The San Francisco call., 1904-09-14
Futile Voyage of SIay
War Craft After New
Boilers.

The mystery of the mission of the
Russian auxiliary cruiser Lena sto the
port of San Francisco has been solved.
Captain Berlinsky came 1000 miles over
the ocean in quest of a new set of
boilers, for leaking of tubes told him
that the seaworthiness of the vessel
was seriously endangered. He has
failed in his purpose, the laws of neu-
trality being given stern Interpretation
by the United States Government, and
the war craft must now be dismantled
and laid UP till the conflict in the Far
East is ended.
The inspections of the vessel directed
by both Admiral Goodrich and Col
lector of the Port Stratton have re-
Vealed that not one of the tWenty-four
boilers of the cruiser is in a serviceable
condition. The tubes are spotted with
accumulations of salt where the leaks
have been handicapping the progress
of the ship. Each boiler has 1872 tubes
and out of the total number there are
just enough whole tubes to put eight
of the boilers in sea-going condition.
But to take out the tubes that are
whole and with them replace the de-
fective tubes in order that the ship
might proceed with a third of her COM
plement of boilers so as to reach the
nearest Russian port would require
thirty days time, according to the esti-
mate of Captain John K. Bulger, whose
report was forwarded to Washington
by Collector Stratton yesterday. and
six weeks according to the report Ad-
miral Goodrich made to the Navy De-
partment
The boilers at present in the shin
and duplicates of which Captain Ber-
linsky expected to find in San Fran
cisco are of the Belleville type and are
manufactured in England. There are
no Belleville boilers here and it would
take from four to eight months to have
shipment made from England and the
new ones installed.
Furthermore, Captain Berlinsky ar
rived in San Francisco almost without
coal, Notwithstanding his representa-
tions to the contrary. There is not
near enough coal in the bunkers to
make the voyage to the nearest Rus
sian port. All in all, the Russian war
ship was hard driven when she came
seeking the friendly offices of a neu-
trail port, only to have hopes of aid
in her sorry plight dashed to the
ground.
An inspection of the vessel yesterday
by Captain John K Bulger, local in
spectorN of hulls and boilers, made at
the instance of Collector of the Port
f. S. Stratton, resulted in a report to
Washington that coincided with the re-
port of the examination Admiral Good
rich's engineer made the day before.
The admiral proceeded on his own re-
sponsibility and was therefore more
prompt in ordering an investigation
than was Collector Stratton, who took
no step until advised by the Depart
ment of Commerce and Labor.
Captain Bulger had a number of
tubes removed from the Lena's boilers
and found them very much corroded.
He would sanction no vessels going to
sea with tubes in such bad condition.
His inspection was superficial because
of lack of time. and while he gave 1t q
his judgment that eight boilers might
be put in good condition in thirty days
by working day and night shifts of re-
pairers, he reported that he would pre-
fer to have three days for a thorough
inspection before giving a definite
opinion as to the statement of Captain
Berlinsky that new boilers were needed
absolutely to make the cruiser sea-
worthy.
Further than the inspection by Can
tain Bulger and the forwarding of his
report to Washington there were no
new developments yesterday so far as
the Office of the Collector of the Port
was concerned. The Japanese Consul
said that he had heard nothing from
his Government, and the Consul of the
Russians explained that things were at
q sfsndstfll with him as well the mat