The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-06-20
NAVY YARD DAMAGE $4,000
PrIELE or TANGLED DES-
PATCHES CLEARED UP.

uh, the Order for = floallng Crane
Frem Boston Was C0untermanIled.
The BROOKLYN navy yard was stlll pun.
,sns Yesterday over the despatch to the
V,vv Department az Washington signed
nth the name OF Admiral lseut1e. the
c,mmaniani. aud interpreted at WASH
i,s,on A. reporting that the battleship
ylorIia hal broken away from her moor
,nss IN Saturday and gone aground.
vhsreAs 10 was only the steam crane Her
ciIs. that hal got into trouble. Yester-
day Washington said that the Telegram
rsceiyei there ON saturday was badly
phrasei and capable Of two constructions.
and an opinion that had been gaining
rrourt in the yard that somebody had
signsi the Admirals name without
authority TO a fictitious report got a set
hack
Admiral Ieutzs didn't understand what
he saw In some Of yesterdays papers
abou, the reported mishAp to the Florida.
but vas TOO busy TO give the matter much
attention There was a lot Of work 20 be
done with that wrecked crane Ia tho
Wallabout He had already sent a tele-
gram n Capt Fremont who IL ia command
81 tho BOSTON navy yard. asking him No
hustle along a seventy ton crane that Is
In the Boston yard aud which the Ad Z.
miral needed for keeping zap the work on
the Florida Then he remembered that
Secretary Of the Navy Meyer had come to
town 10 So Saturdays performance. and
hs invited Mr. Meyer 20 come over before
be len for Oyster Bay on the Dolphin
and survey the damage. The Secretary
came and he and the Admiral decided
that the crane Hercules might still be
saved since me hull had not sunk. The
Hercules - worth about SeSO 900 20 the
Government and can be repaired for
shout 100000 and the Admiral told the
Merrit-Chapman wrecking crew and his
own men 10 20 ahead and save her
he put four divers At work boating thres
amor plates that had been Lost over.
hoard in the cranes capsige and then
went in 70 have dinner and a nap
About half past in the afternoon
rans a despatch from Capt. Fremont al
Boston which said that a. long Ne the
order FOR a relief crane had been counter
handed they would not send Il along,
although IL was ready. and would have
been started before noon.
hen the Admiral said that some one
must he sending dispatches around the
country with his name on them bug
without his knowledge. He did not
suspeCt any one. he said. and couldn I
imagine who would do a thing like that
Ne had not countermanded the crane.
and the countermand meant a lot Of
Unnecessary labor for the navy people
here and a. Boston. for the work on the
Florida must be pushed and hoS are you
gong 10 put armor plate on without
floating cranes' But presently Washing
ton explained this mystery too. Il was
Admiral Wainwright At Washington who
bad cO,ntermanded tho order TO Boston
WASHINGTON. June 10. - 4 naval comedy
a errors running for almost twenty-tour
hours was brought 90 an end to-day after
considerable telegraphing and telephon-
ing between the Navy Department and
the New York and Boston navy yards
The comedy opened shOrtly after {
o'clock last night when a despitoh was re-
osived 81 the Navy Department from
Admiral LeutEs. Il was Ambiguous. But
nobody noticsd that until IL was inspected
to-day IN the light Of Developments. The
despatch told how the hnating crane
Hercules vas lying alongside the battle
ship Florida a. the New York yard yes
tefday. how the sudden squall had swept
the vessel from her moOrinEs. and how
che had run aground In Wallabout channel
and wa sinking Her superstructure. the
despatch added. had been damaged and
three Rrmor plates lost overheard. Ad-
miral Wainwright interpreted the des-
patch 70 mean that the Florida had been
damaged.
Admiral Wainwright thought the sitSia-
ton was % serious that he hurried 70 his
ofioe n handle Il. The Information Of the
supposed accident 10 the Florida was
gwen out officially % the representatives
Il the newspapers IN Warrington. The
news was Immediately sent to New York
and II wasn't long before the Washington
correspondents began 70 get messages
back from New York asking them II
the news was ofilcial and informing them
that tho navy yard people there declared
that there had been no accident 10 the
Elorida but only 60 the Hercules.
In the meantime Admiral Wainwright
had been busy making plans for the
wl@f u the Florida. lie had called up
Cap, John e. Fremont. commandment
q the Boston navy yard. over the tele-
phone
The wires were bad. but he made
Capt Fremont understand that he wanted
Inn 10 sand a floating crane from Boston
T. New York 70 help in recovering the
florida But Admiral l.eutze. over In the
AsN York navy yard. also had thought
Nb0g' tho crane az the Boston navy yard
ami har called Capt. Fremont up on the
telephone Admiral Ieutze. however.
wanted the crane at once 90 work on the
Stranded Hercules.
II vas we'll along toward midnight
when admiral wainwright. who had
been unable % get Brooklyn by telephone.
h@rans satisfied from reports from the
n~wspap@r Offices that some mistake
hS- N-rn made Thereupon he called
ur apt Fremont a the Boston navy
yard again and told him not o. send the
craI" o. New York unleAs Admiral
ll-utlr reduest'-d it Part % Admiral
NAnWrgnts message over the tele-
W"n" apparently got lost in the buz2ing
~ On" wires and Capt Fremont seetna
' lave Interpreted u A. cOlIntermanding
AAnWIra. l~utze's request for tho crane
W. result Was that the floating crane
81 h'-' 'u was stopped just a. she was
'.' % "aye the harbOF.