The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1907-12-27
A STRIKING NAVAL CONTRAST
The Voyage of Evans Compared to
That of Rojestvensky.

NO fleet of such size" said President
| Roosevelt in his recent message, refer
| ring to the practice cruise, has even
made such a voyage The statement nat.
urally suggests the expedition OF the i'll
starred Roiestyensky. As an achievement
/ IN steaming for seven months to the iaI
east under the most untoward conditions
/ it was the most remarkable IN naval an
mails. The wonder was that the Russian
| fleet ever reached Tsusima and was able to
take up battle formation Most OF the
coaling and repairing had to be done IN
! the open sea, and the fleet carried only
one chief naval constructor, Eugene >.
POlitvosky. who went down with RO'
jestvensky's flagship. 1t is from Politvo-
sky's diary. mailed to his wife from ports
of call that we learn the appalling diff.
culties under which the Russian admiral
labored in obeying the orders OF his august
master TO lead the fleet to certain de-
struction 1t never dropped anchor even
in French waters but to be warned off
until it arrived in Van FOng Bay and
there prepared for its doom. In Nigo
Bay, on the Spanish coast, Rojestvensky
had to use stealth and force to get enough
coal to proceed. The authorities at Ma
drid gave him permission reluctantly to
take on 400 tons and posting sentres over
the collier hawsers he gave orders to them
to shoot any one who intertered until he
had obtained 500 tons. In the French
African ports the officials were person
ally courteous" but Officially cold, and
Roiestvensky had to disregard their or
for instance, that his ships were damaged
and could not sail This may have been
true, for Polityosky writes in his diary;
There are continual mishaps to the va
rous ships One gets sand in her sea
valves, although 60 miles off shore; she
must have scraped a shoal. Another gets
hot bearings, and the whole fleet is
stopped; another breaks her condenser;
another smashes her propeller blade; an.
other breaks her piston rod; with most OF
them the steering gear is continually get
ting out of order. Naval constructors are
in demand night and day.
The crews of some ships were often on
the verge of mutiny, and on none could
strict discipline be preserved. In Febru-
airy there is this sinister item in the
diary:
A transport, the Malay, is largely load
ed with lunatics. She is about to return
to Russia with Mnatics, drunkards, in
valids and men deported for crime. The
crew are all hard cases, beach-combers and
the like picked up in the Madagascar
ports. All the officers carry loaded re-
volvers; a mutiny breaks out among the
crew; the officers suppress 1t with much
slaughter.
The officers, realizing that only shame
full defeat was to be expected on the day
of battle, neglected their duties, gambled
for high stakes and drank deep. When
the Germans among them celebrated the
kaiser's birthday they drank so much
that they remained drunk two days"
wrote poor Politvosky. On the long voy-
foul I'VE shall arrive in the
east with dirty ships and the japanese
will meet us with clean ones" was set
down despondently in the dairy. Politvo-
sky, to illustrate the ignorance of the
officers, writes in one place: Yesterday
heard a wordy quarrel among the lieu,
tenants about how many stokeholes and
boilers there are in this flagship" On
The eve of battle its officers sat long at
table, drinking and singing. The follow !
ng day nearly one thousand officers and
5welve thousand men persisted by shot and |
shell and drowning.
No parallel can be worked out between |
5he voyages of the fleets of Rojestvensky |
md Admiral Evans, not even as to the |
line taken, if we suppose that the Ameri- |
all HteJ CUES HD luIbllcl tudu pdI ran
cisco, which the president speaks of
as its destination in his mes
sage. In four months and half Admiral |
Evans ought to run in through the Gold |
N Gate. Rojestvensky was seven months |
getting to Van Fong Bay. Admiral Evans
will be welcome at his five ports of call
md nothing he needs will be withheld |
rom the feet. He will be able to coal
1t leisure and take his time about re-
pairs. There is no enemy to encounter
n the voyage through the Straits of
Magellan or in the open sea. His ships
ire well provisioned and everybody will
rave comfortable quarters The discipline
IN board is perfect, and officers and men
ire proud of their ships, between which
md the nondescript and patched up fleet
# Rojestvensky there can be no COMPARE
on. /
The president was right when he said
hat mo feet of such size has ever made
UGH voyage" Even England, the first
# naval powers, never sends great bat
leship fleet of the kind round CONT
tent and into waters thousands of miles
way for target practice. Rojestvensky's
-oyage, as we have pointed out, was not
BILE only because he kept his wretched
hips afoat and together with incompetent
Ulcers and mutinous crews to sail them.
New York Sun