Perth Amboy evening news., 1905-06-27
GREGORY IS IN
RUSSIAN NAVY.
NixOn's Little Boat Built Here
Had a Hard Voyage Across
Atlantic.

AlueflCan ShllOfs u DfOuSnb Lne
Gregory across the ocean," said Fred.
B. Squirting yesterday while discuss
ing his adventures on a motor boat
which left Perth Amboy on February
8 last, and which was safely delivered
to the Russian government about four
months later.
"The officials who boarded the
Gregory at S~ebastopol, he continued,
said, No American sailors could
have crossed in such n craft They
assumed the boat had either been
brought ove in sections or that we
had had assistance of some kind. We
expressed our willingness to return in
the Gregory to prove that we had
made the trip, but, of course, We
could not take the boat out, as she is
destined 10 become q torpedo beat in
the Russian navy. We took n steamer
for Odessa and then a train for Ham
burg, where three of us caught a
liner for New York. We have just
arrived. and can tell you that we
are glad to be here again. The cap
tain remained behind in Hamburg"
The Gregory was built by Lewis
Nixon for the Russian government
She is ninety feet long, twelve feet in
beam, drawing two feet six inches
forward and two feet aft. the propel-
Ter sinking three feet into the water.
Her gross tonnage is forty-five tons
and net twenty-seven. She is built of
steel plates only one-eighth of an inch
thick. She has q gasolene engine of
300 horse power and is capable of
making thirty miles an hour under
the most favorable conditions. The
ten men who sailed in her were
August w. Loose, captain; Johan
Markesen, first mate; August Hansen,
second mate; John Perkins, chief en-
gineer; G. W. Pete rsen, A. $. Frank
lin and Ed. Hansen. assistant en-.
gineers; Willie Fredericksen, Louis
Mowbry and Squirting.
1t vas n very rough and uncomfort-
able trip, according to Squirting. They
encountered bad weather at the out
set, and the trip to Bermuda took
nine days. After leaving there it was
even worse. Four days out from Ber-
muda they ran into q hurricane, and
for seventy-two hours they remained
ia the high sea, with their sea anchors
! N,+ arI uystkors n c,aI okoonl 1fut@r
on timed meats and drinking lime
juice. The masts had been broken,
four barrels of oil had been used to
calm the sea, but the waves had
dashed aboard so hard that the gaso-
lene tanks began to leak so that there
would have been serious peril If n
match had been struck. The odor OF
gasolene aboard was almost unbear-
able, and affected the men, causing
their faces to swell A cylinder broke.
and it was. necessary to return to
Hamilton, Bermuda, for repairs.
hey were finally able to start again
and after a terrible tossing they
reached Punta Delgado, in the Azores.
on April 4, after a seventeen days
run. They had to remain there about
five weeks until they could get a sup
ply of gasolene shipped from Lisbon
on a sailing vessel.
There was a heavy sea running
when they left the Azores for Algiers,
where they landed seven days later,
on May Is, and remained five or six
days awaiting a new supply of gaso-
lene, taking a heavy deck load OF
about twenty-five thousand litres,
which caused some trouble when they
were again struck by a hurricane.
They made for Sardinia and remained
near the shore, while the deckload
was dumped into tanks. They then
made q run to .Constantinople, where
they found Mr.. and Mrs. Nixon and a
party of friends, who went aboard the
Gregory and spent a few days cruising
about the Dardanelles.
From Constantlnople the run to Sc
bastopol took thirty-six hours. Two
days were consumed before the. formal
transfer could be made and passports
could be obtained for the crew. The
Gregory was then placed in the ship
yard to be refltted for her new SER
vice.
Said Squirting: "When the sea
was high we had to remain below
with all the matches closed, tossing
around without y breath of air, and
with water tumbling on deck every
moment, sending the propeller high
into the air"
When the Gregory left here it was
{. said she was to take part in the
French motor boat races, and the fac
that she was to be delivered in Russis
was carefully concealed. The trip wa:
= so bad that Captain Loose was quoted