The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-01-23

Not an ounce of salt water was al
lowed in the Oregon's boilers. Mill
gan, writing from Callao to brother
officer, said: Il fear that l am rapidly
becoming the most unpopular man in
the ship, because I am determined
that we shall not put salt water in
the boilers, and to that end have In
sisted TO the Captain that, if necessary,
we must cut down the fresh water al
| lowance for officers and men to the
bare amount necessary for drinking
and cooking, using salt water for bath
! ing and all other purposes
The lay mind might suppose that the
object of sending the fleet TO Santiago
was to have it ready TO jump at the
enemy at the sound Of the general
alarm. There is a touch of the farcical
/ in building warships, equipping them
with powerful machinery, to be able,
at the instant of battle, to get out of
them only a fraction of their power.
| But somebody in authority reasoned
| in the fashion of Gilbertian topsy-
turvydom. So the American fleet wait
ed for the Spaniards with engines I'M
coupled, boilers filled (as they had
| long been) with salt water when they
were not empty, and half the CRATES
as clean as whistles and as cold as ice
| boxes.
| ION the fighting ship the fighting
man must stand supreme said The
odore Roosevelt, when he was Assist
ant Secretary of the United States
| Navy And then he shrewdly added:
only he must know how to handle
his tools, and must change as the ship
changes, SO that, precisely as he once
knew about sails, now he must know
about engines. There can be no divid-
else it; but he must be thoroughly fit
| ted for it,
When there was no enemy anywhere
about-on the way from Hampton
Roads to Santiago-the flagship of the
| United States flying squadron had all
her engines and four of her boilers
in use. When she went on the block
ade at Santiago and had the enemy in
touch, the flagship of the flying squad
ron had only half her engine power
and half her boiler power ready Tor
| use Did the bridge expect the enemy
TO signal: Please connectyour engines
and boilers, and be good enough to
light your fires. l am coming out.'
4 ri mil. IUl1 10
pay the Brooklyn the compliment OF
his best intentions. He acknowledges
that he thought her the fastest of the
United States ships, and that his hope
was to disable or sink her. Admiral
Schley Commodore, as he then was)
turned his ship to starboard, swung to
the south, and ran seward before TAX
ing up a parallel course with the now
retreating Spaniards. Schley is report
ed to have turned his ship in order to
ed why he didn't do the ramming him
self But if he had desired to do it,
and if his ship had been built for it,
he couldn't have managed it with only
half his engine power. He had steam
in three boilers; of his remaining boil
ers some had water, others were emp
ty. The interesting manoeuvres of the
Brooklyn will be none the less inter-
esting if it is found, on investigation,
that standing orders from the bridge
ship of so much of her power that
she had to turn on her heel and keep
at respectful distance from the Span
lard
After the general alarm was sound
ed there was nothing for it but to fill
the Brooklyn's empty boilers with sea
water Then the fires had to be laid
and started. Just before the Colon sur
rendered-that is, just at the end Of |
the battle-all the Brooklyn's boilers |
were steaming at maximum pressure. |
But the forward engines were, of |
course, uncoupled still. There had been |
no time to stop or to slow up. The |
engineers had their hands full with |
the job of showing the ship after the
Spaniard, then pulling her away from
him, and then running so that the man
behind the gun could pump shells into
him. The Brooklyn's actual running
time over the forty-five miles from
Moro TO the stranded Colon was three
hours and nineteen minutes, a speed
of 1906 knots. And her rated speed
under natural draught, full power, is
IS knots; under forced draught, %
knots.
But the Brooklyn was not the only
ship caught unawares on that hustling
Sunday morning off Santiago bay.
flagship, the New York, was
one of the lame ducks of the fleet
The trifing distance between her east
ward position and the line of the dash