The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-01-05

rm goin' ashore this afternoon.
IAN right, Charlie; when are you
oomin' off again?"
Sometime TOMORROW mornin' I
suppose ;.
tor as l may want to go ashore my
so1f tomorrow afternoon"
IAN right" Charlie answered, and
retired.
rbat colioquy is a fair index to the
aiscipline in the Panamaian navy,
s.hicb swings on lazy anchor about
.,,.o miles off-shore from this city, well
out beyond the line of mud flats which
,r,s the limits of the 22-foot tide
mich Gibbs and flows along this rug
ged coast.
visited this navy the other day,
.nd if was while seated on the quar-
cor deck of the flagship, just after
breakfast, which is regularly served
ot II o'clock, that 1 heard the con-
,,arsation quoted above. Charlie"
otherwise Col Charles Ross, chief ar
.fuorist of the flagship Tres Noviem-
bre louhged into the presence of the
Admiral of the Navy, Gen. H. o. JEFF
fries and without the formality of
soIute. announced his intention of go
ing ashore. jeff" the admiral, made
his response, and the incident closed
whom Charlie" in civilian dress and
small straw hat, lounged forward
,in ceremony being carefully
eschewed.
As Charlie went forward Jeff re-
marked: There's a good fellow. He's
hsan down in this country with me for
long time, and we've been in some
Drettv tight places together but have
always managed to get out During
tho last revolution we were together
in little tugboat, and went up one
of the small streams that lead inward
from the coast of Cauca. We had no
idea there We're any Liberals around
until we ran right into nest of them.
They ambushed US properly, and for
about two minutes we had the hottest
kind of a time They shot the boat
full of holes, and it is wonder any OF
MS got out alive. Charlie had wash
cd his undershirt that morning ana
hung it out to dry. During the hrlng
forty-two bullets went through the
garment. When we got back to Pan
anna Charlie showed the undershirt
~ Cen Alban. who asked: Did you
have if on when that was done"
.CharHe' didn't see Adams joke; but
he is good fellow all the same, and
I always want him with me when
there's anything dom, ashore or
afioat."
"Jef's Funny Fellow"
And few minutes later, when, with
UCharle," the negro captain of the
flagship and the Englishman who
serves as the ships chief engineer,
we were afoat in a small pulling BOAT,
bound shoreward, Charlie" said in a
casual way:
Jeff certainly .is~a.- funny fellow. He
will go ashore for two or three days,
come off some morning before break
fast, and then, when we want to go
ashore in the afternoon, tell us to be
back before shutdown because he
doesn't want to stay cooped up on
ship all his life, and means to take
a little shore leave himself after sun
down"
The spirit of the whole Panamaian
navy appears in these incidents and
conversations. The officers are on too
intimate terms of friendship to per-
nit them, through any Of the grades,
to enforce rigid regulations, or to ex-
act those official courtesies common on
the warships of other nations. The
navy itself is quite a wondrous affair,
and thoroughly in keeping with the
free and easy manner characteristic
of the commissioned and enlisted per-
sonnet
This navy consists of three ships
the Tres Noviembre (fagship). Mede-
lin and Chuquito. The last is called a
torpedo boat. In any other harbor of
the world she would rank as a tug,
medfum-sized and generously supplied
with Lighthouses and awnings. She
can do something like twelve knots
an hour and holds the speed record
of the Panamaian navy. OF armor she
has none, and her torpedo equipment
IS still dream of the future; nor has
she gun platforms for armament of
the other classes.
The ChOquitO and the MedeIin.
The Chuduito is commanded by Co
lionel Arosemena-all the titles in this
navy are borrowed from the military
blanch-they, when used at all it is for
iJtle excursions up and down the coast
in the vicinity of Panama. She pass
W liIS ndSSnlp SHORTLY amer went
aboard that vessel the other day, lad
ened to the gunwales with gay crowd
OF excursionists bound for Taboga Is
land. Her passing was without Incl
dent, except that she scurried by at top
sneed, the presence of the admiral
aboard the flagship being no reason
Why she should dip her colors or
otherwise note his existence.
The Medelin is a former fruiter. She
was found somewhere up the west coast
oil Central America and purchased for
small sum from one of those diminu-
tive republics. in whose navy she was
classed as the crack ship. She was
brought down to Panama in tow, her
machinery being disabled by an acct
gent. To this day the damage has not
been repaired, and the Medelin swings
the length of anchor chains with each
ude. Farther than that she may never
go. Her black hull floats high out
OF the water, disclosing to view one
one blade of her propeller, and good
~ part of the rudder. In the technique
OF this very remarkable navy the Mede-
I'm ranks as a troop ship or transport.
Just now she is very busily engaged In
performing the arouous duties OF
quarantine boat in a port where quar-
antine regulations are not enforced.
The Tres Noviembre.
Of the flagship Tres Noviembre
Ihere is something better to be said
Just how this ship came into posses
SION of Colombia nobody now in au-
taorlty in the navy seems to know
She was purchased several years ago