The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-12-23
NEW THRILL COMES
TO CAP HAWKINS
Man Of Many Adventures Gets
Job of Speeding Barges
for Erie Canal.
HERO IN RIO REVOLUTION
Chief of Construction in In
land Waterways Known in
the Ports Of the World.

the Ports Of the World.
Either the United States Railroad
Administration lacks Imagination or
l. possesses mighty poor "morgue,"
as the newspapers call their reference
library of clippings and such. for il
announces that old Cap Hawkins
has been appointed chief construction
inspe ctor for the Division, OF Inland
Waterways, with the immediate job
Ct speeding up tagging construction
work on the feet OF steel barges for
] the Erie Canal. and yet fails to give
hint as to the extremely liNr~ per-
sonal!ty that the Hon. Clifford $. Haw-
liins (as now he must be called) owns
in fee simple.
Cap Hawkins. as everybody calls
! him in friendly way around the New
/ York waterside. and for that matter
around the harbors of half the ports
! Of the Western Hemisphere, has
| kicked UP his heels in a lot of adven-
turing since NE went to sea at the
age of IL he did everything from
peeling sruds in the galley to COM
handing from the bridge. He worked
, for De Lesseps on the Old Panama
Canal and then he went into the rev.
olution business with Admiral Mello
/ ir Rio harbor There's enough stuff
in Hawllins's career for a dozen
snappy tales OF adventuring by land
and sea-
Several Times Around the World.
| He was born in New York in 1873,
was graduated from the Schoolship st
Mary's with the class OF 1890. and
for the next fourteen years followed
the sea in all manner OF vessels He
drifted around the world several times
IN every capacity from cook to mas
ter. When the French undertook their
! great scheme OF canal building at
the Isthmus. IIawkihs was attracted
10 the Job and worked for 16 cents
a day and his rice until the fever
rearly nipped him. Then he quit muy
rronto and started north. Landing al
Galveston he skippered a mule car from
The Planters Hotel to the 'deepo .
and then a great yearning for New
York got him and back he came
For a while he was a locomotive en-
sineer on the Long Island Railroads
first train over the Brooklyn elevated
TO Coney Island.
-, Somewhere in his warm sea rambles
10 cit aI, -
Admiral Mello Of Brazil, and when
Nello undertook 10 overthrow the re-
public he called on Hawkins to helg
him. He got Hawkins to purchase
for him the Morgan liner Ell Cid which
was renamed the Nictheroy. and upon
which was mounted the famous "a
linsky dynamite gun which nobody bu,
the inventor had ever fired. 1t was
supposed to throw an explosive pow
erful enough to blow w a county
hut few cared 20 make the expert
inent. Hawkins took the Nictheroy
t. Rio. having no intention of mixing
ur In the rebellion. but when the
ship bore into the harbor ready Il
would take a chance at firing the suh
3 f1C H9u 10 90 Inc ltD IlllnSel.
Fires the Dynamite Gun.
Barring the military" said Cap
Hawkins yesterday. the city was al
most deserted when I got 'You-may
fire-w when order from Admiral Mello
News OF the great dynamite gun haC
preceded us. The entire crew. led b.
The Admiral. ! may say. huddled aft
leaving me to load, sight and fire thu
gun all alone. It was supposed to hsv,
A range Of several miles. but since 4
had never been fired there was nc
way OF telling. However. when I go
her all set and aimed at the heart o
the city pulled the string. The grea
dynamite cartridge, shot from the CUR
by compressed air, described q Graz,
arc OF about half mile. dropped upor
a little island in Rio harbor and then
Zowie the earthquake. II actual,
blew the entire top off a good size
hill on that island, but 7 don't know
10 this day VINO was scared the most
the inhabitants Of Rio or the crew o
Mello's navy"
Nobody is better known in marine
circles here than Hawkins, perhaps. H,
has been supervising engineer of thu
city's municipal ferries for many yea RS
the personnel having been organize,
by him ten years ago. At the outhreal
of the war in 1914 he went to worl
for Cox & Stevens as construction in
spector OF all their work along tn
Atlantic coast and in the shipyards o
the great lakes. during which time h
supervised the installation OF Desc
machinery in Government vessels con
structed a fleet for the Mexican Petro
leum Company, the design of whicl
was accepted by the Emergency Flee
Corporation as a standard for all OF
vessels authorized by the United
States Shipping Board, and was a bill
factor in getting a feet Of 'knock
down" submarines shipped to Csnadi
on fiat cars. to be there assembled ant
sent to all parts OF the world unde
their own power as part OF the Brit
ish navy.
On the Maritime Exchange there &
a feeling that Gap" Hawkins will ge
; action in the delayed construction o
much needed steel barges. for they sa,
down there that he generally gets wha
he goes after.
JEWS ASK BRITISH CONTROL.