Evening star., 1908-01-12
.HE Pacific cruise of our great
battleship fleet recalls one OF
the most interesting and yet
unsolved que stions that con-
- .ox-tao IF tho world

the most interesting and yet
unsolved que stions that con-
fronts the navies of the world
..coalipp var ships at sea" To the present
time no successful method for coaling IN
a seaway has met the requirements OF
o,,r navy. hence Admiral Evans fleet
will he coaled first at Hampton Roads,
Trinidad. Rio de Janeiro. Punta Arenas,
cauao. Magdalena Bay and San Fran
cisco in its course to the Pacific The
na.4 will he coaled under the usual col
lier method int ge neral use by the nav1es
oe the world. In port colliers or barges
filled with coal are drawn up as convent
emily and safely as possible to the bat
tleship. and the coal is hoisted from
one to the other in bags and. placed in
bunkers. Down in the Golfers hold the
blue jackets. filing the bags as fast as
th.y can. break forth now and again into
bursts OF song, which are drowned When
the rattling winch hoists a bunch of coal
bags into midair. But this moving pic
ture is only fun and frolic and. under the
present system. rather hard work.
One of the weaknesses of the modern
battleship in the construction of its coal
bunkers is the difficulty of securing
sufficient supply OF fuel for the furnaces.
With the complication of modern war
vessel il is considered little less tnan
miracle that the engines are made to
turn and the ship get out or haroor "here
full speed is needed to chase an enemy.
The Arrangement of the coal Dunkers
from which the coal must De trIinlheu
for the stokers TO keep the nres gong Is
mos, strict. The late Admiral sampson
was OF the opinion that probably In not
one OF the large warships, bulit "ltnln
the past ten years. could coai De suPpiIeu
QUANTITY to feed the furnaces when un-
der heavy forced draft.
coal is the life of a fleet. The want
oy it was the la;e Admiral Cervera's un-
doing. Had he had coal he would never
have been caught like rat In noie.
Admiral Schley could well say Una,
t,eryera never would get nome asdhi-do
he contemplated the failure OF the span
ish feet 10 get coal at Martinique Inc
fleet was rot provided with reserve sup
pIy OF coal at some convcnient oase.
English naval experts nave peen diNo
In this aIl-important question for the iast
quarter of century and are now more
than ever convinced that In the prog .ess
~ modern naval warfare a reserve coai
silnnly must be kept affoat where pat
tIeship NAV coal rapidly from collier
on the high sea- This. of course, Wouio
entail a heavy expense. but not much
more than TO coal from a statioh WHdIi
or collier or barge In pot.
OF recent years considerable attention
has been paid 10 the development or Ia
cilities for coaling at sea by means OF
freight delivery vessels. which can DO
anchored alongside other vessels even IN
a moderate seaway. and In the adoption
OF marine cableways for coaiing from
vessel in tow. A prctical test or one OF
these appliances was made on the United
states collier Marcellus under the direc-
tjon of a board of naval officers. Ihe
Miller marine galloway was fitted on
the Marcellus and In tow of the battle-
shin Massachusetts, this apparatus was
tried for three successive days at sea.
the ships during that time were steer
ed in various directions, head on. quar-
tering and in the trough OF the sea. The
sneed maintained was from hve TO SIX
Knots: the distance between the shops
was about 400 feet and during the tests
from twenty to twenty-four tons of coal
was transferred per hour. The apparatus
consisted of an elevated cable leading
from the masthead OF the collier TO sneer
poles on the warship and back again
The engine for working the cabie was on
the collier and moved in the same dlrec-
tion all the time.
: The cable was led over pulley at the