Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-05-16
HER NAME ATTHE TOP
"U. S. S. BROOKLYN" WENT ABOVE
"H. M. S. SPHINX"

Heroic Feat mt Muscat by Some
of Uncle Sans Old Time Jack Tars
That Thrilled the Hearts of N Whole
Ships Crew.
There was once another Brooklyn,
the forerunner of the present armored
cruiser, but the old Brooklyn, which,
during the civil war, gained the name
of the Butcher Shop" had no resem-
piance to the floating fortress that
hurled destruction into the feet of Ad-
miral Cervera.
The old ship bore a great spread of
canvas and had but auxiliary steam
power. Her lofty masts and creaking
yards would seem singularIy out of
place today, but they served their pur-
pose in their own time. Her open deck,
with double row of muzzle loading.
smoothbore guns, looked like a scene
from medieval drama. and when she
went to sea the Tapping of the sails
and the snap of the cordage We're not an
unwelcome lullaby to those who slept
beneath her cool 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 Gibraltar and, passing through the
Mediterranean and the Suez canal.
steamed slowly down the scorching Red
sea. A stop at Alden for day or two
made her ready for journey to the
Persian gulf. but when the gulf of
Ormaz was reached the skipper thought
to take look at Muscat. and so the
course was shaped for the capital of 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 port where the proud
cross of st. George could not be seen
from the staff of British man of war,
but here at Muscat it was thought that
at least our flag would be the only token
of western civilization in evidence. But
it was not so, for, as the Brooklyn
rounded a high promontory that shut
i'll the little harbOr, there, lying at an
Choir, was seen the English gunboat
Sphinx with her milk white flag float
ing above her.
Muscat had much that was strange
and weird to interest the Americans,
but neither the palace of the sultan,
with it's double wall, between the two
parts of which are kept the tigers
whose duty it is to guard the palace at
night, nor the imperial harem's grim
exterior, nor the gorgeous apparel of the
sultan himself had half the attraction
for the westerners that the grim, sheer
face of the promontory that shuts in the
harbor had; for there upon the bleak
wall of this towering height were
painted the names of many ships, and
high above them all, i'll place that
seemed inaccessible, were the words,
"H. NJ. S. Sphinx. -
The men of the Brooklyn stared at
that name day after day, until it seemed
burned into their brains. and the spirit
of emulation grew within them.
The night before the Brooklyn was
to sail for Persian waters there were
evidences of q Secret movement among
the crew, and after the night had fallen |
still and black boat pulled off from |
the vessels side, and with muffied oars |
made rapidly for the shore. 1t carried |
many things of various sorts, and among |
them lantern, whose tiny glimmer |
those On the ships watched with bated |
breath as 1t reached the shore and slow |
" began the ascent of the promontory. /
Now it would disappear and then gilt
ter again like star of hope and COM
fort, and SO it went slowly on, ever up |
and up the face of the outlined precipice.
The hours dragged slowly by, and it |
was far into the night when tired |
boats crew clambered slowly over the |
side and dropped exhausted |
into their hammocks for a short sleep |
before the call of "all hands, in the
The Brooklyn sailed away just as the
sun began to show above the eastern
horizon, and as she swung upon her
course and stood for the waters of the
open gulf cheer burst from the threats
IF the whole ships company. For there,
IN great letters of white that caught the
warmth of the rising sun, far above the
name of her majesty's ship Sphinx, far
above the highest name of all. could be
seen the legend ~. S. S Brooklyn"
And there today, looking down upon
he tiger guarded palace and the harem
IF the sultan, ever before the Arabs and
he Beloochistanese of the tiny sultan
lte, still CLEANS the magic name that
Schley and Cook once again made ia
nous and that shall endure in history
when Muscat itself shall be forgotten.