The Washington herald., 1908-01-12
FIRST LEG OF THE PACIFIC FLEET VOYAGE COMPLETED
Neptune's Preparations for Crossing the Line-A-
Pathetic Scene at Burial at Sea-Napal Routine
aboard the GrandeSt Fleet Eper Assembled

to be broken IN. What the scTubbing
list is is well explained by an oid-ume
sailor on board. lie said.
''MSn-O'-W3r cleanliness is different
from any other that I know. ] distin-
guish it from all other kinds because il
| is the most searching and far reaching
thing Of the kind in the world.
-'fJ really begins on the inside Of a man,
at his soul. although I am sorry TO say
| you can't always see the effect Of it there,
and it works its way out to his skin.
! clothing. and surroundings All must be
Immediately clean, and this habit is so
thoroughly ingrained in the men that 70
maintain IL they will even commit crime.
Used 10 steal Winter.
II mean just what I say. Let me give
/ you an instance:
In one of the old ships in which I sail
ed fresh water-it was the case Of all OF
| EN-. sir-fresh water was a scarce article
even to drink. No fresh water could be
/ had TO wash our clothes. Salt water
/ does not clean clothing properly no mat
/ ter how you work over your duds.
80 our men IN the old days actually
! used TO steal the water out Of theSreak-
| ers, the small cas- kept IN the boats AT
/ all times in case of emergency, such as
/ snipwTeck. That is what / mean by com
mitting crime We actually used 10 steal
/ from the most important supply on ship
/ just for the sake Of keeping ourselves
/ clean.
! For unCleanliness a man would be
/ stripped naked and his skin scrubbed with
sand and canvas-nO man ever forgot IL
I who experienced that-and sometimes
/ with ki-yar brushes, by two husky bo'sn's
mates. All hands soon got the habit OF
being clean.
ScTubbing with sand and canvas still
goes on in the navy, but on the Louisiana
az least, there was no need 10 resort "a
such drastic measures. The mere notice
Of what was in store was sufficient. even
If there were any who were inclined u
be careless. Vigilant inspection did not
reveal any such on board
The Wireless Telephone.
There was much interest on the ships
as to how the wireless telephone would
work out The system has been in opera.
ton only q few months and IS largely in
the experimental and almost the infantile
stage
All OF the battle ships are equipped with
the apparatus, and there was no doubt
about il, you could talk 10 any ship fl
the fleet from any other and at times the
sounds Of the voice were as clear as
through an ordinary telephone At times
they weren't and there was a division OF
IOpniOn among the officers as 10 the rea
value OF the invention
only one ship Of a fleet can use tht
telephone al one time. While one ship Il
talking to another all the other ship.
must keep out Of IT, and even the ship [,
which the message is being sent mus
keep still and not break in The receive
must wait until the sender has got al
through with what he has 70 say. an,
then he can talk back
The sending and receiving machines us
part Of the apparatus Of the wireless tele
graph 0Utat If an attempt is made L
use the telegraph while the telephone 4
in Lse the telephone goes out Of commits
sion at once. because il is absolutel,
drowned out Tie telegraph appaTau
uses so much greater power that Il is Xix
a loud voice overwhelming a soft one.
In dispatching wireless telegraph mes
sages from the feet when it was abou
500 miles out it became advisable TO sen,
them to the Minnesota. because her ap
paratus IS the strongest on the ships an,
she could pick up Washington, Fire Isl
and, San Juan. after dark apparently a
VIII. while the other ships had some diff
Guilty even in getting Norfolk. The mes
sages Of the correspondents were, there
fore. telephoned 10 the Minnesota som
time during the afternoon.
Telephone Is Kept Busy.
The operator at the telephone woul
sound a signal with some sort Of a buzze
that had the wall Of g lost cat in il
voice, and then he would put a little meg
aph)ne into the m0uthpiece Of the teIe
phone and would say. sharp and clear:
Minnesota, Minnesota Minnesota
This IS the Louisiana, This is the Louisi
anal This is the louisiana We have
press message for you 10 send to IN
beach. We have press message for yo
10 send TO the beach. Do you hear US
Do you hear US? Minnesota. Minnesota
This is the Louisiana. Go ahead, @
| ahead"
Sometimes the message would fail
Sometimes the wireless, one kind or tn
other. would be working on other ships
Sometimes the answer would come a
once and the operator would write dow,
the reply and hand it over to you.
When connection would be establshe
fully the operator instead Of reading OF
your press message, would click il of b
a telegraph key TO the Minnesota opera
tor That was to make sure that h
would get it correctly. Peculiarly spelle
words employed in cabling could not b
made out by the ordinary operator, an
It was taking chances to spell them on
with the voice and hence they were sen
with the key, the operation really bein
a combination Of the wireless telephOn
and telegraph
Every one Of the electrical experts wit
the feet Is convinced that the wireIes
telephone is going 20 be Of value. Mos