Evening star., 1922-12-31
BY DIR. r.. w. sHUFELDT.

CAD, now Sne IoAS dAo iio" Si'S
l. pitches! And well she may. Tor
there is a heavy sea on. follow
0 ing upon a thirty-mile gale on
the coast of Staten Island. The blue
black waves rise and fall like young
mountains. here and there topped on
with a snowy white crest. 1t is the U. 5.
Sunboat Proteus. and the harbor pilot,
Mr. Metcaf, is just taking his leave OF
her. Soon her commanding officer will
open the official envelope containing his
orders from the Navy Department and
find that he is directed to report at Key
West and join the East Gulf squadron.
where additional instructions will be
issued to him.
In due course this came about. ana
Lieut.. Commander +. W. Shufeldt Of
our Navy was directed to cruise In the
Gulf of Mexico and among the Bahia
mas. with the view of engaging, should
ne meet with either of them. the far
Taned prlvatecrs, the Alabama ana
,he Florida, and further TO capture
or to sink such blockade runners as the
!'rotcus fell in with. All this in the
rarly sixties, when the civil war was
At its height and there was no telling
how it was to terminate.
There had been built. fitted out and
commissioned three or four gunboats OF
.xactly the same class as the Proteus.
no one of them being of a model to
either chase or capture the best class
"f blockade runners, as not one OF them
could make more than twelve knots
and a short half an hour. while the
aforesaid privateers outclassed them
both In speed and i'll fighting capacity.
although in the latter particular our
:,unboat had a fair chance, but no more,
IF coming out victorious in an encounter.
X X !: X
THE Proteus was full-officered. had
L a picked crew of two hundred men.
and. being a screw steamer, stoutly
built. she could carry a maximum bat
terry for her size. This last consisted
NJ eight smooth-bore thirty-twos on the
gun deck; a two-hundred-pound Parrot
rifle amidships on the spar deck: two
he forecastle and the other aft on the
poop deck. and two twelve-pound brass
Napoleons. She was two-masted-being
schooner rig fore and aft-with no par
,icuiar protection save oakum bales.
placed in the gangways opposite her
boilers.
My father was her commanding Off
Ger, and to the best of my recollec-
lion ] was between thirteen and four
teen years of age when he selected
mo as his secretary and signal Off
a man grown, and In a very short
time l quite lost sight of the fact
that the captain of the Proteus was
my father. Indeed. upon more than
one occasion / was less favored than
other officers in being selected for
duties wherein the matter of danger
had any part 1 took the oath of al
lrgiance in the old Navy Department
building before Mr.. Crosby, who was
,i;deon Welles' secretary-Mr. Welles
being Secretary of the Navy at the
time, in Lincolns cabinet.
The executive officer of the Pro-
teus was the late Admiral Bartlett
]. Cromwell, and to the best of my
belief I am the only officer of her
complement now living. with the pos
sible exception of Admiral Hoff. who
was an ensign at the time of which I
write.
AS already stated, our crew was
well selected one. a fair proportion of
them being full seamcn, about 4 third
ordinary seamen, and the balance
landsmcn or recruits, most of whom
had never been to sea before in their
lives. Taken as a whole. some dozen
or more nationalities were represent
cd. including Mohawk Indian. Chi
Damen and Japanese. with others from
nearly every country in Europe. Some
had been in the British and French
navies. others had histories that they
Kept to themselves-but they were
Histories that were histories. 1 be-
!cvc. One man. I we'll remember. had
had his throat cut from ear to car.
and the scar used to gap open every
time he threw his head back as he
pulled down on the brails. And as for
tattooing-weil, some of the designs
could hardly be described.
This crew OF ours got a good rub
at the very commencement of our
cruise, as may easily be imagined
from what 1, have said above about
tho old Proteus tossing and pitch
ing in the heavy sea off the Staten
Island coast, shortly after passing
through 1.-THE Narrows" Fortunately
the rolling of a vessel in a heavy sea
has never affected me; so, during the
yaie in question. I went below onto
the berth deck to see what was going
on.
Most of the crew was there. and
,he main hatch of the spar deck had
been covered The hatch of the gun
deck Immediately below it was open.
7, had a shot-rack about its coamings,
t. hold some two dozen thirty-two-
pound shot intended for immediate
use In action. A dozen or more of
these shot had jumped the rack and
were loose on the deck, rolling from
ride to side as the ship rolled. Then.
100, a thirty-two-pound gun had part
cd from it's bearings. and some of the
old seamen were endeavoring to
,Loor it as it swung round and around
IN 4 most dangerous fashion. Many
a the landsmen were seasick. as the
deck was SO slippery one could hardly
keep his feet. I saw one poor fellow
living upon his side against a gun
carriage. when one of the big thirty.