Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1907-09-26

New YorS.-With the coming depar-
ture OF the Atlantic fleet to Pacific
watcys-waters which may be any
thing but pacific before the "far-fung
battle line is withdrawn from these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 most
powerful feet that was ever gathered
under one flag and which is soon to
undertake a voyage unparalleled in
its character-one that was recently
;neptly 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
lash of ornaments anywhere now
Impending in the path of this great
feet of warships; yet it is still inter
esting to recount the records of the
flag officers and captains, says
writer in the New York Times.
New Yarn About Evans.
There are now three rear admirals
and 10 captains unfolding in this
fleet the honor of the flag. The rank
ing officer, Rear Admiral Robley D.
Evans, is not only the senior in the
feet; be is the senior rear 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 ex;
.nded reference in this story of the
feet and commanders.
Many anecdotes have been told of
F-s ns--the man whom Kipling has
ds ,cribed in verse as the one who has
m~-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
fleet 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 until
first fired upon. This was in the early
days of what has since become to be
known as the Christian Endeavor
blockade" and to many it was little
short of exasperating to remain in
active and to watch passivcly the
construction of line after line of de-
fensive 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.
1t was at this time, when the feet
was chatting most at the inaction i'm
posed, that the battleship Iowa, then
under the command of Evans, found
one morning a hitherto unknown and
as yet unchartered current.
1T was certainly remarkable cur
rent" the Iowa's commander ex-
planned a few hours later. "This
morning at early daylight, instead OF
being some three miles out, the dawn
showed that we were close inshore
and not more than pistol shot from
that new battery that the Spaniards
have been emplacing near the Moro.
Luckily, all my men are night owls,
and they were all awake at the time
and we're all sitting about their guns
ell except those who belonged down
below, and these were down in the
magazines and hoping that some day
the Spaniards would break the mo-
notony by firing.
A Straight-out Diplomacy.
"Well, we were so close in that
there was considerable trouble in turn
ing, going ahead on one engine and
backing on the other. But at last we
got Strengthened out and both engines