Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1907-03-07
|LIFE ON ARMY TRANSPORT.
FOUR DAYS BY SEA TO PORT
OF HAVANA.
An Ideal Ocean NOyage-lIOw DAYS And
Nights Are Spent What Pas
sengers Do To Pass
Awav Time
lspecIal lCorresp0ndencet to Evening Capital

AwaY Time.
Special Correspondence to Evening Capita)
The shades of night had fallen when
one reaches deck after dinner. The
first night out is too cold and windy
in February TO loiter much on deck,
and little parties form for bridge,
whist or FIVE hundred, while others
amuse themselves in various ways.
The second and third nights out are
warm and the pleasure on deck is en-
joyed by all.
The Quartermaster brings out his
graphophone and there is singing and
dancing, and great fun for every body.
Sometimes before all ''turn in" a
light luncheon of lettuce sandwiches
and lemonade is served. With con-
genial party aboard, life on an Army
transport is indeed ideal. About
noon of the third day Palm Beach
is sihgted and the transport runs very
near the popular winter resort in
Florida. The two handsome hotels
are plainly visible, the many hand
some cottages and the tourists on the
shore or out in small boats. The sight
of land is cheering after being out to
sea two days. AS the ship passes
Palm Beach the shore stations siren
salutes us.
An Army transport carries no
woman in its service. There is no
stewardess, as in. times past, it is
said, they have proved nuisance
aboard ship. The several stewards,
boys who attend to certain rooms as
signed them, are capable and fill the
bill satisfactorily. All the employees
of the ship are courteous and attentive
to the needs of the passengers and
mindful of their comfort. A provi
sion is made for the sick on the trans
port and the "Medico, First Lieu
tenant and Assistant Surgeon Davis,
renders professional service when re-
quired. He is a general favorite, and
although quiet and uDassuming, hls
genial manner wins him many friends.
MoRRo CASTLE.
On the morning of the fourth day
everybody aboard ship begins to look
out for a sight of Cuba, which, in the
dim haze, looms up an indistinctively
outlined land in the dim distance.
Eagerly one watches for a sight of
MORO Castle and later lis rewarded
and almost awed by the suddenness
with which this impregnable fortress
appears to view, as though some
statuesque castle OF centuries ago had
suddenly arisen from the sea. The
effect is as pleasing as it is startling,
and as the panoramic view of the city
looms up with its quaint-looking fiat
rooted houses, its multi-colored build
ings, its myriads IF spires, domes and
cathedrals, it reminds one of some
picturesque stage setting at one of the
large metropolitan theatres, SO beauti-
full, so highly colored yet so striking
ly unreal is the combined effect.
HAVANA FROM THE SEA
The city of Havana, as first seen from
the sea approach, is picture never to
be forgotten. With the azure sky
above, the emerald background of
tall waving palms and laurel, the
city's mosaic gem finds a rich and rare
setting for a gem as unique as it is
antique, as bewildering as it is fasci-
mating. The army transport has its
own dock, and unlike other ships it
sails direct to the pier. OFF MORO
Castle the United States dag is lower
ed and the Cuban flag is run up. A
courtesy usually extended one coun-
try by another. The pilot comes out
before the harboT is entered and
boards the ship, taking the helm and
steering her safely into port. The har-
Dor entrance is said to be not more
than $50 to 400 yards wide, yet the
greatest ships of the world enter and
clear this harbor, passing almost di-
rectly under MORO Castle and Fort
Cabanas. BY docking at her own pier
the army transport saves the govern
ment the enormous expense of liter
age, a system of graft pure and SIM
pie. General Bliss estimated the cost
of literage in three and a half years
at not less than ten millions of dol
lars. 1t is estimated that the army
transport saves the Government of the
United States each trip from eight TO
ten thousand dollars and often much
more.
THE wRECH OF THE MAINE.
Conspicuous at the entrance of the
harbor is the wreck of the Maine,
which was blown up February 10,
1898. 1t is an object of interest 10
every American tourist, but is said to
be- an eyesore to the average Cuban,
who wishes it were removed. After
the visit to the ship of the quarantine
physician, who satisfies himself liter
ally and figuratively that "All's
WE'LL the passengers land after de-
lightful sea voyage of a thousand
miles to an island whose distance
from the mainland of the United States
is estimated to be not more than one
hundred miles, yet whose capital city
is as distinctly foreign as Rome or
Jerumsalem. +. \. 6.