The Washington times., 1902-09-03

| bled vessels sails. was struck on nu-
! merons occasions, and the bull's-eye
was pierced several times.
At first the men we're given sub-cali-
Der practice. but later they were given
an opportunity 10 try their marksman-
ship with full charges. and during the
firing the schooners sailing along the
channel gave the floating target with the
red signal wide berth. In the heavy
charges the shells. after striking the
water near the target. would ricochet
to the right and strike the water again
more than mile from where they had
first been placed. While the men were
being instructed on the main deck the
officers were trying their craftsmanship
with the one FOUNDER rapid fire gun on
he superstructure deck.
Congratulations General.
Mess was postponed from noon until
o'clock on account OF the target prac-
tice, and then the men of the Second pi-
vision were given an opportunity to dis
play their skill at navigation with the
whaleboats. while those of the First
Division. who had manned the whale
boats, were given target practice. 1t
would be difficult to decide which of the
two organizations made the better reccr1
with the heavy guns, but Captain Riggs
congratulated the commanding officers
of both divisions for the manner in
which their men handled themselves.
On Sunday night Lieut.. Com. s. G..
Hopkins and Mr. Charles Amy, OF
Washington, who was his guest. had an
exciting time on the little steam launch.
They went to Colonial Beach, from
where the Fern was anchored near
Blackstone Island, to send dispatches.
and while there a blow came UP. While
about four miles off shore on the re-
turn trip. with the high seas running.
the injector refused to work, causing
lack of water in the boiler Engineer
Yeoman Frazier worked heroically. but
1t finally became necessary to have the
fires half drawn and the remainder were
heavily banked. AS last resort the
tanks were filed with salt water and the
trip continued. 1t was tired crew which
went aboard the Fern about 3 O'Clock
Monday morning after trip which will
not soon be forgotten.
Much credit for the success of the
cruise is due the engineer force. which
was. in charge of Ensign W. II. Lantz,
who' has been acting chief engineer since
the resignation of Lieut.. Thomas W.
Power year ago. While the force vas
badly crippled on account of the small
number of men who went On the cruise,
hn
gineer's force performed their duty well
and the bells were answered more
promptly than on previous trips.
Muster Roll of Trip.
The muster roll of u s. S. Fern for the
four days of the trip was as follows:
Lieutenant Commander s. G. Hopkins.
Lieut. r. B. Brummett. commanding.
Paymaster Sidney Bieber.
Pay Clerk George A. Howe
Chief Petty Officers.-Chief master
arms, Charles 7. Morgan; chief yeoman
tship), Robert r Mahorney; chief yeo-
man (pay). Frank E. Newton: chief yeo-
man (engineer), James T. Frazier, jr.
First Division.-Lieut. Alfred p Lang.
Ensign William II. Lantz. Master-at- |
arms first class, William C. Herfurth: |
ships painter first class, John X. !
Hendley, jr.; yeoman first class, Will |
liam Pitney; quartermaster Second |
class). Samuel 7. Patterson; oiler, VIII
liam E. Simpson.
seamen.-G. E. Beckman, E. Getzen-
lanner, Bennie F. Merryman.
Landsmen.-Harry Compton. John L. |
Lynch, Milton Miller. Harry A. Hoover, |
William j. Lynch, F, d. simonds. James !
E. Kendrick. Luther Maddox, John D. |
Simpso.:.
Second Division.-Lieut. Joseph A. !
Dempf, commanding; George A. Berry: |
Iuartermaster tsecond class. P. a. H. |
Terrell
I<ndsmen.-J. G. Acton, William E. !
He'll. Lawrence Leach, John Paxton, |
Thomas E, Suit. E. II. Frederick. A. g. |
Collins, Milton Howard. Joel Norton, |
William Reinburg. Harry Vogel, E. b. |
aobey. Henry Eskite. Clarence Leitch.
4. B. Nicholson, L. G. Rider, F. f.
Naldecker.