
burned 1909 tons of coal; her highest
speed was 14.6 knots. her lowest 1015S,
her average 1116 For the most part
she suited her pace to that of the lit
tie Marietta, which she conveyed She
arrived at her journeys end, joined the
blockade, and entered the fight with
out having to make a requisition for
repairs
ETERNAL VIGILANCE
is the price of good engines Robert
Milligan, fighting engineer, and the
men under him put the Oregon where
the men behind the guns could destroy
the best ships of Spain. The Oregon
started down the Pacific without a
wartime complement of men-27 short
in the engineers force, and 81 less than
her builders furnished on her trial trip.
This meant work for the "a who had
to steam her to Jupiter inlet. When
the ship stopped at San Francisco. at
Callao, at Port lamar, at Punta
Arenas, at Rio, at Bahia, at Brarba-
does, they worked all the barber, for
there was coaling to be done and over
hauling in careful haste When the
coaling was especially rapid, the
officers and the men of the
engineers force worked twenty
four hours on an end, overhauling
and adjusting, so that no minute was
lost. The ship started when the bunk
ers were filled. There was never a min
ute's delay All the cruise through,
there was unremitting care. If a Joint
weeped, 1t was frightened on the in
slant. In the straits of Magellan the
men wanted to try the forced draught
That fact is proof of their spirit Fore
ed draught practice answers to Gen.
Sherman's description of war. 1t is
hell. Every ship in the United States
service is supposed by the regulations
to have a forced-draught test twice a
year. Only the commander of the ship
can order it. But some of the ships
have never made a forced draught run
since their trial trips. Perhaps the cap
tains do not believe in it. At any rate.
their men have not been trained to use
1t in emergency.
Milligan declined to ask the captain