Evening star., 1923-10-07
By LIEUT.. COMMANDER L. A. 0DLIN.
u. 8. g.. black Hawk.

ny LIEUT.. .COMMANOEH LIZ a. ODAANs
U. 8. 9. Black Hawk.
~ N Sunday. September 2, 1898.
1t seemed far call from
these piping times Of peace
to the days OF five years ago.
when our wartime activity was just
about getting into full stride. Sun
day is always q more or less peaceful
day aboard a Navy ship, and on this
particular Sunday nearly half the Of
icers In the wardroom Of the Black
Hawk had left the ship In the morn
ing for an all-day excursion to Port
Arthur and q ramble over the his
toric forts and battlefelds of the
Russo-Japanese war.
Tho Asiatic fleet had, the week be-
fore, just completed strenuous sum-
.mer of training and maneuvers. bas-
ing on Chefoo. and tho more impor-
tant target practices had been held.
The flagship Huron, together with
tho Black Hawk and six destroyers,
had been for nearly week at Dairen,
the growing Japanese port OF Man
churia, for liberty and leave, while
two other divisions OF destroyers had
gone at the same time to Chinwang-
tao In order to give all hands an op-
portunity to spend a week in Peking.
Everybody from the ships at Dairen
who had ventured up into Manchuria,
visiting Mukden or Harbin on leave,
had returned. rs We were all due to
following day.
Those left on board this Sunday
afternoon were sitting around after
luncheon. or "tiff1n," as the midday
meal is universally known in the far
east, discussing the best way to spend
our last afternoon In Dairen. The
relative merits Of golf and a swim
at Hashiguara Beach, however, were
quickly forgotten when word came
back to the ship from the captain,
who was ashore, to stop all liberty
and get up steam as quickly as pos
sible. Nobody could guess just what
1t was all about, but Navy people
are used, to sudden and unexpected
changes in schedules and most Of US
thought nothing more serious had oc-
CURED than a decision to go back to
Chefoo that night instead of the next
day, perhaps to hold a night war
game en- route.
We were not long left in doubt. A
message from the flagship soon came
down from the signal bridge, giving
tho first news of the terrible cata-
clysm in Japan-the combination of
earthquake. fire and tidal wave. The
first reports were meager and It was
several days before the magnitude
Of the disaster which had overtaken
Toxic and Yokohama could be re-
alised. But 1t did not take long to
galvanise our American naval forces
into action on this quiet Sunday at.
ternoon in Dairen.
One destroyer was Immediately dis.
patched to Yokohama, with a doctor,
supply officer. and what medical
stores could be assembled and packed
up in an hours time. The rest OF the
destroyer division, after flling to ca
pacity with provisions from the Black
Hawk, got underway for Yokohama
early that evening.
1t fell to our lot on the Black Hawk
to go back to the base for replenish-
after the destroyers had steamed out.
On arrival at Chefoo early Monday
morning the comnlander-in-ch de-
termined that More supplies than the
ordinary cargo of stores for issue to
the destroyers. should be carried, and
because OF the limited market at Che.
foo we were immediately ordered to
go on to Tsingtao, where moro ex.
tensive stocks would be available.
All arrangements had been made by
the consul for us to 60 alongside the
docks, at the commercial port OF
Tsingtao. and by 10 o'clock Tuesday
morning we were tied up and ready
to take our cargo. Early that after
noon stores began to. arrive on the
dock. From then until niduight
wednesday, the loading proceeded al
most continuously. Naturally. there
were many handicaps and many dis
appointments. The first discouraging
development was the discovery that
the total supply Of rice in Tsingtao
was estimated at not much over 3o0,-
900 pounds. or less than one-third OF
what we wanted. And this included
small stocks Of ten and twenty bag
lots in the hands OF retailers, as well
as larger lots In warehouses. The
amount OF dry beans available was
also less than half the supply that
we wanted. After preliminary Sur
vey OF the situation contracts were
awarded at O'Clock Tuesday after
noon for 1ii the rice and beans avail
able ana a1oo oor several ether items
which we decided to take In place of