With the Battle Fleet: Cruise of the Sixteen Battleships of the United States Atlantic Fleet from Hampton Roads to the Golden Gate, December, 1907-May, 1908Matthews, Franklin
History
With the Battle Fleet: Cruise of the Sixteen Battleships of the United States Atlantic Fleet from Hampton Roads to the Golden Gate, December, 1907-May, 1908
Matthews, Franklin
United States. Navy. Atlantic Fleet -- Cruise, 1907-1909
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 midsummer
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 pulsated 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 the clouds
behind, showing the way. It was a veritable pillar 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 southwest 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 proceeding wing and wing. The colors were hoisted at the
gaff and the Argentines showed their beautiful blue and white ensigns.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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