Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1903-04-25
AN INTERESTING GRAFTON
Ex-Governor Atkinson Makes a
Brilliant Speech.
AT LAUNCHING OF THE CRUISER
Scholarly Address Of the Distinguished Gen
tleman Listened to by Vast
Crowd.

mored cruiser West Virginia." at
Newport News. Va.
As chairman of the committee APP
pointed to procure, at the expense of
West Virginia, an enlarged Coat Of
Arms OF the State. TO become a part
of the furnishing of this armored cru
sier named in honor of our prosperous
Commonwealth, respectfully report
that we have the matter under wav,
and will have it ready for the appro-
val of the Honorable Secretary of
the Navy at an early day. We could
have been ready TO present it today,
bat we were aware of the fact that
the vessel is not far enough along in
construction to allow it to be put in
place at this time. In due season it
will be forthcoming. and when COM
pleted it will be, in all respects.
c%reditable to our progressive and
fiourishing State and then, whenever
the keel of this mammoth cruiser nay
split the wave of oceans and seas. she
will carry aloft and to all
peoples the motto that has thus far
guided us as a Commonwealth. that
"Mountaineers are always Free"
1t is entertaining and instructive to
observe the pr ogress which has been
made in ship-building from the dawn
of authentic history to the present.
The most ancient method of naval
warfare consisted of shin with beaks,
and these vessels. like the sword fish,
drove their sharpened beak into the
bulls of the wooden boats of the enc
tie the armor plated steamer of our
times. These h~ard-nosed ships, how
ever, went out of use entirely for a
period of two thousand years; but in
recent years thew have been re-instated
by all the leading nations of the world.
The government which first estab-
lished navies and used them for pro-
lection and for the purpose of extend
ng their domains were the Phoeni-
clans, the Persians, and the Cartha-
genians. Their war vessels were
built out of wood, were propelled by
galleys of oars. and were of the ru-
dest possible construction; and it was
left for the Peloponnesian war, where.
Greek met Greek, to construct effec-
tive war-ships and to develop the art
of an improved naval warfare: conse-
gently, from Salamis to Santiago, in
naval architecture, the distance is the
difference between the wooden galley
and the steel cruiser such as the one
we christen to day. But withal, the
battle of Salamis, which was fought
in the veal 400 b. @. between the Per-
slams and the Greeks. and was won by
the strategy of Themistocle, will ever
remain in history as n of the great
est naval conflicts of the world. The
Greeks lost forty and the Persians
two hundred of their So called wood
a wonderful slaughter of battleships
indeed; and had the armored cruiser,
"West Virginia. been turned loose
that memorable day in the bav of
Salamis, there would not have been
enough splinters left of all their
wooden ships to bind up the broken
bones of the brave soldiers of both of
the gallant armies that participated in
the fight.
Imagine, if you please, what would
have beer the effect at Trafalager in
1885. had all of the English, French.
ana Spanish fleets been composed of
the kind of gunboats which make up
their navies of to-day. Yet like the
battle Of Salami, the sea-fight off
Cape Trafalgar will forever illume the
pages of heroic naval warfare. Hora-
ito Nelson, who had won a peerage in
1898 off Cape st. Vincent t, at Trafal-
gar, went down but TO immortal fame,
and TO a grave in Westminster Alb
hey. Add to these two. the engage
ments at Manila and Santiago, where
Admirals Dewey, Sampson and Schley
won victories and immortal renown,
and you will then have recorded the
four greatest distinctive naval battles
OF the centuries.
Unquestionably, naval architecture
is RAPIDLY reaching a degree of per-
lection hitherto regarded as impossi-
BILE to attain. as witness this splendid
armored cruiser, "West Virginia, -
upon whose massive deck we stand to-
day. She possesses. her builders tell
us, those essentials which when op
portunity is given to demonstrate it
of speed, stability, %buoyancy and
hardness. Nav she triumphantly
ride the waves of all the seas, bearing
aloft ever in victory our national en-
sign, the emble of liberty, education.
civilization and Christianity. MAY her
strong ribs never be broken by a for
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