Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-18
THE PURITAN CRUISE
End Of a Week of Hard
Work.
DISTRICT MEN PRAISED
ADMIRAL DICKENS SPEAKS IN
HIGH TERMS OF THEM.
How the Big Monitor Was Pulled OF
the Mud In the Bay Near
Point Lookout.
district MEN PRAISED

ON BOARD THE U. s. MONITOR PURI-
TAN, OFF NEWPORT NEWS, Va. June
| 17.-This afternoon at o'clock the Puritan
dropped anchor here and for the first time
in exactly week held communication with
| the shore. 1t was tired lot of sailor lads
| that went to work fixing up the ship for
the trip home, restoring awning posts and
| In other ways removing the traces of ten
days strenuous service.
| The work of the battalion during the past
week has been the hardest it was ever
| called upon to perform. The officers and
| men were all called on for the sort of duty
| the regular navy performs and the manner
in which they acquitted themselves was q
| surprise to the officers of the regular serv-
ice The men are almost exhausted and
| the officers are in no better condition.
The Puritan will sail for home tomorrow
or Monday. She must coal before she can
leave, and while the coal is here for her
| there may be no way Of getting it into her
| bunkers before tomorrow night or Monday
| morning. Commander Stratton will make
| the trip In daylight, as the maneuvering
| required to bring ship of the Puritan s
size up the Potomac is too delicate work
for night: The vessel will therefore arrive
in port either Monday or Tuesday evening.
District Men Praised.
The work of the District naval militia
has been of the highest order, Admiral
l AASn1AS otdtCu IAllS d1tcTuOOn IA an inter-
view. Too much praise cannot be given
them. The naval officers are especially
pleased with the work Of the Puritan's
| crew in getting her Off the mud at the
| mouth OF the Potomac. They state that
| an accident of this kind is liable to hap
pen at any time to any ship and that the
| way the District sailors handled them
| selves and their ship was as good as
| could have been done by regulars.
This is the first time in the history of
| the navy that a ship manned by militia
and commanded by a militia officer has
| engaged in fleet exercises In these ma
| neuvers there were four such vessels, the
Puritan and three small gunboats manned
Fly the militia of Maryland The Puritan
was the second vessel in point of size in
| the fleet. and at no time was the COM
| handing officer to make allowances for
| the rawness of the men. He treated them
| just as he did the regular officers and re-
| quired the same service. Except for a
| mistake in signals of rare occurrence the
| militiamen performed their duty right
up to the handle"
Cruise Full of Events.
Today was the first day any of the men
| on the ship had been allowed ashore since
the vessel sailed from Washington last
| Friday afternoon. The cruise was full Of
| events and the most instructive the local
| battalion has ever had. The Puritan sail
| ed down the Potomac about 1 o'clock on
| Tie d1teInOOn OI the JtQ. Sn0 reacneQ
| Solomon's Island, Md, at noon on the 10th
| and reported to Admiral Dickins She
| was assigned to the monitor squadron
and Commander Stratton was given his
| instructions as to the campaign.
The plan was to make an attack on Bal
| timore in force Sunday night, after which
| the fleet was to divide The smaller ves-
| sells, with the exception Of the Hornet,
| were on Monday sent against the forts Of
| Baltimore and then were hurried down
the bay and, with the monitors. excepting
| the Puritan, started up the Potomac. Inc
| Texas, Hartford and Hornet started for
| Old Point.
Owing to her small coal capacity it was
| not planned that the Puritan should go up
| the Potomac but she was ordered to await
| at it's mouth the arrival of the flagship
| after it's sortie on Old Point. 1t was while
| steaming about the bay outside of Point
| Lookout that the vessel ran aground Mon
| day night She stuck fast in the mud until
| Tuesday night, when the tide came in and
| she got off.
Getting the Puritan Of.
To Boatswain James Bowling belongs the
| credit of getting the Puritan off the mud
after the tug Yerkes had tried in vain to
| dislodge her The ship was stuck at low
tide Monday night. At high tide Tuesday
night her 1O600-pound anchor was placed
| in the sailing launch and towed out into
| the bay by five of the ships boats. There
1t was dropped with hehvy hawser at
| tached. The anchor caught and the haW-
ser was made fast to the ship. Then with
her own engines the Puritan pulled nerseil
| together with mighty effort and slid into
deep water again. The hawser broke with
| the strain, but the work was done by that
time The naval officer stationed aboard
| Lieut. Pardy said 1t was one of the finest
| pieces of work he had ever seen.
The work of getting the ship Off was val
liable practice for the men, and was hghly
praised by the regular officers. COMMANDER
| Stratton stated today that he regarded TINS
| as the most important work of the cruise
and the part that will be most valuable to
the men.
The Puritan was aioat at the time of the
| return of the Texas and her consort We'd
| nesday morning. The entire fleet assem-
bled Wednesday off Point Lookout,
and in the evening started down the
bay for Old Point. The attacks at Fort
| Monroe were planned to be Ike most I'M
| portant of the maneuvers, AMI AID nj al
| Dickins desired to give plenty Of uEne 10
| them.
| The Puritan was ass gned to place in
| the monitors squadron of the fleet Just
ahead of the cruisers. She participated In
| every engagement at Fort Monroe, ana
| worked her guns as fast ana with accu-
rate range as any of the crews of the hset.
| After the exercises today at noon the fleet
sailed up to Newport News where the
Puritan came to anchor off the shipbuid-
ing docks. She had only about seven tons
of coal in her lockers. one HuHuTeu IONS
of fuel were awaiting her at Newport
News, however and efforts were made to
put 1t aboard Immediately, in order that
the start home could be made tomorrow
morning No barge could be procured,
however, today, and it Is probable that the
fuel cannot be placed In the bunkers until
tomorrow evening.
The health of the crew has been excel
lent during the trip. Today there were
only three men on the sick report and they
were reported for having cut finger, a
bruise on the wrist and powder burn on
the cheek, respectively, none of the injuries
being sufficient to keep the men from duty.
Observers and Umpires Meet.
Almost all the army and navy GERS sta
toned on the ships and in the forts as OBJ
servers and umpires met at the Chamberlin
Hotel at Old Point this afternoon. They
discussed their reports Informally and the
officers of the two branches of the service
exchanged opinions as to who got the best
of It, The navy claims everything. 1t
| claims to have put every battery and every
light out of business; in fact. 1t claims
| against the army just what the army
| claims against 1t. Most of the officers de-