Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1910-08-10
HANDS ACROSS THE SEA
What The American Midslipman
Sees Abroad On Summer
Cruise To The Foreign
Shores
MIDDIES "WATCH" A PARADE
See French Troupe Do " Double Time"
And Know How Ii Feels-Reminis.
cences OF Visit OF The Chinese
Prince And Board OfVisit.
OrS' Days

Ors' DAYS
To Captain Bowyer. superintendent
of the Naval Academy, belongs the
credit of giving the midshipmen the
benefit of foreign cruise. He con-
ceived the idea, and with him the
plan for the cruise had its incep-
/ tion.
The cruise, so far as known, un
officially, has been most profitable.
and is appreciated by the five hun
dred midshipmen aboard the ships.
Iowa (fiagship), Indiana and Massa-
| chusetts. There has been little sick
ness, only two or three cases having
been reported, which is a remarkably
good showing for so great a number.
On the way across the midshipmen
of the Naval Academy summer squad
ron encountered rather rough wealth
er, and as result the lee rail was
manned pretty regularly. The London
trip was the big part of the cruise,
and it is said the midshipmen never
saw more or enjoyed more in the
space of two short days.
at Plymouth there was not much
to see, and the middies sswere rather
glad when il came time to leave
for Marseilles. The Fourth of July
was spent at sea and the chief topic
of conversation was the Jeffries-
Johnson fight. Friday morning the
ships arrived in Marseilles, but the
middies were not given liberty until
Saturday. Some special things of
interest there were the cathedrals and
the Chateau diff of Monte Cristo
fame. The scenery is beautiful.
At the time the Iowa, Massachusetts
and Indiana were at MarseilIes, the
Austrian ship, the Emperor Franz
Joseph |. was there with sixty-two of
the Austrian cadets aboard The
Austrian cadets go to school four
years before they become midship-
men. One morning they went aboard
the American ships, and the Ameri
can midshipmen showed the Austrians
around their ships with pride, charac-
teristic of the American Navy. Half
of the Austrians study French, the
other half English, and those who
could only speak the French language
found some difficulty in making the
midshipmen of the lower classes COM
prehend. 1t is not probable the for.
eigners were shown all parts of the
ship, as that would neither be wise nor
expedient. Leaving Marseilles the
midshipmen were homeward bound.
To some of the midshipmen, it is said
the English seem awfully wooden.
The girls, they think, are not at all
pretty, except few of the bar maids,
so tbs said. One described them
as ''all having big feet, messy teeth
and straight up and own figures. F"
In France it was quite different.
The cafes on the sidewalks attracted
much attention. Some saw only two
church spires in Marseilles, but per-
haps the middies were not looking for
churches, and again perhaps the ma
tives haven't any use for them.
Some of the sights on the streets of
the foreign ports visited are said to
have been shocking and disgusting,
and the natives devoid of modesty,
but these things are the general Gus
tom and nothing is thought of it
there.
Many of the midshipmen are suffer
ing with sore fTgers, some have the
epidermis rubbed off, from scrubbing
their clothes. Of course, 1t was
understood, at The Offset, that the mid
| shipmen would do heir own washing
and would be their own laundrymen.
Probably the first classmen thought
this a very undignlfied occupation.
1t must have been interesting to
have watched the process. Perhaps
there was look of complete resig-
nation on the faces of some of the
middies who considered themselves
martyrs of the dark ages, as they
sat, or squatted, on the decks scrub
bing away at soiIed work suit, or
some other pieces of wearing apparel.
The shortness of liberty got the
goat" so to speak, of some of the
middies, when in port as they were
obliged to return to the ship at $50,
which prevented getting supper
ashore.
Most of the middies like England,
but many prefer Marseilles, where
there is crowd of jolly good fell
lows, and one can sit in one of those
| sidewalk cafes on the Cannabriere
and watch the people pass. Perhaps
it was even better than watching the
after-chapel parade from Bancroft
Hall windows on spring Sunday
morning, only the foreign girls are
not quite so good looking, of course.
At MarseilIes the Consul General
had the m6ishipmen out to his resi-
dence on the Prado for a garden
party, and it goes without saying
that no midshipman there will ever
1 forget it. The entertainment was de-
lightful in every way. There was a
bull fight at MarseiIles while the
ships were there, but some of the
middies think that was about the
only tame thing they saw in the city.
An interesting feature of the
cruise. and the visit to Marseilles,
was the review of the French troops
on July IL, but ittwas generally con-
ceded the affair I was "unbusiness-