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British training ships the boys are taught how to handle such muzzle-loaders-an accomplishment that would be of very little use were they engaged in a battle in which their opponents were equipped as are all modern war vessels, with breechloading, quick-firing ordnance. Moreover, the expenditures authorized by the British Government for powder and ammunition for target practice, are by no means on the same scale as those in the case of the American Navy; and the result of this economy is seen in the comparatively poor scores made by British

harbor, the Victory, which was Nelson's flagship in the famous battle of Trafalgar -a vessel built in 1765.

The Naval Reserve

In the United States the Naval Reserve might almost be said to be yet in its infancy; but in Great Britain the corresponding organization constitutes one of the greatest sources of strength of the Navy. Many boys enter the Naval Reserve young enough to be fascinated by their taste of the life, and enlist in the Navy-or at least in the Marines,

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naval gunners when their marksmanship is subjected to tests.

The Stimulus of Association

If there be aught in association, the young tars of the British Navy should derive some benefit from the influence exerted by mementoes of Nelson, Drake, and other famous sea warriors, for some of the ships of these heroes of bygone days are still in use as training vessels. The St. Vincent, which serves as a training ship at Portsmouth, was built in 1815; and the Dadalus, one of the Naval Reserve drill ships, first went into commission in 1828. Other old training ships include the Black Prince, built in 1861; Boscawen, 1841; Britannia, 1860; Cambridge, 1858; Lion, 1847; and President, 1830. Moreover, there is still in commission as the flagship at Portsmouth

if they are too old to gain admittance to the naval service. The greatest usefulness of the Naval Reserve, however, is as an auxiliary to the regular naval force. In the strongholds of the merchant marine, such as the ports of Bristol, Swansea, Liverpool, Hull, and Glasgow; and in many of England's colonial possessions, such as Newfoundland, there are hundreds of men who are, from long experience, first-class sailors, and who need only instruction in gunnery to transform them into first-class man-o'-war's men. This training and drill they receive during the annual practice cruises of the various detachments of the Naval Reserve on board British men-of-war.

The Auxiliary Fleet

Indirectly at the disposal of the British

Navy, is another training domain for British tars which would yield valuable material should war necessitate volunteer additions to the regular personnel of the Navy. Reference is made to what amounts to a supplementary fleet of school ships-namely, the large liners of the mercantile marine. Although engaged in regular passenger and freightcarrying traffic, many of these ocean. "greyhounds" have been built in accordance with plans approved by the British naval officials; are regularly subsidized by the Government; and, in the event of war, could instantly be pressed into service. as auxiliaries instead of it being necessary to make hasty purchases of vessels for an auxiliary navy, as was the case in the United States at the time of the Spanish-American War.

The facilities afforded by this auxiliary fleet in reserve, enable the British naval authorities to pursue the manifestly advantageous policy of never losing sight of a really promising candidate for the Navy. If, as frequently happens, the ranks of the Royal Navy are so well filled that no new recruits can be taken, or if some minor disqualification prevents the acceptance of an otherwise satisfactory applicant, the officials endeavor to find places for the young men thus turned aside, on the great liners of the auxiliary mercantile fleet. In order that the Navy may have the full benefit of

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Last Days of Naples

The Black Record of Vesuvius-Ominous Possibilities Suggested by the Present Eruption of the Historic Volcano

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By JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS

APLES, the most densely populated of the world's great cities; that quondam resort of the wealthiest nobles of ancient Rome; that "City of the Siren," within whose four square miles huddles together a population greater than that of Boston, has shuddered again, for the seething hell pent up beneath her has again burst the Vesuvian gate.

Will some Bulwer Lytton of the near future have a chance to put to paper a "Last Days of Neapolis?" This question seismologists are asking with greater anxiety than they have betrayed for a generation past. For it is a well-accepted theory now that Vesuvius is but the vent of a vast fiery chasm undermining the Italian metropolis, whose thin crust of earthy foundation may any time give way, precipitating more than half a million souls into the roaring furnace below.

Immunity Due to Patron Saint

The center of the sea front of Naples

is but nine miles due west of the eruptive cone. Its postern gate is scarce further down the lava slope than the ruins of Pompeii; but although the ashes of the great volcano have frequently darkened the city and thrown the Neapolitans into terror, and hot lava has flowed almost to its very gates, never has a soul within its walls suffered from the Vesuvian wrath. For five scores of times since Pompeii was destroyed in the first century of the Christian era, has the great black background of Naples belched forth. Ask the orthodox Neapolitan the wherefore of his immunity, and he will attribute it to the protection of the city's patron, San Januarius.

In ancient times some pagan divinity may have closed its gates against the black lava flows squirming snake-like down the mountain; for Naples is centuries older than the days of Glaucus and the blind Nydia. The original city. founded by a Greek colony, was named Parthenope in honor of one of the sirens.

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ROYAL OBSERVATORY NEAR CRATER OF MOUNT VESUVIUS. This post, though frequently threatened with destruction, has never been deserted since its erection over thirty years ago.

This was augmented by a second colony. of the ancient Hellenes, who added the new city. In the fourth century before Christ, it fell into the hands of the Romans, who gave the combined settlement the name Neapolis, or "new town." On its neighboring hill, Posellopo, Virgil composed his Georgics. Within the city proper, Nero made his first appearance on the stage.

The Vesuvian volcanic region, like that of Aetna, is partly land and partly sea, including all the Bay of Naples sometimes called "The Crater"-lying at the very foot of Vesuvius, with a circuit of fifty-two miles, and having the metropolis at the extreme northern corner.

Birds in the Cannon's Mouth

The whole base of the mountain is skirted by a series of villages, where abide 100,000 souls-birds nesting in the cannon's mouth. Between these settlements, and even above-within the jaws of the fiery demon the tourist sees scattered huts, tent-shaped, of straw interwoven. After the great eruption of September, many of the villagers deserted

their homes and camped in the open, further below. Time and again have the lands of their ancestors been engulfed by the seething lava, yet has this daring humanity persisted in returning to the danger zone. And why? Simply because each renewed eruption adds fertility to the soil, resulting from decomposition of the volcanic products.

A road twenty miles long, commencing at Naples, extends southeastwardly along the shore of the bay, and then, winding inland, completely encircles the mountain. This is dotted with villages, all within hearing of the volcanic rumblings and bellowings.

Four miles down the bay road from Naples lies Portici, its 12,000 population dwelling peacefully upon lava thrown down to the sea by the eruption of 1631. On this black bed stands the Royal Palace, built by Charles III., in 1738. Resina, one mile further on, is the favorite suburban seat of wealthy Neapolitans. tans. Its 14.000 residents dwell partly upon the ruins of Herculaneum. Resina is the town from which the ascent of Vesuvius is made, and is the chief abode of the Vesuvian guides.

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Rebuilt Sixteen Times

Sixteen times has the burning mountain overwhelmed Torre del Greco, two and a-half miles further on; yet within four and a-half miles from its destroyer, the seventeenth town flourishes with 25,000 population. There is a saying among the Neapolitans, "Naples commits sins and Torre pays for them." Torre del Greco is the center of the Mediterranean coral fishery, and is surrounded by rich vineyards as well as fruit orchards. From its grapes some of the choicest wines of Italy are made, notably the Lachrymæ Christi.

Five miles further along is Torre del Annunziata, a large fishing town of 16,000 people. Turning a mile inland here, the traveler views the ruins of Pompeii.

Previous to the year 63 A. D., Vesuvius was not recognized by the Greeks and Romans as an active volcano. At that time the summit was a large crater, for centuries regarded as totally extinct. The first warning of renewed eruption within historic times was the earthquake of 63. Moderate earthquakes followed at intervals until the disturbance culminated in the great catastrophe of 79, destroying not only Pompeii and Herculaneum, but Stabiæ, Retina, and Oplon

tum.

Of the succession of ancient eruptions which followed that depicted by Bulwer

Lytton, the most severe fell in 203, 472, 512, and 993. The first recorded discharge of lava since the last days of Pompeii occurred in 1036, or thirty years. before the Normans conquered England.

Eighteen Thousand Killed

The first great modern eruption was that of 1631, eleven years after the Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock. For a long time before this outburst, the peaceful crater had become so overgrown with vegetation that it offered a jungle for wild boars, while cattle grazed on the slopes a little below. But a sudden tidal wave of lava, utterly unexpected, engulfed 18,000 people, many of the coast towns being wholly and the remainder partially wiped out. Another outburst, in 1676, was remarkable for having thrown a perpendicular stream of lava high in the air.

From scattering eruptions in ancient, mediæval, and early modern times, the outbursts had increased to nine in the seventeenth century. The eighteenth was to increase this to 26.

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