The Washington herald., 1908-01-12
Admiral Evans Sweet Sixteen" Quickly Get Down
to Business, and the HumOr of the Situation Is
IntermmgLed With the More Serious Side,

seven, by the deep, six, by the quar-
ter. less six" while the ships slowly
Paraded down the bay The channel was
so shallow that the ships stirred up the
mud and some of II got into the machin-
cry, and there We're hot hearings that
were cooled down with the hose IT would
not do to falteT or make a blunder of any
kind. for the President was looking on
and no excuses would be tolerated
Different from Old Days.
It was a far different story from the
old days. The old slOop-of-war James
town lay in the Roads and if she could
have talked she would have remarked
upon the change.
When she set sail capstan bars would
be shipped and all that part Of the ships
company manning the bars would bring
the anchor chain up and down, sir" as
the officer in charge Of the foe sic would
report The captain and first luff (the
executive officer. who had to have the
ship working like a chronometer, no
thanks if he did and his hide scOrched by
his superiOTs II he didn'tD would stand
on the quarter block on the weather side
and the navigator and officer of the deck
on the lee side
Then would come the sharp commands
"Al0ft. light yardmen," "AlOft, tOpmen, ~
"AIoft. lower yardmen." Lay out" Let
fall and a cloud Of snowy canvas would
drop loose and limp Then would come
the commands "Topsaii sheets and hal
yards, "To' gallant sheets and halyards. -
Set taut," Haul away" with the shrilI
sound of the bos'ns whistle TO the tramp
Of hundreds Of feet
When a band was on board there would
be a martial air. If not, the officer would
shout Stamp and go" and this noise
with the feet meant SO much extra pull
ing, and the good ship was soon on her
course Sometimes a Chanty would be
sung instead of the stamp and go" and
when the ship was bound for Rio, just as
this fleet is, one could hear the light
hearted. and the heavy-hearted ones, too.
singing refrain that the men Of this
fleet might we'll have sung if the days Of
the Chanty had not gone 10 limbo.
Heave away for Rio!
HeaYe away for Rio,
Ms bonny young gid,
Ny heads IN q whirl
For I'm bound for the Rio Grande
The old days have gone. but many a
bluejackets head (bluejacket, mind you;
At'A JflA ava many Va 'A-Ntt t1oAlA AtAh y
and sea dogs don't like that termJ was In
witness the hundreds Of letters that were
sent ashore on the mail orderly's last trip.
The Spectacle at Sea,
And so the ships passed out to sea. The
matter-of-fact officers occasionally east
their eyes about and when they had time
to give expression TO their feelings about
all that one would hear from them would
be:
Mighty fine sight. this. Wonder what
they're doing back there? Distance seems
wrong. Better get up his position pen
naRt or the admiral may get after him.
What's that2 We're fifty yards too close
Give her three revolutions slower. Only
twenty-five now? Give her only one slow
/ er. Got her distance now? Make it stand
ard speed
1 sAnd the signals to the engine-rOOm
would quit jangling for a time while the
captain or officer of the deck looked
around again and repeated:
/ Mighty fine sight. this,'
/ You see, il was the way YOU looked at
/ it. You couldn't see much going down
/ the Chesapeake Bay channel There was
/ a turn or two. but the smoke Of the sa-
/ luting obscured things and it was not
until the ships headed out TO sea and the
/ Connecticut was past the whisting buOys
which also seemed to want TO have a
share in the send-off. that IL was possible
/ 10 get a satisfactory look at the entire
/ fleet that stretched away for more than
/ three miles.
Wing and Wing Formation.
Then came a signal for open order. The
admirals ship went right on. The next
/ following bore out 20 port and the next
20 starboard. Then the ships paired of
to port and starboard. making two lines,
each a quarter Of point off the flagship.
which had a lane to itself in the center,
/ giving the admiral and his staff on the
/ after bridge a view of all Perhaps the
! formation may be understood better by
/ the average reader by saying that it was
/ a wing-and-wi formation
/ Signals were passing along the line con-
stantly and semaphores We're throwing
their arms about as if they were mani
kins performing for the amusement of
the 1900 men afloat It was pretty to see
a mass of flags fall to the decks stimuli
/ taneously from time to time. 1t was i'm
/ pressive to see the flag of the country
futtering from the gaffs Of mainmasts
It was fine 10 see the ships keeping in
/ line.
/ The commanding officers might refer to
the spectacle as a mighty fine sight but
the eight civilians with the fleet shared
| the sentiment Of a tar who sided up Ia
the newspaper man and said:
This makes you proud of your coun-
try. You know already that the country
is big and great and all that, but when
you see it reduced TO this kind OF business
on the ocean you are sure your country
is great. None but great country could
! produce such a sight as this. I'm glad
I've had the chance to see it,
Strength of the Fleet.
In single file for two hourse the ships
kept on their course. They were like Sc
RATTLE. 6