Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-01

ported seen on the horizon, off
the north end of Oahu just before
sundown today.
BY Associated Press.
CALLAO. Feb. 29--The American
fleet sailed today for Magdalena bay
in Lower California, territory of
Mexico.
Signals went up from the Connecti-
cut, the flagship, this morning and
shortly afterward the battleships were
steaming slowly out to the ocean for
the long run to their next stopping
place.
The fleet described a semicircle, the
great white ships moving to the south
west, and when they passed the Pc
ruvian cruiser Almirantc Grau. from
which President Pardo and the officials
of state viewed the departure, each Of
the warships fired a salute of twenty
one guns.
The cruiser replied when the Conneo-
ticut was passing, and there was
dipping of flags from the other ves-
sells in the harbor and a ringing fare
well from the thousands who had gath
cred TO watch the ships of a friendly
nation as they swung majestically our
to the open sea.
Enthusiastic Farewell
Steamer Cachapoal, crowded with
spectators, accompanied the fleet some
distance from the shore, but as the
battleships gathered speed she was left
astern, with the enthusiastic Peruyi.
ans still watching and waving flags and
| handkerchiefs
Thousands of sightseers on points of
| vantage on land witnessed the mag
nif1cent and imposing scene.
Inc next stopping place of the fleet
is Magdalena bay, where, according to
the schedule, the vessels will arrive
March H. The distance from Callao to
Magdalena bay is 3012 nautical miles,
The dates for the departure from Mag
dalena bay and the arrival at San
| Francisco have not been definitely de-
| termined, as these depend upon the
completion of the target practice at
Magdalena bay, which will probably
occupy thirty days.
There are no wireless telegraph sta.
| tions on the coast of South and Cen
traI America between Callao and the
next stopping place and the fleet there
by this means This is the longest lap
of the long voyage and until news OF
! the passage of the warShips is brought
ashore by some passing steamer the
| vessels probably will not be heard
from again until they APPROACH Magda-
| lena bay.
The fleet left Hampton roads Decem-
ber 16 and made it's first stop in South
| America at Trinidad, December 23.
| Five days sailing from Callao will
bring Panama abean and the vessels
| will then be practically clear of South
America. Counting the long stops
made at Trinidad, Rio Janeiro. Puuta
Arenas and Callao, they have made
the circuit of South America in APP
proximately seventy-three days.
| Lieut.. Commander r. Il. Hill said:
"Our ships are usually good ships, but
believe there are certain specific err
rcrs which should be remedied and the
location of the water line armor belt of
cur battelships, according to my opin-
| i'm, is one of these defects
Mr.. Hill said that last October the
secretary of the navy decided to ap-
point a board to investigate these mat
ters, but later decided not to do so. At
mat time he prepared a report and had
letters bearing on the controversy to
submit to the board. He had submitted
the papers to the secretary, showing
his criticism and proposed remedy for
the defects.
II am the originator of these criti-
oisms," said Mr.. Hill. "This subject
has been discussed for a long time and
criticisms have been made by officers
aboard ship and special boards have
been ordered on board ships by request
Of the navy department.
"There a2e two questions in regard
to the armor belt. One is the thickness
and the other the location. I believe
the thickness is plenty, If not more
than 1t should be, but the location is
rot correct, according to my views.
You want to get ship into action at
or near particular water line. You
must have sufficient width of armor
above and below so as to protect that
particular water line.