Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-08-18
WHAT 1T is TO CLEAVE WATER
AT 60 MILES AN HOUR.
A LIVELY EXPERIENCE
Terrible Strain of Life on a Craft
That Rocks in Every Conceivable
Direction and Is Perpetually
Throbbing With the Drive of Her
Own Machinery.


ing and trembling, and waits darby
for just so long as you can step into a
wherry and be rowed 10 her low
black side and swarm up it.
She is gliding seaward before you
quite know what has happened, and
although she Is merely walking, so to
speak. she outstrips every thing that is
going her way. You feel the JOY and
pride of the young commander into
whose keeping a destroyer is given,
because you know that under your
feet is a ship which is the swiftest,
most destructive and most merciless
of all the ships of war that float.
Very soon you get into the open
sea, rushing past webbing lightships
and slowing craft which you overhaul
so quickly that they appear 70 lie inert
on the water. The destroyer seems to
scent the battle with the weather from
afar. She pants eagerly on.
By this time you are in oilskin5--
which you need badly--and when you
proceed along the deck at all you do
so crabwise, and grip with tenacious
affection anything that will save you
from a fall. You have tumbled In
stinctively into the way of destroy ers,
which is one demanding that you
should put all dignity and stiffness
aside, and obey all her whims and
fancies, which are many. Her purpose
is to harry and Cypress, and being a
ruthless mistress, she harries most
those who serve her best.
Pitchings, rollings, wallowings
twistings, dippings-all the sea gyra-
tions that ever were-are loved and
practised by the destroyer. In these
marine gymnastics she stands an easy
first, for which reason, in bad weather,
the commander has his spells of sick
ness, and the toughest seaman keepa
him sympathetic company.
The outlook Is unpromising, the de-
stroyer is wallowing; 1t may be tina.
the time is coming for the realization
of the prophecy that before the Ken,
net is an hour out you will be glad
70 go below and stay there for thu
rest OF the trip. But the wind veers,
the sun struggles out bit, and by the
time you are abreast OF Dover cliffs
you have settled into a grim enjoy
ment of a destroyer's discomforts, and
are approximately standing in tho
shoes of the lieutenant-comman
The work of the. commander is not
fancy work, nor is his ship a fancy
ship. There is no poetry of sail about
her, no evidence of luxury; but If you
care for the poetry of motion, and
plenty of 1t. you will find II there.
Think of what he controls "A long,
black, low hull, rising for the most
part only few feet above the water,
the exception being the bows, which
serve the double purpose of protecG
ing the ship in heavy weather and
affording accommodation for the crew.
Very excellent accommodation il Is,
for there are two forecastles in which
about sixty men live and sleep. not all
at one time, of course. since there is
always the watch ON deck, so that
those below have plenty of room in
which TO move and sleep and eat, ana
do the numberless odd jobs that
occupy the waking and off duty hours
of the wonderful "handy.man."
For the rest. the deck runs flush
from the forecastle. the levelness
being broken up however, by the low,
huge ventilators, the two torpedo.
tubes, one behind the other, amid,
ships. where they command a wide
range of action, and the after gun
all In F,.h -.
torpedoes are slowed, and another
pair of these beautiful and deadly
weapons are in reserve in water
tank below.
The commander has. therefore, four
torpedoes at his service; that is to
say, he has the means of destroying
utterly, with luck-which. in practice
at any rate, is never likely 10 come
his way-four first-class battleships
which have cost, in round figures,
more than million pounds sterling.
and in all a sum of five millions, Ano
the value of his own craft is $4,000.
Let us climb down one OF these
hound holes with which the deck Is
pitted. The hole is Just big enough
TO permit OF the entrance of an
average man--for corpulent in
dividual there would be tight fl, if
not 10 suffocating squeeze, But fat
men have no place in destroyers, ana
If they went on board they would
quickly thin TO workable dimensions
under the strain and stress of the life
You put your feet on slippery
short iron ladder. and after descend.
ing few steps you are on the fooi
of the engine-room and face TO face
with engines OF all descriptions-the
main engines, which are the heart Of
the ship. and the auxiliary engines for
the condensers. feed-pumps, electric
light and the searchlight, or propector,
as it is technically called.
But your eyes are fixed on the beau
tiful masses of oil-smothered metal
which are driving the ship along at
dozen, eighteen, or twenty knots. or
her full speed of twenty-five and