The Washington herald., 1908-02-05

ished reputation. or to college and uni
a week Neptune would come aboard and
after that there would be long dry
spell
When quarters was sounded a little al
ter Q o'clock on New Years morning all
hands appeared The usual fOTmality
marked the occasion. The captain came
mp and looked precisely as If the ship
had been as quite as grave all night.
the executive officer answered salutes
with an incisiye manner, as each officer
approached and reported his division ali
present or accounted fer" the members
/ of the crew gave no hint that they had
seen any officer roaming abeut the ship
only a few hours before in free and
/ easy manner violating all ordinary tradl-
tions OF naval officers dignity.
+ OF the trip itself TO Rio-the mere sail
/ ing of it-thcre is not much To record. 1t
was done In squadron formatiOn-tw0
/ lines at war ships. with the supply ships
/ Gazier and Culgoa bringing up the rear
midway between the lines. For six days
! off the upper part Of South America there
Was quite a heavy swell and a strong
/ Amazon current running as high as from
/ twenty-five % thirty knots day. It
/ retarded the progress Of the ships TO
/ some extent
SearchIiEhts let Loose.
/ Three nights out from Rio Admiral
/ Evans ordered the first searchlisht prac-
tIce for the fleet Let it be understood
/ that there axe certain things which q
correspondent may not send from this
+ fleet or even reveal sfterWard. They re-
/ late especially 10 tactical things, the
things that may give information or some
+ hint OF Information OF Importance 20
other nations. All navies have search
lights. however, and what viii be said
/ here of the drill viii be Of that nature
familiar 90 every naval man and no more
1T was merely "a warming up, so 90 speak,
/ of searchlicht work. just a test 20 see if
/ an the apparatus was in good condition.
/ The drill was to begin at exactly s
/ o'clock. Long before that time every
/ searchlight had been uncovered and con
ueCtad up and all eyes We're waiting for
/ the. Connecticut to begin the flashing.
/ Just as eight bells We're struck, wien not
more than half "a dozen lights We're Wis
/ ihle ON each ship Of the fleet, q great
/ beam Of white shot out across the star
/ board of the Connecticut. Instantly
air ana the ocean for something like a
/ square mile became illuminated as though
the full glory Of the heavens had de-
/ sCended upon IT,
Heller Shelter FIashings.
Each ship had six Of these lights. The
rules do not permit the rays Of one ship
20 be displayed upon another because #
| impeTils navigation for one thing. and
there are also other naval reasons. Il
required some skill TO avoid lighting up
/ your neighbor ship. AS soon as the
lights were turned on the men managing
them began 20 swing and twist them.
now fast. now slowly, about each ship.
/ When the rays struck the water, say
about 300 yards away from a shin and
4 each light was turned slowly around the
vessel it was as If so many spirits Of the
sea were dancing about like children
/ around a May pole. Then a beam would
! go scampering away as if it had the con-
/ centrated velocity of a hundred Pinch
shots. Then there would come a period
Of heller SHELTER playing of the lights
until e slow movement Of searching on
the waters was in progress. Each ship
| looked as if il were a acknowledged
/ spider each leg made Of a ray of light.
Sometimes the lights of a ship would be
, interIaced; again they would be centered
/ on some spot far out into the water.
/ The rolling crests of the swells would
be whitened with the CLEAN of thousands
of diamonds. The reflection Of the light
beams made bands of purple and deep
/ green upon the water. The stars lost
their brightness. It was as II the Yankee
ships had reached out and stolen a good
share of the strength of the sun-which
actually was the case from the stand
point Of SCience-had stored it in their
holds and then had sprung it at night,
just to show what could be done in the
way of robbing the powers of darkness
of their evil aspect. For half an hour
the thrilling I exhibition continued and
just as you were preparing to throw up
your hat and give three cheers for Uncle
Sam and his navy an officer brought
you back to your feet with the quite re-
mark;
why, that isn't patch compared with
the real thing. This was just a sort Of
tuning up process, to be no more COM
pared with the real thing than the tuning
Of a piano is to be compared with a
Paderewsh performance"
Suddenly Go Out.
! You thought him little strong in his
analogy until of a sudden all the lights
went out and there were sixteen battle
ships quietly sailing along a sea as
smooth as Long Island Sound In the sum-
mer time. with only regulation lights
showing, distances kept perfectly and
nothing to indicate that there had been
| anything out of the ordinary in a sedate
and peaceful passage from one port to
another. Indeed there had been nothing
unusual 10 a naval man, but it isn't every
landlubber-nO! experienced sailor now
that the writer of this has been Initiated
into Neptune's dOmain-who has witness
| ed such a transforms ton, and the thrill
that jumped through him is something 10
be remembered to the last 1t NAV get
to be an old story, this illumination of
the fleet by searchlights, before the cruise
is ended, but nothing can ever take away
the sensation of amaZement from the
man who sees 1t for the first time
Close Call for Barkentine.
At 1885 one evening, one of the perils
Of navisauon-especially for the other
fellow-was brought home wildly TO the
fleet A barkentine with dim light was
J sighted about 500 yards to the west Of