St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-12-12
HOODOoS IN THE NAVY.
Cruiser Olympia Reckoned Unfortu.
nate In Her ChristeninE, But
She Made a Record.

dSAA = sui Pl1SCu AAy WHICH / kOSSN
OF that big dent that was put in the
bottom of the cruiser Olympia wher
she went aground the other day
said an attache of the navy depart
ment, who used to be chief petty Off
Ger in the navy, to Washington Pos
reporter. THE Olympia was a hoodoe
ship from the day of her launching
The young woman who tossed the bot.
tie OF champagne against the PROV o1
the Olympia on the day of her launch.
ing missed fire-that is to say, the bot.
tie didn't breakfast as the bottle thai
the young woman raped against the
battleship Maryland failed to break
when the Maryland's unsuccessful
launching was pulled off. and wher
anything as ominous as that hap
pens at the launching of a navy
ship, the old-time fatfeet have way
of shaking their heads and of mutter.
ing evil prophecies.
'The Olympia, beautiful cruiser
proved all of the bad prophecies thai
were uttered against her, and the first
year of her career was series of baG
accidents. helped to put the Olympus
into commission for the first time, al
the Mare Island navy yard. On the
very day that she went into commits
sion she was the occasion of the death
Of naval officer.
HE was fine young chap from Nor
folk, naval constructor named
Armistead. The Olympia was being
warped into the Mare Island dry dock
to receive the final coat of red lead on
her keel. Armistead was standing at
the top of the dry dock. superintend-
ing the docking, when the loop of q
three-inch hawser suddenly snapped
The knot caught the young naval con-
structor alongside the head. He fell
down, and he never moved again
never saw man killed SO suddenly
except with a bullet.
"a week or so later the Olympia
started down the coast of California for
her first machinery trying, warming
up and compass adjusting cruise with
the full force. Her point Of destfna-
ton was San Diego, where there was a
big flower fiesta in progress. The
Olympia was sent to San Diego at the
earnest solicitation of the California
delegation in congress, who wanted to
give the San Diego flower fiesta a sort
Of official and deep water tone. On
the run down the coast couple of sea-
men got their legs caught in the loop
of cable that was being wound up
on steam windlass, and the four legs
of the two men were cut of as clean
as If they'd been on the operating
table. One of them died.
"On the up-trip to San Francisco
from San Diego we had a bit Of drill
on the smaller guns Small charges
were fired. One of the guns shot back
upon the instant of her firing and
knocked the gunner into shapeless
pulp. Then it was found-after there
had been a gunner killed, of course
that no oil had been placed in the re-
coil cylinder, SO that the gun couldn't
have done anything else but bob back
and kill whoever happened to be in
the way Of it.
IA number Of minor incidents hap
pened on board the Olympia before the
finish of that dinky little two weeks
cruise down the coast, although don't
recall that any more men were killed.
But she gained the immediate name of
being a hoodoo, and the crew that had
been shipped especially for her de-.
serted in whole battalions went over
the side like rats from leaky wind
that two or three almost
entirely new crews had to be shipped
before the Olympia was ready for the
real deep water. Lieut.. Tommy
Phelps, who was the navigator of the
Olympia of that first cruise Of hers
down the California coast. was q re-
lieted man when he finally brought her
into Mare Island again. He hadn't
slept ten minutes during the cruise for
fear that the Olympus would go on
bunch OF uncharted rocks somewhere
or other, and he seemed to be as thor
oughly convinced as any of the men
for'ard that the Olympia was DOOMED
to be a hoodoo.
"And yet, after all, this hoodoo
business doesn't hold together with the
most perfect consistency throughout a
ships whole career. For example, the
ship that had the honor Of carrying
George Dewey on her quarterback
while the BATTLE Of Manila was on
couldn't have been such a terrible
hoodoo, after all; and 1t was the Olyrn-
pia that stole through the gray dawn
IF that May morning in the van of the
American fleet, with her captain all
for the fray and waiting for
hose quiet but memorable words of
Dewey's: You may fire when you are
ready, Gridley.