The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-05-20

l NutU lHty Hdu IItu On lut NldHdTd ~
/ letter to me from navy friend then on
| board the Sacramento describes the Incl
dent briefly. | am sending you a copy.
KNOW NOTHING.
New YORK, May 10.
MY FRIEND -. The matter about
which YOU inquire was not amusing like
/ the other that came Just before II at
| Corunna. Yet neither was that one really
amusing to Americans on either side OF
| Dixie's line.
i The Niagara. and her far smaller COM
/ parlon the Sacramento. had followed the
| Stonewsll t"Ramrod" Page her COM
| mander) down to Lisbon after a short
interval. Coming in at nightfall we
| found her anchored way up the river.
| Just below the middle OF the city. our
| two ships then came to an anchor from a
| thousand to fifteen hundred yards further
| down. Next day ! had the forenoon
watch. At quarter before nine the
quartermaster hurried up to me saying,
The Stonewall Is spinning around. sir"
She was not spinning, but she certainly
was wheeling, and very short on her heel.
| The movement looked queer enough. The
Stonewall was one OF the first ships to
| have twin screws.
quick report to Captain Wake, a
beat to quarters, then cast loose and pro-
videl These took perhaps three minutes,
! and all was ready. BY this time the stone
wall was heading down stream and toward
the two OF us. She passed by the Niagara
and headed rather toward the Sacra-
mento She passed on by us. and so
close that from the poop ! could have
tossed aboard the traditional biscuit that
has never yet got wetted. Down the
! river she steamed at good speed, past
Belem Castle--noble Moorish relc-and,
some miles further down. past the palace
! where long ago the Portuguese king and
his Rainha Cor else the reigning court
A.aV. N.FN ats rt,,AA n
watch Da Cana sail against the current,
safe home from the Boa Esperanza head
land. Then she put her helm a-starboard
| and went to sea. In no case would the
law OF nations permit us to leave harbor
in less than twenty-four hours after,
| A little later In the day Commodore
Craven OF the Niagara resolved to shift
our berths further up the river. For
those times the Niagara was longish.
Just there the Tagus is narrow. but be-
low Belem II broadens out n little. Tail
Ing TO the flood tide the Niagara got up
anchor and made down the river to reach
tho better place to turn In. When she
had got abreast of Belem "a popgun
battery In front of the castle. the guns
were two or three Founders, opened fire.
A shot struck the mizzen lower rigging,
wounded shroud perhaps. or cut rat
| line. Craven stopped the engines, put
the helm over and lowered the flag 10
halfmast. The popgun kept on popping.
There was Portuguese sloop OF war
at anchor there, more inshore toward
Belem. OF a sudden her gig dropped
into the water, and her captain into the
gig. He pulled hard for the Niagara. As
soon as the officer in command OF the bat
terry saw this he ceased firing. BY good
luck no hurt had been done but to the
shroud, the ratline and our feelings.
Then the Nlagara's barge was lowered
and the gig OF the Sacramento. Craven
n,,I lFf.fl tlA tAara Ion,
where they found our able Minister, Mr..
! Harvey He had lately been Tribune
correspondent. The three made their way
to the palace OF the Foreign Minister.
To the Portuguese along the street the
march must have seemed impressive
Craven. the best seaman in the navy and
also the strongest, was short, but OF
enormous breadth OF beam, OF no great
depth OF hold indeed, but full in the
bows high w above the water line.
did not see the march. My impression Is
that Craven carried Harvey on his right
shoulder and Wake upon his left. After
entering the palace fourfold converse
ton followed The precise words were
never reported to the squadron. The
story that ran about was that unless the
American flag were hoisted above Belen
Castle at noon precisely on the day fol-
lowing and saluted, then the castle was
to he battered to the ground by =. NJ.
or as soon thereafter as proved possible
| think there was no truth In that YER
sion. Craven was known to all OF us as q
man with a developed sense OF taste. HI
would sooner have fired into the high
bank opposite than have hurt the dear old
structure. In point OF fact the nag wal
hoisted above the tower the next day n
noon, and guns were discharged up Il
one-and-twenty, Whether the popguns.
have forgotten but they made as loud O
noise In every house In Lisbon as bat
terry of twenty-inchers. The young blood'
OF the city had 1t that Belem Castle hat
been annexed to the United States anC
was now an American tower And as fol
the young women-this subject pains M
and | will say nothing except that thu
Chiado pronounced sheeahtho, with thu
IN quite soft) was for some while les
pleasant place to saunter up and dowi
between 3 and In the afternoon thai
II had been aforetme.
Perhaps Craven had not been so fore
thoughtful as was his wont. Perhaps be
fore starting to shift his berth he shoul'
: have sent word to the Foreign Minister
or to the War Minister, that he mean
| to do this, and that he would go a littl
further down stream to the broader par
of the channel where there was NOR
, room TO turn around Tho commando
OF the popguns on the other hand wa
! forcthoughtful In giving them so great al
: elevation, IL indeed the aim was not b.
} accident. But he had made the mistake
OF continuing 10 fire after the nag MAJ
been lowered to halfnast and perhaps I'll
he could not fire. any longer without en-
dangering his comrade Of the other arm.