The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-09-26
Striking Personalities of Three
Rear Adn1iraLs and Sixteen
Captains to Whom Are In
trusted the Men and Millions
Who Represent Americas s
Might on the Ocean.

New York.-With the coming depar.
ture of the Atlantic feet to Pacific
waters-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battle line" is withdrawn from these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 fleet that was ever gathered
under one flag and which is soon to
undertake a voyage unparalleled in
IFS charaCter-one that was recently
ineptly likened to Nelson's splendid
sweep from Brest to the West Indies
and back to the world-shaking day of
Trafalgar"
There may be no Trafalgar-like
clash of armaments anywhere now
impending in the path of this great
fleet of warships; yet it is still inter-
esting 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
fleet 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 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-
ended reference in this story of the
fleet 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 |
fleet that was then blockading Ha-
Vana.
Many of the navy men had grown |
restive 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 passively the
construction of line after line of de-
fensive works. But the order to re-
frain from firing unless the shore bat
tcries took the initiative was impera-
tive and the navy obeys orders.
1t was at this time, when the fleet
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 a remarkable cur
rent the Iowa's commander ex-
planned 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 were all sitting about their guns
all except those who belonged down :
below, and these were down in the ;
magazines and hoping that some day :
be Spaniards would break the mo- ,
lotony by firing.
straght-out Diplomacy. c
We'll, We were so close in that t
here was considerable trouble In turn c
ng, going ahead on one engine and /
packing on the other. But at last we t
,ot Strengthened out and both engines