Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1906-03-19

Letters have been received ion this city
from Mr William j. Aylward the Viii
mington nriist who took passage as am
invited guest of the supply ship Glacier
One of the vessels of the fleet THAT s now
towing thc great dydOck Dewey 90 the
Philippine Islands The letters were
brought to New York hy vessel spoken
during the trip To the Canary Islands
where The fleet stopped for the purpose
of making fcpair 10 the Dewey.
"Oi an the slow passages that have
been made across the western ocean.
writes Mr Ayluard. under date of Feb
ru9ry 10Th. outside ol absolute disaster
! think Wc can claim first houors We
have Columbus. and even Noah himself
buclled OIL the boards and would give The
old Flying Dutchman' a run for his
money. For. Ike him. we have been
doomed forever TO head winds and head
winds with this outfit are much more OF
setback than To- the sloWesl old
wind-iammer aloat For the latter
could at least make O long tack and get
somewhere. but ot the rate we craWlod
every wandering gale OF wind that came
along took a long shot as MS parting
our lines time and again and raising
Cain generally with ships and dfydock.
until we had TO cut down our slow speed
10 even less and crawl towards the Cam
aries TO rcht the feet and put repairs on
the dock that win take some weeks
OF the accommodations on board the
Glacier Mr. Aylwafd writes: "Ihere is
a library, "a doctor. barber banker and
postmaster aboard; fresh and salt water,
hot and cold. tubs and shower baths;
while. after two months at sea we are still
living high of al kinds OF meat and poul-
try. fish, oysters and vegetables as the
Glacier is really "a supply ship. used to
victual ships on foreign stations. and sup
piled with am enormous reirigcmting
plant and condonsing apparatus. Verify,
who would not sell a farm and 90 TO sea %
Our WardroOm mess is composed of
the executive officer, navigating officer,
FIRST lieutenant, second lieutenant. doctor.
paymastor and myself. The ship has six
boatswains, including the chief boat
swain. and as all are pretty good ialkers
and prone TO outdo one another In yarns
1 hear some pretty stiff ones Especially
/ Is this So where one has been where tho
others have notthen there is no re.
straint but the mans imagination.
"lhe best of all are the real experiences
and il does not take a very shrowd head
60 recognize them. In crowd of men
some of whom have sailed every sea-
wcathered typhoons ia the China Ocean
the mOnsOoons of the Indian Ocean
lodged icehergs in the Antartic, or chased
| giant boWhoad in the frozen North, you
can hear the hair-nsing experience.
enough TO hll book Ghost stories. too
arc interesting and quite easy in the gloon
of the forward deck. but best of AN arc
the doings ashore in foreign ports and the
scrapes gotten into especially cOutl
American ports where the 'Gnngoi ano
| the 'Dago have ever clashed
"lhese fellows, too, have "a mighty
broad view of things, and though some.
| times they have very quaint ideas, on IN,
whole they size up the affairs of the world
pretty we'll. Their ideas on the mission.
sionarics I'm the East might shock som,
of the boards that send them out ano
they have their own opinions of th,
morality OF the people at home who raj
no Jack doings ashore. But Jackie get.
his opinions from observing these sam,
'uncle guide people ia Paris, Monte Carlo
or mayhap Cairo OF Port Said.
The crew is composed of as likely a sci
OF young tars as You could wish, anC
the rockies 0he recruits making thei
first voyage after tminingshipl, far out
number the Older men. They are % hard
working set of youngsters and in prim
condition after their long cruise
"l ann feeling mighty ht myself. an,
since / we gotten my sea legs have game,
a great deal I'M weight and somehow hav
no desire for coffee on tobacco i'm an.
form J can now look without quailin
at any wave that comes along the pike
but would like 90 see it little smoot
now and then until we get a little head
way on the drydock"