OCR Text |
Show ) I SWIFTEST and MOST STIRRING SEA SPRINT States Torpedo Boat Destroyers in for 1 New York. It was a gruelling race when six torpedo-boa- t destroyers recently made the dash at sea from off this city to the mouth of the ChesapeaKe bay. The fighters for supremacy were sisters, built in the same year long, low, craft, four funnels raking aft, the power of 8,000 horses in each hull and 77 men working each. It was the swiftest and longest competition of war craft on any seas. The fleet and their dimensions follow: 240-mil- e olive-colore- d displace- - Horse- - Speed, , nient. power, in knots. 4)3 S3)0 at 86 Worden., a Whipple Truxton Hull 4 433 408 408 420 28.24 58 28 04 8 00 8I 72n0 20 02 V2o) Hopkins 8000 29.09 Stewart The race was to try out the scor conpions of the navy under war-timditions. It lasted a day and a night. A hitherto undefeated winner came to grief, and another craft, on which the bluejackets bet their money, nearly foundered: Two others also had mis haps. Locked in a steel hull only a quarter of an inch thick while plunging through a rolling sea on a blaclnight is "creepy business. e Ready for the Fray The sextet steamed out to sea from New York in Indian file, stripped for the fray. The rapid-firstiletto-lookin- g e and headed for the starting point off the Scotland lightship. The wind was fresh, 20 miles an hour, from the with a lutnpv sea rolling off shore. As they neared the post the fleet closed in on one another in confusion in jockeying for position. They cut across one another's stems with the swiftness of an arrow or curved in circles with the gracefulness of a swallow. Now one would plunge ahead, to be halted in a swirl of hissing bubbles, as the twin screws churned the sea to check too much headway, or another would place herself at the head of the line and sullenly wait for the others to come up. Generally it is not good nautical manners to oust the flagship from her place at the head of the line, but the, craft hot for the contest and many, from stoker to shoulder straps, had wagers on the result. It was difficult to pick the favorite. All had made 28, 29, or 30 knots, which equals 35 miles an hour, or express train time, on their trial trips. Considering the deference due the flagship, many picked the Whipple as a winner, others thought much of the Worden, because her bottom had just been scraped and painted, to the of greased steel, while all the others had more or less foul bottoms, not having been in dry dock for some time. The majority favored the Truxtun, for she had never been beaten in a contest and was supposed to have the best crew that ever stepped atioarh a torpedo-boat destroyer. The bluejackets pinned their faith in the well known of the Hopkins, grit and never-give-uwhile the champions of the Stewart and Hull argued that these vessels could keep up as fast a clip as their sisters. The flagship Whipple happened to be heading the fleet as the ships bore down on her. Off on her starboard, running nose and nose with the flagship, was the Truxtun, and to port was the Worden forging ahead. The Stewart, also off to port, was gathering headway and pulling into line. The Hopkins was tumbling the seas outward from each bow' as she came up toward the line, and the Hull hung on the left flank. guns and torpedo tubes had been stowed below deck. The ventilators were unscrewed and stowed away. The lifeboats were upside down on deck, so that the curved bottoms would suffer less resistance to the wind. The canvas coverings had been stripped from the bridges. All ports were closed to eliminate air friction. Everything movable was ent below. The navigators wore automobile goggles to keep the wind from cutting their eyes. The crew .were ! stripped to the waist. On the bridge of each craft s'tood the commanding officer, the navigator and the seaman at the wheel. Down in the engine rooms there W'as aTiost for every man. Now and then a puff of black smoke rolled out of a funnel or a safety valve popped forth an impatient scream of steam, telling of the suppressed eagerness to be off. The line headed for the starting The Race Begins Lieutenant Commander Anderson point, off the Scotland lightship. The wind was fresh. 20 miles an hour from was holding the starters flag over the contestants until got in a straight 1 line abreast. At they 8:20 a. m. the signal Make the best of your way was run up and the race was on. Each prow pitched forward. The sterns squatted to the suction of the speed and the waves rolled up to a level with the deck aft and swept astern, as if eager to escape the gathering speed. The Whipple took the lead, hugging the shore. Next came the Worden, to port, with the Truxtun hanging on to her. It was at least 35 miles an hour from the start, and a of gap opened between the trio in the lead, as the Hull, Hopkins and Stewart dropped back, making a second trio fighting it out among themselves. After two hours the Worden had taken the lead, with the Truxtun second and the Whipple third. The second trio scattered astern. The spume flew in showers over bows and bridges and spluttered against the funnels. The sterns, built flat as a floor to counteract the powerful downward tvS, suction of the propellers, squatted low, while seas rolled up aft higher than the decks. It seemed that they would tumble in over the sterns and flood the decks, but the craft were always just beyond reach as the chaldron flattened out and rushed in white foam. away Men with big brass syringes stood beside the cans of oil and squirted it over the engines. The machinery churned the oil into yellow butter and then sprayed ever. thing a golden hue. It stung the eyes of engineroom crews. wide-mouthe- d and black on the horizon ahead. To the rear and off to the left flank the Hull was riding into the seas and showering the spray over everything forward. Then came the Stewart, hanging on to the Hull and then the Hopk'ns. all going like race hoises, plunging and mingling steam and smoke, with the spume flying about them. The Hopkins was making desperate plunges to get away from the tail of the procession of flyers. She giadualiy crawled up to forward the Hull. The Hull was handicapped by being short-handebut she, too, took on a spurt and overhauled the disabled Truxtuu. She set a pace that kept the Hopkins straining every nerve to maintain every inch she had gained. Thus the long, nariow', olive green fighters were strung out from horizon to horizon. They flew past sailing vessels as if the schooners were at anchor. Crew s and passengers on coast-wTs- e liners strung alongside the ails of steamers to watch the contest. Pace Begins to Tell As the afternoon wore on, the killing pace began to tell. The officers, in goggles, felt the strain of keeping the vessel on the coutse and all hands keyed up to their best efforts. TJie helmsman at the wheel never lifted his eyes from the compass. Down in the engineroom the flying oil still stung the mens eyes bloodshot; it ran down their arms and chests and out of the eyelets of their shoes. The stationary parts of the engine were inches deep with the butter-lik- e substances that flew out. Now, the boiler rooms are airtight, so that the two t fans in a wall may suck in air that can escape only by going under the fire grates and up through the coals, and in these prisons were locked the stokers. They had shoveled tons of coal on the white-ho- t fires, so fierce that a shovelful of fuel turned red the instant it touched the coals and before the furnace door could be swung ' shut. , As the afternoon wore on and the sun got down on the horizon, the gleam of Cape Henry lighthouse, at the mouth of Chesapeake bay, showed clear ahead. The Worden was hull down and out of sight in the lead. The rest were strung out until the last craft was hull down astern. The stars forced-draugh- half-nake- p Id ifiSii: lratae. 1', son etinus, ut ever, shhI gives w.tv This time it was not in the en,-m-e. bit in a totally unexpected quaiter on the iitside of the ciaft. P"Ojectmg out from the underbody (if the stern is a steel sleeve enveloping the piopeber shaft. This shaft is held to the hull by an upright as thick as a man's arm. The vibration caused this shirt to break, and the steel bludgeon, swinging around and around with the shaft, tore a hole in the hull before the engines could be stopped. Barely Kept Afloat WHAT OF THE CITIES ALONG THE ATLANTIC COAST? Anxious Query Arises Over Sending of Warships to Pacific Coast Defenses Ample to Meet Any Attack. Lieut. Howe gave the alarm, and the While the Pacific coast is elated after watertight doors were closed, but over the prospect of the coming of the not before the wardroom had been fleet of warships, the Atlantic coast is flooded. As the wide compartments near the center of the vessels filled, she sank until her decks were awash, and preparations were made to abandon ship. A distress rocket was sent up that was seen by the Whipple and the Stewart. They gave up the race for honors and went hard about to aid the Hopkins. The Hopkins' lifeboats had been unlashed and swung out on the davits. All the steam and hand pumps were put-Twoik. It was a question of whether the craft would live or founder. It was nip and tuck between the pumps qrij the onru.sbing waters. The Whipple ana Stew'art closed in on the Hopkins. Then the Whipples wireless operator called on Newport News for help. At daybreak the navy tugs Washneto and Hercules came out and lashed themselves alongside the cripple aq towed her into Newport News, whei2 no time was lost In getting the Hopkins into dry dock. But all that is but a bit of the price of an efficient navy. a corresponding experiencing depres- spirits and the anxious query is being asked as to what would happen to New York, Boston and other sion of large cities should a hostile fleet come against them. With the powerful sea fighters away would they fall easy prey to a foreign foe? If war should arise with some one of the European powers would the coast cities not be quickly captuied at.d held, or sacked and burned? Not a vety inviting prospect, to say the least, and if there is the shadow of a chance of such possibility the anxiety which is finding expression in some quarters is quile excusable. But military experts are positive in of the most effective character. But in all the harbors of the Atlantic, on which htve been built large cities giant strides have been made in establishing effective coast defenses. A year ago $72,730,000 had been expended on the coast defenses of the country, most of this sum being used along the Atlantic coast. Something over $50,000,000 remains to be spent to complete the defenses in accordance with the pieseut plans TM3 year congress has appre printed $1,021,-00- 0 tor the continuance of the woik. Of this sum, $1,0,000 has been set aside for the construction of a 14 iueh gun for the artificial island above referred to, $175,000 is being expended for submarine mines, $125,000 for searchlights and $700,000 for the establishment of fire control stations. Under the picsent system every foot of navigable water in the liaibors Is covered by taj p werful guns which their assertions that the coast defenses would be ample to protect the cities from capture or bombardment, for during the last ten years, since the war, vast imSpauish-America- n provements have been made in our fortifications, both as to guns and armanent. Of course, the presence of a fleet along the Atlantic coast in time of war would be essential to prevent the landing of an invading army HIGH STATE OF CULTIVATION, at points not covered by the coast deof fenses, but the harbors and great Northern Have Luzon Made People cities would be entirely safe. Only Country Productive. one weak spot remains, and plans for its protection have been perfected, alGov. Gen. Smith of the Philippines a though the money necessary has not tour made of the mountain recently provinces of northern Luzon, chiefly been appropriated. The weak spot is inhabited by pagan tribes. On his re- the entrance to Chesapeake bay, which turn to Manila he said: "The journey is out of range of the great disappearthrough the mountain country was a ing guns of Fortress Monroe. In the I have never seen such opinion of the national coast defense revelation. cultivation as we saw In the moun- board, "with the entrance as it now is, tains. Those people have terraced the unfortified, a hostile fleet, should it mountains in some instances 1,000 gain control of the sea, can establish, under the lire of a fet high, and every bit of the land without coming is under cultivation. The people are single gun, a base on its shores, pass in and out at pleasure, have access to large stores of valuable supplies of all kinds, and paralyze the great trunk lines of railways crossing the head of the bay:" The entrance to Chesapeake bay is 12 miles from Fortress Monroe, while the effective range of the big guns there installed is only 12,000 yards. To remedy this defect, it is proposed to construct an artificial island, practically midway between Capes Charles and Henry, and to erect thereon a modern battery of disappearing guns -- Breech CHINESE WITH WATERS INFESTED BOLD LOOTERS. coreigner8 and Natives Alike Fall tims to the Desperate Outlaws China Remiss in Suppressing the Evil. Vic- The days of piracy in the waters which border the coasts of the progressive nations of the world have long since passed, but along the coast of China the freebooter is still a power to be reckoned with, and his bold raids upon little sea coast towns and the smaller shipping presents one of Mechanism of a Big Coast Defense Gun. have been Installed in the coast defenses. Every channel is susceptible of being mined Recording to plans already worked out, the preliminary of work, including the assembling paraphernalia, having been so carefully done that every harbor on the Atlantic could be effectively mined on 48 horns notice. Fire control stations have been so far established that the exact position of any vessel coming within range of either the mines or the big guns can be determined with mathematical accuracy, and to quote Gen. Murray, chief of artillery, once a hostile vessel comes within the range of the coast defenses, a glance at the perfected machinery of the range finders would instantly reveal her position, the pressure of a finger on an electric button would explode a mine which would blow her out of the water, and befir she came down she would be blow'n to atoms by one of the disappeailng guns, h PIRATES OF TO-DA- Y. gin shooting crew and innocent pasIn the ensuing confusion they loot the ship and before any soit of effective resistance can be math the pirates have dropped over the ship's side anil escaped in the boats of their waiting comrades. This is of common occurrence. No ship is immune from attack except the swift silk carriers which never leave port without a strong guard of fleered by Americans or Europeans. During the confusion that resulted from the typhoon which struck Ilong Kong, hundreds of pirates swooped down on the afflicted port and looted right and left. One hand of the outlaws seized a large launch and attack-ship- s in every pait of the harbor. It is conservatively estimated that the amount of loot stolen by them during two days amounted to considerably ove $15,000. It will be seen that pha-cin the twentieth century is as remunerative as it was in the days of Capt. Kidd. Every power which keeps a part of its navy in the far east has light-dragunboats or torpedo craft constantly patrolling the inland rivers, and even China makes a semblance of patrolling, but It must be taken into consideration that the livers of China upon which ply seagoing ships ae thousands f miles in length, and it would require hundreds of gunboats to police them. According to those best Infi n ! on the subject, there is but tm v to suppress piiu--In Chinese wateis, and that is to phim the patrol boats in command of foreigneis. But with China's picsent hostility to evei ) l!.''i,g .foieign. she will not listen to sm h a Meanwhile the foul. nets piopm-al- . and tin Chile so ure losing him els of tli 'ima'ids of il la l s annually, marine ins, nance Is excessive, and Innocent people toe being n, inhered almost daily. Fueh a contiuion could hardly ( xKt anywhere else. One Is never surprised at anything that happens In China. sengers and y At the Start of the Race, With the Worden Forging Ahead. began to shine, and night glasses showed a haze along the shore that might have been mistaken for breakers. Then the Truxtun, having repaired her boiler, jumped forward again, anxious to get back In the running. Worden Reaches Gcal . happpy and all were working hard. W e traveled without a guard over a country that ten years ago was the most dangerous in the islands. On one of the trains, now used by Filipino farmers to take produce from Isabella into Cagayan, the Spaniards had three heavy outposts. Nothing of the kind is found there now and the trail is perfectly safe. I do not believe there is anything in the world that can equal the manner in which the people of the mountains have made their country productive. It certainly surpasses anything I have ever seen. The terraces in are Japan pygmies compared with it. The earth and stone were brought for miles and the most wonderful about it is that the terraces arepart as solid and substantial as if they were part of the mountain itself. "Some of them are 70 or 100 feet high and remain undisturbed through all sorts of weather and landslides. And at the lime these terraces were made the people were under arms, with their knives and shields dowi at jlaml aml willl st,ntll(,a every high point of land and tain top. Inside Cape Henry, at Hampton roads, were ten battleships of Admiral Evans fleet. This was the goal of the destroyers. It was near nightfall when a long streak of olive green came in by Cape Henry, slashing through toward the fleet of big fighters. Her sharp prow cut the waters with the hiss of a razor cleaving a sheet of paper as she swished along like an express train, still going so fast that the rush of wind she created whirled the four streams of smoke into one and Warden Takes Lead flattened it out on the waters astern. The Worden, going steadily and It was the Worden, the winner, going easily, gradually haulei away from and strong, 25 miles an hour, as the rest at about noon. Her clean eahy she had from 8:20 oclock in the mornbottom was in her favor. The cham-piountil 7:30 In the evening. Truxtun was beginning to lose ing , The came in secHull, her grip in the wake of the leader ond. No other vessel came in up to whereat there were loud words ami much perspiration down in the en- midnight. In the morning hours of the second gineroom. in came the flagship Whipple, with day Four streams of smoke had been of a disaster to the Hopkins, the story Under Escort. coming from the Truxtun, but sudden- the undefeated. The unbeaten had A bint k the west southwest, with a lumpy sea ly the smoke ceased to belch from goat may be seen almost her nearly foundered in an effort to keep eveiy day wandering along the streets rolling off shore. As they neared the two forwatd funnels, she slowed up. of Leeds, England. To all post the fleet closed in on one another, down to half speed. Something had appearances During the night the Truxtun had it Is unattended, hut t loser observajockeying for position. Ail had records gone w rung in the li viler loom. down the her coast with way tion reveals the fact that there is alof about 25 miles. They cut across Thu Whipple, running third, was fought all the speed that was In her and had ways a black one another's stems with the swiftness still hugging the hhoie to cut dog in Its immediate the Hopkins, the Whipple and f any- of an arrow or curved in circles with ihe Worden was foigtng corners, passed attempt is male to mo. skew-artThe Hopkins had fought steadily the tin goat, one bleat Is the gracefulness of a swallow. sufficient to uhoad, her four columns of smoke so gamely that the ollleeis had he- 1)1 Jug i lio The line glided out past Sandy Ilook merging into one as she appeared low roine areustom d to the quiver of her fend its protege swift-movin- WITH FLEET AWAY. g U: . u short-handed- ft the ipost serious problems that the foreign mlnibteis to 1( via have to consider, and at the picsent lime thy . ate inging China to suppress the bus--ness- While tin woist cases of pliaey in the vicinity of Hong King In that stretih of the Wot river In twun the British poit and Canton, the.e Is baldly ten miles of Chinas long e ast line that Is not fiom Cmo to lime at litrkt d by plnites. The phutis who infest the witters adjacent to Hong Kong aie cxi optionally bold, and during the last few mouths several Biitish ships have been looted Their method of opi la tioa is very simple Meudnus of the gangs go aboard a ship la Hong Kong as passengeis, and v ben the wssii r ai lies a part of the river wbeie the remainder of the outliws hip ii Mug hi junks sometimes In stolen i. am launches the lutlaw j .ee i.ei i be-- r I The Secret of Fletcherism. has been l annul th..t thine nro two tolls of teeielion (if the gasttie juke the isvclile and tlui ehemie. When food enters tlo s'omaeh its impact on the gastiie mucous ineiuluiint Induces the ihemicnl tide. The s( flow of the giistiio juice is controlled and luought Into action by tin brain ct nt( rs. lkn-e- it Is, that thing, eaten with del. bet at Ion ami relish, while tlie mouth wateis. aie itimh better ilispe-- i d of by tin prom .st.i s of digi.-tio- ii than enormous quuutith-- s of more nuliliHMis food sw allow ij la a Tiei I, anion) manner. It e |