Omaha daily bee., 1905-12-29
DRY DOCK On LONG TRIP
officers of Navy Greatly Interested in Trip
Of the Dewey.
FROM AMERICAN PORT TO SUBiG BAY
Longest Voyage Ever Planned for
Floating Dry Dock is that
Being Undertaken from
soIOmOn'n Island.
FROM AMERICAN PORT TO SUBIG "a

WASHINGTON, Dec. S.-When the big
floating dry dock Dewey today hshed up
the last one of its eight 1o,00-pound lnusn-
room anchors and started off down Chesa-
peake bay from Solomon's island on
10 0O0-mile cruise to the Philippines, 1t pc
came the subject of deepest concern to the
Navy department and to every American
sailor until it safely drops those anchors
In the quiet waters of Subig bay. For
| many naval officers say they are really
very doubtful whether the trip can be
made in safety. The Havana floating dock
was towed down to that port from Scot
| land but that voyage was short in com
parisOn with that lying before the Dewey,
and the Derils of the way were much
fewer, with many more chances to make
! safe harbors in case of bad weather and
| to enable the towboats to take on coal
| The tow that most nearly Appropriated
the Dewey in American history was that
! of the big double turreted monitor Mianto-
nomolr in 1867. 1t was then the very latest
type of naval architecture and was sent
across the Atlantic and into the Mediter-
| ranean as a show ship" to give the
Europeans an idea OF how far ahead Of
them the Americans had gotten as re-
/ suit of the sea lighting of the civil war
! one of the officers. now n rear admiral
| who helped to get the monitor back to
/ this side of the world, tells an entertaining
story of the difficulties of that trip.
! Trip of Monitor.
! The monitor could not carry enough coal
to cross at full speed under its own steam
go it loaded with coal boxes on the
decks until the ship was almost awash
and started at four-knot speed across
. the Atlantic Ret nd knot
is the calculated speed of the Dewey. The
navy owned at that time a big side
wheeler. the Atlanta. and this ship towed
and steered the Miantonomoh across the
ENlantit. 1t took the course that will be
! followed by the Dewey in the reversed d.
rcctiCn, going from Gibraltar to Cape
Verde Islands. across to the, West Indian
islands ~ the Bahamas, and so on to
Delaware bay. At Cape Verde the tow
was met by schooner sent from this side
laden with coal, ana with this fresh supply
the monitor was brought across. Several
times the towing lines broke, but there
were no serious vicissitudes and naval
officers here are hoping that the Dewey,
with it's four tow boats. will do well.
,. Estimates vary considerably as to the
! length OF the cruise but few place the
time at less than three months
Start In Auspicious.
! ANNAPOLIS. Md, Dec. 2S.--The gigantic
dry dock Dewey made an suspicious start
| this afternoon on its 14,Oc0-mile trip to the
( Philippine islands under the Objection Of
Commander II. ii. Hosley, u. S. n. The
start was made at 2:05, and at o'clock
the lights the dock could be seen at a
distance of eight OF nine miles below Sol
onions island. the starting point There
was no mishap OF any kind. Three YES
sells in tandem are towing the Dewey.
Next to the dock is the collier Brutus, then
the collier Caesar. and in front is the tug
Potomac. Commander Hosley will have
his quarters on the Glacier, the supply
boat which will accompany the dock and
its attendants. The huge tow line was
dropped over from the Dewey at IL 80 this
morning. taken aboard the Brutus and
made fast just at noon. Chief Boatswain
| Phillip Mullan, L. S, ~, had direct con-
troll of securing all the towing apparatus,
| the whole affair being under the control
of the signal Of Commander Hosley from
the Glacier.