Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-08-26
FROM HEARsT's MAGAZINE FOR AUGUST


always answered:
Not until the law makes me. While
you are on the active list there is
chance for action"
Farragut has always been my ideal
of the naval officer, urbane, decisive.
mdomitable. Whenever I have been in
o dlft1cGlt situation or in the midst of
such confusion of details that the
simple and right thing to do seemed
hazy, have often asked myself. What
would Farragut do?" In the course of
the preparations for Manila bav | often
asked myself this question: and ! con-
TESS that l was thinking of him the
night that we entered the bay and with
the conviction that | was doing pre-
cisely what he would have done Val
liable as the training of Annapolis was.
1t was poor schooling beside that of
serving under Farragut in time of wa
Commander Melancthon Smith sue
ceeded Captain Selfridge in command
of the Mississippi, before the advance
on New Orleans. BY this time the six
officers who We're senior to me had all
gone to other ships, thanks to the wide
spread demand with the increase of our
navy. With their departure, 1 ranked
next to the captain and became execu-
tive officer
was very young for the post but
fortunately looked rather old for my
years. Indeed, remember being asked
one day, when there was question
about seniority for a courtmartfal.
whether or not l was older than am
other lieutenant. who was, in fact. my
senior by ten years When Farragut
explained to Captain Smith that there
was complaint on the part Of some Of
ficers on the navy list about my holding
position higher than theirs, the cap
tain said:
Dewey is doing all right. I don't
want a stranger here
Dewey Allowed ito STAY.
Farragut. who was fond Of the cgn-
tain. answered:
Then we will let him stay"
For many trying months | was about
as close to Smith officially as it is pos
sib!e for one man TO be to another. and
] learned to know and enjoy all his
qualities. He was pronounced char
acter, absolutely fearless. with some
thing of farIaguts grim determination
in the midst of battle He smoked con
tinually, Lighting one cigar with the
butt of another, whether shells We're
bursting around him or he was loung-
ing on deck. ,..-
In action he became most energetic.
but in the periods between action he
was. inclined to leave all detail to his
executive
Every day gained was vital to Far
ragut.
Farragut's Queer Fleet.
First, he had the big screw sloops
Hartford, Pensacola, Richmond and
Brooklyn; then the side wheeler Mis-
sissippi, the screw corvettes Oneida
Neruna and Iroquois; nine screw gun
boats of 500 tons, which were known
as the "nintey day gunboats," because
with characteristic American enter
prise in crisis, they had been turned
cut by our shipyards in ninety days.
In addition was the mortar flotilla, not
to mention ferryboats and many other
craft that did service of one sort or
another.
There was hardly night that the
flagship did not signal to send boats to
tow fire RATS. These fire RATS We're
one of the pleasantriee of the enemy in
trying our nerves. In connection with
the luminous flight of the mortars
they offered us quite all the spectacular
display that we We're able to appre-
ciate.
A fire raft floating down with the
current at five knots an hour flaming
high with its tar and resin, would il
Illuminate the river from bank to bank,
and if it could have rested alongside a
ship for even a few minutes it must
inevitably have set the ship on fire
Launches used to throw grapnels into
the RATS and other boats forming line
would tow them ashore, where they
would burn themselves out.
ON the night of the 20th of April oc-
CURED one Of those brilliant exploits of
daring courage so common in the Civil
war that they became merely incidents
of it's progress. Any one of them in a
smaller war, when public attention
is not diverted over a vast scene of ac-
tivity. would have woOn permanent
fame. Lieutenant Caldwell, command
ing one of the ninety-day gunboats. the
Itasca, and Lieutenant Crosby, com
handing another, the Pinola, under
took the duty of cutting the obstruc-
ton across the river above the forts.
Nine Shells at Once
During a heavy bombardment from
the mortars they slipped up stream I'M
der cover of the bank. At times, so
rapid were Porter's gunners in their
work that there were nine shells in the
air at once.
About midnight on April 223 came
the signal for which we were all wait
ing. two red lights at the peak Of the
flagship. 1t meant that the fleet was
to get under way. We were ready and
eager for the test after the long strain
Of PREPARATION in which an manner Of
ingenious suggestions had been applied
i'm order that the feet might get by
,n. forts with as little damage rs pos