The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-06-12
AN OCEAN VOYAGE
The AtchisOn Globe Man De-
Scribes One
Encountered From HObOken to
CherbOurg.
TO SEA IN A HUGE SHIP
Sentiment at the Pier-PainfuI
Realities Off Shore.
Seven Meals a Day and No
Appetite.
What a "WhOle N. E. Gale'' is
Like.
TFrom the Atchison Globe.1

Kaiser Wilhelm der Crosse" on which
l sailed for Paris on the Sth dav of
May, is 64S feet long, and the largest
Ill actual service. except the Oceanic,
which is a few feet longer, but consid-
erably slower. The KAISER Wilhelm
=r Crosse" maintains an average speed
at sea of about % knots per hour,
whereas the Oceanic averages but
1917. The KAISER Wilhelm der Crosse
IS twin screw steamship, and has two
complete sets of boilers, and two sep
arate engines of $4,000 horsepower
each. The great danger at sea is from
collision. The big liners pay little at
tention to the worst storms, but cap
tains dred fog, always slowing down
in such an event, and blowing long
fog signals at intervals of one minute.
The "BourgOgne" and "Elbe," which
furnished the latest horrors at sea,
were wrecked in fog, and strange as it
may seem. both were sunk by sailing
vessels. The great liners have long
been provided with water tight COM
partments fore and aft, but a collision
anlidships has always been very seri-
Gus. It is believed, however, that the
twin screw plan largely avoids this
danger, as a blow on one side would
leave the engine on the other side in
working order, and the vessel afioat.
IT addition to the two great engines
Wilhelm der Crosse there are fifty
seven other engines on the ship, used
for various purposes: for operating the
electric light machines, the refIigerat-
ing machines. the hosting machines,
the cOndensing machines, etc. There
are also thirty-three separate pumps.
Two hundred and sixteen men are re-
quireG 20 operate this machinery;
IS engineers, three electrical engineers,
three oilers, two storekeepers, twelve
head firemen, seventy eight right fire
men, and ninety coal beavers. The
ship (Which the sailors refer to as the
Crosse Kaiser') consumes five hun
dred tons of coal every tWenty-four
hours. and when it left New York on
May carried forty-five hundred tons
of coal. The horsepower of the Crosse
Kaiser is about equal to that of six
teen of the largest railway locomotives
ever built.
THE START FROM HOBOKEN.
The North German Lloyd docks are
in HObOken, across the North river,
and I drove there from a New York
hotel in a cab When we reached the
vicinity of the ferry we saw dozens of
other cabs hurrying in the same direc-
ton, and Carrying steamer trunks. At
the ferry, there were frequent coils
ions between the cab drivers for posi-
ton. but when we reached the docks
at HOboken. the confusion was still
greater The Kaiser Wilhelm der
Crosse" carried over four hundred first
| CABIN passengers, ana nearly as many
in the second cabin, and every passen-
ger seemed to have from two to twenty
/ friends present to wish him a pleasant
voyage. In addition, there were thou
sands of idlers and peddlers, and it is
! no exaggeratiOn to say that the great
/ docks were a seething mass of people.
! Our driver was compelled to take a
! place in line and wait his turn to I'M
load, and after he was disposed Of I
v aited in another line to get my bag
/ gage taken care of. Then I went
1 aboard, and found the decks so crowded
that it was almost impossible to get
about. Finally 1 managed to struggle
! through the mass OF humanity and find
my stateroom. There I left my hand
! baggage and managed to struggle back
to the decks, where I was expecting a
party of Atchison people. There was
| little chance of finding them in the
| crowd, so I asked my son Eugene, who
accompanied me, to look for the Atchi-
| son people in one direction while 1
! struggled in another. This was the
| last | saw of him until an hour and a
/ half later, when we were under way,
| when 7 met him on the deck, looking a
! little frightened.
The ship was advertised to sail at 10
a. m, but did not get away until 1910,
owing to the crowd of visitors. At 10
| ncinutes to 10 a man went through
the ship blowing a cornet, as a warn
ing to visitors to go ashore. but the
| vlsl5o-S were so numerous that the
them. At 1870 the great fog whistle
Of the ship began blowing blasts at
short intervals, and there was strug-
gle at the gang planks, but it was not
until 10 minutes later that the ship
actually began to back out from the
dock.
1t was notable sight. The tide be-
ing out, the ship sat SO low in the wa
ter that the passengers on the decks of
the slowly moving steamship could al
most shake hands with their friends
standing on the docks. A great mass OF
people on the docks, waving their hand
kerchiefs, weeping, cheering, and call
ing out messages to their friends. Oppo-
site this great crowd on the docks, an
other on the steamship, acting in a sim
liar way. Somewhere in the crowd or
the steamship, a band of IA men play
ing Hands Across the Sea- People al
around were weeping Historically. Il
is a very unusual man who can witness
such a scene without tears coming into
his eyes; women always cry. There is
something about going to sea thai
moves people deeply. Travellers who GO
to sea disappear entirely for seven OF
eight days, and many disappear entire
ly: occasionally a ship steams away
and is never again heard of.
AS the ship moved slowly out int
the stream, saw my Atchison friends
standing together in the great mass o
people. They saw me at the same time
2 and we began calling to each other a.
the others We're doing They threw M
flowers. and 1 threw them whatever
: happened to have, as remembrances.
= stood at the rear of the ship, and I call
ed to the AtchiSOn people that if the
/ | happened to see my son as the forward
5 part of the ship passed them, to tell hin
= that I would try and find him befor
= reaching CherbOurg The boy had no
S seen the visitors from home, owing t
y the enormous crowds They were Mrs
= Luther Todd, Miss Mary Fetheringtor
n Miss Helen Friend. Terry Parker an
Y Ed Dennison, Frank r. MacLennan, G
Topeka. was with them. and when tn