The evening times., 1899-04-22
oNx YxA1 Aoo ropAY.
wAea the B.ltiners Joinea Dew
eY1n Fleet NJ Han9kanr

When the DaltineRs Joined Dew
ey,s Fleet at Hongkeng.
Chicago. April IA correspondent VII
was at Hongkong when Dewey sailed 10
Manila Bay, writing In the Tribune" de
scribes a. follows the arrival of the Balti
more to Join the American nest. at tha
port one year ago today:
Admiral Dewey's feet of lighting vessel
/ was completed as to numbers by the arriva
| Of the Baltimore In the Harbor Of Hong
kong year ago today. The arrival Of thi
| vessel had been anxiously awaited for som,
days. and IL was with feeling Of relie
and pleasure that the officers and men OF
| the other vessels saw the Baltimore sal
| into the harbor through Lyemun Pass ear
| ly Friday morning. April q.
The Baltimore had been stationed fol
| some time at Honolulu. and had been or.
dered to the Asiatic station with the in.
| tention OF making 1t the flagship of tn,
| squadron. 1t was to have taken the placs
Of the Olympia. which has been for thres
years on the station. and the other vesse
was to have been ordered to the MARI
Island navy yard for a thorough overhaul
ing.
The probability Of war caused the Sec
| retary Of the Navy to hurry the Baltimore
forward and also TO hold the Olympia unit
after 1t was definitely known if there
| should be war with Spain. Had the wal
been delayed three months it would have
been the Baltimore instead of the Olym-
pia which would have served as flagship ol
the fleet.
The arrival Of the Baltimore gave to the
admiral six fighting ships. the Olympia. the
Baltimore, the Raleigh. the Boston. the
Concord and the Petrol. naming them in
the order of their fighting strength. togeth-
er with the armed dispatch boat McCul-
loch and the transports Nanshan and "a
fro.
Quite as important as the addition to the
fighting strength Of the feet under the
command of Admiral Dewey were the ad
ditional stores Of ammunition which the
Baltimore brought. The ammunition sup
ply Of the feet was short. The stores Of
ammunition brought on the Baltimore
brought the fleets supply up to only 60 per
cent Of its war complement.
A heavy windstorm had sprung up during
the preceding night. and during the whole
OF Friday the harbor was no rough as to
make travelling in small boats uncomforta-
bic, IL not dangerous. II was necessary
that the surplus ammunition on board the
Baltimore should be transferred to other
vessels in the fleet. During the whole day
therefore, boats crews we're engaged in
transferring shells for the various sized
guns from the hold of the Baltimore to
those Of other ships in the fleet and from
the foremast Of every fighting ship there
was flying the red flag which indicates that
the powder magazines are open.
The Baltimore. after the long trip across
the Pacific, was greatly in need of dock
ing. Its bottom was 30 foul that speed
was materially less than normal. and the
coal required was considerably in excess
OF that which would be needed under more
favorable conditions. Admiral Dewey had
already arranged with the dock company
in Kowloon. directly across the bay from
Hongkong. to put the Baltimore in dock
and scrape and repaint its bottom. Late
in the afternoon the Baltimore steamed
over TO Kowloon and went into dock. ready
for the beginning Of work the following
morning.
Cable dispatches from the United States
during the day were OF character which
left no doubt wha:eye- that war would be
declared without delav We learned during
the afternoon that Minister Woodford had
left Madrid for Paris an1 the oablcgram
announced that demonstrations against the
American Minister haE beel made al many
of the stations along tn. railroad.
Once the Baltimore got I'm dock We knew
the work on its hull would not be stopped
because OF declaration of neutrality. I.
was important that the Baltimore should
be put In the best condition for the con-
Gict which we were certain was soon 10
take place.
The Hongkong papers were filed with
war news and everyone IN Hcnghong ex-
pected not only that war woulI ne de-
ciared within a day or two. hut that rs
soon as state of war existed Admiral
Dewey's aeet would start immediately for
Manila to engage the Haet IF the enemy.
which at that time. oir adyicss shovel
was in Manila Bay