The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-08-29
BLUNDERS OF WARSHIPS
Naval Officers Mistakes That Nearly
Caused Disasters.

y escaping by the skin Of their teeth
IN the Knight Commander case tbs
Russian captain seems clearly to be
responsible for & serious error OF judg-
ment, but men who know the inside
: history Of naval warfare in recent yea rs
I can tell many stories Of worse mis-
takes which were nearly committed by
ravay officers through sheer accident =
} mistakes that would have driven neu-
trail nations wild with anger and re-
! quired an immense amount of explain
/ ing away Several Of these stories ale
! told in naval circles OF the Spanish
/ American war. but not all Of them have
yet seen the cold light Of print
Every body knows that turing that
! war several European nations were by
no means friendly 70 America. Per-
haps the least friendly was Austria.
! But few people are aware that during
the operations of the south coast Of
Cuba the American squadron was
J twice within an ace of sinking an Aus
/ TRAN cruiser. the Maria Theresa IF
: this had really been done, there is no
knowing what The result might have
] been. taking account Of the bitter fee
ing against America then prevailing IN
Austria and other European. countries.
The Maria Theresa happened to b.
very much like some of Cervera's crUis-
ers in her general appearance. Rather
foOiishly she was ordered by the Aus
trian admiralty 20 cruise in Cuban wa
tiers throughout the war.
! One pitch black night. some time be-
fore the destruction Of the Spanish
squadron off Santiago she was steam
ing a few miles of the coast of ia
maica- The captain and his officers
were smoking their cigars on the quar-
ter deck after dinner. listening to the
ships band and feeling at peace with
all man.
Suddenly out Of the darkness there
doomed the form of big cruiser. COM
ing toward the Maria Theresa al top
speed. The Austrian officers were
dumbfounded to hear a big cOmmotion
on board and orders hastily shouted IN
English which would have resulted in
blowing them out of the water in the
next few minutes. The vessels were
so close to one another that the words
Of the American officers could be dis
tinctly heard.
The Austrian captain rose to the oc-
casion. The moment he saw the cruiser
he had an Inspiration With a single
bound he was at the side of his band
master, and gripping him by the Shout
der
Play something Amerfean," he
shouted. Yankee Doodle. The Star
SPangled Banner'-anything,
The band instantly struck up yam
kee Doodle" and the Americans were
so amazed at hearing the familiar
strains from the deck OF what they
supposed to be a Spanish cruiser that
they waited for explanations. This
story was told to the writer shortly
afterwards by the Austrian captain in
the ward room Of the Maria Theresa.
when that vessel lay at Port Royal,
Jamaica
a few hours after Cervera's fleet had
been destroyed the Maria Theresa again
had a narrow escape. She came steam
ing UP toward the American feet from
The eastward Waving IN tropical sun
light. the gaudy Austrian flag looks
much Ike the Spanish.
Several Of the American ships turned
toward her under the impression that
she was an escaped Spanish cruiser.
The Brooklyn raced at her. with the
men at the guns all ready for action;
but luckily the mistake was discovered
just in time The Austrian captain had
no idea that a battle had just been
fought and his amazement when he
was told OF the result was iaughable
to witness
During the blockade Of Havana the
American torpedo boats were forbidden
10 enter the harber. This was gener-
ally supposed to be on account Of the
supposed strength Of the Notifications
and the careful watch kept by the
Spaniards, but there was another rea-
lson.
y In the early days Of the blockade a
small torpedo boat-said TO have been
the Winslow-got into the harbor IN
IL IF 40 nd va h0f
10 let off a torpedo at a big ship lying
at anchor. which was supposed to be
the bIockaded Spanish cruiser Alphons0
XIII. At the psychological moment she
was recognized as a hospital ship full
OF yellow fever patients.
The torpedo boat hurried out Of the
harbor. her commander trembling at
the thougha OF the terrible mistake he
had nearly@eommitted The blowing up
of that hospital ship would have been
worse than the loss Of a battle. I'M
egine the difficulty Of convincing preju-
diced Europe that il was q mistakei
Time and again, during the opera
tons of Cuba newspaper dispatch
boats were fired upon by the american
ships and narrowly escaped being sunk
4 dinky little Norwegian tramp called
the Premier. now employed as a wreck
ing steamer in thieves Indies. was
exposed to the greatest danger.
She is a craft not unlike a torpedo
boat in appearance. At that time she
was fitted with three tan yellow venti-
lating tunnels, almost the size Of
small smokestaclz. for she had been a
banana carrier when she was chartered
by a New York newspaper. Thus she
looked like sour-funneIed torpedo
boat instead OF a sngIe-funneied
tramp.
Admiral Schley's squadron sailed
away from Cienfuegos one night with
the Machias acting as rear guard
scout against Spanish torpedo boats.
At daybreak there was a heavy fog
and the Machias vas cruising up and
down across the route Schiey had tax
en-. ready to blow a Spanisrd cut Of the
water al an instsnts notice
The Premier, eager to catch uD with
the squadron and find out what was
doing. came uD through the fog and
suddenly found herself right under the
nose. of the scout. The crew Of the
Nachias took her for a torpedo boat
IN the dim light, and were on the point
Of blowing her to smithereens when q
puff Of wind blew away the fog and
showed that she was flying the Amer
ocan flag.
The strangest mistake of all was
made By the British admiral. Sir Arch
ibald Douglas, and the acting governor
Of Trinidad. Sir Courtenay knollys.
They got together and issued for
nal declaration OF war against Xene-
zuela at Port or Spain. And this at the
very moment the governments of Eng
land. Germany and Italy were exhaust
ing the resources of diplomacy to con-
vince tha Tinted states that ftov con-