The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-11-22
ON 4 TRANSPORT
Sea Carriage of Uncle
Sans Soldiers
cry Ship Is Provided With Al
Nscassariss and Comforts.
The SYST m.

| Uncle Sans transports. How shal
I describe them, They are the w1nde
OF Europe. France is making copies o
them for her army. and the British ar,
investigating their modern improve
ments for the comfort of the soldier
The creation OF the system is marve
to Christendom. Two years ag1 ~
had not a ship of the kind. Since theI
Iabout go. 900 soldiers have been carried
TO and from the West Indies AMI the
Philippines and the United States. ana
this has been done without the loss 0t
a single life by the carelessness OF oil
cials or defective arrangements. To-
day an army greater than that which
EenOphon led on his famous retreat 10
the sea is steaming across the Pacific,
and long before Christmas all the he y
regiments will have passed through
Manila on their way to the field of
action.
During the past summer | have mai 4
chance to see something of the freight
and passenger ships which Uncle Sam
owns. / have travelled on the bsst
steamship lines of the world, bu;
have yet to find ships better equipped
and better managed. | went to Porto
Rico on the Mcpherson; sailed thence
with thousand soldiers on the Mis-
sissippi to Cuba. and came back to the
United States on the same vessel.
have been upon many of the other
transports now on the Atlantic and Pa
cific, and as a fleet ! doubt whether
there is anything like it in Europe.
VESSELS OF ALL CLASSES.
Our transport fleet consists of sixty
four vessels of all classes. II has
eighteen large hips. some of which
burn 100 tons of coal a day and carry
eighteen hundred soldiers at one time.
such are the Grant. Sherman. Sheridan
and Thomas. Each of these ships is so
long that il would fill a city street %
feet wide from block TO block. II has
three or four great decks or storiesS
which are divided up into COmpart-
ments. rooms and quarters, making it
a very city in itself. When it starts
out il has enough soils aboard il TO
people large town. IL has something
like 2.Oys men. 1t has to carry this
crowd over from 1000 to l.. 1000 miles of
water as 10 whether it goes from San
Francisco or New York to Manila. and
II must feed ana keep them comfcrta-
bic during 2 voyage of thirty-siX or
forty-two days. II will be readily seen
that this task is no slight one, and that
il is exceedingly important that the
ship be properly arranged.
This has been the study of Quarter
master General Ludington and ms
force, and especially of Colonel Charles
Bird. ut the head of the transport divi-
sion ~ Washington; Colonel +. b.
Jones. general superintendent III the
army transport service, New York, and
Colonel o. F. Long of the same service
in San Francisco. Ii is through the
efforts of these men chiefly that the
modern transport has been evolved,
ship which IS peculiar to the United
States army. and which Surpasses in its
comforts anything of its kind in the
world. I wish l could take you on
some OF the ships which are now carry
ing the soldiers to the Philippines.
They are enormous vessels. built OF
steel. as high as SiX-Story house and
containing as many rooms as 4 big
summer hotel. They are heated by
steam and lighted by electricity. They
have great Kitchens with a corps OF
cooks, solutions and walters. Eacn has
a bakery. where all the bread used on
board is baked. Every one has cold
storage plant and refrigerator, which
keeps the meat fresh and gives green
vegetables and ripe fruits throughout
the voyage, and each has condensing
machines which distill pure water from
that of the sea and give the men fresh
water throughout the voyage.
SOLDIER LIFE ON \ TRANSPORT.
No effort is spared for the comfort of
the soldiers. Each man has his own
bunk. consisting of a canvas mattress,
OF sheet fastened to gas pipes, and so
stretched that it is as comfortable as
spring bed. These hunks are put up in
three tiers. one above another, ana are
so arranged that they can be taken
down during the day and the canvas
washed or aired, while the space can be
used for exercise. There is one deck
for eating and exercising. The meals
are served upon swinging tables, which
are let down from the ceiling and
drawn up between meals. In fact, not
an inch of room is wasted, and the men
have ample space for drill and play.
Each ship has a reading room, which
contains an organ and other musical
instruments, and is supplied with
books and papers, and especially with
song books for use in religious services.
The reading matter and music are not
furnished by the government, however,
but are a gift of the ladies of the Army
and Navy League of the United States.
In the new transport Logan the read
ing room is walled with glass.
One part of the main deck is set
aside for the hospital. This is at the
stern of the ship. well separated from
the other parts. 1t has city beds and is