The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1908-01-01

mo fleet of such size said Presl'
dent Roosevelt in his recent message
referring to the practice cruise,
"has ever made such voyage. the
statement naturally suggests the eX-
pedition of the i'll starred RoJest-
yensky, AS an achievement in steam
ing for seven months to the Far East
under the most untoward CONDITION
IT was the most remarkable in naVal
annals The wonder was that the
Russian feet ever reached Tsushima
and was able to take up battle for-
mation Most of the coaling and re-
nairing had to be done in the open
sea and the fleet carried only one
chief naval constructor, Eugene D.
PolitvC,Ky, who went down with
Roiestvensky' flagship. 1t is from
politvosky's diary, mailed to his wife
from ports of call, that we learn the
apDalIing difficulties under which the
Russian admiral labored in obeylng
the orders of his august master to
lead the fleet to certain destruction
1t never dropped anchor even in the
French waters but to be warned OH
until it arrived in Van Fong Bay and
there prepared for its doom. In
Vigo Bay, on the Spanish coast, Ro-
iestyensky had to use stealth ana
force to get enough coal to proceed.
The authorities at Madrid gave MN
permission reluctantly to take on Az
tons and posting sentries over the
collier hawsers he gave orders 10
them to shoot any one who inter-
ferred until he had obtained 500
tons. In the French African ports
the officials were personally court
eous" but Officially cold" and Ro-
iestvensky had to disregard their or
ders to move on, declaring at Ga
boon, for instance, that his ships
were damaged and could not sail.
This may have been true, for Polit-
vosky writes in his diary:
There are continued mishaps to
the various ships. One gets sand in
her sea valves, although sixty miles
off shore; she must haev scraped
shoal Another gets hot bearings
and the whole feet is stopped; an
other breaks her condenser; another
smashes her propeller blade; another
breaks her piston rod; with most of
them the steering gear is continually
getting out of order. Naval con-
structors are in demand night and
day"
The crews of some ships were oft
en- on the verge of mutiny, and on
none could strict discipline be pre-
served. In February there is this
sinister item in the diary:
"A transport, the Malay, is largely
loaded with lunatics. She is about
to return to Russia with lunatics,
drunkards, invalids and men de-
ported for crime. The crew are all
hard cases. beach-combers and the
like, picked up in the Madagascar
ports. All the officers carry loaded
revolvers; mutiny breaks out
among the lunatics and other prison
ers, then among the crew. the Off
GERS suppress it with much slaught-
err"
The officers, realizing that only a
shameful defeat was to be expected
on the day of battle, neglected their
duties, gambled for high stakes and
drank deep. When the Germans
among them celebrated the Kaiser's
birthday they drank so much that
they remained drunk two days,
wrote poor Politvosky. On the long
VOYAGE the ships bottoms became al
most incredibly foul. 1--WE shall ar
rive in the east with dirty ships and
the japanese will meet us with clean
ones" was set down despondently in
the diary. Politvosky, to illustrate
the ignorance of the officers, writes
in one place: Yesterday l heard a
wordy quarrel among the lieutenants
about how many stokeholes and boil