The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-08-04

Special Correspondence Of The Sunday Republic.
san Francisco. July 29.-Home again, after
three years OF history making. that mag
nlfccnt fighting machine. the United States
battlcship oregon. is given over for a little
while to the people CT her home port to be
swar:ned over and petted and praised like
e veteran just bacx froal the wars. Tugs
and launches aud bsrges and bay craft OF
whatever sort ferry TO her the plain people
in such cTowGs as TO make her look from
the shore like a very much overcrowded
floating city. Upon occasion the Tags Of all
nations embower her rcorly efter-deck
where society clicks fits cainty heels along
fer snowy floors and sips Al inimitsele
navy punch, listening the while, as tbs
story of the ships memorable cruise Is
proudly retold-the story OF that unforsci-
table July morning at Santiago and Of the
vastly significant Journey 10 the Orient
that followed. On any visitors day petit
coats are a-fiutter on the oregon from her
fighting tops down TO the steel-walled
depths where her great engines rest after
their long task; dainty fripperies OF lace
end millinery tighten the sombre turrets
that quivered not so long ago to the thrill
ing music OF the thirteen-fEch rifles. High
aIoft on that very signal yard from which
the message went to Simpsons fleet. Ger
vera is coming out" small boys climb and
pose unchecked. The freedom of the ship
Is unusually free. for It is an unusually
honorable home coming Of an unusual ship.
and the Government is not slow to give the
people opportunity to testify to their pride
aul affection for the Oregon.
II was on June IL that the lookout on
Point Lobos sighted the massive battleship
through the mist that yelled the horizon
off the Golden Gate. Very soon guns were
laundering and sirers were screaming the
news to San Francisco and crowds were
hurryinS to hill and wharf. 1t did not need
the epo-foot home-bound pennant streaming
from the military mast to identify the
'Tbulldos Of the navy" Her course around
the globe had been watched so faithfully
and her lines had been pictured SO often
that even the stranger within the Golden
Gate knew what ship It was.
And in spite Of the cruel stonebruise on
her heel the famous battleship showed never
q limp nor a halt in her halt as her grace
full bulk glided to anchorage in man-of-war
row within hail Of the Iowa, the Wisconsin
and others Of a distinguished maritime
company and within easy sight OF her birth
place at the Union Iron Works.
The stonebruise might well have made a
cripple Of the Oregon-wouid have famed
her for many a month II she had been less
stanch. The stones that bruised her are
two uncharted pinnacles in the Gulf of
Pechili. The Oregon found them on June
IS of last year. striking them with such
force as she crept through the gloom OF a
foggy morning that her keel plates were
forced upward eighteen inches and her pro-
tective deck bulged upward by the mighty
blow. The stonebruise Is some fifty feet
long, and before the japanese artisans at
kure covered 1t with what Is known as a
soft patch there was a Jagged hole fifteen
feet long in her stout hull.
1t would be easy to figure out how hard
the battleship struck when It is known that
she bulks HOO tons and was steaming at
five knots an hour. The fact that she was
able to so patch up the leak with her own
divers and apparatus and to SO control the
thrush OF water as to proceed under her
own steam to the japanese navy yard at
Kure Is Justly enough a source OF pride TO
American mechanics and to American navi-
gators.
Soon the Oregon will go to the Port Or
chard dock for permanent repairs to her
hull tina win cost about 500, Goth first
money OF consequence spent on her since
she went into commission four years ago.
1t Is the boast, not only of the Oregon's
men but of the navy generally. that never
in her history except when she was aground
OF the China coast has she been in a state
of unpreparedness. as the war experts say.
The story OF the Oregon is trimming with
Interest to Americans and the naval OBJ
servers the world over. 1t began to be in
teresting in the Hateful February days Of
1893, when the horror of the Names de-
struction at Havana was still thrilling
through the nation. The battleship, un-
tried. as yet. except in coastw1se cruises and
in the usual department tests. was hauling
out of the Puget Sound Dry Dock. where
bilge keels had Just been put on her huh,