Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1900-03-05

sembled at Grassy bay, where are also
the government works and the largest
floating dock in the world. The ships
lea and the West Indies station at
present, under the command of Vice
Admiral Sir John A. Fisher, K. G. B.,
are the RenOWn, an armOred twin
screw battleship of 1850 tons and IA
guns; the Talbot, twin-screw cruiser
of $500 tons and IL guns; the Indefat-
igable, Pallas, Intrepid, Pearl and
Prosperine, each twin-screw cruisers
of varying tonnage, from 2,135 to
5000 tons, and carrying eight guns
each; the Hotspur, an armored coast
defense ship of 4,01O tons, with four
guns; the Quail, twin-screw torpedo
boat destroyer, with five guns; two
screw sloops with six and eight guns,
and the tender to the Renown. There
is also in dock the receiving ship Ter
ror, with eight guns, and the depot
ship Urgent with two guns. Such is
the force which Great Britain keeps
constantly within 600 miles of our At
lantic coast, commanded by men who
have served in the Baltic and Black
seas during the Crimean war, who
have bombarded Alexandria, broken up
the slave trade on the coast of Africa,
explored the Arctic seas and the rivers
of the dark continent, and fought
with Chinese and Egyptians, East In
dams, Arabs, Cretians and Zulus,
whose breasts are covered with med
ais and underneath are hearts Of
English oak where honor and valor
dwell in unity The governor of the
island was with Havelock's column in
the Indian mutiny of 1857, marched to
the relief of Lucknow, and was present
at it's capture, and members of his
staff have seen honorable service in
the Soudan.
Such a military and naval estab-
lishment gives character and tone to
the entire business and social life Of
the islands. Military parades and
maneuvers, lunches and dinners on
the ships, balls on the flagship and at
the admiralty and government houses,
and variety of teas and cricket
matches, and some very tame horse
races, in all of which officers of both
branches take part, occupy society
during the winter months. In sum-
mer everybody goes away or goes to
sleep, for though the temperature is
rarely above IS degrees Fahrenheit,
there is so much moisture in the at
/ mr. nj h0+ io
ing, and the average Bermudian's
strength is to sit STILL This winters
chief society incident was the visit Of
Admiral Sampson on the American
cruiser New York He was feted and
lionized, and he gave reception at
which all the beauty and fashion, resi-
dent and transient, of Bermuda were
present. The incident bids fair to be
placed in the annals of the islands
along with the visits of the duke Of
York in 1880, and the never-to- be-for-
gotten residence of the Princess Louise
in the winter of 1883. She wrote:
my sojourn upon these islands in that
eternal spring which here enamels
everything, among such a frank and
genial people, will, assure you, be
ever gratefully remembered by me-"
and the people will never forget the
gracious marchioness of Lorne. Just
now the Raleigh is coming to anchor
in Grassy bay, and receiving the
salutes of the British ships The
British propoes to give the heroes
Of Manila a rousing reception if the
vessel is allowed to remain long
enough in the harbor.-New York OBJ
server.