New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-30
Thousands See
Big Fleet and
Buy Souvenirs
Naval Officers Keep Crowds
in Check or Docks; River
side Drive Is Throngcd
Destroyers Attract Many
Fair Visitors Prefer Small
Craft and Are Thrilled
by Stories of Action

NcN York paid homage by tens of
thousands yesterday to the ships and
men of the Victory Fleet anchored Iii
the Hudson. They swarmed in endless
crowds over deck and gangway, and
came off with remnants, flags and
souvenirs and wholesome idea Of just
what lfe-sized job it is to be q man.
o'-warsman.
1t was a typical Sunday crowd; the
httic river craft were packed beyond
their stipulated capacity with jolly.
good-natured friends of sailors and
slghtseers, who thought it fun when
the boats careened in the choppy
waters, and only drew their wraps
closer when rift of cold salt sea
dashed in over gunwale The crowds
grew so large at o'clock that it was
necessary for sentries and naval Off
Gers to form them in lines to get in the
launches.
Along Riverside Drive there was an
other procession that only strolled and
admired the long line of graceful ships,
for the crowd was greater at the docks
than at any previous day since the or
der to admit visitors.
Every ship had its quota of visitors.
Fhe superdrea thoughts lying in the
middle of the stream bore the brunt Of
The traffic, which kept the Hudson in
continuous swirl of heaving and toss
ing seas.
Destrovers Interesting
At last the crowd discovered the de-
stroyer fotilla. Along the west bank
of the river they lay like queer OBJ
iects made of cut-up puzzles. At first
sight it was hard to see whether they
and that is just what bothered the
Herr lieutenants, with their high col
lars and sloping shoulders, who peered
through the periscopes of the subma-
rines and decided to GO back to Helgo-
land when these fast little boats were
weeping the North Sea.
These small craft will accommodate
only a handful Of visitors. but they en-
tertaln them at close range, with all
manner of good, racy sea stories. Their
little decks and compartments are like
toys compared to the floating forts be-
yond.
Down in the chief petty officers quar-
fers Of the destroyer Dent was a merry
party of old salts who had sailed the
even seas in one Of these cigar-like
ships. Fair visitors were being handed
gingerly down the little matches, and a
lew family friends met with the sailors
aeiow and talked and played a phono-
Graph. The Dent is the fastest ship in
he navy. She chased U-boats at forty
mlles an hour, and men in the service
admit that 1t was the light, panther
Ike destroyers who saw the real action
IN the war and who kept the seas clear
and open.
Tells of the Jacob Jones's Fate
What the destroyers endured while
fHr h.- =.
agly told by Chief Machinist's Mate
Harry Stutzke, of Philadelphia, who is
survivor of the Jacob Jones. tor
pedoed off the Scilly Islands December
IS a year ago. Stutzke is an old regular
and has rather bashfully consented to
wear two gold service stripes. He has
rot bothered about any such thing as
wound stripe.
I was in the fireroom," he tells of
his experience, when | got a double
llng That's emergency, full ahead.
hen got another. and | knew some
thing was up.
We got under way and then sud
denly | thought everything in the fire
room was twisting to pieces.
wv e were struck in the auxiliary fire
room in the oil tanks One man was
h'iled right there and was covered
with oil and flying parts of machinery.
As soon as l got on deck Lieutenant
scott called out Everybody for them
selves; the ship is sinking!' She went
down in eight minutes.
! got over the port side in raft.
There were sixteen shipmates with me.
and after four hours adrift. I'D to our,
waists in that cold sea, there were
seven left
They'd Just drop of one by one
Generally somebody would saw. Here
comes ship or they'd see things in
the sky and then slip off They sort
o dreamed things Just before tbev
went and VIC could always tell when a
man was going.
We were. picked up at o'clock that
nlght by Royal Mail steamer. Others
foated for moro than seventeen hours
on RATS, for our wireless was crippled.
Many we're lost when the depth bombs
went off. More were lost in a whale
boat that had been STAYED in and thev
didn't know it,
The ship went down stern first. and
saw a quartermaster race up the prov
as she was sinking down. lie iumned
OF the bow III the water. The suhma-
r,nc came 40 and took two prisoners.
She had sail and looked like sloop. ="
Stories of Rough Seas
On The Dent are four more survivors
0"V 'O4ieH' Sixty SIX were lost and
fae commander, Lieutenant Bagley.
with a few officers, were adrift for
many hours before being rescued
$ the destroyer life that tests the
sallor. There was Chief Boatswain
hermann. an oldtimer fsorn Canada
who admits that he got thrown out of
ms bunk and slammed down hard on a
ecker. And Chief Water Tender
" hite' from Newark Ohio, who after
iourteen years in the navy still gets
sannted off locker when the seas are
rolling.
Chief Woman Myers, of Fairton. N
T., said of trip: ~ rode ont IN =
hurricane for four days and nights with
nc snip rolling up to 81 degrees and
mother just ahead rolling 90 degrees
W broke thirty-seven frames and
What wasn't tied down went over. There
Is only one rule on a destroyer when
she rolls-'Grab and grab quick -"
Myers says the men soon learn to hold
on with their finger nails and toes.
II got so rough on one trip that the
mascot, Buster, Il brindle bull. gave up
disgust. He walked to the side and
deliberately jumped overheard.
Barber Has No Chair
Jim Pinto. the ships barber, doesn't
ave a chair. He shaves the officers
li bed, aud an upturned bucket where
will fit IN away from the sea is his
9nsorial equipment.
They tell story of such high seas
50 The Dent that water shipped in the
"fpedo tubes and washed in tho sneak