The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-06-10
OF TROOPSHIP LIFE
TOLD BY THE FAMOUS MARINE Nov
ELIsT, w. CLARK RUSSELL.
Interesting and Exciting
Incidents Recalled by a Man Who
Spent Years i'm the Service.

I served in a troopship for three years
or Whereabouts I'm the humble capacity of
a midshipman in the British merchant
service. She was full rugged sailing ship
of 800 tons gross, and belonged TO a we'll
known Blackwell line owner of those days
called Duncan Dunbar. The Boer war,
among other features will always be men,
orable for the swiftness and safety with
which an army of over two hundred thou
sand was conveyed to South Africa. Old
politicians and old men generally have
dwelt upon this; a younger generation,
however, has found little TO marvel at in
all this expedition, for prompt dispatch
is a condition OF the times, and for many
years past we. as passengers, have been
accustomed TO high velocities in steam.
Therefore, when tramps we're chartered
as transports, whose speed did not exceed
twelve knots. the press growled. the Adj
miraIty was rebuked for its indifference to
the vital interests of the country and the
shipping papers declared. in the vulgar
pleasantries which are peculiar to that sec
ton of the public journals. that the trans
port department muddled for illegiti-
| mate (Which means, suppose. fraudulenD
the merchant marine should have been
employed to choose ships instead of gov
eminent officials who might not be able TO
tell which end of vessel is coming in first
| when she enters dock. But twelve knots
an hour in a day of twenty-four hours
works out into run of 2SS miles, and this
speed is not dependent upon the wind, but
is continuous, that the date of the ships
arrival may be fixed with an accuracy
which shall scarcely deviate from the
twelve hours circuit of the small hand of
clock. Now, in my time. of 2SS
| miles in twenty-four hours was considered
extraordinarily good, and the ship that
did it was called a clipper" and got
talked about by sailors. just as beauty
in old times became toast.
| 1t was deemed remarkable if she made
such a run but once in voyage. But sup
| pose she could maintain this rate OF sailing
| all the way from the Thames to Cape
Town? She would have passed into history
as something more astounding than Noah's
| ark or the ship which was huge that
| boy, when he went aloft, came down, after
executing his job. a gray haired man. Yet
! the tramp of twelve-knots achieves this
miracle every day, and we think nothing of
| it, because we are so used TO it, and the
press expected more because it knew that
| 1t was easily in the power of the Admiralty
| to get more.
oLD-TIME TRANSPORTS.
In ancient, as well as in modern times,
| the troopship fiourished, but not always
| exactly in the form in which are ac-
! customed to think of her to-day. The
early Britcn running wild upon his native
strand witnessed with mingled sensations
| the arrival of Caesars transports. They
were not tramps; they were not ocean
| liners; they were not large sailing ships.
| They were galleys, and they had been
| swept across the channel by oars like the
boats OF the Vikings. and like the small
| schooners Of the slavers of very much
| later days. Anything would be called a
| transport that carried soldiers, and the
| troopships which threatened these coasts
with the Napoleonic hordes of the heights
| of Boulogne are only just little below the
rim of living memory; indeed. certain old
ladies who have recently died might have
described them to you rs persons who had
seen them. These vessels are vulgarly sup
posed to have consisted wholly Of flats or
RATS.
| of this sort, but the terms convey but an
| imperfect idea of the character of the YES
| sells of which the Boulogne fiotilla was
| composed. The brigs. we are told, were
| vessels of about two hundred tons, armed
| with from four to eight heavy long guns.
| in some instances 36-pounders. A descrip-
ton of a small lugger fat taken at Havre
| will serve as an example Of Napoleon's
| of water, her bulwarks were immensely
stout, her crew consisted of thirty men
| and she carried 80 soldiers. She was
armed with one 13-inch mortar. one long
| 2-pounder and four swivels, and she was
| also literally equipped with small arms.
| My own experiences of the hired transport
| correspond to a very great degree with
| those of the men engaged in transport
| work during the Crimean war. My dates
| are 1S60-63, and I am, therefore, about ten
| years ahead Of a war that probably en-
| riched the British ship owner to an extent
| in excess even of the handsome reward
which has been his through the South At
/ rican conflict. The sea transport service
| during the Crimean war cost this country
| e15ooO 900 sterling. The demand upon ship
| ping at the outbreak of war in March, 1854
led to rapidity OF production unparalleled
| in the history of shipbuilding
The rates of freight then offered FOR
| transports ranged from 20 shillings to 30
| shillings registered ton per month for sail
/ ing vessels, and from 35 shilIings TO 65
| shillings per gross registered ton for steam
| ers. Without the help Of our ships France
could not have conveyed her armies to the
| Crimea. In these days we ma1age our
transport service with some degree of
| judgment. 1t is true that here and there
| some rascally contractor contrives to ship
| rotten food and other defective stores, and
the fraud is not discovered until the SOL
| diers But. the whole. the
soldier to-day is very comfortably berthed,
fairly well fed. and. best of all. as he is
often ssasick. swiftly transported.
A TIME OF CHAOS.
But in my time, in the time OF the
Crimean war; everything" as the histor-
| ian of merchant shipping phrases il.
relating TO the engagement OF ships and to-
the transportation of troops and stores
| was a huge chaos" There was no organize