Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1910-07-19
THE JUNK PILE

years Of service, the old sloop-of-
war Portsmouth, the last of Uncle
Sans famous wooden vessels, will
make her last voyage on July %.
From her dock at Hoboken, New
Jersey, the Portsmouth will be
towed by a modern tug to the
Brooklyn navy yard. and then will
either be destroyed, sold for junk
or turned into a museum. The
chances are that the junk heap will
be the. fate of the Portsmouth. The
Portsmouth was first used during
the Mexican war. She saw service
in China and was in Farragut's fleet
during the civil war. For years
past she has been used as training
ship for the naval reserves. Long
and thrilling has been the career of
the old sloop-ofwar and brimful of
experiences, almost any one of
which would make a story itself.
Around her staunch old oak timbers
cling memories of the days when
fourteen knots an hour in a free
wind" was great time. Bodies of
salt water are few whose surfaces
have not been traversed by the
Portsmouth. Her anchor has
splashed in the deep. clear water
and fragrant tropical islands of the
Pacific ocean, in peaceful inlets
along the African coast and in the
junk-infested harbors of Japan and
China. Many SLAYER has crowded
on sail as the towering masts of the
old Portsmouth poked themselves
above the horizon, and many a
doughty pirate has shown his heels
when her long, black hull and white
ports came into view. In many
stern chase has the Portsmouth
taken part, but never in any capacity
but that of pursuer. Before the
days of swift steamers and trans
oceanic cables, when a sailors life
was full of picturesque and exciting
scenes AID strange peoples, and
their lands did not know the now
omEipotent American tourist, the
Portsmouth was built. When she
was young ship the Mexican war
broke out. The ships guns were
used effectually in the battle of
Vera Cruz, and after long cruise
around Cape Horn and up the Pacific
coast and arrived at San Francisco,
then Mexican territory. She sailed
into San Francisco bay and took
possession in the name of the United
States. Later on, when Commodore
Perry undertook to open up the
ports of China to commerce, the
Portsmouth played leading part.
While anchored in Canton bay, to-
gether with the frigates San
Jacinto and Levant, to guard the
rights of American citizens, shot
from one of the batteries flew
through the rigging of the Ports
mouth. For some time the Chinese
had been menacing the Americans,
and the shot capped the climax.
Captain Henry Hull Foote, in com.
mand did not wait to inquire the
cause, but promptly "beat to quar-
ters," and with his three ships
opened fire on the shore batteries.
Jackies were landed under cover of
the guns and the fort was crushed.
AS the American tars entered on
one side there was a hasty exit of
Chinese on the other, for the Celes-
stials knew that the white devils"
were in earnest. The noble Ports
mouth had borne the Stars and
Stripes aloft through thick and thin
for twenty years when the civil war
came on, but her severest test was
yet to be. With Admiral Farragut's
fleet the Portsmouth passed up the
Mississippi river to Forts Jackson
and st Philip. The large sloop-of-
war was not meant for river boat,
and it was thought best that she
should be towed When the memoir
able engagement began the Ports
mouth gave the batteries broadside