The Washington herald., 1906-11-18
SIGSBEE, THE SAILOR
Forty-seven Years in the Navy, His
Work Is Now Done.

It was a beautiful set Of photographs OF
the graceful old ships Of the United States
navy; ships of the days of the old Ro-
nance" before the era of steam turned
seamen who could hand. reef and steer"
into what some blueiackets call 'bally
mechanics" About the prettiest picture
in the world. next to the portrait of a
beautiful woman. is that of full-rigged
ship under full sail. She seems to pick
her way as dainttly through the brine as
a graceful woman making her way across
a muddy street; the bosoms Of her snow
white sails are poised al Just that human
like curve which Is the despair Of artists
and about her there is all the magic and
mystery and glamor of the Seven Seas.
Small wonder, then. that this line Of pic
lures In the photographers shop attracted
a throng Of people, and even the Iandsmen
in the crowd compared with disfavor the
gigantic bulk of the modern battle ships
and cruisers with the dainty craft which
so few years ago were typical of our navy.
but which to-day are represented by only
q few examples. Through the crowd a
middle-aged, white-haired. we'll preserved
gentleman made his way into the shop,
and, pointing out a picture on the line,
said; That's a fine picture Of the old
Portsmouth. must have a copy Of that
for my house. I used to command her"
1t was Rear Admiral Charles d. SiEs-
bee. who hailed the picture so enthusiast
eally, one OF Uncle Sans sailors whose
term Of service extends back to the time
when seamen were needed, not mechanics:
whose career has seen stirring fighting
under both sail and steam. but who. that
his service Is about 10 end. has come over
wholly TO the new order Of things. and
who recognizes that the days of the old
romance are dead. indeed.
II was in May Of this year that Admiral
Sigsbee pulled down his admiraPs pennant
from the Brooklyn and stepped ashore to
await orders. With the South Atlantic
Squadron he had just spent four months
cruising In the Mediterranean, visiting
once more and. perhaps, for the last time,
those ports which he had first known as
lad Now he is done. He is on waiting
orders, but the date Of his retirement Is
not two months away. On January he
goes on the retired list. and his pennant
flies in the breeze no more.
Admiral Sigsbee lives IN a modest but
comfortable home at 1923 Belmont road; a
house filed with mementoes Of his active
and busy life. The visitor who enters is
sure OF noisy and demOnstrative vel
come from Governor the adnliraTs bull
dog, long the Detted mascot of the ad-
mlrafs ships; dog who could be nasty IL
he would, but as kindly and friendly in
his disposition as his distinguished mas
ter You ought to have heard him growl
and bark as the guns popped at the Span
iards, says the admiral, laughing In the
hallway hangs Old-fashiOned pictures Of
some Of the battles Of the civil war, in
which Sigsbee, just then christening his
new uniform, took part. There is one pic 1
ture showing Farragut's feet passing the
Mobile forts, and another, highly colored
and bit lurid, shows the bombardment
OF Fort Fisher, in which young Slgsbee /
took a prominent part.
Yes, he said, when asked about his
interest in the picture Of the old Ports
mouth, she was the fourth vessel / com
manded- l was lieutenant commander
then. and we used the POrtsmiuth as q
training ship for the naval cadets. She
was stanch old vessel OF the old type
She was before the day Of double-topsan
yards and I well remember what a task Il
was TO take in sail on her when IL came
on to blow You see, her topsails had
four reefs in them, and when il was
necessary TO have the ship close-reefed
we had to lower the yard down to the
necessary distance and haul the sail up
with the buntlines and reef tackles. When (
We go three reefs tucked on top of the
yard we had all the yard would hold
without hinVying and he },
reef we had TO stow away under the yard |
II would look Ike queer seamanship to- |
day
I'VE have ceased. nowadays to pay
much attention in the nautical education (
Of our cadets, to that part of seaman
ship which dealt with sails and the rig
ging OF sailing ships, We should have
done II long ago; have realized that never /
again on fighting vessels would we have
need for this sort Of knowledge. England. /
usually conservative in such matters, got
ahead OF Us there and they dropped sea |
manship Of this sort long ago. It was. |
indeed, their quick recognition Of the
change that had been wrought in the
fighting vessel, by our use OF the moni-
tors in the civil war, that enabled her 10
shift from wood TO iron for ships and
thus-through sheer legitimate competi-
tion-beat US out of our sea-carrying
trade, which ought to be the largest and
the most profitable in the world"
Admiral Sigsbee was born at Albany. |
n. Y. January IS. 1875, and he entered
the Naval Academy in 1889. There were
sun a great number OF sailing ships in
the United States navy at that time" he
says, "and, Of course, I was trained to
sail them and TO navigate them. Soon
after I entered the Academy, the use Of
auxiliary steam engines on the sailing
ships OF the navy became pretty general.
and so, OF course. our education in steam
began IN October. 1865. I was ordered
into active service as an ensign, and my
vessel was the old Monongahela, al that
time attached TO the West Guf block
aiding squadron. Here We had some excit-
ing times with the blockade runners, who
were persistent and courageous Most of
them would try to pass Us at night They
used 10 burn cotton, soaked in oil, both TO
get up a full head OF steam and TO avoid
smoke and sparks They doused every
light aboard, not even allowing the bin
nacle lamps to burn for fear they might
be seen, and as We had. in the navy at
that time, few ships equal to them in
speed. IL was usuaIly-if they were dis
covered-a futile shot or two in the dark.
10 which they seldom made reply, a chase
of a few miles and back TO the cruising
ground.
AFTER a few months of this monot-
onOus sort OF work, I was transferred to
the Brooklyn, which by a coincidence,
happens TO be the name Of my last ship
also Here ! was attached TO the squad
ron under the famous Admiral FarTagut