Smyrna times., 1903-01-14
CALVIN BOGGS IN SOUTHERN WATERS
Former WeIIkuOwn Smyrna Boy Writes to
His Mother at CheswOId of His EventfuI
Experiences off San Juan, Porto Rica.

"Nh-NuOWu giud BUy WittCS " !
His Mother at CheswOId of His EventfuI
Experiences off San Juan, Porto Rica
Calvin T. Boggs, formerly of Me-
gears Department Store and later
proprietor of the Smyrna Steam
Laundry, writes a letter home to his
mother, Mrs. Caleb BOggs, at Ches-
wold, some interesting facts concern |
ing his experiences in the naval ma
MOWERS off the Island of Porto Rica.
The letter was written at sea on De-
cember the 7th ult., from which the
following extracts are taken:
''As this is my Sunday to write l will
try to write you an interesting letter,
also answer the one which l received
from you about ten days ago"
"NO doubt you have read in the pa
pers about the War Game which we are
taking very active part in just this
present moment. 1t started on the 5th
and is to end on the 9th. Now | will
write and try to explain it to you.
You know Uncle Sam owns the island
of Porto Rica and the only value it is
to us is for target practice, so all the
ships in our navy are to be here after
Christmas to take part in the practice.
Much Interest Manifested ia ''War Game"
/ The War Game is a practice for the
Admirals, the Asiatic and European
fleets are to try to capture this island
and we, Of course, are to try to keep
them out by surrounding it with our
/ (North Atlantic feet ship and / think
we will win as we have about twenty
ships in our fleet. l will name them
in routine according to their battery
Kearsarge, flag ship; Massachusetts,
Indiana, Alabama, olympia, Cincin-
natti, Detroit, Montgomery, Machias,
Prairie, Scorpion, Vixen, Hist and
six torpedo boats. They number
(Asiatic and European) about ten OF
twelve battle ships and cruises. This
is quite interesting as it Is same as in
war time. We have been at sea since
the 4th scouting around and every.
body is ON the lookout for strange
ship; we get sight of a ship once in q
while and our Captain gives our shiI
all the speed he can turn on and &c
after them. We have done this twice
but both times they were ships of oul
own fleet. At night all the battle
ports are closed and we steam through
the dark at 10 knots and you coulC
not see us if you were over one hun
dred yards away"
Tremendous Whale Came Near Ship.
: 81 saw whale this morning, he cam
I up near the ship, quite a large one
q too, seemed to be about ten feet long
{ | also saw school of porpoises a few
I days ago, quite a sight l tell you.
q will talk you all to death when | com
q home about things which l have seel
4 l can't begin to tell it all in my letters.
e I'VE received mail this morning an,
r l received the TIMES and Atlas, th
D Atlas is Just what | wanted. | hav
e read the TINES over twice this will
e show you how much l appreciate it."
!. "You speak of it being mild at HON
!, the temperature here is about 80, W
s have a nice awning over the ship an
" we only wear an undershirt and pal
of pants so we can stand it. of course
when we have inspection and are o
duty we have to wear shoes and Goa
You should see my arms, hands an
T. feet they are sun burned black, m
shirts are low neck and 1 have til
- sleeves cut out to my shoulders
- keep my hair clipped, go bare heade
% and if You were to see me you woul
g say was one of the natives of Sa
= Juan. The sun sets here at o'cloc
- in the evening""
20 "Well, l must tell you about Thank
a giving day, we were at anchor
> Culsbra Bay, it was holiday an
- was very hot, we had chicken ste,
,f canned corn and peas. white an
er sweet potatoes, peach pie and cOcoi
IF to-day we had salt horse, potatoe
peas and hardtack for dinner. Pickle
4. meat is what we call salt horse.
\ will never kick about our food as v
2 always get plenty of it. "