The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-07-12
THE SHIP WITH A
SURGEON SKIPPER
Hospital Ship Relief Game
Into Port Yesterday
Morning.

The hospital ship Relief, which has
been looked for with interest by the
many physicians of this city, arrived
here yesterday after a fine trip from
San Francisco She was the last of
the auxiliary feet preceding the war
ships to come, having left San Fran
cisco on the first of this month.
The vessel is one of the finest of her
kind in the world and is the first YES
sci TO be regularly commanded by a
surgeon. The Relief is the ship over
which so much discussion was aroused
Just before the fleet left Hampton
Roads. the cause of the discussion be-
ing the appointment by President
Roosevelt of Surgeon C. l.. Stokes to
command her and the resignation of
Admiral w. h Brownson from the Blu
reau of Navigation as a result.
All sorts of fun was made of the APP
pointment and all kinds of predictions
of disaster. Thus far the prophecies
have not worked out, and the Relief
has done noble work and is ready for
more.
Surgeon c. L. Stokes has as his staff
Surgeon A. w. Dunbar, supervising
surgeon; Surgeon Raymond Spear,
Past Assistant Surgeon H. f. Strine,
Assistant Surgeon j. 0. Downey, AS
sistant Surgeon G. B. Tribe and AS
sistant Paymaster w. d. Sharp. +. l..
LIE Game is navigating officer and E.
Y. w. Keen executive officer.
The Relief at the outbreak of the
Spanish War was the steamer John
Englis She was purchased by Miss
Helen Gould and at great expense
fitted as a hospital ship for the Army.
When it came to presenting the vessel
to the authorities it was found that
this could not be done, so the chart
tabIy-inclined young lady had to sell
the floating hospital to the govern
ment. One dollar was the price paid
for her. From the Army the Relief
was turned over to the Navy on No
vember 13, 1902, and by the Navy she
was entirely remodeled and reftted.
She is now capable of handling two
hundred patients in her four wards and
her appointments are as fine as those
of anv hospital in the United States
Her two upper decks are well arranged
for the care of the sick and injured.
On the hurricane deck is a ward for
the treatment of infectious diseases
and so arranged as to be isolated from
the rest of the ship.
The Relief viii await the arrival of
the fleet and then go to Maui to take
on any of the men of the vessels need
ing medical attendance. She will then
take on those aboard the vessels here
and proceed to Auckland to await the
battleships. The following data re-
garding the vessel will be of interest:
Length over all, 314 tt. 3-S in;
length between perpendiculars, 290 TT.
s in; breadth, 46 TT; draft, 16 TT. l IA
in. light, 20 #. loaded; displacement,
3400 tons. 1887 tons net; freeboard to
main deck, II #; hull, steel; rig,
schooner; engines, single screw, triple
speed, II knots; bunker ca
pacity, 707 tons coal at AZ cubic feet,
80; capacity of fresh water tanks,
%, 1851 gals; ice plant, ammonia, ma
chine made by De La Vergne Refrig-
Grating Machine Company, New York;
dynamos, two, 137 amperes and 10
volts each; ship built in 1896 at Ches-
ter. Pa. by Delaware River Co.; former
name, John Englis; complement, Is of
fcers, $50 crew, 200 patients; water
tight bulkheads at frames Nos. II, 81,
D5 and 1877; ventilation, natural only;
cubic feet of air space-Ward No. l,
l4,9S5, for 60 men; Ward No. 2, 1902,
for 40 men; Ward No. 8, 1881, for so
men; isolation ward, 40 men. Tons
cargo in. hold. 302; tons of stores (27,-
o40 cubic feet, 676.