New-York tribune., 1922-10-02
Admiral Clark.
Hero of Oregon
Run, Dead at 70
Naval Officer, who as Cap.
tain Commanded War
ship ON Breaking
Trip, Had Varied Career
Was Noted for Pertinacity
Promoted for Services i'm
Helping q. Destroy Spanish
Fleet i'm Santiago Fight

IT. DEACu, Callf., Oct. ! {By
rne Associated Press) s).--Rear Admiral
omariss =. Clark U. S. NJ, who, when a
captain commanded the battleship Ore.
francisco to Key West and later in
.he battle of Santiago July 8, 1897. in
the spanish American War, died at the
nome OF MS daughter here late TODAY
1e was seventy-nine years old.
wear Admiral Clark guided the Ore.
eoh IN It's race against time on a VOYAGE
equai to half way around the world
without single serious mishap to men
or machinery. '''N
This remarkable race occurred dur
ing the opening days of the war, in
Is9o. Clark was ffty-four years old
re sailed from San Francisco on March
-. Between him and his destination
we're the continent Of South America
the gales and turbulent waters Of the
otralts OF Magellan, where Spanish
torpedo boat lurked also, and feet of
formidable Spanish warships cruising
IN the Caribbean Sea. On the after
noon OF the sixty-seventh day Of sailing
tne oregon steamed into Jupiter Inlet,
on the coast Of Florida, unharmed and
ready for battle.
Record Never Equaled
1t is the worlds record. which proba-
ply will never be equaled-it probably
will never again be attempted. The
Panama Canal removes the necessity.
A modern battleship could be trans
TERED from San Francisco to the Flor
ida coast In time of war through the
canal in less than twenty days.
An interesting anecdote is told of
how Clark came to be placed in COM
inand of that diffisult and dangerous
voyage.
"Has he the stick-to-it-iveness to
take him clear through 2" asked naval
authority Of one of Clark's friends
who was urging his appointment to
the command Of the Oregon.
Did you ever see him play chess ~
the friend replied.
What has that to do with the case ?"
Everything" was the answer
strategy as learned on the chess
board is not bad training as a pre-
liminary to naval t actics," and he
continued to outline Clark's charac-
terlstic determination, which was no
ticcable even while playing chess,
until the appointment was won.
Rear Admiral Clark was born in
Vermont in 1S43. At the age of twenty
he had been ordered to the West Gulf
blockading squadron in teh Civil War
before he had fneished his second year
at Annapolis. A year later he was fol-
lowing Farragut over the torpedo
beds and past the forts in the battle
OF Mobile Bay.
Had Varied Career
Clark's naval career was varied. He
was shipwrecked off the coast Of
British Colombia in 1868, when the
Suwanee foundered, and through the
loss of his superior officers became COM
mander Of the thirty three survivors.
He organized them into defensive
party to hold off 400 hostile Indians
until rescue arrived. He watched the
Spaniards, whom he was later to en-
gage in battle, lombard Valparaiso and
Callao. He served on the Pacific, West
Indies and Asiatic stations, was at
tached to the Brooklyn, Mare Island
and Portsmouth navy yards and in
structed class at Annapolis. He
spent three years in surveying the
North Pacific coast and four years in
lighthouses.
He, on oard the Oregon, helped to
destroy the Spanish fleet at Santiago
and was advanced six numbers in rank
for his distinguished services. At the
age of fifty mine he again was advanced
in rank, seven numbers, and promoted
to rear admiral.
Rear Admiral Clark rounded out his
career as commander of the League
Island navy yard, as governor for three
years of the Naval Home at Philadel-
phia and as president of the naval
examining and retiring board. He was
retired from active service in 1905, on
his sixtysecond birthday.