ATI ALUMNI “WHEKLY
13
came piling on. They simply camped
on the promenade deck. It was quite a
sight last night to see every available
foot of the deck covered with sleeping
men. Fortunately the weather is
beautiful, the ocean absolutely smooth.
They are swarming now all over the
top of the deck-houses and life-boats.
The officers’ uniform is so nearly like
that of the men that it is not easy to
distinguish them. In their flannel
shirts and dusty clothes, they look very
shabby besides the clean naval officers.
On the whole, the sailor’s is an easier
lot than the soldier’s. I saw one of
the men who had received as his ration
a fine big piece of fat pork sitting by
the rail.paring off all the fat and throw-
ing it overboard. He then ate the slice
of lean. He. will want that pork before
he gets done. Later, one of the soldiers
was standing by the porthole of the
saloon where the crew eat, looking at
the long table full of sailors each with
his bowl of soup, his salt horse and cab-
bage. After he had feasted his eyes on
the sight for some time, he shook his.
head and said: “Well, if ever I go to
war again, durned if I don’t go on
ship.”
Very few of these soldiers had ever
sten the salt water before. They talk
of taking Santiago as if all they had to
do was to get on a trolley car and ride
right in.
The officers mess with us in the
saloon at a charge of $1.50 per day.
The men are allowed to make their
coffee in the galley but the rest of their
food is eaten direct from the can. They
have not learned to. sit on their
haunches, so most of them eat standing.
One of the officers is a Yale man, James
McMillan of ’88, and a mighty good
officer, too.
June 25th.—It is getting hot, but if it
were not for these soldiers, it would be
delightful to sit on deck and read and
smoke. But we should be charitable
towards them, for their lack of disci-
pline and carelessness will cost many
of them their lives. If they would only
spit overboard! The ship has a long
-easy toll which is scarcely noticeable,
but many of the soldiers are sick. Our
ready-made soldiers from the Illinois
Naval Militia are also ill. They
thought it very hard when they were
told that sailors are not supposed to get
sick, and were set to work. It is the
best thing for them, if they only knew
it.
The soldiers are fine fellows individu-
ally, but have not the faintest idea of
discipline. They obey orders so long
as the orders are agreeable, but as soon
as they are tired and the fun is over,
they want to stop, and have no hesita-
tion in saying so. Last night a guard
was picked out (fifteen or twenty men),
and then the officer left them for a few
minutes before he was ready to station
them. When he came back they had
all deserted, an offense punishable by
six months’ imprisonment.
The officers are militiamen, elected to
command by their comrades. They
know the drill but not the more import-
ant matters of how to take care of the
health of their men. Their chief fault,
perhaps, is their anxiety to be popular.
The men have been warned about drink-
ing and about their clothing, but pay
no attention. One might suppose that
in the commissary and supply depart-
ments, if anywhere, civilians could dis-
charge the duties, but they tell me of
a quartermaster at Camp Alger who
distributed a lot of clothing without
receipts, or keeping accounts, and was
surprised to find himself indebted to
the Government for the sum of $10,000.
TARGET PRACTICE.
June 26th.—Yesterday at quarters, I
was assigned to the bridge, in my capac-
ity of Captain’s aide, to note his com-
ments on the target practice. Hereto-
fore the gun drill has been mere show
or else sub-caliber practice. For this a
rifle, Springfield, is fastened in the
breech of five-inch guns, while a
wooden dummy, in the center of which
is a pistol bore for a 45-90 cartridge,
is used for the 3-pounders. Yesterday,
however, full service ammunition was
used, and from two or four shots were
fired from each gun. A barrel was bal-
lasted and with a flag attached to it,
was thrown overboard. We circled
about it at a range of 1,000 yards. The
ease with which this great ship maneu-
vered was very surprising, for, by revers-
ing one screw, she turned quickly and
in small space. No very remarkable
shooting was to be expected, since none
~
_ solemn sight—this
of the militia had fired a cannon before.
Nearly all the shots were in line but
most of them were low. Still, the
showing was excellent.
Just as we were starting to practice,
a steamer went by us. Evidently her
captain did not see our target, for after
the second shot had gone skipping
across her bow, although at quite a
safe distance, the ship hove to and came
toward us. “That fool,’ said Captain
Wise. “What does he think we want
with him?” “I would have thought as
he did,” said Captain Watkins, “if any-
one had fired as near meas that.” Final-
ly they saw our target. When we
signaled to clear the road, our 1300
soldiers sent back a tremendous cheer.
These soldiers had no hesitation in
shouting to an officer when we pass a
ship, “Say! can you tell me what boat
that is?’ The doctor tells a very pathet-
ic story, in which he takes great delight,
on one of the Illinois naval militia.
The man came to him utterly played
out and after telling him how terribly
tired and sick he was, said, “Why, doc- .
tor they want to make a stevedore out
of me. I-I’m a clerk.”
About 2 A. M. we passed San Salva-
dor and have been running down
Crooked Island Channel all the morn-
ing and passed Castle Island before
noon. This afternoon, at 5, Cape Maysi,
the extreme eastern point of Cuba, was
looming up only five miles away. The
formation is very peculiar, consisting
of a series of terraces, sharply cut, as
with a knife, six or eight, one above
another at varying heights. The first,
rising direct from the sea; the last, hun-
dreds of feet above it, the clouds resting
upon it. All are covered with verdure.
As we passed close in, we saw a small
steamer which had gone ashore. The
lighthouse, which stood near by, is not
lighted now; hence the disaster, I sup-
pose.
IN HOSTILE WATERS.
June 27th.—As we are now in hostile
- waters we came along last night with
not a light showing. It was quite a
great grey ship,
crowded with silent sleeping men, mov-
ing at a slow and stealthy pace through
the white mist, the pale crescent moon
slightly silvering on the few ripples of
the otherwise motionless sea. All this
changed from the sublime to the ridic-
ulous when bed time arrived. For
you tripped over one man to step on
another; you ran into railings, and
after finally groping your way down
the passage to your room, nothing
seemed to be in the place you left it.
I am told that on the last cruise several
black eyes and skinned noses appeared
at the breakfast table, and the individual
owners accused each other of having
the hardest heads it had ever been their
misfortune to encounter.
At five o’clock this morning I was
awakened by an orderly sent by the
Captain to tell me to have the mail for
the fleet ready. Off to starboard four
or five miles away was the coast of
Cuba. It is the finest coast I have ever
seen. The rocks rise sharply from the
water, forming a bluff two or three
hundred feet high. Behind the cliffs
rise the mountains to five thousand feet
—severe and sharp in outline, seamed
with gullies, but beautifully green to
the very top. Every three or four miles
the cliffs are broken by little bays with
a sandy beach and behind this groves
of palms—cocoanut and banana.
Off where we lay, the line of the
mountains curved inland, leaving a wide
plateau between them and the sea.
Toward the western end of the bluff
which separates plateau and sea is a
narrow opening (from where we were,
one could hardly realize that it was an
opening). On one side is a line of
earthworks; on the other, crowning the
bluff, is a pile of dilapidated, but pic-
turesque white-washed adobe buildings.
Above them floats the Spanish flag.
This is Morro Castle, and the entrance
to the harbor of Santiago. The moun-
tains and coast line remind me of the
Irish coast in Bantry Bay or again of
the northwestern coast of Italy.
Close alongside of us was the New
York, and scattered along all down the
coast were the Oregon, Iowa, Massa-
chusetts, New Orleans, Vesuvius, and
the other battleships, cruisers and tor-
pedo boats of the fleet. All are stripped
of every thing that could splinter—rail-
ings, nearly all the boats, etc. Ensign
Williams, who went on board the New
York with the Captain, said that the
officers’ quarters are almost as bare as.
the decks. When the Captain returned
we went back along the coast six or
seven miles to a little bay. Just out-
side was the fleet of transports, hospital
steamers, colliers, etc.
The village is called Siboney, and
here most of the troops with Shafter
were landed. : one
THE VOLUNTEERS.
In the course of the day, all our
brethren from Michigan have been
landed. Up to the time they came on
this ship many of the men had never
fired their pieces. They had only had
arms a few days. Two very well-known
men are at the head of the medical]
staff—Nancreed and Vaughn, professors
in Ann Arbor. They tell me that their
supply of medicines is so small that
already orders have been issued to use
medication only when absolutely neces-
sary.
This afternoon Powell (who went in
after Hobson) came aboard. He is
rather a good looking, very well built,
hearty, straight forward fellow, and
shows evident enjoyment of the fight-
ing. He is in command of a steam
launch, and goes sailing around over
the ocean as aide to General Shafter.
Siboney, June 290th.—Yesterday a
party of us went ashore. Thirty
transports were anchored in the offing
or steaming about the bay. The
surf was breaking on the beach and
around a shakey little row-boat pier.
In the water naked soldiers were bath-
ing—their backs already burned red
by the fierce sunlight. Neither they
nor the Volunteer officers and doctors
who watched them realized the days
and nights of torture they were tempt-
ing. The beach was covered with boxes
and barrels, but little or nothing was
going on in the way of landing more
supplies.
I saw several regular army officers,
and when out of ear shot of others, they
complain bitterly of the way things are
being managed. The General is in his
flagship “directing the campaign and
especially the important matter of land-
ing supplies.’ During the day just
half a boat load was landed. It takes
two days to get a message out to the
Seguranca and back.
Near the beach is the railroad which
leads up to the mines and down to
Santiago. It is being repaired, and
soldiers are running the engines. The
village consists of a dozen frame cot-
tages and some sheds thatched with
palm leaves. Back of it is a grove of
cocoanut palms and on _ eminences
about are little block houses surmounted
by a cupola where the Spanish sentry
stood. Over one house floated the
Cuban flag.
At the door we were met by a very
courteous little aide de camp who spoke
English perfectly and introduced us to
General Garcia. The General is a fine
intelligent looking man, with a deep
bullet wound in the middle of his fore-
head. The bullet went in below his
chin and out again between and just
above the eyes without destroying the
sight of either. He was very cordial,
and entrusted me with a letter to a lady
in New York.
It seems as if the Germans who sold
the ammunition to the Spaniards must
have cheated them as to powder, for the
little copper bullets, instead of going
on through half a dozen men, stay in
the body of the first, and show quite as
remarkable deflection as the old minie
balls used to do.
We had a good deal of trouble in
finding a boat to take us back to the
ship. Finally we were rowed out to
the Olivette (the hospital steamer).
On the way we were caught in one of
the fierce rain storms which sweep over
the ocean once or twice a day, and
drenched to the skin.
I saw Hearst of the N. Y. Journal
rowing about in a rowboat, and John
Jacob Astor steering another. They
must both have got the same drenching
that I did.
Late in the afternoon we reached the
ship, and reveled in the comforts of a
bath, clean clothes and a good dinner—
and our satisfaction was by no means
diminished by a realization of what
we had seen on shore.
To-day we have been running up and
down the coast collecting mail. I have
now a dozen great bags in my care.
We went as far as Daiqueri, where the
first landing was made. It is a cove
much like Siboney, except that there is
what was
. ways go well.
an iron pier. As yet there are no cases
of yellow fever among the trOODS. 1+
is surprising this is such an unhealthy
country. It is perfectly drained, and
although the sun is very bright there
is generally a pleasant breeze, plenty
of shade, and Iam told that cool
streams come down from the moun-
tains. On the bridge the thermometer
seldom goes above 85°. In the rooms
on the lee side it gets warmer than
that, of course, but we have plenty of
Ice and a tub of salt water whenever
wanted. Down in the engine room it
gets up to 135° and in some of the coal
unkers the hose is kept playing on the
men all the time they are working.
Last night I wished I could hear
going on in New Haven.
Strange that after three years in New
Haven I should be cruising on a man-
of-war down here in the Carribean Sea
just when my Class is back for triennial.
I hope to be in New York before long,
and get up to New Haven for a day or
two. We have just received our last
bag of mail and have been ordered to
cruise along the southern coast of Cuba
and. see if we can not stop a few
of the schooners which are carrying
provisions across from Kingston to the
coast back of Havana. :
A FOREIGN ATTACHE COMMENTS.
June 27th.—While we were at Santi-
ago, the German attache, Captain-Lieu-
tenant von Rebour Paschwitz, member
of the Kaiserliche’s Yatch Club, etc.,
etc., came on board to inspect. It is
one of my duties as Captain’s aide to
look after these gentlemen, so I showed
him about and did the hospitable for
the ship. I was very anxious to get
some comment from him on the way
affairs are going, but he was too diplo-
matic for me. He seemed much inter-
ested in this ship as a merchant vessel
converted into an auxiliary cruiser.
The French attache. du Grand Pré,
and the two attaches from Norway ase
now on board, on their way to Key
West with us. The Frenchman says
the reason he left was because he could-
n’t get anything to eat. He is quite
frank in his comments on the mistakes
which we have made, but his wonder at
what our men accomplish is an implied
soupement of the highest value. He
said:
“In Europe when we wish to send a
foreign expedition, we take six months
to prepare it and then it does not al-
You have made an army
and transported it in a month or two.
If a Continental power tried to use
underschooled troops, like your volun-
teers, and the men lost confidence in
their leaders, there would be a cry of
sauve qui peut. Yet, with your men,
they have all come because they wanted
to, and although in many respects they
are a mob, they go ahead and accomplish
things, even lacking leaders as well as
discipline. They have no discipline;
there is no order, yet there is no dis-
order. It is wonderful! You do the
impossible.”
He was especially struck by the good
spirits and enthusiasm of the men.
“Their physique,” said he, “is magnifi-
que.” He regards the danger from yel-
low fever as very great and claims that
few tropical expeditions escape sick-
ness. He thinks our new ideas of im-
perialism will very soon clash with the
European idea of the balance of power.
He returns continually to the wonderful
intelligence, spirit and bravery of our
men, as compared with the conscript
soldiers of Europe. The old Surgeon-
General from Norwav was especially
interested in the hospital steamers and
admired the fine arrangements, the
operating rooms, et cetera, but he
seemed to think that the operations of
the Red Cross steamer, State of Texas,
in carrying miscellaneous supplies, were
a flagrant violation of the Red Cross
agreements.
This afternoon we ran down off
Havana, and had a distant view of the
city. The fleet was ranged in a wide
half-circle before the harbor entrance.
We went close along the side of the
monitor Amphitrite, and although there
was scarcely any sea on, and the Yale
was as steady as a rock, the waves were
breaking across the Amphitrite’s deck
so violently that a man could not have
stood upon it.
It has been a very delightful two
weeks. The worst thing is that we
never get any letters.
[Continued on r7th page.]
