Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-09-26

New York.-With the coming depar-
tnre of the Atlantic fleet to Pacific
waters-waters which may be any
thing but pacific before the "far-hung
battle line is withdrawn from these
seas-considerable interest arises IN
the personality of the men who are to
command the vessels of this vast
armada.
Who are they, these sea warriors to
whose vigilance and skill will be In
trusted the management of the o
powerful fleet that was ever gathered
under one flag and which is o to
undertake a voyage unparalleled In
its character-one that was recently
taeptly likened to Nelson's splendid
sweep from Brest to the West Indies
and back to the Notwithstanding day OF
Trafalgar"
There may be no Trafalgar-like
clash of ornaments anywhere now
impending in the path of this great
fleet of warships; yet it is still inter
es,ting to recount the records of the
flag officers and captains, says a
writer in the New York Times.
New Yarn About Evans.
There are now three rear admirals
and 16 captains upholding in this
feet the honor of the flag. The rank
ing officer, Rear Admiral Robley D..
Evans. is not only the senior in the
fleet: he is the senior ear admiral in
active ~service-the officer next in rank
to Dewey, admiral of the navy.
The record of Rear Admiral Evans
is too well known to require any eK-
ended reference in this story Of the
feet and commanders.
Many anecdotes have been told of
Evans-the man whom Kipling has
described in verse as the one who has
lived more stories than most other
men-himself and Zogbaum included
could invent.
Here is one that has been recalled
by an old notebook which the writer
kept during the war with Spain, and
when his dispatch boat was with the
feet that was then blockading Ha-
vana.
Many of the navy men had grown
FESTIVE under the restraint which had
been imposed by an order from Wash
ington, prohibiting the ships from
firing at the Havana defenses unit
first fred D This was in the early
DAYS of what has since become to be
known as the christian Endeavol
blockade" and to many it was httl'
short of exasperating to remain IN
active and to watch passively tn
construction of line after line of de
fensiye. works. But the order to re
frain from firing unless the shore bat
teries took the initiative was impera
tive, and the navy obeys orders.
lit was at this time, when the flee
was chatting most at the inaction in
posed. that the battleship Iowa, the
under the command of Evans, foun
one morning a hitherto unknown an
as yet unchartered current.
ct was certainly a remarkable Gu
rent" the Iowa's commander e1
planned a few hours later. "Thi
morning at early daylight, instead
being some three miles out, the daw
showed that we were close inshor
and not more than a pistol shot frol
that new battery that the Spaniard
have been emplacing near the Morr'
Luckily, all my men are night owl
and they we're all awake at the tin
and were all sitting about their gun
all except those who belonged dow
below, and these were down in I'll
magazines and hoping that some dt
the Spaniards would break the N
notony by firing.
a straieht-out Diplomacy.
"WelI. we were SO close in tn
there was considerable trouble in tut
ing, going ahead on n engine a
backing on the other. But at last
got Strengthened out and both engin