Free press., 1906-04-21


heavy rains and rough seas; nights.
when towlines parted or had to be lett
go and hauled in, while the rain and
wind and darkness made the task Of
handling the large and unwieldy
hawsers arduous. Yet not one of the Of
fcers or crew of the towing feet or dry
dock doubts that they will bring the dock
safely to her destination.
The most trying experience came
when the dock broke from her tows and
for three days drifted to the northwest,
going 10S miles out of her course. Dur
ing this time the wireless telegraph in
struments enabled them to keep track
of each other. and served to keep the
crew on the helpless huge steel trough
hopeful and cheerful In the early part
of the trip after leaving Chesapeake bay
there had been gales that had made
progress slow. Then pleasant weather
followed and a speed of five knots an
hour was made during most of the time,
record of no miles being made on one
day. But just when Commander Hosley
and the captains of the Brutus and
Caesar were congratulating themselves
Oh the ldFOIdOI0 pIOSIOSSS d N1O10uJ
storm blew up on the night of the oath.
The towing machine of the Caesar be-
came disabled, and she was obliged to
cast OF her line. The Glacier, the flag
ship of the towing f1otilla, attempted to
take her place but she steered very badly
in the heavy seas, going as she was at
scow speed, and the tow line was cast
off, This left the Brutus with heavy
task and she soon was obliged to fash
the signal: "Hawser carried away"
Followed a few miutes later by the mes
sage: Towing machine total wreck.
Wire hawser went by board and carried
away, leaving about 40 feet on drum of
towing machine
; Just how the men on board the dry
dock must have felt as they realized
that they were drifting helplessly on the
raging billows of the Atlantic it would
be hard to imagine. For three days
there was nothing to do but listen to the
pounding of the waves and wait until
weather conditions were such that new
line could be connected up. This was
accomplished with the aid of the Po-
tomac, another of the boats of the 1otil-
la, and a lifeboat from the Glacier, and
the Brutus swung to the cast again with
her charge All went well until mid
might of the following day, when the
line parted again, and the dock began to
drift to the southeast, the wind having
shifted
Our map shows by the broken lines the
wide detour which was made in the two
drifts. One of the singular things in
connection with the experience was that
the dock when she was finally taken in
tow for the second time was only go
miles from the point where she had first
started adrift.
One of the interesting features of the
expedition was the successful use of
wireless telegraphy. Communication by
this method was sustained with the
United States for distance of more
than 400 miles, distance seldom if
ever equaled where no extra installment
was made for special trial.
! The last messages received on board
the Glacier direct from the United
States came from the station at Cape
Hatteras on January Is. when the
Glacier was over 400 miles distant
The message came clear and distinct 10
the operator, Mr.. Merritt, and was as
follows: "You came in very loud to-
night Has been cold with alternate
rain and snow all day. New York is
cold and clear to-day. How long are
we going to keep you? Good night
Hatteras."
On January 20. having long since lost /
touch with the shore stations, the oper-
ator on watch was surprised at II: go at
night to get call from the United States
steamer MARYLAND. He was soon in
communication, and we learned that
4 lnairaI Evans had established line Of
wireless communication from San Juan,
1 orto Rico, to within 120 miles Of our
position, the Maryland being the near
est<vessei to us. BY this method we re-
ceived official messages from the navy
department, secretary Of the navy ana
Evans, The ships OF the wire
less chain being the Pennsylvania, Vest
Virginia, Colorado and Maryland.