The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-22
PERIL FOR THE FLEET
AN OLD OCEAN RAMBLER TALKS
 ABOUT LIGHTNING.
How War ships Draw Bolts-Course of The Cruisers is Right in The Path of The Freaky Fluid Thrilling Experience of
 1892 Related.
Los Angeles Times.


 Thrilling Experience of
 1892 Related.
 Los Angeles Times.
 The coming of the battleship fleet was under discussion by party of gentlemen in the lobby of the Lanker- shim, one of whom was Captain Rich ard Seeleye, of Bangor, en route to San Francisco, to arrange for a coal sup. ply when the fleet arrives. The sev- eral chances of trouble to the fleet were discussed, among them that of being struck by lightning. which Is known to be heavy and almost inces- sant in southernly attitudes. in the summer season. which corresponds with the winter season in the Northern attitudes. Jocular al1usion was made to the recent incident of Speaker Can non's barn being struck by a bolt of lightning, and that his boom. although exposed, escaped. which led Captain Seeleye to the following "reminiscences:
 'In 1882 was in command of the bark J. B. Simpson. and took a load of dimension pipe from Savannah, Ga. to Colon, or Aspinwall, as Americans call the place. for use in building docks. The mail company was rushed with freight and We got a charter to take 400 casks of California wine to New York. It made fine ballast, and I expected to make a good passage
 
 season Is at 1t greatest fall. and rain and lightning in that latitude are almost synonymous things.
 Lightning Constant and Vivid. We had the customary catspaw breezes. and intermittent squalls till of Haiti to pass through the Turks Inland passage. The lightning had l been constant and remarkably vivid | that day. and got heavier as we ap- preached the land. Among the crew | was a Salvador fisherman, who was the most gifted man in the use of pro- | fanity I have ever known, and that is much to say, for seamen are universal ly strong in thah line. This man was at the wheel ih the last dog watch. and | was quietly cursing everything aboard l and in sight for the trouble he had in keeping his course. I would note a specially heavy flash and hear the | thunderous. splitting roar simultane- | ously. and then hear the oaths of the | man as he condemned everything and | everybody in one general anathema. l noticed the glass was very low. at | 29.S0, and went on deck and directed the mate to shorten said. Wet gear and canvas are difficult to handle. and I took the wheel, telling the man to lend hand to shorten sail. The act was out of the ordinary, and it brought volume of profanity from him as he went forward such as startled me.
 He hardly got below the line of the after deck till a blinding flash came, apparently from everywhere, and when l came to consciousness I was on the 1 floor of the cabin. and the mate and steward were working over me to save my life. The current took the wire on the main topgallant masthead and coming down the backstays. forked one bolt striking the profane seaman, in- lwtTy N.s. .H. | fork jumped to the spanker-topping lift and struck the great steel screws over the rudder head and went down the rudder-well overheard. The ex- | plosion and blows from the flying wood of the cover over the screws drove me against the pinnacle and stunned me-
 How the Fluid Leaped.
 1T was not seriously hurt and when we got around to an examination we | found the bolt took the wire at its point. some twelve inches above the truck, and followed the wire to the | fourth fearleader, which, being wet al- lowed the current to fork and no part of it went over the side where we ex pected it-would go, and that experience 1 fixed me in the belief that lightning | rods are not reliable.
 The dead seaman had received the | bolt at the base of his skull, and 1t ! burning a course through his vitals. and coming out at the heel of his left sh oe. where it took one of the iron stanchions of the rail and was ground | ed over the side.
 Tn the matter of the battleships, as l they may be affected by lightning. I | believe they arc more liable to stroke | than an ordinary merchantmen. They | are wholly of steel, and all are rigged | or fitted with the wireless apparatus. even to the torpedo destroyers. Night l and day waves of electric force are constantly to como from all of them, and especially when the tremendous | white squalls so common off the Rio de la Plata shall come down on them. These great ships are full of at traction that it is q trouble to keep steering compasses in reliable condi- ton, and just how the ships would be affected by the heavy lightnings in the southern hemisphere is a matter of moment.
 OH and Steel.
 "The tank steamer Louise. with oil from Bayonne. N. J.. for the Hoogly River or Calcutta, passed we belieSe by the Cape of Good HOue passage eff she got that far), and when in the lati. | tude of the Rio de la Plata ran into the usual electric storms. It is claimed | by master mariners that crude oI and steel are the most powerfully attrac- | tive things to electricity known on the water. We never heard of the Louise or her men, and it is safe to say | lightning struck her, exploding the bulk cargo and instantly killing all hands.
 T am informed that the magazines
 fy,a car hal.