The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-20
TINY NAvIEs OF THE WORLD.
Some South American Countries
Have but One Warship AHOat.

From the New York Mail and Express.
The blue-roeed skipper who telegraphed
from City Island that he had killed his
crew and wanted the police to meet his
craft at Hell Gate had more humor thar,
usually accompanies tragedy of its
kind. His exploit has gone over the world
in a measure. This appeal was answered
by the police boat Patrol, bristling with
arms and bluecoats. When ii came
alongside the skipper pointed to the body
of dead negro and said: Il have snot
my crew." There is a parallel story in a
cablegram that was received from Co
lombia several days ago. 1t read: whole
Colombian navy sunk" The marine ed
itor and expert naval writer of morn
ing paper happened to be out splicing the
main brace at this critical moment. and
had no hand in the furry that followed.
1t took much overhauling to discover that
the whole" of the Colombian navy con-
sisted of just one ship, and that she did
not have any superimposed turrets.
Both of these stories were heartily
laughed over when related at the navy
yard in Brooklyn the other day, and then
the question of infant navies was dis
cussed, Ii is not long since an unpatriotic
beach comber put lien on the navy of
Paraguay. Paraguay has an area of
81 go square miles, a population of sew
eral millions, and its navy consists of
one gunboat Several steam launches
built in Northern waters make a practice
of following this gnnboat around to tow
her off when she gets aground or 10 pre-
vent the rebels from lifting her out of the
water and carrying her bodily 10 the
woods.
AS INSIGNIFICANT as the navy of Para
quay is that of Persia is a shade inferior.
Insteed of having several steam launches
10 dance attendance on the Persepolis.
the squadron" Persia has but one
launch.
Considering her seabcard territory, CO.
lombia has a tiny navy indeed. The re-
public represents 0l.7SS square miles, and
a population Ct over 1000 GEO. The sinuosi-
ties of the coast give about 400 miles on
the Atlantic and 600 on the Pacific ocean.
It's navy for the most part consists of a
sectional gunboat that was built at Perth
Amboy, N. j.. in 1895. and sent down to
the coast in sections.
Costa Rlca. which has always been
averse to fighting with her larger neigh
bots, Nicaragua and Honduras, has. like
them, water front On both the Caribbean
sea and Pacific ocean. Yet this country
has but one iorpedo-boat as a navy, and
she is but s xty-two feet in length. 4
torredo-b- at in this instance is as good
as the armed fleets of Europe. for neither
Honduras, Guatemala. nor Nicaragua has
any navy at all The once wealthy and
populous Aztec state called San Salvador
has a navy" of its own, and this navy
Is eighty-six feet long and bears the good
old name OF Cuscatlan. This vessel was
built in san Francisco, and when taken
seriously has a displacement of seventy
five tons and triple expansion engines.
When compared with her next-door
neighbor. Colombia, the republic Of Ecua-
dor Is menace TO that portion of the
Pacific Not only has Ecuador a trans
port of iron in the Chaihun, but she has
also a sloop Of war of six guns, with a
crew of H. and two gunboats.
Peru towers away above both Ecuador
and Colombia IN the matter of a navy,
having several fairly good cruisers. One
the Santa Rosa, burns petroleum. As
Peru stands shoulders above both Ecua-
dor and Colombia in the matter of n navy.
so does Chile soar above Peru in the same
respect. Either the Capt Pratt OF French
! cons truction; the Almirante Cochrane, or