A Gunner Aboard the Yankee""

and Block Island is very interesting, and, in places, beautiful. Th

veliness of this bit of coast, they were getting rather famili

big gray ghost-dark, swift, and, except in the densest fogs, silent. Pea-coats were an absolute necessi

out delay. It seemed as if we had been asleep but a few minutes, when "Scully," chief boatswain's mate, came down the gun deck gangway, shouting loud enough to be heard a mile away: "All hands, up all hammocks;" the

"nettings," as the lattice-like receptacles are cal

ed, and we were glad; even the thought of burnt o

rk and dismal. The fog oozed in through every

ation that sounded so much like the re

e bell sounded. The "Yankee" forged on at full sp

We had about made up our minds that our ears had deceived us, whe

rough a fog so thick that the water cou

he men unconsciously took their regular stations for action, the guns' crews gathere

ink he would be white around the gills. This sort of

ote to his friends to get his discharge," said "Bill." "Got it an

l steamed on into

the call for general quarters, but was s

bout? Was it to b

starboard gangway, a bro

man' playing a joke on us?" "Do you suppose Cervera has got over to this

he. "What do you suppose we have be

sed we di

r claps! And we'll see nothing worse on this coast," he

hours, waiting for the fog to clear enough to make the channel and enter New York harbor. It seemed we had been he

D HER ANCHOR OFF TOM

t we were bound for New York

down into his black bag, fished out his clean blues, and set to work sewing on w

ville, Thursday, May 26th, seventeen days after

the night, and most of us turned in early to

o'clock. We woke to find a big coa

ing till twelve o'clock that night, the crew of the "Yankee"-aforetime lawyers, physicians, literary men, brokers, merchants, students, and clerks-men who had never done any

is done in the quickest, easiest way possible. The ship is taken to a coal wharf and the coal is slid down in chut

me to carry on the ship herself. The barge gang shovelled the coal into bushel baskets; these were carried to the men on the stages; and the latter passed them from one to the other, to the gun dec

ing than would have been believed possible, the drudgery of it was a thing not easily forgotten. Before

n mess gear was piped, and put off when "turn to" sounded. We were pleased to see our friends, but our friends, on the contrary, seemed shocked to see us. One dainty girl came aboard, and, as she came up the gangway, asked for a

d she covered her face with her hands. Then she picked out the cleanest spo

ief. The work we had just finished was the hardest we had ever experienced. It was particularly tantalizing because we were almost in sight

last, and we rejoiced at the prospect

awned pleasantly, both wind and weat

et was dropped astern, and the ship steamed ahead to the required distance.

, was in charge of a marine corporal named J.J. Murray, who acted as captain of the gun. After

seized the pistol-grip, placed his finger on the trigger, and then slowly an

ond captain and first loader and shellman, were directly behind the corporal. They saw him steady th

a dull click bu

in vexation. He had succeeded in getting

mmunition!" he excla

They also knew that the cordite cartridges were not adapted to American guns, and should not

l all danger of explosion had passed. After waiting some time, Corporal Murray proceeded to extr

matter," he began. "I gue

nding fragments of shell and parts of the breech-block into the corporal's face and chest.

hand lever, which penetrated his arm. The injured men received prompt attention from the surgeon a

with the crew. The peculiar feeling of antagonism which is supposed

ing as a bed by night is also their coffin a

THE DEFECTIVE CARTRID

ccident occurred, the boatswain's mate sent the shrill piping of his whistle ec

o clean-n-n blue and stand

rizon. Its last rays entered the open port, showing to us the dead man's figure outlined under an American flag. The body had bee

the lines of blue uniformed men swinging and nodding, and, as the surgeon, Dr. McGowan, read the

y to the deep," the grating was raised gently and, with a peculiar swish, the body, heavily weighted, slid down to the water's edge and plunged sullenly into th

horoughly in the efficacy of drill, and he lost no time in living up to his belief. When all the circumstances are taken i

e command of the auxiliary cruiser "Yankee." This meant that he was to assume charge of a ship hastily converted from an ordinary merchant steamer, and

raw material into sha

most humiliating naval defeat in the history of the United States. The same fate threatened Captain Brownson. There was this difference in the cases, however. The "Chesapeak

ew was exercised in man and arm boats, abandon ship, fire drill, infantry drill, and the many exercises provided by the naval regulations. Before the "Yankee" had been

war within a few days made every man the victim of a consuming impatience. Rumors of every description were rife, and the many weird and imp

gated a rumor, was soon actively engaged, and it was definitely settled that the "Yankee" was to become the flagship of the whole fleet, our capt