The Evening standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1910-1913, 1910-11-26
STORY of the su4ans Royal Hospitality and Of
\SE1the Crisis Precipdated by American II fger.
or the Fourth Cheer That Was Misunderstood

BY Rear Admiral Charles D. Sigsbee, u s. N.
Copyright by All reserved,
q the time of which write the late Sultan OF
~ the Ottoman Empire, Abdul Hnmid H., bad
4 Y reigned ten years. Apparently he was then
well liked by those Americans who came under
his personal influence. To some of them he
had shown conspicuous courtesy.
Twenty-three years afterward, In APRIL 1909. he
was forcbly dethroned by his subjects. and with
nubic accusations of shocking msrule. Perhaps the
interest that attaches to his fatefu history may lend
something to my story of his royal hospitality TO the
personnel of the older Kcarsarge at Constantnople
In the case In point the Sultan beyond precc
dent-wth single exception only
"Bacl in the eighties" 1t the policy of the
United to keep force of three war vessels in
the Mediterranean. Commonly one of them was sta
toned In the Levant, as the waters of the extreme
eastern Mediterranean are sometimes called. 1t
there that he American missionary and educational
interests greatest
At the time of my story one vessel had been
home and had not yet been replaced. The two YES
sells that station for service the
Pensacola, commanded by Captain George Dewey,
and the KearSarge. commanded by myself then
commander IN rank. The Pensacola the flagship
of Rear Admiral Samuel r. Franklin, commander in
chief of the Mediterranean station, Both vessels had
seen service the civil war wherein the Kearsarge
had gained European prestige by sinking the Con-
federate cruiser Alabama, of Cherbourg.
Early In June. 1885, the two ships were Mt Smyrna.
Kearsarge had been kept In the Levant, but the
Pensacola had Joined recently from the western
Mediterranean and the vessels had c1uscd In
company along the of Syria In the forenoon of
June was surprised by signal from the flagship
directing to stow forecastle gun In the hold
n queer for guns. Thus the Kearsarge
duced from n gun ship to a SIX gun ship The
next day the commander In chief transferred his nag
TO the Kearsarge for a visit TO Constantnope The
rule for the passage of the Dardanelles by war
sells very rigid a frmOn permit from the
Sultan necessary, and none wns conceded to any
vessel mounting more than SIX guns. Therefore the
rule explained the dlsablement of gun of the
Kcarsargo and the temporary abandonment of the
powerful Pensacola a flagship. The Kear-
sarge left Smyrna the day.\
In the forenoon of the following day anchored
in the Dardaneles under the forts of Cbanak there
to await the Arman of the Sultan. To make clear my
from west to cast the Mediterranean Sea- the Sea of
Marmora and the Black Sea are IN chain The frs
connected by the DardaneIes, or Hellespont
the strait called In ancient times The second
and third seas connected by the Bosphorus, a
similar strait Constantlnople the European side
of the Bosphorus. close to the Sea OF Marmora
Chanak and its Notifications ancient Abydos
the place where the fabled Lcander the Helles
pont to meet Hero and where Lord Byron repeated
the feat of Leander.
In that locality also Xerxes bridged the strait with
boats for the passage of his army
Beaten by Girl.
Alas for the fame of Leander and Byron. At Con.
santinope met q Swedish lady-now a princess
who swan the BosDhorus at Therapia a suburb OF
Constantnoplc lying the Black Sea entrance
Her accomplishment equalled that of Leander and
Byron at Abydos, The danger both crossings lies
in the swift and eddying currents, for the dis
lance from shore to shore is much within the swim
ming>Fecord of many a modern girl In her teens
The Dardanelles, at the place where Leandcr and
Byron swan their names into romantic history IS
one aud one-quartcr miles wide While the Bos.
phorus at Therapla is only slightly more than half
wide, the construction of its channel as we'll
the natural features of the bottom produce the
swifter currents and the treachcrous eddies
But all this time hnve been waiting for the Sui.
tau's hrman. The ticking off of Turkish red tape Is
proverbialy slow, had expected to walt long at
Chanak. Greatly to our relief however the Grmap
came of 10 the Admiral time to enable us TO re-
sumo our passage the day. This unexpected
promptnesS auspicous. for indeed the whole
course of our risit thereafter flowed smoothly We
arrived at Constantinope on the 9Th and anchored
in the Bosphorus close In the shore of the city
Then, with hawscr made fast to n local moornc
buoy astern, we were all snug ready for events
Chance had indeed favored the Kearsarge We
were Mt Constnntnople the city OF mirage where the
broad sweep of Christianity finds lis edge and scat.
terS into the Orient where olden customs and COS.
tunes survive In the that lag but are now come
10 meet the restless Ia mode OF the Western world