^ FR/VNKON ^ i-<3^'**— -. 11 "*/ m i^AiJ f "- :83f"; Vi^'?^"'' >-r&3i OfortteU Httiocraitg ffitbrarg iltt;ata. Ntta Qatb BERNARD ALBERT SINN COLLECTION NAVAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY THE GIFT OF BERNARD A. SINN, '97 1919 Cornell Universlly Library VA58 .M43 With the battle fjS,?I(,,,,.|,|||||||ii |||i|i|||i|iiii 3 1924 032 621 595 olin Cornell University Library The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032621595 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET WITH THE BATTLE FLEET CRUISE OF THE SIXTEEN BATTLESHIPS OF THE UNITED STATES ATLANTIC FLEET FROM HAMP- TON ROADS TO THE GOLDEN GATE DECEMBER, 1907— MAY, 1908 BY FRANKLIN MATTHEWS ILLUSTRATED BY HENRY REUTERDAHL (Courtesy of Collier's Weekly) ■UN'IV '-' Y 1908 B. W. HUEBSCH NEW YORK T Copyright 1908 by B. W. HUEBSCH 1st Printing, October, 1908 2d Printing, December, 1908 TO REAR ADMIRAL RICHARD WAINWRIGHT, U. S. N., (Captain of the U. S. S. Louisiana on the Atlantic Fleet's Cruise to the Pacific) AN ABLE OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN CONTENTS CHAFTEB PAGE I. From Hampton Roads to Teinidad 1 II. Cheistmas With the Fleet 35 III. Tbikidad to Rio de Janeibo 47 IV. Neptune Ahoy! 64 V. Bbazil's Enthusiastic Welcome 86 VI. National Salutes at Sea 114 VII. Punta Abenas, the Woeld's Jumping-opp Place . . 135 VIII. Theough Magellan Steait 164 IX. In and Out op Valpaeaiso Habbok 183 X. Peeu's Waem-heaeted Gbeetino 198 XI. Target Shooting at Magdalena Bat 228 XII. Routine of a Battleship 254 XIII. Social Life on an American Man-o'-wae 282 XIV. End and Lessons of the Ceuise to the Pacific . . . 309 INTRODUCTORY On December 16, 1907, there sailed from Hampton Roads, bound for San Francisco, a fleet of sixteen Ameri- can battleships, the most powerful collection of warships ever assembled under the American flag and about to un- dertake the longest cruise that any fleet of any nation had ever made. It was ordered to make this journey of about 14,000 miles by President Roosevelt, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy by virtue of his office, for reasons which he did not deem wise to make public fully and which up to this writing have not been revealed. In his annual message submitted to Congress a few days before the fleet sailed the President designated the fleet, still known officially as the XJ. S. Atlantic Fleet, as the Battle Fleet. Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans was in command of the fleet, of the first squadron and of the first division of the first squadron. The ships of his division were the Connec- ticut, (Captain H. Osterhaus), Kansas (Captain C. E. Vreeland), Vermont (Captain W. P. Potter) and Louis- iana (Captain Richard Wainwright). The ships of the second division of the first squadron were commanded by Rear Admiral William H. Emory and were the Georgia (Captain H. McCrea), New Jersey (Captain W. H. H. Southerland), Rhode Island (Captain J. B. Murdock) and Virginia (Captain S. Schroeder). The second squad- ron of the fleet and its third division were commanded by X INTRODUCTORY Rear Admiral Charles M. Thomas, and the ships of his di- vision were the Minnesota (Captain J. Hubbard), Ohio (Captain C. W. Bartlett), Missouri (Captain G. A. Merriam) and the Maine (Captain G. B. Harber). The ships of the fourth division were commanded by Rear Admiral Charles S. Sperry and his ships were the Alabama (Captain T. E. DeW. Veeder), Illinois (Captain J. M. Bowyer), Kearsarge (Captain H. Hutch- ins) and Kentucky (Captain W. C. Cowles). There were about 14,000 men on the ships and the value of the ves- sels and stores was about $100,000,000. The following compilation shows where the fleet stopped, how long each stay was and the distance travelled. Sailed from Hampton Roads, Va., December 16, 1907. Arrived Port of Spain, December 23, 1907; sailed December 29, 1907; 1,594.7 knots; time 7 days 9 hours. Arrived Rio de Janeiro, January 12, 1908; sailed January 22, 1908; 3,225 knots; time, 13 days 20 hours. Arrived Possession Bar, Chile, January 31, 1908; sailed February 1, 1908; 2,076 knots; time^ 9 days. Arrived Punta Arenas, Chile, February 1, 1908; sailed February 7, 1908; 75 knots; time, 9 hours. Arrived Callao, Peru, February 20, 1908; sailed February 29, 1908; 2,693 knots; time, 12 days 10 hours. Arrived Magdalena Bay, Mexico, March 12, 1908; sailed April 11, 1908; 3,025 knots; time, 13 days 23 hours. Arrived San Diego, Cal., April 14, 1908; sailed April 18, 1908; 590 knots; time, 2 days 21 hours. Arrived San Pedro, Cal., April 18, 1908; sailed April 25, 1908; 75 knots; time, 9 hours. Arrived Santa Barbara, Cal., April 25, 1908; sailed April 30, 1908; 85 knots; time, 10 hours. Arrived Monterey, Cal., May 1, 1908; sailed May 2, 1908; 210 knots; time, 25 hours. Arrived Santa Cruz, Cal., May 2, 1908; sailed May 5, 1908; 16 knots; time, 2 hours. INTRODUCTORY xi Arrived San Francisco Lightship, May 5, 1908; sailed May 6, 1908; 60 knots; time, 6 hours. Arrived San Francisco, Cal., May 6, 1908; 15 knots; time, 2 hours. Total knots, 13,738. Actual time of cruising, 61 days 19 hours. The departure of the fleet excited intense interest throughout the civilized world. Its progress was watched with eagerness at home and abroad. The letters printed herewith record what took place on this momentous jour- ney, and they constitute practically a chronological story of the cruise. Every word of them was passed upon by duly appointed naval officers with the fleet. Their ac- curacy therefore must be unquestioned. They were writ- ten for The Sun of New York and they were printed originally by that newspaper and its clients simultaneously, throughout the country. They are reproduced by the special permission of the Sun Printing and Publishing Association and in response to a large number of written and oral requests that a permanent record be made of the cruise and its incidents. The author takes pleasure in making acknowledgment of the kindly co-operation of Lieut. F. Taylor Evans of the Louisiana in the preparation of the letters and in the elimination of technical naval errors through his watchful supervision. The author is also under obKgations to very many officers of the fleet, especially to Lieutenant Com- mander C. T. Jewell, navigator of the Louisiana, for sug- gestions and for assistance in gathering information, as well as for the cordiality with which he and the other cor- respondents, all of whom were sent with the fleet by special direction of the President, were received on the ships. F. M. ■ New York, 'July 1, 1908. WITH THE BATTLE FLEET CHAPTER I FROM HAMPTON UOADS TO TRINIDAD Run of the Battleships Down to the West Indies — The "Sweet Six- teen " Quick to Get Down to Business After the Sentiment of the Good-by — Fottnation of the Fleet — Difl5culties of Maintaining the Proper Distances — Naval Routine — Gospel of Neatness — Neptune's Preparations for Celebrating the Crossing of the Line — Arrival at Trinidad. Un Board U. S. S. 'Louisiana, U. S. Battle Fleet, Trinidad, Dec. M. ^ ^ TT CALL *em ' Sweet Sixteen', sir," said the bos'n's I mate to the Sun correspondent as Admiral Evans in the flagship Connecticut led the battle fleet past the capes of the Chesapeake out to sea just before noon on December 16 and the gentle swells lifted and lowered the bows of one ship after another to nod their own farewells to the Mayflower at anchor near the Tail of the Horseshoe. The officers and men had stood at attention to receive the good-by and godspeed of the President, and they had thundered their farewells to him from the throats of the 3-pounder barkers that spat fire and snorted out great puffs of smoke, but when each ship began to find herself she too made her good-by as only a dignified ship could make it, taking no orders from Admiral or Captain as to when and 2 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET how often she should bow to the ship that carried the President. A stiff northwest wind seized hold of the great streamers of smoke that poured over the tops of smoke-pipes, and as these streamers frayed themselves out against the blue sky and the bright sun the breeze seemed to lift them toward the southeastern heavens, where some power wove them together to pull the ships along and give them a fine send- off. AU of Monday and Tuesday whoever it was in the kingdom of Old Boreas that was doing the tugging on the ships made a good job of it, for practically every vessel in the fleet had to check speed constantly. Admiral Evans had his own notions as to the way a great fleet should set sail on a prolonged voyage, and his commanding officers got down to business in a jiffy. All acted as if sending a fleet of sixteen battleships on a 14,000 mile cruise were a mere matter of ordinary routine. The officers of the deck on all the ships were concerned chiefly about keeping their proper distances, the naviga- tors were taking bearings and already getting ready for figuring out latitudes and longitudes, the executive oflicers were going about to see that everything was in proper order for routine at sea and the captains were mostly on the bridges casting their eyes about and keeping their ears open, alert to correct any move that might mar the performance of their ships in the fleet formation. Below decks in engine and fire rooms, and in all the other of the scores of places where men watch and work in a warship, routine was established quickly. It was all very businesslike. Every ship was doing the same thing at the same time. True, the fleet had started HAMPTON ROADS TO TRINIDAD 3 for San Francisco, but that was a mere detail, so little has the matter of destination to do with perfecting drill on a warship. Getting away from Hampton Roads may have sent a lump into many a man's throat, but not one showed it. On every ship the band was playing the usual good-by medley composed of "Home, Sweet Home," "The Girl I Left Behind Me " and " Auld Lang Syne." The middle part of the medley brought thumping of many feet on the deck, but there was silence and stern looks ahead when the beginning and end were reached, over and over again. A staff oiBcer on the Louisiana showed the attitude of the naval man. He had told his wife and family exactly, where to go in a remote but conspicuous place on the ram- parts of old Fort Monroe so that he could distinguish them easily with his glass. He had told them he would be on the after bridge. When the ship came near the station of his family he stole far out on the bridge, fixed his glass on the family group and waved and waved his handkerchief. The answer came quickly and the flashes seemed to be wigwags, such as a naval officer's wife might be expected to know. The officer stood it for about two minutes. Then he pulled himself together sharply, turned and walked away. He walked over to a group of his mates. " Did you make out your people, Jones.'"' asked one of them who had noted what was going on. " I believe they were over there somewhere in the crowd," was the reply with an apparently unconcerned smile. He had finished with that side of his existence. From now on he knew no family; his duty was to his flag and 4 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET ship. What was that signal at the forward truck? Had anybody made it out? His heartstrings were out of sight and he was thankful they were. The business side of the start was another story. Orders had been issued to steam in exact column, that is, one ship directly behind its leader at a distance of 400 yards from masthead to masthead. Steam was up; engines, steering gear, annunciators, and all the rest of the modem con- trivances had been tested; boats hoisted in and gangways unrigged, and then came the flagship signal to get under way. How the men did step around and the anchor engines tug! The division officer watched until the anchor was clear of the mud, when he reported it to the executive of- ficer, who takes a ship in and out of port. Finally the anchor was sighted, the " All ready " signal made, the engines began to throb and the ships turned on their heels and got under way. It was a pretty manoeuvre in the crowded Roads with the swift tide sweeping the ships seaward. In the chains the leadsman was swinging his plummet and calling out such things as " By the mark seven," " By the deep six," " By the quarter less six," while the ships slowly paraded down the bay. The channel was so shallow that the ships stirred up the mud and some of it got into the machinery, and there were hot bearings that were cooled down with the hose. It would not do to falter or make a blunder of any kind, for the President was looking on and no excuses would be tolerated. It was a far different story from the old days. The HAMPTON ROADS TO TRINIDAD '5 old sloop of war Jamestown lay in the Roads, and if the fleet could have stopped to listen she would have spun a yarn on how they used to leave port. She would have re- marked upon the change. When she set sail capstan bars would be shipped and all that part of the ship's company manning the bars would bring the anchor chain " up and down, sir," as the officer in charge of the fo'c's'le would report. The captain and First LufF (the executive officer who " had to have the ship working like a chronometer, no thanks if he did and his hide scorched by his superiors if he didn't ") would stand on the quarter block on the weather side and the navigator and officer of the deck on the lee side. Then would come the sharp commands, " Aloft light yardmen ! " " Aloft topmen ! " " Aloft lower yardmen ! " " Lay out ! " " Let fall ! " and a cloud of snowy canvas would drop loose and limp. Then would come the com- mands, " Topsail sheets and halyards ! " " To'gallant sheets and halyards ! " " Set taut ! " " Haul away ! " with the shrill sound of the bos'n's whistle to the tramp of hundreds of feet. When a band was on board there would be a martial air. If not the officer would shout " Stamp and go ! " and this noise with the feet meant so much extra pulling, and the good ship was soon on her course. Sometimes a chanty would be sung instead of the " Stamp and go," and when the ship was bound for Rio, just as this fleet is, one could hear the light hearted, and the heavy hearted ones too, singing a refrain that the men of this fleet might well have sung if the days of the chanty had not gone to limbo : 6 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET Heave away for Rio! Heave away for Rio! My bonny young girl. My head's in a wiiirl, For I'm bound for the Rio Grande. The old days have gone, but many a bluejacket's head (bluejacket, mind you; not Jackie, for many of Uncle Sam's tars and sea dogs don't like that term) was in a vrhirl over some bonny young girl, as witness the hun- dreds of letters that were sent ashore on the mail orderly's last trip. And so the ships passed out to sea. The matter of fact officers occasionally cast their eyes about and when they had time to give expression to their feelings about all that one would hear from them would be: " Mighty fine, sight, this. Wonder what they're doing back there .!' Distance seems wrong. Better get up his position pennant or the Admiral may get after him. What's that? We're fifty yards too close? Give her three revolutions slower. Only twenty-five now? Give her only one slower. Get her distance now? Standard speed." And the signals to the engine room would quit jangling for a time while the Captain or officer of the deck looked around again and repeated: " Mighty fine sight, this ! " It all depends on the way you look at it. You couldn't see much going down the Chesapeake Bay channel. There was a turn or two, but the smoke of the saluting obscured things and it was not until the ships headed out to sea and the Connecticut was past the whistling buoy, which also seemed to want to have a share in the sendoff, that it was HAMPTON ROADS TO TRINIDAD 7 possible to get a satisfactory look at the entire fleet that stretched away, for more than three miles. Then came a signal for open order. The Admiral's ship went right on. The next following bore out to port and the next to starboard. Then the ships paired oiF to port and starboard, making two lines, each a quarter of a point off the flagship, which had a lane to itself in the centre, giving the Admiral and his staff on the after bridge a view of all. Perhaps the formation may be understood better by the average reader by saying that it was a wing and wing formation. Signals were passing along the line constantly and semaphores were throwing their arms about as if they were manikins performing for the amusement of the 14,000 men afloat. It was pretty to see a mass of flags fall to the deck simultaneously from time to time. It was impressive to see the flag of the country fluttering from the gaffs of mainmasts. It was fine to see the ships keeping in line. The commanding officers might refer to the spectacle as a mighty fine sight, but the few civilians with the fleet shared the sentiment of a tar who sidled up to the Sun man and said: " This makes you proud of your country. You know already that the country is big and great and aU that, but when you see it reduced to this kind of business on the ocean you are sure your country is great. None but a great country could produce such a sight as this. I'm glad I've had the chance to see it." In single file for two hours the ships kept on their course. They were like so many Indians on a jaunt. Each ship stood for sovereignty. Each stood for brute strength. 8 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET Each stood for the development of science and skill. Each stood for an impressive expression of patriotism. In that fleet of sixteen ships there seemed to be concentrated, ac- cording to some of those who looked at them, the entire power of the United States for good or evil. When it came to estimating the brute strength of the fleet it grew bewildering. The mathematicians got busy. They figured out that there were nearly 1,000 guns of various kinds on the entire fleet and they talked about the weight of projectiles and charges and then got down to muzzle velocity in foot seconds and muzzle energy In foot tons and a lot of other terms that would make a land- lubber's head dizzy. They told how the average muzzle velocity of those guns was 2,700 feet a second and that a 13-inch gun's energy was equal to raising 31,372 tons a foot, while that of a 12-inch gun, with which these ships are all armed, could lift, by the power of one discharge, 44,025 tons a foot. Then they got to figuring out how much all the guns could lift and how swift the things they shoot could go. This ran the figures up into the millions of foot tons just for one discharge. When some one tried to figure out how many millions upon millions of foot tons could be raised if all the projec- tiles in the fleet were fired — the exact number of the thousands upon thousands of these projectiles it would not be prudent even to indicate — why, an amateur at figures, the simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and di- vision man, got a headache. Then the figure sharps got after the engine power, and they tried to show if one ship had something like 15,000 horse-power, more or less, what the combined ships HAMPTON ROADS TO TRINmAD 9 must have and what could be done with it on land — that is, how many railroad trains, each a mile long, could be pulled so many thousands of miles; how many bridges like those across the East River they could pull down with just one tug at them; how many cities such power could light; how many great factories and mills could be run with that power, and even how much goods could be made out of it — well, after that the amateur be- gan to wonder if he could add up two and two. After that it was figured out that the displacement in Ions for the entire fleet was more than a quarter of a mil- lion, and the weight of a lot of other heavy things in the world was estimated. By this time the amateur was clear flabbergasted, and all he could say, landlubber that he is and wiU be until Neptune has him ducked, was that if the fleet did displace 250,000 tons of water the ocean didn't show any signs of it and Uncle Sam would have to try many, many thousands of times if he expected to get the better of old Neptune by displacing water. After the mathematical sharps had finished, what are known as the word painters and grainers became busy. Some of the word painters compared the long file of ships to a line of gray geese in a long foUow-your-leader flight to the south for a warmer clime. The ships did look gray at times, according to the atmospheric conditions, but the gray geese analogy was voted not a success because geese haven't things sticking up in the middle of their backs resembling the smoke-pipes of battleships. Besides, geese do not give out black or any other kind of smoke. The painters got out their vocabulary of magnificent, awe inspiring, formidable demons of war, bulldogs of the 10 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET sea, peace compellers and all that string and began to weave them all together, and it was voted all right and probably appropriate, but it was said that these did not hit quite the right note. That was that this fleet was going out for business of a different kind from that which any other American fleet had undertaken. The business in hand was the moulding of sixteen battleship units into one battle fleet unit, not sixteen times stronger than one unit, but with the strength increased in something like geometrical ratio. The prob- lem, therefore, was to make this fleet a unit, not Hke a chain, strong only as its weakest link, but like a rope, far stronger than the multiplied strength of its various strands. Charles H. Cramp, the veteran shipbuilder, nearly ten years ago pointed out in a paper read at the annual meet- ing of naval men and marine engineers in New York City that the greatest training need of the United States navy was what he called battleship seamanship. That meant not navigation merely, but the synchronizing of one battle- ship to others, the tuning up, so to speak, the team work, to use a football analogy, in sailing, manoeuvring, shooting — all pulling together. Two hours after clearing the Capes Admiral Evans gave the signal for one of his favorite cruising formations, that is, in columns of fours. The four divisions of the fleet drew up in parallel lines with an Admiral at the head of each line. The five starred white flag, called the five of clubs, was run up at the fore truck of the Connecticut to indicate that that ship was the guard ship. The lines were run HAMPTON ROADS TO TRINIDAD 11! at intervals of 1,600 yards, and the ships of each division, still in wing and wing fashion, were at distances of 400 yards. To be strictly naval you must call the space be- tween two lines of ships interval and the space between two individual ships in line distance. Well, after the ships were spread out they covered an area of more than two square miles, and then one began to realize what all these ships meant. The circle of twelve or fourteen miles that hemmed them in and that expanded in front and contracted in the rear seemed practically filled with them. Distances were kept fairly well and the ships plodded along in the smooth sea nodding their approval of what was going on. It was this problem of distance that kept the officers of the decks busy. When you think that each of these ships represented a weight of from 15,000 to 18,000 tons more or less, and that you had to move that ship at the rate of 10 knots an hour and keep it within 400 yards of a ship in front of you; when you consider how some ships move a trifle of an inch faster than another ship at the same number of propeller revolutions; when you think that one of the propellers of your own ship will do more work than the other at the same number of revolutions, and that this will throw you out of your course and make you steer badly if you don't correct it; when you think that your leader may vary in his speed ; when you think of all this, you can begin to understand the problem of those officers on the bridge to keep the ships in line and at proper distances. It took some time for each ship to determine how many^ revolutions were necessary to produce ten knots speed, ac- cording to the standard of the flagship. For example. iia WITH THE BATTLE FLEET the Louisiana's experts figured on sixty-seven revolutions. It was too much, for after an hour or two it was found that sixty-five would do the work. Some of the ships were be- tween two numbers. All the time each ship was gaining or losing a trifle and this had to be corrected every minute or two. On each ship a young midshipman stood on the bridge beside the officer on watch looking through a Httle instrument of bars and glasses and wheels graduated to a scale of figures and called a stadimeter. He reduced the truckline and the waterline of the flagship to some mathe- matical basis involving triangulation — what's the use of trying to explain it? No one but a mathematician could understand it — and then he would say, " 370 yards, sir," or perhaps the figures would be 325 or 460, or what not, and the officer of the deck would have to signal to the engine room to slow down or go faster. It was to be watchful every minute of the hour. The midshipman often had to report distances every fifteen or twenty seconds and the corrections of speed were going on every two or three minutes. When you got more than forty yards out of the way you had to fly a triangular pennant of white with red border and this was set down against your ship on the flagship, and that you didn't like, if you were the responsible officer. And so the first day at sea wore on and the sun went down with a glow of gold in the west that seemed like a benediction. Just as it sank below the horizon the pink rays that were gathering reflected themselves on the star- board sides of the white ships and gave them a touch of color. Lights on the main truck on the foremast and at HAMPTON ROADS TO TRINIDAD T3 the stern and at the sides appeared instantly, and it was night-time on the fleet. The black smoke rose straight in the air, other hghts began to twinkle and soon, in the glow of the twilight and the gleam of the lights on the vessels themselves and the illumination of the moon close to the full, the ships took on an aspect such as lower New York assumes early in the evening of mid-winter days when office buildings are lighted. When the smoke smudged the sky or clouded the moon, however, it was like a city of factories and it was decided that there was just one expression that would give some idea of its beauty. It was this : " Spotless town afloat." Zest was added to the day's sendoff and work when the oflScers were gathered in the wardroom at dinner and a wireless telegram of good wishes from the Mayflower, re- ceived a short time before, was read. There were cheers for the President, especially on the Louisiana, which is called the President's ship because he sailed on her to Panama, and hundreds of the officers and crew feel that they know him personally. " Good for the President ! " shouted one of the ofiicers in the waist of the table. " So say we all," responded a man on the other side, " but I wish he had told us where we are going." That man didn't have to wait long, for soon there was sent into the wardroom of every ship a message signalled from the flagship which said that after a brief stay on the Pacific Coast the fleet would come home by way of Suez. This is what Admiral Evans signalled: 14) WITH THE BATTLE FLEET UNOFFICIAL SIGNAL. U. S. S. CONN-ECTICUT, December 16th, 1907. The President authorizes the Commander-in-Chief to inform the ofScers and men that after a short stay on the Pacific Coast it is the President's intention to have the fleet return to the Atlantic Coast by way of the Mediterranean. Every man jumped at that news; every one wished his wife or sweetheart could know it at once. One of the puzzles about the fleet was settled. There Is no room in this first letter of the long cruise to go into detail about the thousand and one things — in- cidents, ceremonies and drills — that make up the routine and life on the warship. These will come afterward in other forms. One might tell how the men on guard at the side lights at night sing out after a bell Is tapped: " Port light burning bright," " Starboard light burning bright,'? how " the 9 o'clock hght Is out, sir " report is made and received ; how they " put the shirts on " the gun muzzles and mainmast ; how the call to dinner to the officers is done on the Louisiana with a fife and drum, " rolling roast beef," they used to call it, and probably do yet In the British navy, only the tune is different in ours, for it is " Yankee Doodle " ; how " sweethearts and wives " are toasted once a week ; how " make It eight bells " Is said ; how scores of these things, many of them well known, are done and why. Let it go for the present. If there Is one thing that Impresses the civilian even more than the ceremonies or the peculiar routine of a war- ship it is the cleanliness of things. This applies as much to the men as It does to the remotest nook and cranny in the darkest and deepest part of the ship. HAMPTON ROAiDS TO TRINIDAD 15 The officer would take you into some comer where you had to bend your back and almost go on your hands and knees and show you that it was as clean as the most ex- posed parts of his bailiwick. The fleet had not been out two days before the executive officer issued an order about cleanliness. The men were cautioned to keep themselves and their clothes clean on penalty, of going on the scrubbing list. It did not mean that there were men on board who were slack in this respect, but there were a lot of youngsters who had never been to sea before and they needed to be broken in. What the scrubbing list is was well explained by an old time sailor on board. He said: " Man-o'-war cleanliness is different from any other that I know. I distinguish it from all other kinds because it is the most searching and far reaching thing of the kind in the world. " It really begins on the inside of a man, at his soul, although I am sorry to say you can't always see the effect of it there, and it works its way out to his skin, clothing and surroundings. All must be immaculately clean, and this habit is so thoroughly ingrained in the men that to maintain it they will even commit crime. " I mean just what I say. Let me give you an instance: " In one of the old ships in which I sailed fresh water — it was the case of aU of 'em, sir — fresh water was a scarce article even to drink. No fresh water could be had to wash our clothes. Salt water does not clean clothing properly, no matter how you work over your duds. " So our men in the old days actually used to steal the water out of the breakers, the small casks kept in the boats il6 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET at all times in case of emergency, such as shipwrecK. That is what I mean by committing crime. We actually used to steal from the most important supply on the ship just for the sake of keeping ourselves clean. "For uncleanliness a man would be stripped naked and his skin scrubbed with sand and canvas — no man ever for- got it who experienced that — and sometimes with ki-yar brushes, by two husky bos'n's mates. All hands soon got the habit of being clean." There was much interest on the ships as to how the wire- less telephone would work out. The system has been in operation only a few months and is largely in the experi- mental and almost the infantile stage. All of the battleships are equipped with the apparatus and there was no doubt about it, you could talk to any ship in the fleet from any other and at times the sounds of the voice were as clear as through an ordinary telephone. At times they weren't, and there was a division of opinion among the oiBcers as to the real value of the invention. As is the case with the wireless telegraph only one ship of a fleet can use the telephone at one time. While one ship is talking to another all the other ships must keep out of it and even the ship to which the message is being sent must keep still and not break in. The receiver must wait until the sender has got all through with what he has to say and then he can talk back. The sending and receiving machines use part of the apparatus of the wireless telegraph outfit. If an attempt is made to use the telegraph while the telephone is in use the telephone goes out of commission at once because it is ab- solutely drowned out. The telegraph apparatus uses so HAMPTON ROADS TO TRINIDAD il7i much greater power that it is like a loud voice overwhelm- ing a soft one. The operator at the telephone would sound a signal with some sort of a buzzer that had the wail of a lost cat in its voice and then he would put a little megaphone into the mouthpiece of the telephone and would say, sharp and clear : "Minnesota ! Minnesota ! Minnesota ! This is the Louis- iana! This is the Louisiana! This is the Louisiana! We have a press message for you to send to the beach. We have a press message for you to send to the beach. Do you hear us? Do you hear us? Minnesota! Min- nesota ! This is the Louisiana ! Go ahead ! Go ahead ! " Sometimes the message would fail. Sometimes the wire- less, one kind or the other, would be working on other ships. Sometimes the answer would come at once and the operator would write down the reply and hand it over to you. When connection would be estabhshed fully the operator instead of reading off your press message would click it off by a telegraph key to the Minnesota's operator. That was to make sure that he would get it correctly. Peculi- arly spelled words employed in cabling could not be made out by the ordinary operator and it was taking chances to spell them out with the voice, and hence they were sent with the key, the operation really being a combination of the wireless telephone and telegraph, yet not at all compli- cated in practical operation. Everyone of the electrical experts with the fleet is con- vinced that the wireless telephone is going to be of value. Most of them have talked with it clearly for distances of at least twenty miles. One difficulty is in keeping it tuned 18 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET up because the wireless telegraph apparatus is also on board. Some of the experts seemed to think that one service dropped in efficiency, if the other was kept keyed up to its best. All were confident that as soon as certain difficulties wiere overcome, difficulties no more serious, they, said, than the ordinary telephone encountered in the beginning, the apparatus would be workable as readily as a telephone on land. Give it time, was the way the situation was summed up. Speaking about wireless telegraph, have you heard the latest wrinkle in it, the most up to date use of it? Of course you haven't. It remained for the voyage of this fleet to disclose it. Three days out, every ship got wireless messages from Father Neptune warning it to be ready to receive him on crossing the line. The message was genuine because it was posted up and a copy sent to the executive officer as soon as it was received. An orderly brought it to him with an unusually stiff salute while the wardroom was at mess. It served notice on all " landlubbers, poUywogs and sea lawyers " that they must be initiated and it appointed one Fore Topmast as " official representative of his Most Gra- cious Majesty Neptune Rex, Ruler of the Royal Do- main." It called for a meeting of the "faithful subjects " to arrange for the ceremonies of his visit. The meeting on the Louisiana was held in No. 12 case- mate, on the port side of the gun deck aft. The pro- ceedings were secret, but it was soon known that royal policemen, royal barbers, royal judges, royal counsel and a lot of other royal functionaries were appointed. The HAMPTON ROADS TO TRINIDAD 19 word went through the ship that the ceremonies were to be pretty strenuous; that no one who had not crossed the Equator would escape. To show how serious this was here is a copy of one of Neptune's messages and the order that followed its re- ception : NOTICE. The following wireless was received at 11 p. m., December 19, 1907: Fore Topmast, Official Bepresentative on Board the Good Ship Louis- iana of His Majesty Neptune Bex, Buler of the Boyal Domain. At the time the Thomas W. Lawson turned turtle many of my trusted police were on board, and as a result they were more or less injured and all of the regulation uniforms carried by them were lost. Therefore it will be necessary for me to designate many of my royal subjects on board the good ship represented by you to act in their stead, and you are authorized to make the selection from among the most faithful of those who belong to the royal realm. In making the appointments you will consider their qualifications as to severity, alertness, seadogness, their knowledge as to the in- terior plans of the ship and their ability to follow the trail of any landlubber, poliywog or sea lawyer who endeavors to escape the initiation as prescribed by me. You will report to me by wireless the names of the subjects se- lected, the position assigned and the proficiency of each in order that I may forward their commission at once. You will have the regiilation uniforms made up at once and will carry out all orders in this connection. Your Majesty, Neptune Rex, Ruler of the Royal Domain. GENERAL ORDER NO. 3. In view of the above I have this day, the 30th of December, 1907, selected from among the royal subjects on board the good ship Louisiana the trusted police as directed by his Majesty, and those selected have been notified of their appointment, all of whom have accepted. The attention of all the royal subjects is invited to paragraph X, article VIIX, regulations of the royal realm, relative to police duty and to the punishments prescribed for those who fail 20 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET to perform their duty properly and to the landlubber, pollywog or sea lawyer who tries to avoid the initiation as prescribed by his Majesty. As noted in the wireless message from his Majesty many of the uniforms were lost, the trusted police selected will at once visit his Majesty's tailor, the sailmaker's mate, and be measured for the uni- form to protect him from the crabs, eels and sharks. FoEE Top, O. R. H. M. N. R. Two days later this wireless was received and an order issued complying with directions: NOTICE. The f ollovidng wireless was received at 1 a. m., December 21 : Fore Topmast, Ofjicial Representative of His Majesty Neptune Rex, Ruler of the Royal Domain, on Board the Good Ship Louisiana. It has been reported to me by a member of my secret police on board of the good ship on which you are my representative that there are several landlubbers, poUywogs and sea lawyers who intend to escape the initiation as prescribed by me by stowing themselves away; of course this is folly on their part, as there is not a hole or corner on board the good ship Louisiana that my faithful police and subjects are not familiar with, and it is therefore impossible for any one to avoid escaping the royal initiation. Those who do try to escape the initiation in this manner will of course be apprehended, and when brought before me on the day of the ceremonies they will not soon forget the trick they endeavored to play on the royal realm, and the dose they get will be more severe than any I have as yet prescribed. Referring to the secret code of the royal realm, the following landlubbers, pollywogs and sea la^vyers have been reported to me as mentioned above; Gabnokto, Thnruowk, Mawjtrqmorptzs, Wqquopbchr and Ybxquotrdhgle. You will therefore at once issue orders to the chief of police to attend to these crabs and to put his best men on their trail, and if the above is true they will so re- port to me upon my arrival on board. Your Majesty, Neptitke Rex, Ruler of the Royal Domain. HAMPTON ROADS TO TRINIDAD 21 GENERAL ORDER NO. 4. This is to inform the members of the royal realm on board the good ship Louisiana that I have this day issued orders to the chief of poUce to place five of his best men on the trail of the men as mentioned in his Majesty's wireless and whom you will all know by referring to the royal secret code which you have in your possession. You will also keep track of these animals and report to me any out of the way move which they should make. You will also be on the lookout for any other of these who happen to be on board, and should they make a false move I will make a special report to his Majesty with recommendations which will cover all defects. Fore Top, Official Representative of His Majesty. After one day's steaming in four columns the fleet was deployed into two columns. For one day the speed was increased to 11 knots. The little tender Yankton, which Is to be used as the Admiral's yacht in port and for short journeys and which has been running with the fleet off the starboard side of the flagship, was sent on ahead to get a good start. One day's steaming at 11 knots brought her back to us and then the fleet resumed the slower speed. The weather was fine throughout. When the trade wind belt was encountered about 300 miles north of St. Thomas the ships pitched a good deal, but there was little rolling. Sea legs had been acquired by that time and few on board were incapacitated. There was a squall now and then In the Caribbean with a dash of rain for five or ten minutes, but that was nothing. On Friday, December 20, the Missouri was detached from the fleet to take a sailor sick with peritonitis to San Juan, and later that night the Illinois was sent to Culebra with a sailor who had pneumonia. Of course both could have been treated on board ship, but Admiral Evans 22 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET thought that it would be mdre humane to give these men the best treatment that could be had on shore and so did not hesitate. Two great warships were sent away from the fleet formation, all for the comfort of two men. The ships joined the fleet again late on Saturday. There were only one or two slight mishaps to ship ma- chinery reported on the journey down, really nothing worthy of note, a pump or something of that kind being out of order. The fleet went along in splendid style. Three days out the intervals and distances were almost per- fect at all hours of the day and night. The voyage soon became a double procession of warships, with just the ordinary routine going on. On Sunday, December 22, the first death on the fleet was reported. It was that of Robert E. Pipes, an ordinary sea- man on the Alabama, enlisted at Dallas, Tex., in August last. He died of spinal meningitis. Nothing was known of the death on the fleet until eight bells were sounded at 4 P. M. Admiral Evans had gone ahead of the fleet at noon to make a four or six hour test of the new fuel called briquettes, and his ship was out of sight. Admiral Thomas on the Minnesota was in command. His ship was leading the second squadron, 1,600 yards to port. The men on watch saw the national colors being raised on the mainmast. There was a scurry on every ship to get up the colors. Every one wondered whether land or a ship had been sighted. Slowly the colors went up and then down to half mast. All colors on the other ships went to half mast. The order for half speed was given and then came a signal to stop. The rails of the ships were crowded at once. Up and down the columns the men looked and HAMPTON ROADS TO TRINIDAD 23 then it was seen that the quarterdeck of the Alabama was crowded. The order had been given there : " All hands aft to bury the dead ! " The captain read the burial service. An opening in the lines of the men on the lee side was made and Pipes's body, sewed in a hammock and weighted with shot, was slipped gently over the side. It made very little splash. Three vol- leys were fired by the marines, taps were sounded, the colors were run up to the gaff on the mainmast on all the ships and standard speed was ordered again as the flags came down. The ceremony occupied exactly nine minutes and Admiral Thomas sent a wireless telegram to Admiral Evans notifying him of what had been done. The burial cast a gloom for a few minutes on all the ships. Much to the regret of many officers and men. Admiral Evans took the Virgin instead of the Anegada passage into the Caribbean and then headed straight for Trinidad. Many had hoped that he would sail along the chain of islands and that they might catch a glimpse at least of Martinique and some of the other historic places. But business is business on a fleet as well as on shore. Coal must be saved, and the way to go to a place is to go on the shortest possible line consistent with safety. So it was that on Monday, December 23, Trinidad, just off the Venezuelan coast, came in sight, the ships entered the Dragon's mouth into the Gulf of Paria and swung around the point and anchored in the roadstead oif Port of Spain just before sunset. The first leg of the journey was over. It was merely the warming up stage. To-morrow will be Christmas. A bunch of mistletoe is already hanging in the Louisiana's 24 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET wardroom. Some of the ships brought their Christmas trees and greens along. There'll be sports of all kinds — boxing, rowing by officers and men, athletic contests on ship — good cheer generally. Just fancy a Christmas with the thermometer at 90 degrees ! CHAPTER II< CHEISTMAS WITH THE FLEET Gay Day on the Battleships off Port of Spain — " Peace on Earth " the Motto on the Big Guns — Officers' Reception on the Minne- sota — Boat Races and Athletic Sports for the Crew — How the Fleet Charged Into Port — Men on Their Good Behavior — Official Visits — Coaling Day. On Board U. S. S. Louisiana, V. S. Battle Fleet, PoKT OF Spain, Tkinidad, Dec. 28. THE officers of the battleship Minnesota gave a recep- tion Christmas Day on board their ship to all the offi- cers of the other ships. The visitors were received at the gangway by the officer of the deck, who had the usual side boys stationed there for the guests to pass by. The visitors were first presented to Capt. Hubbard, after which they paid their respects to Admiral Thomas. Then, turning around on the beautifully decorated deck, they saw depending from the great 12-inch guns of the after turret a board festooned with greens, and on it painted in large letters: " Peace on earth ; good will to men ! " The first effect on the visitor was to startle him. What place was there on a warship, whose primary purpose is destruction, for such a motto and in such a place? Some of the more thoughtless visitors thought it was satire, or perhaps a naval man's idea of a grim joke. 25 26 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET Those who thought it a mockery, a satire or a joke were never more mistaken. The sentiment was made the most prominent decoration on the ship in all sincerity. Scores of naval officers pointed to it with pride and said it exemplified truly the spirit of the American Navy. All declared that if there was one thing more than any other which American naval officers and all true Americans wished for it was world-wide peace and brotherly love. It was declared that no better place outside a Christian church could be found for its display than on an American war- ship. Many an officer said he hoped it would always be prominent on our warships at the Christmas season. Certainly good wiU to man was exemplified at the Christ- mas celebration on this fleet. It was the most impressive Christmas festival that the nine civilians with the fleet ever saw. Here was a city of 14,000, exclusively of men, some rough, some refined, some educated, some illiterate, some Christian, some with no religion, celebrating the season of good cheer on sixteen battleships in a foreign port five miles from shore. Port of Spain might as well have been 5,000 miles away, so far as its influence was concerned. More than one-half of the American Navy was holding its Christmas festival in its own way, with none else to look on. From first to last its spirit was kindly; from colors in the morning until the last serenading party, gliding over the smooth water in a floating city that had a Venetian aspect, singing songs to the accompaniment of guitars and mando- lins, disappeared at midnight, the celebration was in abso- lute keeping with the sentiment of the day. All was merry and all were merry. Perhaps a song sung by the Vermont's officers who were CHRISTMAS WITH THE FLEET 27 towed about the fleet at night in a sailing launch as they called on every warship best reveals the tone of the occa- sion. They came to the Louisiana on their last call just before midnight. They allowed none of the Louisiana's officers who had gone to bed to dress, and pajamas were almost as common as dress clothes in the company that assembled in the wardroom. When the visitors were going away the last song which came across the water, a song which they sang as they came up the gangway strumming their instruments and lifting up their voices, was this : Merry Christmas! Merry Christinas I We're happy and well; Here comes the Vermont, Say, don't we look swell? We're a highrolling, A lob-e-dob crew. Merry Christmas ! Merry Christmas ! Merry Christmas to you ! Probably that lob-e-dob crew sang that song two hundred times that night. It was adapted from a new Naval Academy song. It has a merry tune and the jingle and the swing of it was infectious. The crew was highrolling only in a naval sense, the rolling wave sense, and in five minutes after they first sang the song to their hosts the hosts were joining in with them. It meant merry Christ- mas to everybody. Certainly this fleet had one. For two days boating parties had gone to the heavily, wooded shores of this beautiful island and had brought in greens for Christmas. They were mostly palms and bam- boo, with trailing vines in profusion. When darkness came on Christmas eve the work of decoration began. Late into the night some of the men toiled. When day- 28 WITH ,THE BATTLE FLEET light came every ship was dressed in greens. From truck to water line, on signal yards, rigging, turrets, gangways, there were branches of trees and festoons of vines. Inside the ships the wardrooms and cabins were elaborately dec- orated. Every wardroom had its Christmas tree and around it were grouped gifts for all. No one was over- looked. Christmas boxes, brought from home with orders; not to be unsealed until Christmas Day, were broken open in every part of the ship. Then came a day of visiting^ of sports — - rowing in the morning, athletics aboard ship in the afternoon and boxing in the evening — of the big reception on the Minnesota and of the merriest kind of dinner parties with the distri- bution of Santa Claus gifts in the evening. The gifts were mostly trinkets, but they had hits and grinds in them, and the presentation elicited shouts of laughter. Although the matter of rank was not ignored, apparently the high and low officers, from Admiral and Captain down to mid- shipman, were seated on the good fellowship basis and as equals. The Fourth Ward at the foot of the table went out of business for one night. The middies and ensigns could burst into song when they chose, and if any one forgot to gay sir no one thought it strange. Here on the Louisiana ten minutes after we sat down to dinner came an instance of the feeling that makes the whole world kin on Christmas. The youngsters had been singing the Louisiana song, the chorus of which runs thus : Lou, Lou, I love you; I love you, that's true; Don't sigh, don't cry, I'll see you in the morning; CHRISTMAS WITH THE FLEET 29 Dream, dream, dream of me And I'll dream of you. My Louisiana, Louisiana Lou. Capt. Wainwright had been toying with a tin whistle which he had pulled from a bonbon. Stealthily he put it to his lips and blew it loud, and then that eye of his, which has the piercing power of a 12-inch shell, grew bright with the light of geniality and kindness that lie deep set and yet overflowing behind it, and he was a young- ster, too. The Fourth Ward men might sing " Louisiana Lou," but he was willing to show that he could blow a tin whistle when the occasion demanded it. One might fill columns with the songs that were sung. There is room for the chorus of just one more. The game is for about one-half of the company to sing the chorus and just before the finish the others shout an interrogatory of astonishment at the top of their voices. The chorus runs: Dreamin', dreamin', dreamin' of dat happy Ian,' Where rivers ob beer aboim', iWhere big gin rickeys fill de air And highballs roU on de groun'. Great shout: What! Highballs roll on de groun'. Melody : Yas, highballs roll on de groun'. The merriment on the Louisiana was not exceptional. It was a mere copy of what was going on in sixteen ward- rooms. Every ship was sure it had the merriest dinner and the merriest time all around in the fleet, and that was true strictly. The bluejackets had their own fun, and they yielded to so WITH THE BATTLE FLEET none in their belief that they had the best time of all. Of course they were right. Look at this menu that Uncle Sam provided for their dinner : Cream of Celery Soup Roast Turkey Koast Ham Sage Dressing Giblet Gravy Cranberry Sauce Mashed Potatoes Lima Beans Peach Pie Mixed Nuts Raisins CoflFee. And here is the music that Bandmaster Cariana pro- vided : 1 March "The Man Behind the Gun" Sousa 2 Overture. .."The Bridal Rose" Lavaller 3 Waltz "I See Thee Again " Estrada 4 Selection. . ." Woodland " Luderi 6 Habanera. ." Escamilla" Redla Star Spangled Banner. And didn't the first class men have liberty to go ashore? Didn't they come back loaded down with souvenir postal cards, baskets of fruit, parrots and monkeys? And wasn't every man of them able to toe a seam as he answered to his name on the liberty list? If there was a suspicion of a rolling gait in two or three couldn't they lay it to the heat? Certain it was that not one of them had drunk any of that stuff down here that they call biograph whiskey, the kind that makes you see moving pictures, for the only moving pictures that any of them saw that night were the dozen sparring matches and two wrestling contests on the quarter deck, where the bluejackets were piled high on high under CHRISTMAS WITH THE FLEET, 31 the awning clear up over the turret to the after bridge — as packed a house for the space as Caruso ever sang to. And didn't John Eglit, the Louisiana's American champ- ion naval boxer, who knocked out the Enghsh champion, Leans of the Good Hope, last May, take on a man from another ship and promise only, to tap him and not knock him out, so that the boys could admire him and cheer him? Eglit is a master at arms, a ship policeman at other times, and it isn't safe to say things to him, even flattering things, but here the boys could cheer him and he couldn't answer back. And didn't the officers sit close to the ropes just where President Roosevelt sat on his trip to Panama.? And didn't Midshipman McKittrick, the recent champion boxer of the Naval Academy, referee the bouts .-' And didn't Mid- shipman Brainerd, the well known oarsman of the Naval Academy not long ago, act as time keeper? And it made no sort of difference to him that he sat next to a negro coal passer ! And then didn't the men who didn't have liberty have comic athletic sports in the afternoon? You bet they did! " Spud " races, obstacle races, sack races, three-legged and wheelbarrow races ; lemon races, where the contestants held a lemon in a spoon between their teeth and the first man that crossed the line in the running won ; shoe races, where a man's shoes were tied in a bag and shaken up and he had to open the bag after a run and then put them on and lace them up, the winner to be the first man reporting to the referee. It was all fun and the bullies shouted themselves hoarse over it. What matter if a dozen men reported at the sick call the next morning with feet so sore that they could hardly walk- from the running in bare feet on the S2 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET, hard decks? Oh, yes, the bluejackets had the best time of all! And then there was rowing in the morning. You who have seen the Poughkeepsie and New London contests may think you have seen great rowing spectacles, and so you have, but you want to see rowing contests in a fleet of 14,000 Jack Tars to know what enthusiasm is. The men lined the rails, turrets, bridges, masts and tops and danced and yelled like Comanches as the crews passed down the line of ships. They yelled just as loud when fourteen officers' crews contested. A pretty incident occurred after this race. There had been great rivalry between the officers of the Vermont and the Louisiana. Each thought it would win. Neither did, the Louisiana coming in fourth and the Vermont fifth. The Vermont crew immediately rowed to the Louisiana and the two crews in their rowing clothes sat in the wardroom and passed the bowl around. When the Vermont's men went home the entire crew of the Louisiana gathered at the rail and cheered. The Vermont men tossed their oars and then the crew sang their Merry Christmas song, the first of the 200 or more times that it was heard by the fleet. The reception on the Minnesota was also memorable. Henry Reuterdahl, the artist, who was with the fleet to make pictures of it, had carte blanche in the matter of decorations. The " Peace on Earth " emblem was his idea. He canopied the wardroom with flags. He put up shells and revolvers and cutlasses and other implements of war in effective places and he mingled the bunting in color and arrangement so deftly that the naval men were astonished over it. Old friends in the fleet gave greetings. It was CHRISTMAS WITH THE FLEET 33 brought out in one of the conversations that Rear Admiral Evans, the Commander-in-Chief of the fleet, was the only man in the fleet who fought in the civil war. And it was also revealed that he was in the greatest pageant of warships that ever left Hampton Roads before this one. That was in December, 1864, almost forty-two years to the day that the present fleet left. That fleet went out to capture Fort Fisher, where Admiral Evans was wounded and where, with a revolver, he prevented a surgeon from cutting off his right leg. There were 14,000 men in that fleet, about the same number as in this. There were sixty naval vessels and the rest were ninety transports under command of Gen. B. F. Butler. Admiral Porter was the naval officer in charge. It took the fleet from 10 o'clock in the morning until after 4 in the afternoon to pass Cape Henry. This fleet did it in two hours. When Admiral Evans was asked about it he said that the little tender Yankton, which goes with this fleet for use on ceremonious or other useful occasions, could have whipped that entire fleet of itself. Its modern small guns — 3-inch ones — could shoot so far that it could lie completely out of the range of any of the guns on that fleet and simply bombard the vessels to pieces. But to return to Trinidad. The Venezuelan coast had been in sight for an hour on Monday ,December 23, before Trinidad was made out a little after noon. A haze ob- scured things on shore. Gradually a dark lump on the horizon took shape, then it assumed color, a deep green, and then on the highest point, something like 400 feet above the sea, a white needle pierced the haze in the sky. It was the lighthouse that points the way to the four en- trances into the Gulf of Paria from the Caribbean, called 34. WITH THE BATTLE FLEET the Dragon's Mouths. The lighthouse was a visible sign of the care of British for shipping. It is said to be one of the best in any of England's colonial possessions. Admiral Evans headed his ships toward the narrow en- trance to the east of the main one. It is called Boca de Navios, one of the many, reminders of the old Spanish days before England swept down through these waters. The Admiral had ordered his ships in single file of the open order or wing and wing formation. Approaching more closely he ordered exact column, one directly behind another, at a distance of 400 yards. When within three miles of the en- trance he veered off to take the large passage to the west, Boca Grande. Then he made a sharp turn after he had cleared the entrance to the gulf. For some time he stood in toward the shore. Then came another turn to the south, and then followed what Admiral Evans said afterward was one of the finest naval sights he had ever witnessed. Orders had been sig- nalled for the four ships of the first division of the fleet to turn to the east and come up the bay of Port of Spain in parallel formation. The other divisions were ordered to follow the same plan when they arrived in position. Here was a long line of warships that had been turning and twisting around headlands and in muddy waters, going in single file, as if headed for the Serpent's Mouth, the other entrance to the Gulf of Paria. A flag fluttered from the Connecticut's signal yards. At once the first four ships turned at right angles. You could have run a tape line across the bows of the Connecticut to the Louisiana and found the Kansas and Vermont exactly on the mark. The change in the course came so suddenly that it made CHRISTMAS WITH THE FLEET 35 even naval men jump. Like four chariot horses the ships stood in as if on a battle charge. Port of Spain could just be made out on the beach eight miles away. The ships were pointed directly for it, and if they had intended to bombard it they could scarcely have been more aggressive looking in the way they swung into that bay. The second division kept on in the lead of the single file of ships until they reached places directly behind the ships of the first division. Then they made a dramatic swing also. The third and fourth division in turn did the same thing. The fleet was then in four columns headed directly for the beautiful little port with Its shallow harbor. As long as standard speed of 11 knots was maintained the four leading vessels kept on a line that was as well dressed as a squad of fours in a military company. For two miles this formation kept up. Then half speed was signalled. The Vermont and Kansas being new in fleet evolutions and not yet being standardized completely as to speed revolu- tions, did not keep the line so well, but Admiral Evans was not displeased and said they did very well. The Vermont fell back nearly half a length by the time slow speed was ordered and the engines were stopped finally. The signal to come to anchor was hoisted and when it went up sixteen mud hooks splashed into the bay simultaneously. Before it had been slowed down the Louisiana had received Its second special commendation for smart manoeuvring from the Admiral. " Well done, Louisiana," the flags on the Admiral's bridge said for all the rest of the fleet to see, and Capt. Wainwright and his officers took it modestly. The Louis- 36 ^ITH THE BATTLE FLEET iana had been the only ship in the fleet to receive this signal and this was the second time it had come. Long before the fleet had come to anchor it was noticed that the torpedo flotilla, which had started from Hampton Roads about two weeks before the fleet, was in the harbor. Mishaps to the Lawrence had brought the flotilla back that morning after it had gone eighty miles on the leg to Paria. The mishaps were not very serious, but it was better to make repairs in a port than at sea and so Lieut. Cone, in charge, had come back. The supply ships and colliers were also in port. In a few minutes the full significance of all these ships became known. Here was a sight that no other foreign port in the world had ever seen. Twenty-nine ships were fly- ing the American flag at once. There were really, thirty- one connected with the navy, directly and indirectly, in port, but two of the colliers flew foreign flags. Far in toward the city, however, were three more vessels flying our flag, one a brigantine, another a small steamship, and another a little vessel that plies up the Orinoco. So thirty- two specimens of Old Glory fluttered in the breeze just be- fore the sun went down. The anchorage Admiral Evans selected was fully five miles from " the beach," as the naval man puts it. No ships can go directly to the landing places in Port of Spain and only small ones can approach within half a mile. As soon as the anchors were down the Admiral signalled that no one was to go ashore until he had gone the next morning to pay his official respects to Sir Henry M. Jackson, K. C. M. G., the Governor-General. It was nearly 8 o'clock that night when the health officer gave pratique, much to CHRISTMAS WITH THE FLEET 37, the relief of some ships, because there had been a few cases of measles and some other diseases that are classed as contagious, but great care had been taken in the matters of isolation and disinfecting. Indeed, every, patient in the fleet was convalescent. It was a rehef to Admiral Evans also to learn that there had not been a case of yellow fever in Trinidad for six weeks. Accordingly he gave orders to allow liberty to all the first class men in the fleet. The next morning Admirals Evans, Thomas, Sperry and Emory went ashore to pay their respects to the Governor- General. He had sent carriages with a guard of honor to escort them to the Government House. Port of Spain is not a saluting port, because no English garrison is kept here, and therefore no guns boomed on arrival. Admiral Evans exhibited great tact and showed the nicest regard for the situation when he asked Governor-General Jackson to return his call that afternoon at the Queen's Park Hotel. The Governor and the Admiral are old friends. The Governor is not strong, having returned re- cently from London, where he underwent a surgical opera- tion. A journey of five miles out to the ships in the blaz- ing sun. Admiral Evans thought, would be too much for him and the Governor appreciated thoroughly the Ad- miral's solicitude for his health. Soon the officers and liberty men began to come ashore. Trinidad is no new place to many officers. It lies at the foot of a splendid range of the St. Anne Mountains and it is heavy with the odors of tropical verdure. It has been called the most attractive of all British West Indian colonies. Its streets are kept beautifully. Its negro con- stabulary are efficient and polite. Its schools are fine. 38 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET Those who had never visited the place were delighted with its appearance, its balconied houses, its abundance of flowers and vines creeping over walls and up the sides of houses, its great department stores, which send the heads of departments to Paris and London every year to get the latest in fashions; its motley population of English, Spanish, French and the thousands of Hindu coolies that are brought over here under contract to work on the plan- tations. Hindu beggars were on the streets and Hindu women, well gowned and clean as an American warship, were in evidence. Some wore rings in their noses and the more prosperous had their arms bejewelled up to the el- bows with silver bracelets and other trinkets. But let the truth be known! Trinidad didn't warm up to the fleet at all,. It regarded it with apparent in- difference. Officially nothing could have been more cordial than its reception. Popularly Port of Spain didn't seem to give a hang, except the fruit vendors, especially the alligator pear men, and the merchants who had things to sell. About three American flags flew over shops. Ameri- can fleets have been welcomed here before with lawn parties and dances and great receptions. There was one recep- tion at the Constabulary Barracks, and very cordial it was too, but the town didn't even take the trouble to come down to the waterfront to gaze over the water and see what six- teen battleships looked like in the distance. The ships may have been too far out. Or perhaps it was because the races were to come on during the last three days stay of the fleet. It was hardly the climate, because that never interfered with enthusiasm over an American fleet before, notably when Admiral Sampson dropped in here in 1899. CHRISTMAS WITH THE FLEET 39 Let it aU go with the statement that on shore every one seemed glad to greet the Americans, even if the town seemed cold. Some of the officers renewed old acquaint- ances socially and several parties of friends visited the ships. One young officer came back with a story that pleased the fleet. He met a charming young English woman who said that she had travelled a good deal and had been in New York only three months ago. The young officer perked up at once, " I suppose you saw the Great White Way in New York? " he asked. " Oh, yes, indeed," was the innocent reply. " Mother and I went to see it one Sunday morning." " It is beautiful," said the officer. " Very," was the response. Some of the visitors historically inclined recalled that Columbus visited this place and named it in honor of the Trinity ; others that Sir Walter Raleigh had made this his headquarters for a long time; still others that Cortez took leave of Velasquez here when he started out on his copquest of Mexico. The commercially inclined went to visit the famous and malodorous Pitch Lake, from which Raleigh smeared his ships and which supplies a large part of the asphalt for American use. Others were glad to learn that they have struck oil here and that it is expected that this island will soon become the chief centre for a great British oil industry. But there were those in the fleet who didn't care for Columbus or Raleigh or Cortez or asphalt or oil. One was an old bos'n's mate. He was down here in the late '80s on the old sloop Saratoga. He had a yarn to spin 40 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET, and it was brought out by the fact that on the day of the fleet's arrival two men from one of the torpedo flotilla had drifted away from their vessel without oars and had been carried out of sight before their absence was noticed. It was feared that they had been lost in the Gulf, but the rough water calmed at night and they drifted ashore and came back at daylight the next morning. The bos'n's mate told how a party of apprentices and three marines started out from the Saratoga in a sailing cutter one fine morning to go to Pitch Lake. They had not gone more than four miles before a heavy sea came up and a great gust capsized the cutter. There were many sharks in the water and three of the party were either drowned or eaten by sharks. The others clambered on the overturned boat and were helpless, as the craft was drifting out to sea. Then it was that one of those men in the navy who can no more help showing bravery when it is demanded than they can help breathing, arose to the situation. He was Shorty Allen, an apprentice, and he declared that he would try to swim ashore to get help. The others told him he must not do it, but Shorty just laughed at them. They said the sharks would get him and that it was madness to try it. Again Shorty said he would go. They would all be lost, he said, if they got no help and it was better that one man should lose his life than a dozen. Nothing could change Shorty's determination. He threw off' his clothes and leaped into the sea. His com- panions watched him buff'eting the waves for an hour or so and then he was lost to view. The sharks hung about the overturned boat and probably that fact saved Shorty. CHRISTMAS WITH THE FLEET, 41 He reached land in four or five hours thoroughly ex- hausted. After a rest on the beach he hunted up some fishermen, whom he induced to go after his shipmates. They were all rescued and regained the Saratoga the next morning. " I tell ye, boys," said the bos'n's mate, " I have a likin* for this place. I was one of that party and Shorty saved my life here. I don't know where Shorty is now. He was commended for his bravery. He said it didn't amount to nothing, modest like. I don't know whether he's alive. If he's dead, God rest his soul ! " The chief incident of the stay of the fleet in this port, aside from the exchange of official courtesies, was the coal- ing of the ships. That is the dirtiest work that can be done about any ship, and to an American warship in its white dress it seems almost like profanation. It's a task that the navy has learned how to do with despatch and one might almost say with neatness. At daybreak the next morning after the arrival of the fleet the colliers steamed up slowly to the sides of the ships of the first division. All had been made ready for them. Tackle and coal bags and shovels and running trucks had been prepared while the ships were making port. All hands turned to. One sec- tion from each division of each ship was sent into the hold of the collier. Four such sections were employed in the collier at once. The coaling bags, each capable of holding 800 pounds, were thrown over and then the dust began to fly. All the ventilating machinery of the ship had been stopped and canvas had covered all the openings so that as little of the dust as possible could find its way into any other place than the bunkers. The chutes to the bunkers m WITH THE BATTLE FLEET were all open. The marines and the men of the powder division were on the turrets and other places to expedite things. Down in the coal bunkers the engineer division were put at stowing the coal away smoothly and evenly. The bunkers on such occasions in the tropics are veritable black holes and the men have to be relieved frequently. Jack makes the best of a bad job, and coaling ship il- lustrates this. The men got out their old coal stowing clothes that once were white and theoretically still are white. Some of them got old discarded marine helmets for head- gear. Some tied handkerchiefs around their heads, the brighter the color the better. Some had no head covering. Some rolled up the leg of one trouser just for the fun of the thing. Some wore socks over their shoes — anything to make things lively and get that coal in at the rate of 100 tons an hour. The bags were filled, attached to the whip — as the der- rick hoist is called — and swung up to the deck. There the bags were seized and those intended for stowage on the side next to the collier were dumped quickly. Those in- tended for the other side of the ship were placed on little trucks and pulled across the deck and then dumped. It was lively work, step and go, and laughter and good cheer enlivened the task. The ship's band was placed on the after bridge, where it played quicksteps and jigs and made the men run and heave and shovel and toss as if coaling ship was the greatest fun in the world. The decks were sanded so that the dust would mingle with the sand and not grime the woodwork. After the coaling was over the gear was stowed away first. Then the men washed away the dirt from their hands and around CHRISTMAS WITH THE FLEET 43 their mouths, noses and eyes and all turned to, baboonlike in appearance, to clean ship. Sides were washed down and decks scrubbed. In two or three hours no one would have known that the ship had been in a black dirt storm. Then the men scrubbed their clothes and finally they scrubbed themselves, got into clean clothes and the task was over. Four days were occupied with this work for the fleet. The last ship to be coaled was the Maine, for that ship is the greatest coal eater in the fleet. She was reserved to the last, so that she would have the largest supply possible on board for the 3,000 mile run to Rio. The Maine was coaled on Saturday and it depended upon the alertness with which it was done whether the fleet was to sail for Rio at sunset on Saturday or Sunday. The supply ships had little to do in this port because the ships were not in need of much provisioning. Most of the ships took meat from the " beef ships," as the sailors call the supply, vessels, but it was only in limited quanti- ties. The torpedo flotilla got under way on Christmas morn- ing. The bluejackets were sorry to see it go on that day, for they knew they were going to have fun and wished their mates on the flotilla could also join in the merriment. The Yankton and Panther, the latter a repair ship, sailed two days later. The supply ships Culgoa and Glacier were kept to go along with the fleet because they can steam easily at the rate of 11 knots. Up to the last day of the stay in port liberty parties were going ashore from the ships every day. To the credit of Jack let it be said that he conducted himself with the dignity that becomes the true American man-o'-war's 44 5VITH THE BATTLE FLEET man. Of course he patronized the saloons. Now and then one would stagger a little on coming to his ship. There were no rows, and the authorities had no complaints to make of unruly behavior. Before each party went ashore the executive oiBcer on each ship read to them the order of Admiral Evans allowing them liberty to the fullest extent in keeping with discipline and warning them to be on their good behavior. The Admiral said that if any unhappy incident occurred ashore he would be obliged to stop all lib- erty. The men heeded the warning. They, visited the shops, bought postal cards by the thousands, patronized jewelry stores, got all the pets they wanted, swaggered through the middle of the streets and gave Port of Spain such a coloring in local aspect as it had never seen before. Three or four baseball games were played on the great park's green. The one great stunt the bluejackets enjoyed most was to hire a hack by the hour and ride around the streets. They, wrangled with the cabbies about fares, paid out their good money — it was payday on the ships the day. before they arrived — and growled as true sailormen should growl when they got English money in change for their own gold and American notes. Trinidad is a place where prices are quoted mostly in dollars and cents, and yet the medium of exchange is pounds, shillings and pence. Most of the shops take American money at its face value. The shopkeepers were alive to the situation and they made money from the call at their port. They were ac- commodating and profited by it. Hundreds of Panama hats were purchased. They were bought by men who would not think of purchasing such hats at home because of the high prices. The American hatters, therefore, have CHRISTMAS WITH THE FLEET 45 lost little by, the transactions except the sale of ordinary straw hats in the summer time for two or three years. The races in the great oval in front of the Queen's Park Hotel were the chief social event of the stay. Thousands attended them and the Yankee propensity to bet made its effect felt. Some of the boys were a little slow in grasp- ing the details of the mutual pool system. A few of them won money, but most of them didn't. There were all sorts of gambling devices, wheels and cards and the like, in oper- ation near the betting ring, and it was like throwing your money away to go against them. But Jack didn't mind that. One of the bluejackets from the Ohio said he was going to bet all he had in the hope of beating the " bloom- ing British," because some of the English bluejackets once had difficulty in pronouncing the word Ohio. They said the name of the Ohio was " Ho and a Haich and a bloom- ing 10," and they didn't know what to call a ship named O H and 10. The American bluejacket will not try to get revenge again, for he lost. After the races the Queen's Park Hotel was jammed for the rest of the day and evening. Patrons of the bar were lined up six deep. It was as difficult to get a table on the veranda, or even inside, as it is to get one on New Year's eve in New York. All the rest of Trinidad goes to sleep with the chickens except the Queen's Park Hotel, and that also has an early bedtime on ordinary occasions, but the presence of American officers and the races combined made it break the Ben Franklin rule of early to bed. And so the visit to Trinidad wore away. The fleet was really glad to leave. Most of the visitors growled and said they'd be glad never to return, but all the same every 46 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET one who has once been here in the winter and experienced the delightful climate and picturesque surroundings will be glad to see it once again. The motto of the fleet now is : " Heave away for Rio." Neptune will board us on the way. CHAPTER III TEINIDAD TO KIO JANEIRO How the Battleship Fleet Greeted the New Year at Sea — Good Will Fore and Aft — Beautiful Spectacle of a Searchlight Drill With Ninety-six Lights — Crews on the Whole Glad to Get Away from Port of Spain Despite Oificial Cordiality — The Culgoa and the Catamaran — Missouri's Man Overboard — The Sleepy Brigantine. On Board U. S. S. Louisiana, U. S. Battle Fleet, Rio Janeiro, January 14. IT is not exceeding the limits of strict accuracy to assert that there was not a man on Admiral Evans's fleet who was not glad to leave Trinidad. The statement must not be taken as reflecting in the least upon the officials of the place. No greetings to a fleet of foreign warships could have been more cordial and sincere than those given by Governor-General Jackson and his assistants. There was no reserve about it. It was genuine and from the heart. But the Trinidad people did not wake up. Half a dozen merchants flew American flags above their shops, perhaps fifty persons all told came out to visit the ships, the clubs were thrown open to officers and now and then some of the residents might drive or stroll down to the waterfront to take a look at the fleet. There were two reasons for this apparent indiff'erence. One was that the ships were anchored fully five miles from town. It was like anchoring a fleet of vessels at Tomp- 47 48 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET felnsville and expecting the citizens of Manhattan to flock to the Battery to gaze at them or hire small boats to go down to see them. A more powerful reason was that the Christmas horse races were on. That meant three days of closing the shops at noon, three days of betting, three days of sharpening wits to contest with three card monte men, roulette men, wheel of fortune men; three days when the most prosperous of the large Hindu population, in all their picturesque garb, women with rings in noses, brace- lets on arms and legs, brilliant hued gowns, and men in ^their turbans and one garment of a sheet made into coat iand trousers — came into town ; three days when the so- ciety of the place imitated the Epsom and Derby customs and drove into the inner enclosure with their drags and other turnouts, and had luncheons and visits; three even- ings of promenading and dining at the Queen's Park Hotel. How could any one expect the people to get enthusiastic over an American fleet under such conditions? The peo- ple had talked for weeks, they said, over the arrival of the fleet, but straightway when it was announced that the races would be held at the same time — well, how can any person attend to two important things at one and the same time? Didn't one of the daily morning newspapers give a quarter of a column of space to the fleet on the second day after its arrival? Talk about enterprise in journal- ism ! Trinidad is the place to go to see a specimen of it. Admiral Evans expected to sail at 8 o'clock on Sunday morning, December 29, but there was some delay in coal- ing and he did not get away until 4 P. M. The night before sailing the flagship signalled this message to the entire fleet, to be published on each ship the next day: TRINIDAD TO RIO JANEIRO 49 The Commander-in-Chief takes pleasure in communicating to the officers and men of the fleet the following extract from a letter just received from the Governor of Trinidad: " I vcould ask to be allowed to offer my congratulations on the good behavior of your men on leave. A residence of seven years in Gibraltar, wliich is a rendezvous of the fleets of the world, has given me some experience of Jack ashore, and I can assert that your men have established a reputation which would be hard to equal and im- possible to beat." The Commander-in-Chief wishes to express his gratification that the conduct of the men has been such as to merit the words quoted above. That farewell banquet was fine. Every officer and man on the fleet appreciated its kindly and sincere tone and every man was ready to vote Gov, Jackson a brick. There •was just one comment made throughout the fleet, and it might as well be set out here, with no intention of raking over the ashes of the past offensively. That comment was : " There is nothing of Swettenham about Jackson. He's all right!" The letter from Gov. Jackson sustains what has been said at the beginning of this letter ; the official welcome was cordial, sincere and without reserve. The trip to Rio was marked by two celebrations. New Year's Day and the visit of Neptune on crossing the line. One should not think, because these letters record consid- erable hilarity on three occasions — Christmas and the other two — all within two weeks, that such is the normal condition on an American warship. These celebrations happened all about the same time — that is all. The pre- vailing condition on a warship is anything but hilarity, as will be revealed later in these letters. , New Year's, like Christmas, was a general hohday for 60 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET the fleet. There were quarters in the morning as usual, but after that there was no work and the smoking lamp was lighted all day. Extra things at dinners were pro- vided. As was general on shore, the new year was wel- comed with due ceremony and celebrations on the ships. As soon as it was night on December 31 it was evident that something would be doing by midnight There was no concerted programme. About 10 P. M. the officers began to drift one by one, into the ward- room. It was a very decorous assemblage. Its members began to tell stories. Now and then a song would start up, and all would join in. A fruit cake made by a fond mother at home was brought out. In some way the eggnog cups seemed to steal out on a side table. Then came a mixture that touched the spot and unloosened the vocal powers. It wasn't long before the " Coast of the High Bar- baree," "Avast! Belay! We're Off for Baffin's Bay," and other songs were being rolled out to the swaying, dipping of the ship in the swells that the strong eastern trades were booming up against the port side. Naval Academy, songs were shouted. One officer thoughtlessly sat in the barber's chair in the rear of the wardroom. A great rush was made for him and he was tousled and rum- pled and pulled and hauled. He squirmed out of the grasp of his tormentors and then the " Coast of the High Barbaree," with " Blow High, Blow Low," was rolled out again. Soon it became evident that a New Year's song must be sung. The Christmas song of the Vermont, with the high- rolling, lob-e-dob swing in it, was taken as a model and TRINIDAD TO RIO JANEIRO 61 there were a few minutes for adaptation to the Louisiana. When it had been rehearsed properly, it was decided to send a special New Year's greeting to the Vermont's ward- room, because the officers of that ship had made a Christ- mas serenading call on all the ships on Christmas night in Trinidad. One of the Vermont's officers is Dr. F. M. Fur- long. His mates on Christmas Day had nominated him for president and so informed the Louisiana's wardroom when they reached this ship. He was made to make a speech of acceptance and in apparent seriousness he grew eloquent over his chances and his platform. The New Years greeting from the Louisiana to the Vermont was something like this: " The Louisiana's wardroom sends happy New Year greetings to the Vermont's wardroom and pledges the solid W. C. T. U. vote to Dr. Furlong. Back districts, from the grassy slopes of the Green Mountains to the saccharine depths of the Pelican canebrakes, all heard from. We're happy and well. Happy New Year ! Happy New Year ! Happy New Year to you ! " The greeting was sent to the bridge to be flung into the air on the illuminated semaphore signals at five minutes to midnight. Then came the final rehearsals of the New Year song, and just as the signals were sending the greeting to the Vermont a dozen lusty officers stole up to the quarter- deck and sang their song softly to see if It was all right. Then they climbed on the upper deck, stepped quietly along the gangway to the forward bridge. They were as silent as Indians. One of them had a great Christmas palm branch fully twelve feet long. One by one they sneaked up the port ladders and stowed themselves far out on the 63 [WITH THE BATTLE FLEET port side of the bridge. All was quiet until eight bells was struck and then eight bells more for the New Year. A great burst of song startled the oiScer of the deck just as the last letter of the message to the Vermont had been flashed. The song was: Happy New Year I Happy New Year! We're happy and well. Here's to the Lo'siana And don't she look swell I We're a highrolling. Rollicking crew; Happy New Year! Happy New Year! Happy New Year to you! The great palm branch was swung around to the danger of utter disarrangement of engine room signals, and the officer of the deck growled out something about a lot of wild Indians. A high flinging dance followed on the bridge, with the Happy New Year song shouted twenty times or more. " Get out of here ! " ordered the bridge officer. " All right ; we'll serenade the Captain ! " shouted the merry crew. Down to the lower bridge, where the Captain has his emergency quarters while at sea, they went. The Captain got a good dose of noise, but being a discreet man he said never a word. There was a rumor that he wasn't inside at all and that, knowing what to do on certain occasions, he had decided to remain in his private rooms below, where not even unofficial knowledge of any high jinks could reach his ears. Then the procession started for the quarterdeck, and leaning far over the rails on the starboard side with the stiff trade wind blowing the sound from the megaphoned TRINIDAD TO RIO JANEIRO S3 throats of the singers, happy New Year's greetings were sung to the Georgia, 400 yards back and to starboard. That ship heard it easily. Then came a procession through the Louisiana. The members of the crew were slung in their hammocks, but nu- merous noises of catcalls and horns and shouts told that no one was asleep. At every section of every division on every deck the sailors were greeted with song. They sat up and cheered. It was fine to have a party of officers come around and wish you a happy New Year. Every mess of the ship received a call. When the warrant of- ficers' mess was reached there was a brilliant display of paj amas and — well, in print one musn't go into particu- lars too fully. Regulations must be obeyed strictly even when you're having a good time. All the regulations were obeyed — several times, and then some — in that big roundup. Didn't the bos'n sing : Bad luck to the day; I wandered away. and then go into the forty-seven verses about life on the " Old Colorado " ? Didn't the electrical gunner join with the chief engineer in giving down the twenty-seven bells song? Didn't the carpenter dance a highland fiing? Didn't the scholarly warrant machinist from the Boston Tech. twang a banjo and set the pace for the " Old New York " and the " Dear Old Broadway " songs .'' And then didn't someone remark that " dear old Kim " hadn't been seen in all the parading that night.? A rush was made ifor Kim's room but it was barricaded. 64. WITH THE BATTLE FLEET " Come out, Kim ! " was the order. " Not on your life," was the response. And then, for revenge, didn't the crowd sing a song about Kim? Every man who knows anything about the United States Navy knows Kim, the genial paymaster's clerk, who sits in the junior officer's mess to keep the youngsters in proper submission, and who has trained a generation of officers in things naval; Kim, who has sailed the high seas in the United States Navy for a quarter of a century and knows so much about the ships and officers that he wouldn't dare to teU it all and ought to be made an Admiral for his knowledge and his discretion; Kim, who has to salute many a man with a star on his sleeve and some of them with two stars, the minute he sees them, and then can call them Bill and Jim and Tom in private ; Kim, the best beloved, all around good fellow on the ship; yes, everybody knows Kim. It isn't necessary to print the full name of this obliging, hard working autocrat of the pay- master's office. This is the song that greeted him: Everybody works but dear old Kim, He sits 'round all day. Feet upon the table. Smoking his Henry Clay; Young Pay pays out money. Old Pay takes it in; Everybody works on this ship But dear old Kim. Howls of glee from warrant officers, from petty officers, from hundreds of hammocks greeted the song. Kim chuckled but wouldn't come out. Finally the siege could be resisted no longer and out came Kim in full regulation pajamas and the din was terrific. It was a dance all TRINIDAD TO RIO JANEIRO 55 around and some more strictly regulation things to drink. Happy New Year was sung for the 273d time and then came a further inspection of the ship. Wasn't it time for the dinner for New Year's Day, to be tested in the cook's galley? Wasn't there as fine a specimen of the genus turkey as graced any board in the United States all ready to be tested.? And wasn't it tested until nothing but the rack was left? The fire rooms had to be visited and down slippery lad- ders with the machinery chugging and rolling and plung- ing the piratical crew stole. Where men were sweating in front of furnace doors in watertight compartments the greeting was sung and the words " Happy New Year " were chalked on furnace doors. Perhaps the engines lost a revolution or two, or the steam slowed off just a bit and the officer of the deck wondered why he was unable to keep his position of 1,200 yards from the flagship exactly, but what did it matter? And when the rounds were all completed and the pirates assembled in the wardroom for their final song and final — well, never mind that — didn't a messenger from the bridge come down with a signalled message from the Vermont with a toast that was being offered in the Vermont's wardroom: Here's to you, Louisiana, Here's to you, our jovial friends? Every ship was having a celebration something like that. It's impossible to give the details because when a big fleet is going along at the rate of ten knots an hour and fight- ing a mean Amazon current as well, and the semaphores and other signals are being kept busy with official mes- 56 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET sages it isn't exactly good form for newspaper landlub- bers to ask to be allowed to inquire what was done on the other ships, matters which, even if told unofficially, would not look exactly attractive all written out in a signal book, because you can't put much fun in a signal book entry. There must have been a good deal of the happy-go-lucky spirit on some of the ships, for on two or three of them the roUickers got at the siren whistles and blew them. That is something that might prove serious to a fleet sailing as this is, because the blowing of siren whistles, except at a certain hour of the day, when all the whistles are tested — they, call the noise the loosening of the dogs of war — means grave danger and it is time to act at once. But New Year's came in happily all around and when the fun was over the one thought of the roUickers was that within a week Neptune would come aboard and after that there would be a long dry spell. When quarters were sounded a little after 9 o'clock on New Year's morning all hands appeared. The usual for- mality marked the occasion. The Captain came up and looked precisely as if his ship had been as quiet as a grave all night; the executive officer answered salutes with an in- cisive manner, as each officer approached and reported his division " all present or accounted for " ; the members of the crew gave no hint that they had seen any officer roaming about the ship only a few hours before in a free and easy marftier violating all ordinary traditions of a naval officer's dignity. And as for the warrant officers, when they saluted and gave you an icy stare, as if they might have met you somewhere once upon a time but really had quite forgotten your name, you felt relieved and glad TRINIDAC TO RIO JANEIRO 57 that those two or three red streaks on your left eye ball had escaped general notice, and then it was that you felt like writing an apostrophe to disciphne in the American Navy. Of the trip itself to Rio — the mere sailing of it — there is not much to record. It was done in squadron for- mation — two lines of warships, with the supply ships Glacier and Culgoa bringing up the rear midway between the lines. For six days off the upper part of South America there was quite a heavy swell and a strong Amazon current that retarded the progress of the ships to some extent. One day the swells were so heavy as to make the sea moderately rough. Every ship in the fleet buried its nose under the water constantly and sometimes the seas would slip up the sloping fronts of the turrets and splash their spray against the bridges. The sun was bright, and as these seas would come over the bow and spread their aprons of water over the forward parts of the ships the colors would change from blue to green, with white fringes, and then the sun would arch rainbows over the boiling torrents that would run from the sides as the ships rose to the tops of the waves. The sea was tossing and tumbling far out to the horizon circle, and as the ships dipped and rose they seemed like veritable warhorses of the sea rearing and plunging in royal sport. It was a beautiful spectacle, and it lasted all of one day. Soon after rounding the far eastern corner of South America there came a little comedy. The Illinois had dropped out of column formation to adjust some trifling disarrangement of machinery and some one on her thought he saw a raft to the eastward with two men clinging to 58 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET it. Those in charge were evidently new to this coast and did not recall that fishermen of the Amazon region often sail 150 to 200 miles out to sea in the small catamarans that look more like logs or rafts than fishing vessels. A signal was sent to the Culgoa. The fleet had no information at this time as to why the Culgoa suddenly dropped out of column and headed to the east and then to the north until she was nearly hull- down. Soon it became known that she was bent on a rescue and the correspondents got out their note books and began to prepare to make much of the incident. After two hours the Culgoa was back in her place with what seemed to be a sheepish look to those familiar with the situation. She had found two men on a raft — that is to say, on a catamaran — and they were fishing and seemed content with their station in life and especially honored because a naval vessel of the United States had gone out of her way to greet them. The intention was all right and good form did not permit the bantering of any humorous personalities on the situation. Three nights out from Rio Admiral Evans ordered the first searchlight practice for the fleet. Let it be under- stood that there are certain things which a correspondent may not send from this fleet or even reveal afterward. They relate especially to tactical things, the things that may give information or some hint of information of im- portance to other nations. All navies have searchlights, however, and what will be said here of the drill will be of that nature familiar to every naval man and no more. It was merely a warming up, so to speak, of searchlight work, just a test to see if all the apparatus was in good condition. TRINIDAD TO RIO JANEIRO 59 The drill was to begin at exactly 8 o'clock. Long be- fore that time every searchlight had been uncovered and connected up and all eyes were waiting for the Connecticut to begin the flashing. Just as eight bells were struck, when not more than half a dozen lights were visible on each ship of the fleet, a great beam of white shot out across the starboard of the Connecticut. Instantly ninety-six beams like it darted into the air and the ocean for something like a square mile became illuminated as though the fuU glory of the heavens had descended upon it. You who have seen Coney Island lighted up on a sum- mer's night may form some idea of the scene if you can concentrate in your imagination the lights down there turned into a hundred great shafts, sweeping, dancing, swinging, soaring into space, each light with the sheen of a full moon brought right down within the grasp of a man who turned a cylinder about as he pleased and said to the rays go here and go there. It was like a new world sprung into existence before your very eyes. Something of the meaning of the power of a fleet of warships was revealed to you. It was merely a small part of this power, just a trifle of the strength of warships put on display be- cause it could be tested in no other way. Each ship had six of these lights. The rules do not permit the rays of one ship to be displayed upon another because it imperils navigation for one thing, and there are also other naval reasons. It required some skill to avoid lighting up your neighbor ship. As soon as the lights were turned on the men managing them began to swing and twist them, now fast, now slowly, about each ship. When the rays struck the water, say, about 300 60 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET! yards away from a ship and each light was turned slowly around the vessel, it was as if so many sprites of the sea were dancing about like children around a May pole. Then a beam would go scampering away as if it had the concentrated velocity of a hundred 12-inch shots. Then there would come a period of helterskelter playing of the lights until a slow movement of searching on the waters was in progress. Each ship looked as if it were a thous- and legged spider, each leg made up of a ray of light. Sometimes the lights of a ship would be interlaced; again they would be centered on some spot far out in the water. The rolling crests of the sweUs would be whitened with the gleam of thousands of diamonds. The reflection of the light beams made bands of purple and deep green upon the water. The stars lost their brightness. It was as if the Yankee ships had reached out and stolen a good share of the strength of the sun — which actually was the case from the standpoint of science — had stored it in their holds and then had sprung it at night, just to show what could be done in the way of robbing the powers of darkness of their evil aspect. For half an hour the thril- ling exhibition continued and just as you were preparing to throw up your hat and give three cheers for Uncle Sam and his navy an officer brought you back to you feet with the quiet remark: " Why, that isn't a patch compared with the real thing ! This was just a sort of tuning up process, no more to be compared with the real thing than the tuning of a piano is to be compared with a Paderewski performance." You thought him a little strong in his analogy until of a sudden all the lights went out and there were sixteen TRINIDAD TO RIO JANEIRO 61 battleships quietly sailing along a sea as smooth as Long Island Sound in the summer time, with only regulation lights showing, distances kept perfectly and nothing to indicate that there had been anything out of the ordinary in a sedate and peaceful passage from one port to an- other. An unexpected use of the searchhghts followfid about thirty hours after this first display. It was 2:30 o'clock of the second morning after when the unforeseen hap- pened. A gun on the Missouri boomed out. It was the signal for a man overboard. At once the life buoys were cast off from the ship, their lights burning brightly, and the Missouri and the entire eight ships of the second squad- ron, running parallel with the squadron that Admiral Evans was leading, burst into a blaze of light. In two minutes the entire fleet was stopped. Boats were lowered from the Missouri, the Illinois and Kearsarge following. The searchlights were thrown upon the water and upon the boats, showing the men at work rowing about and searching for the lost man. It made a brilliant scene in the dead of night. Carefully and systematically the boats were rowed about for half an hour. Then, when it was evident that if a man had fallen overboard he had been lost, perhaps by striking a propeller or being hit by some other part of the ship, recalls were given and the boats returned to the ships and the squadron proceeded. At that time the Missouri signalled that she was not sure she had lost a man, but a sentry had thought he had seen one fall overboard. Later the facts came out. The alarm was given by a man who had a sailor's nightmare. No one was found 62 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET missing at roll call the next morning and every one felt so sheepish that no formal report was made. A few hours previous, at 10:35 in the evening, one of the perils of navigation — especially for the other fellow was brought home vividly to the fleet. A barkentine with a dim light was sighted about 800 yards to the west of Admiral Evans's squadron. The vessel was going north. Probably the man on watch had gone to sleep. He sud- denly awoke and before the officer of the deck on the Lou- isiana could recover from his amazement he headed straight for that vessel, the fourth ship in the squadron. It was soon plain that the barkentine would clear the stem of the Louisiana and would become a menace to the Georgia, the following ship. The officer of the deck of the Georgia had to sheer off and this made the officer of the deck of the Rhode Island sheer also. The barkentine went right between the Louisiana and the Georgia. By that time the officer of the sailing vessel had got a lot of lights out and apparently was in a state of com- plete obfustication. He had never seen so many lights at sea in such a limited space in his life. Clearing the first squadron he came into full view of another over to the east. There he was, all mixed up in a fleet of warships going at the rate of ten knots an hour. He became rat- tled again and turned to go outside the line of the first squadron, which he had just pierced. He came near hitting the Virginia, but finally got away safely. It was a hair raising episode. " That's what I call dancing a Virginia reel at sea by boats," said one officer after the incident was closed. " It seems to me," said another, " to show that not only TRINIDAD TO RIO JANEIRO 63 does a kind Providence usually watch over a drunken man on shore, but seems to guard men at sea who go to sleep on watch." It was a miraculous escape for the barkentine, thread- ing her way in and out of a fleet of warships proceeding at fair speed and only 4)00 yards apart. No skipper would have dared take such chances in the daytime and in full control of his craft. The officers of the fleet breathed a sigh of relief to think that they didn't have to record against this cruise the running down of a vessel at sea with the consequent probable loss of life. And so the voyage went on placidly with the usual drills and daily ceremonies until Cape Frio, some sixty miles east of Rio, was sighted and then there came the journey along the coast, the entrance into the magnificent harbor, the splash of the mud hooks and the feeling that one- third of the voyage to San Francisco was over, and the fleet was shaking itself down into a smooth working condi- tion better and better with every day at sea. CHAPTER IV NEPTUNE ahoy! Weird Nautical Doings on Crossing the Line — Officers, Sailors and Newspaper Man Pass Traditional Initiation — Ocean Monarch and His Gay Spouse Amphitrite Pick the Ship President Roosevelt Once Sailed on for Their Visit — Rest of the Fleet Only Thought He Was on Board — Court Physicians and Ducking Bears — Pa- ternal Messages From the Flagship — Sons of Admiral Evans and Capt. Osterhaus Made Real Sailormen — A Great Sight. On Board U. S. S. Louisiana, U. S. Battle Fleet, Rio Janeieo, Jan. 14. NEPTUNUS Rex ! Long live the King ! Neptune, the only king who never dies, had the big- gest j ob of his career on Monday, January 6, in the year of our Lord 1908 and the year of 4,000 or 5,000 and something since Noah set up a sea calendar and headed for Mount Ararat. More than 14,000 officers and men of the United States Navy, practically one-half of its membership, crossed the equator at longitude 37° 11' W., and of those fully 12,500 had to be initiated into the " solemn mysteries of the Ancient Order of the Deep." Like the man who tried the rheumatism cures, every one of the landlubbers, poUywogs and sea lawyers was " done good." It was the proudest day that Neptunus Rex ever ex- perienced. He said so himself, and he put on great airs 64 NEPTUNE AHOY! 65 and strutted about with the dignity and pomp that befit his majestic rule as he declared that he was the only king, by, all the mermaids, sea serpents, whales, sharks, dolphins, skates, eels, suckers, lobsters, crabs, pollywogs and jelly- fish, who could ever take possession of the United States Navy. And by the selfsame creatures of the deep he swore solemnly that none but he and Uncle Sam should ever have the right to boss that navy. Whereat the duly initiated members of his royal domain cheered him lustily and declared everlasting allegiance. To get right down to business, let it be said at once that it was a spectacle worth travelling tens of thousands of miles to see. It was the most elaborate, painstaking, well planned, rip snorting initiation of the kind ever produced. For be it known that Neptune does not recognize as a thirty-third degree member of his domain any one who has not crossed the line on a warship. Neptune, not having the attribute of omnipresence, was able to visit only one of the ships of this fleet. That ship was the Louisiana. Of course, every other ship will make the claim that he visited that vessel, but the fact is that he honored the Louisiana alone with his personal presence and had to send representatives to the other ships. He said he came to the Louisiana because he had heard she was the most famous ship of the fleet. President Roose- velt having made a trip close to his royal domain in her. He therefore selected her for his visit and he ordered that a special honorary certificate of membership in his realm be sent to the President and Mrs. Roosevelt. The preparations for Neptune's visit began formally on December 19, three days out from Hampton Roads, when 66 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET " Fore Top, the Official Representative of his Majesty Neptunus Rex," received a wireless message to organize the members of the royal domain on the ship and prepare for the initiation ceremonies. Thereafter every day while the ship was at sea mysterious proclamations were posted at the scuttlebutt (the drinking tank) telling the land- lubbers, pollywogs and sea lawyers of the terrible things that would happen to them when they crossed ihe line. Dire penalties were provided for any who might try to hide, and long extracts from the Revised Statutes were posted prescribing the punishments to be inflicted upon the willing and the unwilling. There was decided uneasi- ness among the youngsters on board — and it should be remembered that most of the crew of the ship are just above or below 21, having come almost green to the vessel from the training station at Newport — when a procla- mation was posted containing this notification to Fore Top: " There has been ordered supplied to you upon arrival at Port of Spain, Trinidad, 750 gallons of coal tar, 90 gallons of varnish, 400 pounds of sulphur, 4 sets of razors complete, 18 brushes, 4 sets of fine rib saws, 4 surgical knives, 2 large meat axes and 15 pairs of handcuffs." Orders were also given for sharpening the claws and appetites of the royal bears and warnings issued lest any one of the uninitiated should speak disrespectfully of Nep- tune's subjects. A day or so later came orders prescrib- ing the height of the ducking chairs. These chairs were to be so high that four flipflaps would be turned by the victims before hitting the water in the royal tanks. Six powerful electrical batteries were also ordered for use. NEPTUNE AHOY! 67 The bears were not to have any food for fifty-seven hours preceding the crossing of the line. Other proclamations provided for towing recalcitrants in the sea from the hawse pipes for from five minutes to four hours, according to the degree of the offence of the victim. Marvellous yams were spun at all mess tables of the severity of the initiation, all of which got on the nerves of the youngsters, and the crew was in a state of semi-trepida- tion as the day of the crossing approached. Then came a glimmer of fun, for one day there came a " scuttlebuttic, telephonic, atmospheric " communication in which after more warnings that there would be no escape this was said: " I understand that there is a newspaper man on board, and if such is the case you will report to me at once, as there is a special provision in the Regula,tions of the Cere- monies of Initiation of the Royal Realm for such animals." Many were the grins among the crew that greeted the Sun man that day, and some of them ventured respect- fully to salute him and ask him if he had seen the message and had noticed that orders were also issued " to the royal doctors to have their pills and goggle water mixed in ac- cordance with the regulations and the barbers to use the proper per cent, of coal tar, oil, molasses and india ink for their lather." The next day Neptune ordered his sub- jects to " do stunts " with the newspaper man. Printers' ink was to be used in his lather so as " to give him a dose of his own medicine." A special oven was to be con- structed to roast him, and then he would know how it felt himself. 68 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET General Order No. 7 of Fore Top told the barbers to mix mucilage with the printer's ink and to prepare the oven, and the officers and crew were now in broad grins as they greeted the Sun man and informed him that he was going to get his all right. Then came " brainstorms " from his Majesty telling how the policemen were to act, ordering that their " clubs be stuffed with grate bars " and such, and providing how the hair should be clipped. Forthwith it was remarkable how dozens of men rushed to to the ship's real barbers and had their hair clipped close. " I ain't goin' to have none of that coal tar and grease in mine," said a frightened signal boy. A windsail was made to supply air to the officers' quarters, and the mes- senger boy of the executive officer came to him and asked him if it was true that the members of the crew were to be shot down that canvas tube. So the proclamations grew in number and with them in- creased the power of the yarns. The royal electrician was ordered to test the batteries and the royal boatswain was told to prepare his towlines and co-operate with the royal diver to see that the towing was done properly, and finally came the last message from Neptune on the day before the line was reached. It approved all that had been done. Old Nep. howled with joy, because the bears were hungrj^, the knives and razors were sharpened, the lather had been mixed just right, the electric batteries were sizzling, the drop into the tanks had been put up to thirty-eight feet, and he wound up with this sentiment : " God help the poor rookies ! " Whereupon Fore Top issued this final order: N E P T U N B Courtesy oj CoUiei-'s Weekly Neptune Ahoy ! NEPTUNE AHOY! 69 GENERAL ORDER NO. 23. All loyal subjects will at once make their final reports to me in de- tail. Report to me the names of the poUywogs, landlubbers and sea lawyers whose names have been entered on the books for severe pun- ishment. Good-by and good luck to the poor rookies who wiU come under your notice to-morrow! Deal in a befitting manner with them all. See to it especially that the newspaper man gets his. FoBE Top, O R. O. H. M. G. M. N. R. R. R. D. The names of about a dozen well known sea lawyers of the ship were posted immediately upon the scuttlebutt and the newspaper man " got his " later. That afternoon Capt. Wainwright and his executive officer, Mr. Eberle, being sticklers for the preservation of as many of the old time naval and sea traditions in modern warships as possible, took official notice of what was going on and this order was published to the ship: U. S. S. Louisiana, 'At Sea, Lat. 1'-30' N., Long. 39-10 W., January S, 1908. Oedee. 1. Official notification has been received that his Majesty, Nep- tunus Rex, will visit this ship in state at 9 a.m. on the 6th day of January, 1908. 3. His Majesty will be received with due ceremony at the time appointed. At 8 :45 a. m. the divisions will be called to quarters, after which " all hands will be called to muster " to receive his Majesty in a manner befitting his high rank. The boatswain and eight boys will attend the side. When his Majesty reaches the quar- terdeck the officers and crew wiU salute, the band will play a march and the Royal Standard of Neptune will be hoisted at the main. 3. After the official reception the royal ceremonies of initiation will begin. 70 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET 4. All ceremonies will be conducted in an orderly manner, in keep- ing with the time honored traditions of the Naval Service. E. W. Ebeele, Lieutenant-Commander, U. S. Navy, Executive Officer. Approved: R. Waiiiwiiioht, Captain U. S. Navy, Commanding. At a general muster of the crew that Sunday morning each man who had not crossed the line — and a complete list had been prepared of them — received this subpoena as he was dismissed from the deck: YoTT LANDLtjBBER, PoLLTWOG AND Sea Lawyer: You are hereby notified that the good ship Louisiana, on which you are serving, will to-morrow enter the domain of which I am the ruler. As no landlubber, pollywog or sea lawyer can enter my domain or be- come one of my royal subjects imless he undergoes the initiation as prescribed by me, you will when the ceremonies commence present yourself for the initiation, and if you show that you are worthy you will become a member of my royal realm and be subject to my orders in all seas on which you may be. If you do not present yourself for this initiation and I am re- quired to despatch members of my staff to bring you before me by force I will deal severely with you. His Majesty, Neptuite Rex, Ruler of the Royal Domain. Of the 960 odd persons on the Louisiana only about 100 had ever crossed the line. The proportion was about the same on all the other ships of the fleet, so it is a fair esti- mate that 12,500 men were waiting the arrival of Nep- tune. A wireless message was sent to the Louisiana that his Majesty's secretary and orderly would come on board on the evening of January 6 to make the final prepara- NEPTUNE AHOY! 71 tions for the ruler's visit the next morning. The call for hammocks was sounded about 7 :30 o'clock that evening and while the men were aft the officer of the deck, Ensign N. W. Post heard a pistol shot across the bows of the ship fol- lowed by: "Ship ahoy!" " Aye, aye, sir," said the officer of the deck, giving the accepted greeting for an officer. " What ship is that? Where are you from and whither are you bound?" came the voice. " The U. S. S. Louisiana, from Hampton Roads, bound through the domains of his Majesty Neptune Rex for the Pacific Ocean," shouted Post through a megaphone. " Heave to ; I want to come aboard ! " " Aye, aye, sir. Come aboard." Thereupon the ship was hove to theoretically and two men in fantastic dress popped over the starboard bow and made their way aft. Mr. Eberle, the executive officer, had been notified that Neptune's secretary. Main Top Bowline, was on board, and went forward to receive him. Capt. Wainwright was notified and appeared on the quarter deck. Soon, with the bugles sounding attention. Main Top Bowline and his orderly emerged through the superstructure with Mr. Eberle. The secretary and as- sistant were in full dress, their swallowtails of bright red chintz accentuated by enormous negro minstrel collars and by ties of pink that flowed out to their shoulders* They carried full dress cocked hats of navy regulation pattern. Their faces were Indian red with various splashes of paint that suggested mermaids and sea serpents. Main Top Bowline had a pair of binoculars made from black beer 72 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET, bottles which were capped by the rubber pieces that fit the eyes on the sighting apparatus of the guns. Mr. Eberle presented the secretary to the captain, while the officers and dozens of the crew gathered around. The secretary said that Neptune would come aboard at 9 A. M. the next day and would be prepared to take possession of the ship and exercise due authority. He complimented the captain on the appearance of his " fine ship," said that Neptune would visit the Louisiana only because it had once carried his " distinguished colleague, the President," and he expressed the hope that the captain and the crew would extend the proper honors. Capt. Wainwright straight- ened himself to his full height and said: " Mr. Secretary, Main Top Bowline : It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this ship and to receive the notification of the contemplated visit to-morrow of his Majesty Neptunus Rex. I beg of you to convey to him the expression of my highest esteem and to say to him that we shall pay him the distinguished honors that belong to his rank, and shall obey gladly all his august commands. If you will now proceed with me to my cabin we will dis- cuss there the details of the ceremony." Then the captain and the visitors disappeared down the captain's gangway and a bottle of champagne was opened and the health of Neptune toasted. The captain told Main Top Bowline that he had been a member of Nep- tune's domain for thirty-eight years but had not met Main Top Bowline before. Main Top said he had been in his Majesty's service only fifteen years. Full particulars of Mr. Roosevelt's trip on the Louisiana were requested to be reported to Neptune and then the secretary left and called NEPTUNE AHOY! 7S on tKe wardroom. He served subpoenas himself on the officers and asked especially for the newspaper man. He said that Neptune had been misrepresented so often in print and that it was so seldom that he ever found a reporter on a real ship of the hne that he was bound to tell the news- paper man to be prepared for the worst. Then the vis- itors were escorted forward and they disappeared, after ordering this message sent to Admiral Evans : The Oommander-m-Chief, V. 8. Atlantic Fleet. By virtue of the authority invested in me by his Majesty, Neptunus Rex, ruler of the Royal Domain, I have to inform you that I have this night boarded the good ship Louisiana for the purpose of in- forming the commanding officer that he has entered the domain ruled by his Majesty and that he has a cargo of landlubbers, polly- wogs and sea lawyers on board whom it will be necessary to initiate into the royal realm before he can pass through, and as such his Most Gracious Majesty will to-morrow morning board the good ship Lou- isiana and carry out the ceremonies as prescribed by the regulations of the royal realm. His Majesty wishes me to convey his compli- ments to you and to state that he is pleased to have you with him once more in his royal domain, although it has been some time since he has been able to greet you personally. Main Top BowHifE, Secretary of His Most Gracious Majesty, Neptune Rex, Ruler of the R-oyal Domain. Admiral Evans signalled back his thanks for the greet- ing, sent his compliments to Neptune and expressed the hope that Neptune and his party would have a " royal good time on the Louisiana." The next morning everybody was up bright and early. Word was sent throughout the ship to wear no arms at quarters. Every man put on his cleanest uniform. Quar- ters was sounded and the men assembled at their usual 74 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET stations. The oiBcers emerged one by one from the super- structure and reported to the executive ofEcer that their divisions were all present or accounted for. Then came the bugle for general muster on the quarter deck. All hands were marched aft and the oiEcers took their proper stations with a large space vacant about the captain and a passageway from the superstructure. Miss Sally Ann, the Trinidad monkey, was allowed to come along to see the fun. She perched on one of the 12-Inch guns and flirted her tail about like an angry cat. A wait of several minutes followed after Mr. Eberle had gone forward to receive Neptune. This was due, it was reported after- ward unofficially, to getting Amphitrite, Neptune's wife, up the gangways with all her toggery in good condition. Not being used to skirts, it was quite a job. At the en- trance to the deck eight side boys and the boatswain's mates were stationed. Suddenly a great blast from the bugles announced the approach. Then the shrill boatswains' whistles smote the ears and Sally Ann set up an awful screeching. The word " Salute !" rang out and every man stood at attention while Neptune and his wife preceded by two pages stepped on the quarter deck. At that moment a monster red flag, eighteen feet by twelve, with a white sea serpent on it that would have made any Chinese dragon run to cover, was raised to the main, the band struck up Neptune's march and his Majesty and consort and their court of fifty-two persons in stately step trod the deck to greet Capt. Wain- wright. Neptune swung his trident proudly, and as he came to a full stop he said: " Sir : — I have come to-day to your ship to exercise NEPTUNE AHOY! 75 the full command that pertains to the rule of my domain. I have come to initiate the landlubbers and pollywogs on this vessel. You will relinquish command to me and I expect that full honors will be paid to my rank. I am honoring this ship of the fleet especially because my dis- tinguished friend and colleague, the President of the country from which you come, once used this ship on a near approach to my dominions. I am informed that he would be here to-day in person if the cares of State did not prevent. I am told he is here in spirit. I shall order, therefore, a special honorary certificate of membership for him. [Aside, " Can't some of you keep that damned mon- key from screeching so much?"] I shall now proceed to your cabin, after which the ceremonies of the royal initia- tions will proceed." Capt. Wainwright bowed profoundly and the irreverent in the crew set up a howl of laughter as they saw the makeup of Neptune and his party. Neptune and Am- phitrite and the two pages went below with the Captain. The others remained on deck. There were the two secre- taries that had come aboard the night before and next to them were two royal doctors, in long swallowtails and with tall hats that looked like the headgear of Corean high priests, only there were skulls and crossbones on them for ornament. The doctors carried dress suit cases. One was labelled "Dr. Flip" and the other "Dr. Flap." The cases contained the surgical instruments and medicines. Then came the royal counsellors with enormous law books. The lawyers wore the wigs of English practitioners and long black robes. Two " high cops," in chintz, followed and then there was a large squad of policemen each with 76 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET, a badge numbered 23, with stuffed clubs, followed by the barbers, a dozen black bears and a lot of retainers. Neptune himself wore a scarlet robe with sea serpents em- broidered on it and with a golden hemp fringe all around the edges. His face and legs and arms were stained a beautiful mahogany color. A great beard of yellow rope hung down over his fat belly, Amphitrite was in white. She wore a sea green flat hat and carried a black cat done up in baby's clothes. That cat stayed with her for two hours without moving. " My ! " said one of the ordinary seamen who had cruised many a time along the Bowery, " don't she look just as if she came straight from the Bowery and Hester street? How are ye, Amph.'' " A clout on the head by a mate made him " shorten his chin sail." Before Neptune reappeared Dr. Flip went up to Dr. Wentworth, the ship's surgeon, to pay his professional re- spects. Dr. Flip said he was of the old school and a graduate of the " Royal College of the Doldrums, class of Umpdy-umpdy-ump-ump." He was strong, he said, on the use of leeches and bleeding. Dr. Wentworth tact- fully admitted that the old school had its merits. Then came Neptune on deck again and the party, fol- lowed by 800 officers and men, went to the fo'c'sle deck for the initiation. Neptune mounted his throne on a plat- form. Two tanks had been erected between that and the forward turret. The bears slipped over the sides as the retainers filled the tanks with water. Drs. Flip and Flap unloaded their saws, knives, teeth extractors and many bot- tles of vile looking medicine. The lawyers opened their NEPTUNE AHOY! TT^ books to certain paragraphs of the "Revised Statutes," chiefly paragraph 4-1 1-44; the barbers sharpened their enormous razors, " made in Yarmany " ; the policemen drew up in hne, the orderlies rolled up the barrel of lather, made of oatmeal and water, and another barrel of " tonic," to be used in enormous squirt guns. It was Neptune's " dope " for the unruly. Then Neptune, with a flourish of his trident and settling his gilt crown well back on his head, as Amphitrite nestled to his side, asked if all prep- arations had been completed. " Yes, your Majesty," replied Main Top Bowline. " Then let the initiations proceed. Bring forward as the first victim that newspaper man. He shall have special at- tention," was the command. The Sun man mounted the steps to the howls of 800 persons. Dr. Flip sounded his lungs, examined his teeth, felt his arms and legs, made him wiggle his fingers and then said: " Your Majesty, a very bad case. 'E's got a ingrowin' brain ! " "What do you prescribe?" " Well, your Majesty, we have here medicines for the cure of spavin, sore throat', consumption, chilblains, diph- theria, eczema, measles, neuralgia, heartburn — " " Never mind the rest," said the King. " What is the treatment? " " The same for all, sire," was the response. " A good shave, an injection in the arm of my ' dope ' [composed of molasses and water] some powder on his head and a duck- ing in the briny seas." ' " Very good ! " replied his Majesty. 78 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET Then the trouble began. A pill as big as a horse chest- nut and made of bread crusts was forced down the victim's throat. The squirt gun hit him full in the face, a lotion was rubbed in his hair and then he was forced into the chair and shaved. A question was asked of him, and as he opened his mouth to reply a great paint brush of lather was thrust into it. Then came the order to pull out the plug from the chair and drop him over backwards into the tank. Well, that flight and that ducking! Here descrip- tive powers fail the Sun's correspondent. It can be de- scribed best in the words of Herman MelviUe, in his story, of " White Jacket," relating to a cruise he made in 1843 around the horn in the United States frigate. United States, when he went into the water in another way. " Time seemed to stand still and all the worlds poised on their poles as I fell. I was conscious at length of a swift flinging motion of my limbs. A thunder-boom sounded in my ears. My. soul seemed flying from my mouth. Some current seemed hurrying me away. In a trance I yielded and sank down deeper with a glide. Purple and pathless was the deep calm now around me, flecked by summer light- nings in an azure afar. " Then an, agonizing revulsion came over me as I felt myself sinking. Next moment the force of my fall was expended and there I hung vibrating in the deep. What wild sounds then rang in my ear? One was a soft moan- ing, as of low waves on the beach, the other wild and heart- lessly jubilant, as of the sea in the height of a tempest. The life and death poise soon passed, and then I felt my- self slowly ascending and caught a dim glimmering of light. Quicker and quicker I mounted, till at last I NEPTUNE AHOY! 79 bounded up like a buoy and my, whole head was bathed in the blessed air." That was just as it was and when the Sun man escaped from the tank he was greeted with more applause and cheer- ing than he had ever received in his life. The first initiation on the Louisiana was over. Then came a roll call of the officers. They had to produce cer- tificates or pay tribute. The crew was assembled in long lines. One by one they went up the ladders. Drs. Flip and Flap received them. Elaborate examinations were made of their condition. > " My, my, sire ! " Dr. Flip would shout. " 'E's got valvular contraction of the eyelids ! " " What is the remedy? " Neptune would ask. " My usual treatment, sire," would be the response. Then would come a dose of dope, a rub of hair oil, a shave and a toss over into the tank to the hungry bears. Souse, souse, souse again would follow, and when the vic- tim came to the surface each time he would send up a stream of water from his mouth that resembled the spouting of a whale. Those who were waiting for their duckings would shout with the members of Neptune's party. Officers crowded to the front of the bridge and the midshipman who was using the stadimeter to get the proper distance in formation had the hardest day of his life trying to keep his eye on the flagship. " Pass 'em up quick ! " shouted Neptune. Dr. Flip would diagnose a case as " Fatty degeneration of the shinbone, sire," and the usual remedy would be pre- scribed. Over the victim went into the tank. Dr. Flip would then, announce a case: 80 miTK THE BATTLE FLEET " Palpitation of the hair, sire. You can see for your- self how it is shaking." " Let him have the prescribed treatment," was the order. Dr. Flip then announced a case of " f olderols in the right ear, sire." " Soak it to him good ! " was the command. Dr. Flip then had a case of " tickduUerous." Similar treatment. All diseases looked alike to Neptune. " Bunions ! " was the next report of Dr. Flip. " Poultice his hair good. It draws 'em up. Then saw off his leg at the knee," was the remedy prescribed for the bunion ailment. Dr. Flip brought out the saws with vile looking teeth. The two doctors sawed away. " By cracky ! sire, I can't cut it off," reported Dr. Flip. " Give him an extra dousing ! " ordered his Majesty. Dr. Flip next reported a case of toothache. "What do the Revised Statutes say.-"" asked Neptune. " Beg pardon," said Dr. Flip, " that is in the phar- macopoeia." "Well, what does the farm — whatever it is — say?" roared Neptune. " Gargle, sire," said Dr. Flip ; " the fumes kill the pain." The victim got the gargle treatment. " Mullygrubs in his back, sire," was the next from Dr. Flip. A lambasting with stuffed clubs was the extra treat- ment for that, in addition to the ducking. Then came a strange case, that of a youngster who spends his spare time on board studying mathematics in the hope of getting higher in the service. Dr. Flip went over him with great care. He got out bottles and pills and saws NEPTUNE AHOY! 81 and bandages and plasters. The crowd could see that it was a most serious case. Dr. Flap was called in consultation. The books were produced and the symptoms were pondered over with many grave shakes of the head. At last Dr. Flip made the right diagnosis. " 'E's got the hypotenuse rampant," he shouted. " My, my! I am astonished that a surgeon of the established reputation of Dr. Wentworth of the United States Navy, sire, should let all these ailments that we have here to-day escape 'im, sire," shouted Dr. Flip. " Send for Dr. Wentworth ! " roared Neptune. Dr. Wentworth came. He told Neptune that he had been a royal subject of his for more than twenty years. Nep softened a bit at that, and then said he was glad to see him again, but how about these strange ailments.'' Why had he not cured them ? Dr. Wentworth is a man of tact, great tact, and he ex- plained that the ailments occurred nowhere else than in Neptune's domain and, therefore, he thought it was best to have them treated by Neptune's own specialists who were familiar with the newest developments and the best treat- ment. While the initiations were going on Neptune ordered this message semaphored to Admiral Evans, the Commander in Chief: Admiral B. D. Evans, U. S. Atlantic Fleet. I am happy to inform you that your son and the son of the cap- tain of your noble flagship have this day declared their allegiance as my loyal subjects. Neptune Rex. 8a WITH THE BATTLE FLEET Lieuts. F. T. Evans and H. W. Osterhaus are attached to the Louisiana and occasionally they have to take a good deal of chaffing and no favors when an " unofficial mes- sage " from " father " comes over the signals. This was the reply that Neptune received from the flagship: Neptwne Rex: We are delighted that our sons are at last real sailors. They have served a long time. Soak 'em, boys 1 Etanb and Osterhaus. Young Evans and young Osterhaus were soaked all right. The initiation ceremonies were kept boiling all the time. Occasionally a sea lawyer, one with an established reputa- tion as such among the crew, would come up. He was asked if he wanted to argue his case. Not one of them did. " Give it to him good," Neptune would shout. And they did. The rest of the crew understood the significance of the extra ducking and howls of glee resulted. The sea lawyers usually had to be helped out of the tank. Now and then a man would lose his temper when he got into the tank. Small mercy for him! He would drag a bear under the water with him. Forthwith half a dozen bears would go to the rescue of their companion, and in the res- cue that man who had dragged the bear under would think he was going to kingdom come before he got a breath of air. Oh, it didn't pay to be fresh in that salt water ! The ceremonies were half over when there came the un- foreseen. A victim came up with a peculiar glitter in his eye. Dr. Flip saw it and diagnosed the case as " extremis mortuis of the right optic." The diagnosis was correct. NEPTUNE AHOY! 83 for, catching Dr. Flip in a favorable position, the victim toppled Dr. Flip over into the tank himself. " Flip is taking a flap ! " shouted the crowd. The bears fell on Dr. Flip, thinking he was a new arrival, and he got such a sousing as few who preceded him had received. He lost his glasses, but when he clambered back upon the platform he called out : " Next case ! " as if nothing un- usual had happened. Long before the initiation was over the policemen had roused the excitement of Sally Ann, who was perched in the rigging over the bridge, watching the strange per- formance, as they ran about the ship chasing culprits who tried to escape. Each succeeding arrest stirred her up more and more, and she shrieked out her grief in unearthly yells. One of the bluejackets had to gather her in his arms and stroke her head and talk soothingly to her before she would be comforted. Another thing that pleased Neptune and the bluejackets was the appearance of an enormous guU, a " goney bird," they called it, that hovered over the initiation ceremonies for more than an hour, turning and twisting its head and giving out strange calls. Where the bird came from no one saw. The ship was 300 miles out to sea. No other bird of the kind was in sight. It was the sailor's omen of good luck. When the bird alighted in the rigging a cheer went up. That sealed the matter of good luck and then the bird flew oflF to the other ships and watched the cere- monies there. So hour after hour the initiation went on until the last man had been rounded up and Neptune pronounced the 84. WITH THE BATTLE FLEET day's work well done. He sent this signal to Admiral Evans : The Commander-m-CMef, U. B. Atlantic Fleet. I have to inform the Commander-in-Chief that I have completed the ceremonies on board the good ship Louisiana, will haul down my standard and take my departure. The Commander-in-Chief will ac- cept my best wishes for himself, oflScers and men of the United States Atlantic fleet for a most pleasant voyage, and may all the royal subjects meet again. Neptunus Rex, Ruler of the Royal Domain. Neptune then retreated into the fo'c'sle for refreshment and remained there until darkness came. Then a barrel filled with oakum and oil and tar was set on fire and put afloat. It sailed away in the night. It was " Neptune's boat," and he was going back to his royal domains. After he had gone certificates duly, signed and embel- lished with mermaids and sea urchins and starfish and ropes, with an octopus for a background and a picture of Nep- tune rising from the sea at the top and with the ship's seal affixed to bits of red, white and blue ribbon, were presented to all hands. Never again will a man who can show one of them have to take a dousing and barbering with suit- able medical treatment on crossing the line. The certificates read: Domain op NEPnrircs Rex, RtTLER OF THE RagINO MaIIT. To all Sailors, wherever ye may be, and to all Mermaids, Sea Ser- pents, Whales, Sharks, Porpoises, Dolphins, Skates, Eels, Suckers, Lobsters, Crabs, Pollywogs and other living things of the sea. Gbeetino: Know ye that on this 6th day of January, 1908, in latitude 00,000 and longitude 37°, 11', W., there appeared within the limits of Our Royal Domain the U. S. S. Louisiana, bound southward for the Straits of Magellan and Pacific ports. NEPTUNE AHOY! 85 BE IT EEMEMBERED Tliat the Vessel and Officers and Crew thereof have been inspected and passed on by Ourself and Our Royal Staff. And be it KNOwsr: By all ye Sailors, Marines, Landlubbers and others who may be honored by his Presence that JOHN DOE having been found worthy to be numbered as one of oitr lErrsTT SHELLBACKS, has been gathered to our fold and duly initiated into the SOLEMN MYSTERIES OP THE ANCIENT ORDER OF THE DEEP. Be it further understood: That by virtue of the power invested in me I do hereby command all my subjects to show due honor and respect to him whenever he may enter Our Realm. DISOBEY this ORDER UNDER PENALTY OF OUR ROYAL DISPLEASURE. Given under our hand and seal this sixth day of January, 1908. Neptunus Rex..., Davy Jones, His Majesty's Scribe. [Seal of the Louisiana.] CHAPTER V brazil's enthusiastic welcome Never Before Did American Ships Have Such a Welcome — The Visit a Continual Exchange of Prisoners Made by Friendship — Americans Found it Easy to Sail Into This Bay of aU Delights, but Very Hard to Sail Out — Jack Had a Fine Time Ashore and Behaved Properly — More Than 4,000 of Him on Liberty at One Time — OfScial Welcome Sincere, and That of the People From the Heart — Vice Admiral's Salutes Greeted Evans. On Board U. S. S. Louisiana, U. S. Battle Fleet, Rio Janeiro, Jan. 22. IN describing the arrival, reception and stay of the American fleet in this port, the impulse is almost irre- sistible to use superlatives. There can be no error of judgment or of taste in employing the comparative de- gree, for strict accuracy compels the assertion that never was an American fleet greeted more cordially and never entertained more elaborately in a foreign port than in this port, the " Bay of All Beauties," and in this city, fast be- coming the Paris of the Western Hemisphere. The greetings were unmistakably of the heart. They were far more than official expressions of esteem. It was our old familiar friend of the North, the Vox Populi, that spoke, and no levity is intended when that expression is used. The people acclaimed the fleet and that aspect was so overwhelming, so constant, so omnipresent that it 86 BRAZIL'S ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME 87 dwarfed everything else. No foreign port and no Ameri- can port ever saw so many American bluejackets ashore in ten days ; no foreign port ever opened its arms more freely to American sailors of high and low degree. The reception of the fleet was a decided surprise. The officers were confident that the welcome would be cordial, that the expressions of politeness customary on such occa- sions would ring true, that the entertainments would be in keeping with the situation. No one doubted that Brazil would do the handsome thing. It was expected that the officials would exert themselves to say pleasing things and provide receptions and dinners, and would exchange calls and observe punctiliously all the niceties that international courtesy demands. But no one expected what might be called strictly an uprising of the people, and the bestowal of that fiction of official receptions in a foreign port, known as the freedom of the city, in such a manner as to turn fiction into fact. It seemed to be true and undoubtedly was true that the Americans captured Rio, took it by storm, if you please; it did not seem to be true but was true that Rio captured the Americans from Admirals down to coal passers. From the hour of arrival to the hour of departure it was a con- stant, an incessant exchange of friendship's prisoners. Without this the American fleet could never have sailed away, and the fears expressed in the United States when the fleet left on its cruise that it might never come back as a unit or in parts would have been realized. It was easy as a matter of seamanship to sail into Rio harbor. It was as hard a job as any American Admiral ever tackled, as a matter of parting with friends, to sail 88 .WITH THE BATTLE FLEET out. Any, American President who may order a fleet of battleships into this harbor in the future should take that matter into serious consideration. The Americans do not want to lose their battleships. Prudence requires caution hereafter in running risks with Brazilian hospitaUty. It was about 9 o'clock on Sunday morning, January 12, when the fleet passed Cape Frio, seventy-five miles to the east of Rio. Far back on the hiUs is a signal station. It used the international code and the flags that snapped in the breeze said: " Welcome, American fleet ! " " Sounds pretty good," said a signal oiEcer. Then came the Yankton, which had been sent on ahead to meet Admiral Evans and inform him of the plans for anchoring and receptions and the like. Just before noon three Bra- zilian warships were observed about a dozen miles out from Rio. On they came and bugles were sounded and rails manned and salutes exchanged. One, two, three, and so on, went the guns of the Brazilian cruiser that led the two torpedo boats. One by one the reports were counted care- fully, as is always the case on a warship. Thirteen were boomed out and then came another and another and then a stop. It was a Vice-Admiral's salute. Instantly the query ran through the fleet: Has Ad- miral Evans been promoted? The wiseacres were not de- ceived. They said that the Brazilians reasoned that the Commander-in-Chief of any fleet the size of this should be a Vice-Admiral, and that the Brazilians were taking no chances in not being sufliciently polite to cover any con- tingency. Soon the mountains immediately surrounding the beau- BRAZIL'S ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME 89 tiful harbor came into view. A dozen steam launches had ventured outside. Then came the careful evolutions of getting into exact column for entering the harbor. The day was beautiful, old Sugar Loaf and Corcovado and all the other peaks seemed to be standing up with the dignity of stiff salutes, and then came a peep into the nar- row entrance of the harbor. The place was alive with small boats. The signal stations were all aflutter with welcome flags. Slowly the Connecticut led the way and, when just be- yond old Fort Santa Cruz on the eastern side, boomed a salute to the port. From a little rock all smoothed off and fairly polished, given up entirely to a fort, Ville- gagnon, came the answering salute. Instantly the whis- tles of hundreds of craft were set loose and tied down. No American has ever heard such a shrieking of vessels ex- cept at the international yacht races off Sandy Hook. The noise at Sandy Hook was greater because the number of boats about was greater ; that's the only reason. How-de- do and welcome came from big and little craft all loaded down with people in their Sunday best, if they have such things down here. Parenthetically it may be remarked that judging from the way the women dress for street wear every day is Sunday with them in the matter of clothes. There were half a dozen boat crews out in eight-oared barges. Launches, rowboats, steamers, ferryboats, sailing craft of all kinds were just inside the harbor entrance. Soon magnificent Botafoga Bay unfolded itself with that wonderfully beautiful long reach of avenue, Bairo- Mar, running four miles in a crescent from the heart of the city, toward Sugar Loaf, all set out in artistic land- 90 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET scape treatment. It was black with the people. Then the fleet approached the city proper. With a glass one could make out that the hills, the houses, the waterfront were black with the people. As Vice-Admiral Maurity after- ward said in a speech: " The whole of the population of Rio, of all ages, chiefly belonging to the fair sex, could not avoid going out of their houses to crowd the neighborhoods of the harbor, the hills and islands around it, and all other points of view from the city of Rio and the Nictheroy's side, in order to greet the passage of the American fleet and to better appre- ciate the interesting display of her manceuvres." Moreover, the population had been waiting there prac- tically for two days. The fleet was scheduled to come in on Saturday. All of Saturday and far into the night tens of thousands had waited upon the hills and waterfronts. They were back, we were told, early on Sunday morn- ing and they blackened and whitened the entire city. The American ofiicers were almost dumfounded. What does it all mean, was the general inquiry. On steamed the Connecticut, and it was discovered that there was a German cruiser, the Bremen, in the harbor. More salutes ! By the way, it may be remarked that Admiral Evans got the Rear Admiral's salute inside the harbor, the proper one that his two-starred flag requires. He got another Vice- Admiral's salute — and many persons thought it was a delicate hint to the United States — when the Italian cruiser Puglia came in a day or two later and gave him fifteen guns. When the ships anchored in four lines opposite the cen- tral part of the city, the Brazilian ships, about a dozen of BRAZIL'S ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME 91 them, were anchored inside. Pratique was granted within half an hour of the time of the anchoring, which required some slow manoeuvring in order to reach the exact posi- tions. No official calls were made that night because it was well after 6 o'clock when the last anchor was down, and it was Sunday. The populace thronged the waterfront, in some places ten deep, until after dark, and then the Brazilian ships illuminated in honor of the fleet. Fireworks were set off from the hilltops. Still the people stayed on the water- front. Up to midnight they could be seen in thousands. They were there when daylight came ; if not the same ones, then a fresh relay. From that day on until the ships left there never was an hour when the waterfront, especially of the city proper, was not thronged with the people looking at the ships. The far famed Bay of Rio! What shall be said about it? Travellers and guide books have told of its beauties without ceasing. Every well-informed person knows that it is regarded as the finest in the world, that even Naples is dwarfed in these descriptions in comparison. It is worth while to recount its glories again, especially as it revealed itself to naval men. The writer knows of no better naval twist to give to such a description than was written by Herman Melville, who entered this bay on the United States frigate United States way back in 1843, and who has described the scene in his fascinating book "White Jacket." Nature is still the same. Old Sugar Loaf, the liberty capped Corcovado, hterally the hunchback, the Organ Mountains and all the other peaks still rear their heads as they did then and en- 99 (WITH THE BATTLE FLEET circle Rio. Here is what Melville wrote from a naval standpoint : " Talk not of Bahia de Todos os Santos, the Bay of All Saints, for though that be a glorious haven, yet Rio is the Bay of all Rivers, the Bay of all Delights, the Bay of all Beauties. From circumjacent hillsides untiring sum- mer hangs perpetually in terraces of vivid verdure, and embossed with old mosses convent and castle nestle in valley and glen. " All around deep inlets run into the green mountain land, and overhung with wild highlands more resemble Loch Katrine than Lake Leman, yet here in Rio both the loch and the lake are but two wild flowers in a prospect that is almost unlimited. For behold, far away and away stretches the broad blue of the water to yonder soft swell- ing hills of light green, backed by the purple pinnacles and pipes of the grand Organ Mountains fitly so-called, for in thunder time they roll cannonades down the bay, drowning the blended bass of all the cathedrals in Rio. " Archipelago Rio, ere Noah on old Ararat anchored his ark, there lay anchored in you all these green rocky isles I now see, but God did not build on you, isles, those long lines of batteries, nor did our blessed Saviour stand godfather at the christening of you, you frowning fortress of Santa Cruz, though named in honor of Himself, the divine Prince of Peace. " Amphitheatrical Rio ! in your broad expanse might be held the Resurrection and Judgment Day of the whole world's men-o'-war, represented by the flagships of fleets — the flagships of the Phoenician armed galleys of Tyre and Sidon; of King Solomon's annual squadrons that BRAZIL'S ENTIiUSIASTiC WELCOME 93 sailed to Ophir, whence in aftertimes, perhaps, sailed the Acapulco fleets of the Spaniards, with golden ingots for ballasting ; the flagships of all the Greek and Persian craft that exchanged the warhug at Salamis; of all the Roman and Egyptian galleys that, eaglelike, with blood dripping prows, beaked each other at Actium; of all the Danish keels of the Vikings; of all the mosquito craft of Abba Thule, King of the Pelaws, when he went to vanquish Artin- sall ; of all the Venetian, Genoese and Papal fleets that came to shock at Lepanto ; of both horns of the Spanish Armada ; of the Portuguese squadron that under the gallant Gama chastised the Moors and discovered the Moluccas; of all the Dutch navies led by Van Tromp and sunk by Admiral Hawke; of the forty-seven French and Spanish sail-of-the- line that for three months essayed to batter down Gibral- tar; of all Nelson's seventy-fours that thunderbolted off St. Vincent's, at the Nile, Copenhagen and Trafalgar; of all the frigate merchantmen of the East India Company ; of Perry's war brigs, sloops and schooners that scattered the British armament on Lake Erie; of all the Barbary corsairs captured by Bainbridge; of the war canoes of Polynesian Kings, Tamma-hammaha and Pomare — ay, one and aU, with Commodore Noah for their Lord High Admiral, in this abounding Bay of Rio might all come to anchor and swing round in concert to the first of the flood. " Rio is a small Mediterranean, and what was fabled of the entrance to that sea, in Rio is partly made true, for here at the mouth stands one of Hercules's Pillars, the Sugar Loaf Mountain, 1,000 feet high, inclining over a little like the leaning tower of Pisa. At its base crouch hke mastiffs the batteries of Jose and Theodosia, while opposite 94 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET you are menaced by a rock bounded fort. The channel be- tween — the sole inlet to the bay — seems but a biscuit's toss over, you see naught of the landlocked sea within until fairly in the strait. But then what a sight is beheld! Diversified as the harbor of Constantinople, but a thousand- fold grander. When the Neversink (the frigate United States) swept in word was passed, 'Aloft, topmen! and furl t '-gallant sails and royals ! ' At the sound I sprang into the rigging and was soon at my perch. How I hung over that main royal yard in a rapture! High in air, poised over that magnificent bay, a new world to my rav- ished eyes. I felt like the foremost of a flight of angels new lighted upon earth from some star in the Milky Way." Few men on this fleet felt the rapture that Melville des- cribed so poetically, but every one felt a thrill. Had Mel- ville lived to more recent times he might have included the fleet of Farragut and Porter, of the Austrians and Italians, of the Russians and Japanese, of the Spanish, in that mighty roll call of the ressurrection of fleets of the world, for surely there is room for all. For twenty miles up there is deep water in the bay, and hiding places too among the 365 islands, one for every day in the year, that stud the waters. Santa Cruz and all the other forts Melville mentions are still there and a dozen more besides, most of them inside the harbor, built, as one grim fighter on the American fleet said, more for use against domestic than foreign foes. The very situation of those forts spells out fear of revolution, but that's another matter. The next morning after arrival came the unfolding of Rio to the visitors. Even those who had visited the place BRAZIL'S ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME 95 before had shaken their heads solemnly about it. The scenery all about is grand, they said, wonderful, but the city itself — well, hands were raised in deprecation, nostrils di- lated, followed by a sad shake of heads. Didn't the guide books tell you it was a foul, ill smelling place.'' Wasn't it a matter of course that the city would be reeking with yellow fever in this its midsummer time? The officials told the fleet officers that there was no yellow fever in the place. Polite expressions of surprise with surreptitious nudges behind the back! They said that the city had been transformed in the last four years, was well paved and beautified and they expressed the hope that the Americans would like it. More expressions of polite surprise and assurances that the city always was at- tractive, with more nudges behind the back. And then when the officials went back to shore didn't the officers make a dive for the ships' libraries and read facts, real facts, mind you, about the place.? Didn't W. E. Curtis write this about Rio : " Viewed from the deck of a ship in the harbor the city of Rio looks like a fragment of fairyland — a cluster of alabaster castles decorated with vines; but the illusion is instantly dispelled upon landing, for the streets are narrow, damp, dirty, reeking with repulsive odors and filled with vermin covered beggars and wolfish looking dogs. There is now and then a lovely little spot where nature has dis- played her beauties unhindered and the environs of the city are filled with the luxury of tropical vegetation; but there are only a few fine residences, a few pleasant prome- nades, and a few clusters of regal palms which look down upon the filth and squalor of the town with dainty indif- 96 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET ference. The palm is the peacock of trees. Nothing can degrade it, and the filth in which it often grows only serves to heighten its beauty. The pavements are of the rough- est cobblestone; the streets are so narrow that scarcely a breath of air can enter them, and the sunshine cannot reach the pools of filth that steam and fester in the gutters, breeding plagues." There are half a dozen descriptions such as that, some of them as recent as 1900. Oh, yes, the Americans knew what kind of a city they were going to see. Hadn't some of them been here before.'' Didn't some of the surgeons on the fleet shake their heads gravely when it was signalled from the flagship that there would be general liberty? What did the Americans find.? This is part of what the Americans saw ; it would take pages to tell it all : They saw one of the cleanest and best paved cities in the world. New York in the Waring days never had cleaner streets. There was not a foul smell in evidence. There was even no West street or South street odor along the waterfront. Where the streets were not of asphalt they were of wood. There were no beggars on the highways ; at any rate the Sun's correspondent did not see one, and he spent hours ashore every day. The old part of town still has its narrow streets, the chief of which, Ouvridor, is about half as wide as Nassau street and which no vehicles are permitted to enter. But the great surprise of all was the magnificent Central ave- nue, built within the last four years right through the heart of the city from north to south, just as Napoleon built highways in Paris, connecting at the south with the BRAZIL'S ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME 9i ■great sweeping shore boulevards, where the beautiful Mon- roe Palace stands. This new avenue rivals anything that Paris can show. It is about 120 feet wide, with sidewalks fifteen feet broad. In the centre are lofty lights on artistic poles, each group set in a little isle of safety filled with flowers and grasses and plants. The architecture along the avenue is harmo- nious throughout. The effect is imposing and makes a New Yorker think. But those sidewalks! It is mighty fortunate for New York that she has none like them. If she had, the psycho- pathic ward in Bellevue would have to be enlarged ten times over for the patrons of the Great White Way. They are big mosaics, composed of small pieces of black and white granite. The black pieces are used for orna- mentation. Every block has a different design. Some have zigzags, others curves and curlycues, others dragons and starfish (at least they resemble such), others swing here and there; others are straight, until you feel that all you need is a brass band to make you march ; others take you in swoops this way and that ; arrows and daggers point them- selves at you; bouquets in stone attract you until you almost feel that you want to stoop to get a whiff ; but the predominant feeling is that the designs were sunk for sail- ors to roll back to the ship on, heaving to occasionally for bearings; or for intoxicated men to take another tack in the hope of finding a shorter way. One of the bluejackets hit this particular " beach " one afternoon after he had been drinking too much. He stopped short and called to his mate, a few feet away : 98 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET "Bill, come here! Take me away! What do I see? Look at 'em ! Snakes ? Yes, they are snakes ! I got 'em ! Hit that big feller on the head ! It's the brig far me when I get back. Take me away, Bill ! Think o' the disgrace o' gettin' the jimjams in a foreign port. Bowery, booze f er me after this ! Take me away, Bill f 'Tain't snakes ? Honest.'' Jes' sidewalk? 'Ray for Brazil!" Then the bluejacket got on his knees and felt to make sure it was " jes' sidewalk " while a crowd of Brazilians gathered around and some of them thought Yankee sailors either had queer ways of investigation or of making their devotions under the effect of libations and smiled, and in Portuguese told Bill and Tom they were good fellows. As one went to the south on this Central avenue he came upon the nearly finished municipal theatre, one of the handsomest playhouses in the world and probably the larg- est in the western hemisphere. Then came the new pub- lic library and other Federal and municipal buildings that are being erected back of old Castello Hill, where the first settlers squatted, and the remains of their huddled manner of living still present themselves to the eye. And then one came to the white Renaissance pile, the strikingly beaut- iful Monroe Palace, named after our own Monroe, whose famous doctrine is woven into the woof and warp of the Brazilian institutions. The building is segregated and is at the very gate of the great boulevard system fronting on the bay. It is conspicuous from the harbor. Brazil's flag — the green field, representing luxuriant vegetation; the yellow dia- mond, representing the gold and other mineral wealth; the broad, banded globe of blue in the centre, representing BRAZIL'S ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME 99 the dominion of Brazil, with one star above the equator for its single State in the northern hemisphere, and other stars in the south portraying the southern States, and also the famous constellation of the Southern Cross at a certain significant date in the year — the Brazilian flag flew from the dome and on each corner were large American flags. This palace is where the Pan-American Congress met, where Secretary Root made a profound impression in his address. Next to Roosevelt the name of Root is foremost on the lips of Brazilians. His visit made the deepest im- pression here. It is still talked of, even on the highways. That visit, the Monroe Palace and the visit of this fleet are bound to be felt for years in the expressions of genuine international friendship of various kinds which will be made between the two great republics of the North and South. Then one saw the boulevard system. Again one must repress himself. It is safe to say that no city in the world has anything like it, that no avenue or highway is more beautiful and imposing. One might combine the beauties of the waterfront of Naples and Nice or of any spot in the Riviera with those of the Shore Drive of New York's Narrows and Riverside Drive and Lafayette Boulevard In New York, and still they could not compare with this beau- tifully ornamented stretch of boulevard that curves about the bright blue bay. Illuminated with thousands of lights at night the effect from the harbor is that of a long crescent of diamonds flashing upon the forehead of the bay. No one who has ever seen this highway of miles with its palatial dwellings fronting upon it and set back against the hills can ever 100 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET forget it. It wasn't here when Melville wrote, but triily it makes the city Amphitheatrical Rio ! Then the Americans began to wander about the city. The narrow streets in the business district are like those of Havana and many other cities of people of Latin de- scent. Through this part of town run httle mule propelled tramways with the narrow rails so close to the sidewalks that when the tram is crowded to the side steps there is danger of sweeping the passengers off by passing pedestrians. The visitors saw the cafes, real cafes, where the principal drink is coffee, " strong as the devil, as black as ink, as hot as hell and as sweet as love." Some of the Americans liked the coffee, but the wise ones confined their drinking to limeades. Then the visitors saw the many crowded cinematograph shows, the crowded shops, the powdered, and what Americans would call over- dressed women, the panorama of the highways, the news- boys, the hundreds of lottery shops. But above all else they noted the clean condition of things. They asked if it was a sudden spurt of cleanHness and were told that it was not. They asked how about these new streets and the extensive, harmonious and com- prehensive building that is going on. It was declared to be part of a broad policy that has been in progress for four or five years, part of a plan to make Rio one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a plan to make it fit the magnificent surroundings which nature has provided for it. American opinion was aU summed up in this general expression : " As handsome a city as I ever saw." It was when the bluejackets went ashore that the Ameri- 7 ' ^' o s BRAZIL'S ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME 101 cans began to realize what Brazil's welcome really meant. The boys landed with a whoop and began to scatter. Sailorlike some of them headed for the saloons, but the people expected that and were surprised that more of them didn't fall by the wayside. Most of the men, however, went in for rational enjoyment. They crowded the post card emporiums, they bought fruit and trinkets, they piled on the tramways and went any old place so long as it was somewhere. They filled the streets, the cinematograph places. Yes, they hired automobiles and rode about like nabobs to the astonishment of the natives, who must have wondered at the princely wages the United States paid its men. They went to the best restaurants and hotels. Everywhere they were welcomed. " English spoken here " was a frequent sign. They were even allowed to loll on the grass of the many beautiful parks, an act that costs a native a fine of from five to fifteen milreis. They were respectful to all, but they had a commanding way about them that took. They owned the town ; they knew it, but did not attempt to take the slightest advantage of it. As the days went by and one saw the behavior of these bluejackets his American heart was filled with pride over them. They were clean, intelligent, manly, open, as fine a brand of sailor as ever wore a uniform, obeyed an order or sported their money lavishly in a foreign port. The first thing that greeted the eye of every man who landed at the beautiful park that used to be an eyesore in the central part of the waterfront was a big sign reading : " Information Bureau for American Seamen." It was an information bureau, a real one. It was the 102 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET most useful kind of a welcome ever provided In a foreign port for the sailors of any people. The American and English residents, aided by those of other countries, had been busy preparing for weeks for the visit of Jack ashore. Every safeguard, every assistance that was possible to make his liberty comfortable, profitable, enjoyable was looked after. It took hard cash to do it, but the money was raised and it amounted to thousands of dollars. In the first place, the ferry company to Nictheroy set apart a large room in its commodious new building. Counters were put up for information booths, postal card booths, exchange of money, sale of various kinds of tickets for things with guides by the score and attendants anxious to answer all kinds of questions. Men and women worked there from twelve to fourteen hours a day for ten days in the stifling heat, all.eager to be of assistance to Jack ashore. A pamphlet was provided giving a map of the city and displaying all the chief places of interest. Full informa- tion was printed about everything that a man bent on ra- tional enjoyment could desire. The pamphlets told all about transportation, about the places to see, about postage and the many general and special excursions that had been planned. Jack soon found it out and he rushed there in throngs. He found long tablfs in the room with free writing paper, ink, pens, mucilage, and down he sat to write to sweetheart or wife. Then he went to change his money. Here he struck a snag. A dollar is worth 3,S00 reis. One of the sailors got a $10 note changed. He received in exchange 32,000 reis. He was astonished. " Here, fellers ! ".he shouted, " I got 32,000 reis for $10. BRAZIL'S ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME 103 Gee, whiz! Me for Wall Street! When kin I get a steamer home, mister? Holy Moses! I've got rich and I didn't know it." Jack found out quickly that he wasn't rich, for Rio is just now fairly oppressed with enormously high prices, due, it is said, to paying heavy taxes for all the improve- ments that have been going on. He found that he had to pay 300 reis for an ordinary postage stamp, 400 reis for a glass of limeade, about 800 reis for a handkerchief or a collar, and as for a bottle of beer, that was good for a thousand reis or so, and the money began to melt quickly. But what did Jack care.'' It was an automobile for him, or something equally expensive. What's the use of being an American man-o'-war's man if you can't act like a mil- lionaire for an hour or so in a foreign port.-' When the money was changed Jack found out the full value of these self-sacrificing men and women who had done so much for his comfort. He got a fair exchange for his money and wasn't robbed. This committee had provided him with guides to all sorts of places free of charge, had made up excursion parties all over the city and the surrounding country, had provided rubbernecks — and how Jack did grin when he saw the familiar things — carriages, special trams and what not ; had provided for the sale of meal tickets, the best postal cards, had co- operated with the poHce to look for stragglers. Well, Jack smiled and smiled, and he knew he was in the hands of his friends. The Prefect of the city, Gen. Souza Aguiar, was chairman of the committee, and all the lead- ing Americans and EngHshmen joined in. Especially ac- tive was the acting Consul-General of the United States, 104.' WITH THE BATTLE FLEET J. J. Slechta, and Myron A. Clark, the Y. M. C. A. sec- retary. The Y. M. C. A. here is affiliated with the Sands street branch in Brooklyn. The placards told Jack all about it, and the first thing he asked was if Miss Gould had helped to pay the expenses. He was told that she had not, because she had probably not been informed about it. He answered invariably: " Betch'r sweet life she would if she'd known about it. 'Ray for Helen Gould!" Here is a summary of what work was done for our sailors by this bureau in ten days : Eight thousand sheets of paper and 5,000 envelopes pro- vided free of charge, 21,000 guides to the city printed and circulated, about 175,000 postage stamps sold, nearly 2,000 meal tickets sold, 3,500 special excursions provided, these in addition to the many general excursions; about $175,000 exchanged at the lowest possible rates, about 170,000 post cards sold, about 2,000 automobile trips ar- ranged. So Jack and all the others of the fleet went sightseeing. They went to Petropolis, the summer capital, with its tem- perate climate, in the tropics, and only twenty-two miles away, up back of the Organ Mountains. You climb the heights on a cog railroad, just as you climb Pike's Peak, and you see the magnificent views of valleys, the bay, the ra- vines and gulches that would do credit to the Rocky Moun- tains, Jack and his mates went to Corcovado in throngs, starting on trolleys that crossed the famous old aqueduct back of the hills right in the city and climbed on and up around the city for miles with scarce a hundred feet of straight track. Then they took the steep cog railroad, BRAZIL'S ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME 105 and after a time found themselves poised on the peak 2,300 feet above the city, with this place of 800,000 inhabitants and its bay and the sea all spread out before them in prob- ably the most fascinating panorama that the world pre- sents. They visited the wonderful botanical garden, with its magnificent avenue of royal palms and its flower beds, its trees, its ferns, a truly royal place. One of the young officers told what he thought of this garden when he said : " When I get married I am going to come down here and march up that mile of palms for the aisle in God's church. It will be the finest setting for the finest bride in the world. The newspapers needn't take the trouble to mention the bridegroom's name. That of the bride linked with the majestic aisle will be sufficient." And so one might go on and on into raptures and ex- travagant expressions. The people's gracious mood matched their city and the visitors were simply overwhelmed with hospitality on every side. The sailors grew to the situation. Day by day there were fewer signs of too much drinking. Occasionally a man or two would overstep the bounds, but the authorities saw to it that the Americans handled their own men In that condition. Only one Incident marred the visit, and it was a pity that any mention of it was cabled to the United States. After that had been done it was necessary to send the truth and correct misapprehension. It was on the first night of liberty. It was merely a saloon brawl. A native negro had a row with another and threw a bottle at him. The second dodged it and the bottle struck one of our seamen at a table and hurt him. He got after the negro, who 106 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET escaped. Back the negro came with a razor and fell upon the first bluejacket he saw. Several of the best petty officers on one of the ships jumped in to quell the disturbance. The rabble thought they jumped in to fight. Stones were thrown and three of the peacemakers were hurt. The local police didn't size up the situation and were slow to act. They arrested the negro, but let him go. After that they said it was a de- plorable blunder. Liberty was recalled at once and marines were sent ashore, but it was soon over, and the next morning at the request of the authorities 2,000 men were sent ashore instead of 1,000 daily as had been planned. The men were warned to conduct themselves properly, and to the everlasting credit of our American seamen it must be said they heeded the caution well. An illustration of what might have been occurred on the night of Sunday, January 19. Rival political clubs were parading about town carrying banners and flags and also giving cheers of " Vivan los Americanos ! " They invited a lot of bluejackets to join them. Not knowing what the parades meant, good natured Jack of course would go along. About twenty, of them joined each of two proces- sions and had the distinction of carrying the flags and hurrahing every other step. It was great fun. The naval officers on shore heard of what was going on and dashed up in automobiles. The Brazilians would not let their dear friends go and the officers had a hard time to get the men free. They at once obeyed instructions to scatter, and said they were simply having a good time with their new friends. BRAZIL'S ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME 107 Ten minutes later those two parades minus the blue- jackets came into a collision and there was quite severe rioting, with stone throwing and the use of knives and bludgeons. Had the bluejackets remained innocently with the parades they would have been in the thick of it and terrible reports would probably have been cabled to the United States of our sailors mixing in political affairs, probably instigating revolution and being most awful rioters. It was a narrow escape to get them away in time. By the end of the week so completely had good feeling been established that from 4,000 to 5,000 men were sent ashore on Sunday. It was the largest liberty party of American sailors ever known. New York never saw so many of our men ashore at one time. It made one proud of his country, and its men to see that party ashore. There were not twenty cases of drunkenness when the boys came home. Nothing could have been more cordial and warmhearted, more lavish, than the entertainments given in the name of the Brazilian Government. The one regret was that Ad- miral Evans, because of an attack of his recurrent malady, rheumatism, was unable to take part in them personally. Admiral Thomas took his place admirably. The tone of all the official greetings was that of undis- guised friendship. President Penna made it manifest on the first day when he met the officers at Petropolis. Then Vice-Admiral Cordovil Maurity voiced it in English on the top of Corcovado the next day, and perhaps it Is well to give his speech in full. Here it is as translated for the Ai^ef |<;ans : 108 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET Ladies, His Excellency Vice-Admiral the Minister of Marine, Gallant Admirals, Captains and officers of the Navy of the U. S. A., Gentlemen: In my character of Admiral of the Brazilian Navy, Chief of the General StaiF and Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet, as well as with the authority of an old sailor, who knows the rules of military and diplomatic pragmatic, I feel very happy in this moment, to speak to you, American sailors, in the name of my Government, of the Brazilian people and of my comrades of the National Navy, in order to salute and give the hearty welcome to Admiral R. Evans, the Commander-in-Chief, Admirals Charles Sperry, Charles Thomas and William Emory, the Captains, Officers and Crews of the powerful North American fleet that entered the day before yesterday in the harbour of Rio. I beg then to avail myself of this fine opportunity, when we are just gathered at the summit of Corcovado, at 800 metres above the level of the sea, to present the warmest demonstration of sym- pathy and friendship towards our brothers of the great Navy of the United States of America, as a general and sincere greeting spontaneously born from the core of the Brazilian's hearts. The real proof of this true assertion of mine you have just met during the solemn occasion of the triumphal entrance of your brilliant fleet, the most efficient naval strength, up to the present, that has ever been seen crossing this side of the Atlantic Ocean and getting into >vaters of the bay of Guanabara. Indeed, it was such an important naval scene, such a splendid maritime spectacle, that the whole of the population in Rio, of all ages, chiefly belonging to the fair sex could not avoid going out their houses to crowd the neighbourhoods of the harbour, the hills and islands around it, and all other points of view from the city of Rio and the Nictheroy side, in order to greet the passage of the American fleet and to better appreciate tlie interesting display of her manoeuvres. So, X may assure you, gentlemen, with my ex- perience of a sea man, that the splendor of the scenery just alluded to, in combination with the singular and natural beauties of the bay of Guanabara, in which you were fraternally received with open arms, by the mild people all classes of our society, was of the sort of those fairy things impossible to be described, written or spoken about. Yes, gentlemen, the peaceful commission of your fleet waving the Star spangled banner of the great Republic of the United States of BRAZIL'S ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME 109 America around this continent of ours and training the crews of her men-of-war across the largest and deepest oceans, is certainly an act of very right naval policy, chiefly on the behalf of order and dis- cipline of industry, labor and trade, of diplomacy and fraternal comity, and, at last, it means an exchange of civilisation amongst the peoples of the several countries of the young, immense and futurous continent of both Americas. Therefore, I raise my cup for the health and prosperity of the sister Navy of the United States of America, one of the mightiest and more illustrious of the world, whose sacred emblem in command and perfect sisterhood with ours, let God grant may float side by side — ever for ever and ever — for the benefit of universal peace and general comfort of mankind. President Penna again made the welcome plain when he said at his luncheon the day following to the Admirals and several Captains at Petropolis : The warm and fraternal welcome which the people of the capital of the republic have given to the American fleet which is now visit- ing us ought to prove how deep and sincere the sympathy and friend- ship which the Brazilian nation feels for its great and prosperous sister of North America. These are no fleeting or transitory sentiments, since they date from the hour of our birth as a nation and are ever growing in strength. Every day the bonds of friendship and of trade between the two nations are drawn closer. When the South American peoples proclaimed their independence, at that moment so fraught with misgivings and uncertainty as to the future, the young American republic gave them strength by solemnly declaring the intangible unity of the peoples of the new world through the declaration of their great President Monroe, whose name figures in history with brilliance as a statesman of great perception and of rare political foresight. The long and difficult voyage of the powerful fleet which to-day is the guest of Brazil, necessitating as it does the doubling of the American continent, is a fresh and splendid evidence of the un- equalled vigor and the extraordinary energy of the great power which is a friend of Brazil. With an expression of ardent and sincere wishes for the fortunate 110 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET ( continuation of the voyage of the friendly fleet I drink to ^e glo- rious American navy, to the prosperity of the republic' of the United States of America and to the personal happiness of its emi- nent chief, that great statesman, President Roosevelt. The Minister of Foreign Affairs added to all this in the great banquet given to the officers later in the Monroe Pal- ace when, after oifering a toast to President Roosevelt, he said: The ancient sympathies between the American and Brazilian navies, added to by these deeds of war, could not fail to be aug- mented, until the point they have attained by the beneficial force of the increasing approximation between the two friendly peoples. In Norfolk and Washington last year the unequivocal demonstrations made to our oflicers, which the American Government so expressly associated itself with, caused the Brazilian gratitude and indebted- ness ; and it is to-day with the greatest satisfaction that in the enter- tainments promoted by the Brazilian Government, by our navy, and by our society the people of Rio de Janeiro welcome the American sailors with the same spontaneous enthusiasm with which they saluted, in his memorable passage by this country, the eminent propagandist of peace and of continental concord, Mr. Root. Brazil is grateful for the visit of her Northern friends, arrived here in these powerful men of war, which, according to the fine expression of President Roosevelt, are messengers of friendship and good wiU, commissioned to celebrate with us the long continued and never to be broken amity and mutual helpfulness of the two great republics. I invite my countrymen here present to unite with me in the name of the Brazilian nation and its Government in a toast to the gallant American navy, an example of skill and military discipline, a model of devotion to their country, and a formidable guardian of the im- mense prestige of the Great Republic, the pride of the continent. The same thing was iterated and reiterated in hundreds of private dinner parties. It received its most vociferous expression on January 16 at a smoker given to the officers of the fleet at the Park Fluminense, an outdoor music hall BRAZIL'S ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME 111 with a mere roof covering and a stage, set in a garden. It was like the outdoor suburban amusement places in which St. Louis and other of our Western cities abound. Four bands of the ships were massed at the entrance to the pa- vilion. An immense American shield was lighted with electricity. The flags of Brazil and England and the United States were entwined. The place was reserved exclusively for American officers and their hosts. They had an unusually good vaudeville show and in the intervals our combined band played. Beer and cigars were served, and soon things began to warm up. When a medley of patriotic American airs was played the cheers began to rise. They could have been heard for blocks. Soon Annapolis songs and yells and shouts were being given. In the intermis- sions the place fairly rocked with the songs and yells of old days. Men who had been tablemates for months shook hands with one another as if they had just met after a prolonged separation. Speeches were going on at a dozen places at once. Then came the close. Our bands first played the Bra- zilian national hymn. What a job that is will be told later. A great outburst of cheers followed after every, man had ceased to stand at attention. The Brazilians were beside themselves with joy. Then came " God Save the King ! " Every one could sing that, and while standing at attention a mighty chorus of song rolled out. More fran- tic cheering! Then came " The Star Spangled Banner." Profound silence was observed to the last note. When the salute was finished a cyclone roar followed. Men jumped on m WITH THE BATTLE FLEET chairs and yelled and yelled. Hats went into the air. The Brazilians and English could not be contained. A score of men were on tables, each trying to take command of the occasion, each calling for three cheers for this person and that, for this country and that. None heard the others, but it was a grand acclaim of good fellowship and intense patriotism. One little Brazilian called for three cheers for President Roosevelt. The Sun man heard him because he was only two feet away. The cheers roUed out and the Brazilian thought he had taken the place by storm, and was as happy as a child, but the cheers were simply a part of all that was going up and meant for everybody and everything in the way of international friendship. It was a night that stirred one. And so the visit wore on, and it was a pretty tired crowd of guests and hosts before the finish came. Probably the weariest men on the ships were the bandmasters who strug- gled through the bars of the Brazilian national hymn. No disrespect is meant, but those Americans who are clam- oring for a new national hymn ought to hear what the Brazilians have to put up with and then rest themselves content for all time with what we have. In the first place the Brazilian hymn is so long that when you are playing it as a Brazilian warship passes the Brazilian gets out of hearing and almost out of sight before you finish. After a few struggles with the music the orders were given on some ships to shorten up if the other ship was out of hearing and save the wind of the players. Then too it is queer music. It goes hippety hop — it seems a combination of waltz and march, of anthem BRAZIL'S ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME 113 and jig. It may be music, but the writer of this is frank to say, that the Japanese national hymn, with its weird swoops and dives, curls and twists, seems like a gliding Strauss waltz compared with the Brazilian hymn. One of the bandmasters on the fleet complained that his men could not play it properly. " Musish no-a good," he said. " No ItaHan musish players. All come from Kalamazoo, bah ! " The Brazilians had hard struggles with the names of our warships. Minnesota, Louisiana and such were aU right, but Connecticut staggered them. They made almost as bad as a mess of it as when they pronounced the name of the High Life Club here or the Light and Power Company. The Brazilian name for the High Life Club is Higgle Leaffie Cloob. That of the Light and Power concern is Liggety Poor Companee. Let it go at that. The reader must imagine how they pronounced Connecticut, for it can't be put down on paper. The departure of the fleet bids fair to be even more spectacular than the one at Hampton Roads, only the powder and smoke, and the blare of the bands and all the rest of the show will be in honor of another President than our own. When the last gun has boomed it wiU mean not only good-by to President Penna and Brazil, but it will be the blackthroated response of 14,000 American sailors to Rio. The guns will declare Rio to be not only the City of All Delights but the City of All Hospitality. CHAPTER VI NATIONAL SALUTES AT SEA Unique Meeting of United States and Argentine Ships 300 Miles From Land — Grand Naval Spectacle — High Honors for Ad- miral Evans and Cordial Greetings for All His Men — Fine Dis- play of Seamanship on South American Vessels — Picturesque Incidents of the Voyage From Rio to the Most Southern City in the World — Nature Put on Mourning as the Farewells Were Said and Signalled at Brazil's Capital — The Man-o'-War Mail From Home. On Board U. S. S. Louisiana, U. S. Battle Fleet, PuNTA Arenas, Chile, Jan. 31. THE passage of the battle fleet from Rio to this the southernmost city of the world was marked by a marine spectacle unprecedented, so far as any one in this fleet can recall, in naval annals. A squadron of the Argentine navy came out hundreds of miles to greet our ships, and probably for the first time in the history of navies national salutes were fired upon the high seas. Squadrons and fleets have passed one another before time and time again, and honors have been exchanged, the flags of flag officers have been saluted, but after these courtesies have been finished they have gone their separate ways, all official proprieties having been observed. But this greeting was so unusual that Admiral Evans set a new naval fashion, and after his flag had been sa- 114. NATIONAL SALUTES AT SEA 115 luted — seventeen guns, by the way ; the number increases on the way around, and if the warships keep it up, each one giving the Rear Admiral more and more guns, he will soon be an Admiral of the fleet in the thundered judg- ment of other nations, no matter what action Congress may take — he ordered the salute of twenty-one guns for the Argentines. The Argentine ships gave full justification, for they had manned the rails on approaching our ships, an honor paid ordinarily only to the head of a nation. Admiral Evans met this unusual compliment by choosing to regard it as an honor to our nation, not a personal matter, and he fired twenty-one guns, to which the Argen- tine flagship responded at once. In addition to those honors the crews of the various ships cheered one another as they passed. It was all different from the accepted rule of fleets or squadrons in passing and it left a fine feeling. " I never saw sentiment carried so far in aU my naval experience," said one man who will soon have the right to hoist a two-starred Rear Admiral's flag. " Perhaps It was unusual, but it was impressive; it was impressive." Our fleet had no sooner reached Rio than Admiral Evans was informed that the Argentine ships would come out from Buenos Ayres to greet him on the way to Punta Arenas. Three days before sailing inquiries were made as to his probable course and the hour when he would be off the mouth of the River Plata. The information was cabled duly and our fleet held itself in readiness to do the proper and handsome thing for this unusual occasion. Saturday, January 85, was almost a wonder day at sea. The air, which had been accumulating a chill under cloudy skies and an eastern wind, became balmy and the sea was as 116 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET smooth as a pond. The sky remained overcast and the fleet had been running for three days practically by dead reckoning. Late on Saturday night the fleet overtook the tender Yankton and the " beef boats," Glacier and Culgoa. They were ordered to take their places with the fleet and when everybody, except those on watch went to sleep it was expected that the three smaller craft would be in their places in the morning. But the wise weather sharps who know this region sniiFed the air and said: " Weather breeder ! " Sure enough at daybreak a heavy sea began rolling across from the southern coast of Africa and the wind be- gan to blow. Before 7 o'clock the ships were plunging and making heavy weather of it. On the log books it was set down as a moderate gale. The waves sometimes were twenty-five feet high. The ships with quarter decks cut down were smothered with spray and solid water from time to time. The ships rolled very little — never in the strong- est gale have the ships of the Connecticut class at least had their tables racks in place — but they yawed and dipped, as all ships in heavy weather are expected to do. The Yankton and Culgoa were not in sight. The weather had been too much for the little Yankton and she was ordered to slow down and the Culgoa was told to stand by her. The air was thick with rain squalls and mist and a more miserable day could hardly be imagined. The morning wore on and nothing was heard from the Argentine ships. " Guess the sea was too much for them," was the general comment. According to our reckoning we had passed the thirty-fifth parallel of latitude, right oS the Plata, just NATIONAL SALUTES AT SEA IIT Before noon. We were also in the proper longitude, but all was thick, and the general supposition was that the Ar- gentine fleet had met our torpedo flotilla, which was more than a day ahead of us, and had escorted that into the Plata. It was just about 1 o'clock in the afternoon when a wire- less message was received from the Culgoa saying that the Argentine ships were asking him by wireless for our longi- tude and latitude. The figures were sent back promptly. Their figures were also given and some error was made in transmission. It was figured that they were something like 110 miles to the south and a little to the west of us. The weather began to moderate and then the opinion was that if they steered straight for us we ought to meet them about 6 o'clock that Sunday evening. But about 4 o'clock there came another message from the Culgoa, saying they were about five miles from that ship and going southwest, the same course as ours. It was a surprise. Admiral Evans also received by wireless through the Culgoa this message of greeting from Admiral Oliva, in command of the Argentine ships : Jan. 26, 1908, 3 p.m. To Bear Admiral Evans: The commander of the San Martin division of the Argentine navy salutes Rear Admiral Evans, his ofScers and men, and transmits to him the position of the Argentine division ordered to meet him as by dead reckoning latitude 36° 46' S., longitude 53° iV W. HipoLiTO Oliva. To this greeting Admiral Evans sent this response: Jan. 26, 1908, 2:43 p. m. To Bear Admiral Oliva: Rear Admiral Evans thanks the chief of the Argentine division 118 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET for his courtesy and begs that he will transmit to the Argentine Government his thanks for sending a naval division to meet the United States fleet. EVAKS. Then came another surprise. The Culgoa told us that the Argentine ships were steaming at the rate of fourteen and a half knots and were only fifteen knots away. " Fourteen and a half knots, eh ! " was the open eyed and arch browed comment. " Wonder how long they can keep that up! Pretty smart that for a South American squadron ! " The sun burst out from the clouds half an hour before sunset and the navigators got satisfactory observations and it was possible to send back our exact position. The Argentines had been groping around for us up to that time and the best they could do was to find the Culgoa and the Yankton. The long twilight of the high latitude in mid- summer followed, but just after 8 o'clock the Connecticut sent a signal to the fleet and immediately shot its after searchlight high in the heavens. It caught the clouds miles and miles back, a brilliant beam. Then came another signal to the fleet and instantly the after searchlights of all sixteen ships were combined in a monstrous shaft of light that cleft a path gleaming with the brilliance of a comet's tail through the lowering clouds. It vibrated and pul- sated with the glow of an aurora borealis and every quiver and dart seemed to say to the Argentines: " Here we are ! Here we are ! Follow this and you'll find us. We're only going ten knots an hour. You'll soon catch up. Hurry along ; we'll be glad to see you." For twenty minutes that extract of the sun bored into NATIONAL SALUTES AT SEA 119 the clouds behind, showing the way. It was a veritable pil- lar of fire by night. The combined smoke of all the smokepipes of the fleet would have made a pretty good pillar of cloud by day had it been clear, but it was too late for that now. Shortly before 9 o'clock, well astern, the faint light of a ship could be made out with the naked eye. The quartermaster on the bridge said there were four lights. Word was sent to the Captain — the usual rule when any, vessel is sighted — and the news spread about, and soon dozens of men were straining their eyes to see the four lights. By a little after 10 o'clock all had become so plain that it was said the ships were within five miles. They came a little nearer and then slowed down for the night, keeping the same speed as our ships. When daylight came on Monday, January 27, one of the fairest days nature ever provided, with a crisp south- west breeze, corresponding to the northwest breeze with us, every breath of it a tonic, the Argentine ships were about three miles astern of us. Shortly before 7 o'clock Admiral Evans ordered a double evolution. The fleet was in four divisions abreast, an Admiral leading each division. The second and fourth divisions were slowed down, and then by an oblique movement two squadrons were formed. These again were shifted into one column of sixteen ships pro- ceeding wing and wing. The colors were hoisted at the gaff and the Argentines showed their beautiful blue and white ensigns. Soon the Argentines were observed to put on more speed. The naval day begins at 8 o'clock in the morning. No greetings would be passed before that time. The Argen- tine ships kept creeping up, and when the first passed the 120 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET Kentucky, the last ship in our column, to starboard, it was seen that her rails were manned. The Argentine ships were in war color, dark olive green. Their crews were in white. Our crews had been shifted to blue in the chilly blow of the day before, but our ships were white. Up along the line came the Argentines. Every ship had received a signal to pay the usual honors. Marine guards were drawn up, the crews were at attention, the bands on our ships played the Argentine national hymn and the bands on the four Argentine vessels played ours. Sixty-four times the national air of each country was played as the Argentines slowly forged ahead. Many of the officers had got out the naval books to recognize the ships of the visitors, as they might be called. Most of the officers made them out correctly. They were two armored cruisers of the Cristobal Colon class and two protected cruisers. They were the San Martin, Buenos Ayres, Pueyrredon and 9 de Julio, and they made a smart show, each having a bone in her teeth. They were at intervals of 1,000 yards, and they kept the intervals as accurately as American ships would have done, and that is saying a great deal, as any one can testify who has seen this fleet sweep into a foreign harbor. The San Martin had passed the Louisiana and Vermont and was abreast of the Kansas and just behind the Con- necticut, and about a thousand yards to the westward, when up went the American ensign. It was a beautiful new flag, and the bright sun lit up its folds gloriously. The ensign could scarcely have looked better upon Old Ironsides. Then a gun barked out the first detonation of the salute. NATIONAL SALUTES AT SEA 121 One by one the guns were counted. Thirteen roared out. Then came another flash and report. " Hello ! They're going to follow the BraziHans' ex- ample and give Admiral Evans a Vice-Admiral's salute," was the comment. Fifteen guns sounded and then came another flash and boom. Then there was another and then they stopped. Well! The Americans were surprised. An Admiral's sa- lute! " They do things in their own way down here," was the comment, and to this was added invariably, : " Wish it was really true," for it must be recorded here in a spirit of ac- curacy that there is not an oiEcer or sailor or marine on this fleet who, if he had his way, would not make Admiral Evans not only a vice but a full Admiral. It is the honest opinion of this fleet that he deserves to be at least a Vice-Admiral. The men in the fleet do not think it becoming to have the Commander-in-Chief fly a Rear Admiral's flag, a sight that would not be seen in any other navy. The Connecticut responded to the salute gun for gun, as was quite proper as naval things go. The salute from the San Martin had scarcely ceased before the men on the Ar- gentine ships broke into cheering, and well they might, for they were looking upon a naval spectacle such as few other navies have ever seen. The San Martin crept up beside the Connecticut, forged ahead and then the Connecticut with the Argentine ensign at the main fired the usual salute to the flag of another country upon the high seas. It made the men familiar with the etiquette of salutes jump. It was thrilling to them. The San Martin answered quickly and the exchange of courtesies with guns and bands and 122 WITH THE BATTLE FLEET manning of rails was ended. But not all the exchange was over. The wireless keys were ticking now and this message came from Admiral Oliva to Admiral Evans : Jan. 27, 1908, 8:38 a.m. To Rear Admiral Evans: Having completed the honorable duty with which I am charged by my Government, I am about to part company for Buenos Ayres, and it would give me great pleasure to transmit any despatches for Admiral Evans. OuvA. Admiral Evans sent this reply: Jan. 27, 1908, 8:57 a.m. To Rear Admiral Oliva: The Commander-in-Chief thanks you and the Argentine Govern- ment most heartily for the graceful honor done his fleet He will thank you to transmit to Washington upon your arrival in port that we are all well and proceeding to our destination in the Pacific He wishes you a pleasant cruise. EvAira. A further exchange of good wishes for pleasant trips followed. Then the Argentine ships sheered off. They did it most politely. Although their destination was more than 300 miles to the rear, they turned a right oblique, the move- ment being done in a way that excited the admiration of the Americans, and went off in the same general direction in which our fleet was travelling. " Don't want to turn their backs on us ! " was the ex- planation given. In toward the coast they went, and not until they were nearly hull down did they turn about and head for home. It was a pretty, compliment from most polite men on extremely smart ships. NATIONAL SALUTES AT SEA 123 " That's a real navy, ! " said the Americans, " even if it is small ! " Coming, as the exchange of greetings did, upon the first bright day after the departure of our fleet from Rio amid gloom and other depressing surroundings, it warmed up the hearts of those on the fleet and the cheers for the Ar- gentine Republic and her navy were genuine expressions of good will. All that day and the day following the high seas greet- ing of the Argentines, the ocean was remarkable for its placidity. It was about as boisterous as the heaving bil- lows of famous Cheesequake Creek under a hot summer sun. On the night of the second day of this there came indi- cations of a change. The sea lumped itself a little, the wind changed and on the following morning, Wednesday, January 29, there came the first experience with fog on this voyage. The ships had been manoeuvred into a difi'er- ent formation from that on the way to Rio. The four ves- sels of the first division were abreast at 400 yards interval, with the flagship as right guide. The three other divisions followed each at 1,600 yards distance, the flagship of each division acting as right guide and directly behind the Con- necticut. It was a very open formation and seemed to fill the entire circle of the horizon. Along about 8 o'clock in the morning a fog bank was noticed directly ahead. The temperature had risen about 10 degrees. The day was clear but a blanket of mist hung over the water. There was no time, even had there been any inclination to do so on the flagship, to order the fleet into exact column and put over the towing spars. 12* WITH THE BATTLE FLEET whereby each ship can tell when it is exactly 400 yards astern of its predecessor. Orders were given to turn on searchlights in case the ships were obscured from one another. It wasn't long before each ship was cut oiF from the rest. Then came the turning on of searchlights. One naturally would think that this would be almost farcical when the sun was shining, but not so. Those bright little suns could be seen on the ships near by, gleaming through the mist, when the outlines of a ship only 400 yards away could not be made out. You could keep your distance easily in this way. You knew where your nearest neighbor was, and often you could make out the position of two or three of your neighbors. The lights looked like reflections of the sun in a mirror, only slightly obscured. You can see that, you know, any time a looking glass is used in day- light, as many a small boy has found out when he plays pranks. The glare from the ships was truly a beacon in the gloom, and it made you feel comfortable as you thought of the dangers of navigating those immense ships in close proximity in a treacherous fog. Sometimes the fog would lift and you could get a view of the ships of your own division. Occasionally the ships of the division behind you would be revealed in the same way. Then would come another thick bank and you T