VOL. XCVII

No. DLXXXII

A

TORPEDO-BOAT is a most delicate mechanism, or rather a collection of delicate mechanisms; it is a bundle of whims and tricks. It is to the ordinary steamer what the finest chronometer is to the rough dollar clock, and needs the most intelligent and constant care and watchfulness.

Its only formidable weapon of offence is the torpedo, and to use this successfully it must approach its prey within five hundred yards. To do this and to remain undiscovered-invisible-torpedo - boats are constructed as small as possible, and painted a color that will blend with the tone of sea and sky at night. Great speed is given them to enable them to catch up with or avoid an enemy. In order to secure this speed the hulls are frail and lightly constructed; they are only just strong enough to stand the propelling power of their tremendous engines when these engines are in perfect adjustment and all parts are working smoothly. The slightest derangement of parts, the slightest bend in the blade of a propeller, and the high speed is gone; the boat commences to vibrate, and any attempt to drive her and leave the readjustment to be attended to later, as could be done in an ordinary vessel, would result in a collapse of machinery, or the breaking of a steam-pipe and the scalding to death of men who are shut in compartments from which there would be no possibility of escape. Torpedo-boats are the race-horses of the steamer world, built for short dashes at high speed. Yet during the earlier part of the Spanish war circumstances forced the use of our torpedo - boats for long-continued strains in weather that proved trying to the much larger vessels that were with them. The discomforts and the trials borne by their crews during this period will never be known, nor

Copyright, 1898, by Harper and Brothers. All rights reserved.

could they be appreciated by any one but those who were in the service.

But

Before proceeding further in this sketch of torpedo-boat service, it may be well to describe the general features of one of the boats. The Porter is a vessel about 175 feet long and 17.5 feet wide-ten times her own beam in length. She draws but little water-her hull less than five feet. Her rudder and propellers project below the hull so as to get the fullest and most unobstructed effect on the water. Her hull is constructed in the strongest and lightest manner consistent with the power it has to contain. The thickness of the hull plating except in certain stringers meant to take strains-is only one-tenth of au inch, and the framing and construction generally are in proportion to this. even after what the Porter has been through, her hull is as good as the day it was built, not a leak having developed nor anything given way. Into this frail craft are put three boilers and two main engines, developing the tremendous energy of 4000 horse-power, and capable of driving the boat over thirty knots, or with the speed of a railroad train. Many other engines, pumps, evaporators, etc., are crowded into the vessel, until five-sevenths of the ship are taken up with machinery and coal; the other two-sevenths -the extreme ends are left, and into these is put the boat's crew-officers forward, men aft. But even into these spaces are introduced engines-anchor engines, steering engines; and steam-pipes for various purposes lead through all, rendering them unbearably hot in a tropical climate. Torpedo - boats are a compact mass of machinery, not meant to keep the sea and to live in, but to be used for short runs out from a base, to which they can return at any time and find rest for the crew and repair facilities for their ma

chinery. The exigencies of the earlier part of this war required them to be used otherwise, and that the boats and their crews have so creditably sustained the unusual test is a matter for congratulation to their builders and to the service.

April 22 found the torpedo-boats tuned up to the highest pitch and anxious for a chance to try themselves, and it was with great hopes and unlimited enthusiasm that we started across to Havana that memorable morning.

It was rough-rough even for the Gulf Stream-and that day and night showed us that the life on board the Porter was going to be a struggle with nature, a test of physical endurance. The Porter's motion in such a sharp sea as nearly all the time runs off the coast of Cuba is, to say the least, uncomfortable. The roll 18 from 30 to 45 degrees each way, and twenty-five times a minute, with occasionally an extra roll thrown in, which goes beyond the registering limit of the indicators, and makes you wonder why she takes the trouble to come back, it seems so much easier just to go on all the way round.

To rest and sleep in such conditions is very difficult, and is only possible when physical exhaustion overcomes every other feeling; and then the sleep is so broken that it il fits one to renew the exacting duties of handling the delicate mechanisms of the boats, or exercise the cool judgment and instant decision demanded by the service.

In addition to this, the heat below was such that no one went there except on duty. The life was on deck: those on duty at their posts were on their feet; the remainder, if not struggling with their very simple meals, were trying to get some sleep, stretched out and wedged in between torpedo-tubes and rail, or in some place that prevented their sliding round.

In spite of its apparent severity, this open-air life proved most healthful, for whenever the boat went into port for a day or two, or had comparatively smooth water, every one at once recovered his energy and good temper. The absence of routine and routine drills, the constant excitement of the rapid motion, the frequent accidents to the machinery, and the struggle to repair the latter and at the same time keep the boat going-all kept up a feeling of excitement and expectation which reconciled us to every hard

ship, and made us feel that we were right where we wanted to be; and all we asked for was a chance-something that never came for the torpedo-boats during the

war.

Hopes that our chance had come were high on the Porter the first day off Havana. A man-of-war was sighted under the land, and the New York, Marblehead, Wilmington, and Porter started in for her; but it turned out to be an Italian, and the only guns used were those fired in salute. Immediately afterwards the Porter's sorrow at the lost opportunity was partly assuaged by the capture of a schooner within range of the guns of the eastern batteries of Havana. When the crew of the schooner found they were not to be murdered at once, as they had been led to believe, they were not only reconciled to their fate, but voluntarily gave us information of more sugar-laden vessels due the next day. The roughness and tedium of that day were easily endured in the hope of more prizes on the morrow. The hopes were realized; daylight found the Porter steaming slowly for the flag ship to report, with a 200-tonschooner-load of sugar in tow.

This ended the first forty-eight hours of the war. No one in the Porter had slept a half hour at a time, and every one was looking hollow-eyed and worn out. Fortunately the next few days were the smoothest seen off Havana, and regular blockading duties were taken up, the Porter's station being on the inside line, as near the Morro as possible. The nights were spent in working in as closely as we could, waiting for a chance at anything that might attempt to get out of Havana, to capture it if a merchantman, to torpedo it if a man-of-war. If it were a torpedo-boat bent on attacking our blockading line, we were to engage and destroy or interfere with it as much as possible. It was known to us that there were torpedo-boats and torpedo gunboats in Havana, and an attack from them was constantly expected. From what we saw during our duty off there, it was thought that one, possibly two, feeble attempts were made by the Spanish torpedo-boats to make an attack, but they never got any distance outside their own batteries, always being discovered and signalled by our inside line of scouts. Anticipation and excitement ran high at such times, and mistakes that came near being seri

ous were several times made. The duty of the torpedo-boat was, of course, to investigate and ascertain beyond doubt the character of any strange vessel sighted. This on a dark and stormy night meant getting into very close quarters. A signal, which was changed every night, consisting of a combination of red and white lights, was ordered for the purpose of identification among our own vessels. But to display this signal was to become a target for the enemy's fire, and it was therefore used as little as possible.

Frequently, in the anxiety to discover whether the strange craft were friend or foe without betraying her own presence, a torpedo-boat was fired on by her own friends. The blockading squadron were taking no chances of any kind of ap

proaching dark little craft, and used the Western method of shooting first and inquiring afterwards. In the excitement consequent on the signal Enemy's torpedo boat sighted," even torpedo - boats engaged each other. This happened one of the first nights off Havana. The moment the signal was made, all the scouting vessels in that vicinity converged at full speed towards the point where the signal stars had been seen. Suddenly out of the gloom of night, and right across the bows of the Porter, rushed a dark object, the sparks from its funnels and the dim outline marking it distinctly as a torpedo-boat. No questions were asked by the Porter, for we knew no other torpedo-boat of ours was on that section of the blockade. There was a heavy sea, and dense clouds of

black smoke were sweeping down between us from our low funnels. This fortunately caused the first shots to go wild, and instantly, in answer to our fire, the night signal was shown. It was one of our own boats that had come from Cardenas with despatches, and she was looking for the flag-ship. A joking apology and a hearty laugh from us all ended our little encounter, and the two boats parted, not to meet again for weeks -not until the Porter, returning to Key West from her cruise to Porto Rico, found the Winslow battle scarred and torn by the enemy's shell, her captain wounded, and her executive and five of her crew dead. It was no laughing matter this time; but, with all its horror, the uppermost feeling in us was that of pride in the gallant fight they had made in all but hopeless circumstances-circumstances that would have proved fatal to all on board had it not been for the gallantry of American sailors-the crew of the Hudson, who, literally fighting with one hand and helping the wounded with the other, remained under fire until they could pull the disabled Winslow out to safety.

About two o'clock one morning a steamer was reported running towards Havana. It was an ideal night for torpedo attack, dark, with a strong wind blowing and occasional light rain-squalls. She was allowed to pass, but nothing definite could be made out, and as the Porter was well off to the eastward of Havana, the supposition was that it could not be one of the blockaders.

Dropping into her wake, our speed was increased, all hands were called to their stations, and every preparation made for attack. The Porter was now closing rapidly in, and through the smoke we could make out that the vessel ahead was a man-of-war, and a large one. At this time the whereabouts of the Spanish armored cruisers was unknown, and from what we then could see of the vessel ahead, she answered their description perfectly.

More steam was put on, and the Porter rushed up close on the quarter of the chase, well within torpedo distance, and still undiscovered. Being now so close that, even if discovered, we could not be stopped before the torpedo was discharged, and wishing to make no mistake, the night signal was made for an instant and then turned off. It brought no au

swer.

Excitement on the Porter was at feverheat, and the enforced silence and the nervous tension were hard to bear. That we had found the enemy, and that we had him all to ourselves, and had him where there was no possibility of his getting away, was such an unhopedfor opportunity that nothing short of firing and cheering would express what we felt, and the effort to repress these was most difficult. To make assurance doubly sure, the night signal was again made, and the forward gun fired, immediately followed by a second. That we were now discovered was evident, and in a moment signal lights were shown, and a gun fired at us. The signal-lights shown were the wrong ones for that night, and only served to strengthen our conviction that the chase was an enemy. Full speed was rung on the Porter, and the final rush to torpedo was made, when, just in the nick of time, the identity of the ship was recognized, and amidst shouting of orders to cease firing, and hails through the megaphone demanding explanations, the vessels were brought to a standstill within 100 yards of each other, and mutual explanations made.

This incident is given to illustrate the fact that the torpedo-boat, acting under the conditions for which she was built, is a most dangerous weapon. Reasoning from the superficial facts, much has been written of the uselessness of the torpedoboat. It is as well to correct this impression now while events are still fresh in the popular mind. The idea of torpedo attack is attack under cover of darkness, rain, or fog. The construction and painting have this object in view. There is no protection against even the lightest projectile, and to make a successful attack the boat must remain undiscovered until almost the moment for the discharge of its torpedo. Our vessels fully comprehended the dangers of torpedo attack, and all precautions were taken to guard against one. In spite of this, one of them had a narrow escape from being torpedoed by the Porter, not having been discovered until well within striking distance. In this case the cruiser was a lost ship, and ever after had the utmost respect for the possibilities of successful torpedo attack. Had the Porter been certain that the vessel sighted was an enemy, and had it not been