The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-02-15

INC AlSh cetdiu tue Tduh VI gun
pointer" and get a white star and
crossed circle on their blouse sleeve
If they make a certain mark. To be
gun pointer means extra pay each
month, according to the class at
tanned, and there is prize money for
all. If the ships guns as a whole
make deserving record. The rec
ord practice of last spring devei-
oped an accuracy and rapidity of fire
never before attained.
After Magdalena came the excur-
sion of the fleet to the California
resorts and there was apparently a
never-ending program of merrymak-
ing. At San Diego Coronado
Beach,; at the port of Los Angeles,
at Santa Barbara, at Monterey, San
ia Cruz and San Francisco, the peo-
pie of California received the fleet
with wild acclaim. 1t was the first
time that such an array of fighting
vessels had been seen on the Pacific
coast and California celebrated with
a hospitality for which the people of
the state are noted. A trip to Pu-
get Sound took the fleet to Seattle,
Tacoma and Bellingham, and these
cities offered an entertainment which
ranked with the very best of the en-
tire trip.
When the ships set sail out of
San Francisco for the Sound trip
there were many predictions that
they would be left in the Pacific and
that events might make such
course desirable. Invitations had
been accepted for visits to Australia,
to China and Japan and there was
never a deviation from the outlined
plans The fleet had done exactly
what the authorities at Washington
said it would, but in a manner which
surprised and gratifed them to the
fullest extent.
The story of the fleets visit to
Honolulu, to Auckland, Sydney, Mel
bourne and Albany in Australia; to
Yokohama, to Annoy. to Manila and
to the ports of call on the way home
through the Suez are too recent to
need recall. The welcomes extended
in Australia and Japan left nothing
h. III, -
entertainment or in sincerity of pur-
pose.
The battleships, had their sched-
ule brought them sooner to the east
ern end of the Suez, might have
played notable part in succoring
the stricken people of Messina. AS
it was the services of the ships were
offered, but the relief plans had al
ready developed so as not to require
them. In way the battleship fleet,
however, accomplished much Store
ships laden with supplies for the
vessels were despatched by
the home government and officers
and men were glad to give up the
solid foodstuffs and delicacies to the
earthquake sufferers. A large sum
of money was contributed from the
fleet and the first division of four
vessels under Admiral Sperry called
at Naples to express sympathy and
sorrow. The battleship Illinois was
the only one of the American fight
ing vessels to really enter the earth
quake zone This ship went to Mes
sina and 400 American sailors
searched the ruins until they had
the bodies of American
Consul Cheney and his wife.
After visits to various Mediter-
ranean ports and accepting the hos
pitalities of half dozen nations, the
sixteen ships gathered again at Gil
braltar and sailed for home Satur-
day, February 6. They will be met
at sea, about 1000 miles from shore.
by the third or "home" squadron of
the Atlantic fleet, consisting of four
battleships and five cruisers. Even
the last leg of the famous journey
is to be given over to work. There
will be daily drills and maneuvers
and inspection by the commander
ln-chief of every vessel on the way
over. President Roosevelt will greet
the fleet on February %, from the
bridge of the Mayfower, at the point
from which he babe farewell four
teen months ago.
There will be two strangers in the
feet when it reaches here-the Ne
braska and the Wisconsin, both Pa
cific built, which replaced the Maine
and Alabama, detached at San Fran
cisco and sent home in advance. The
Maine will be the flagship of the