With the Battle Fleet Part 11

Liberty was recalled at once and marines were sent ash.o.r.e, but it was soon over, and the next morning at the request of the authorities 2,000 men were sent ash.o.r.e instead of 1,000 daily as had been planned. The men were warned to conduct themselves properly, and to the everlasting credit of our American seamen it must be said they heeded the caution well.

An ill.u.s.tration of what might have been occurred on the night of Sunday, January 19. Rival political clubs were parading about town carrying banners and flags and also giving cheers of "Vivan los Americanos!" They invited a lot of bluejackets to join them. Not knowing what the parades meant, good natured Jack of course would go along. About twenty of them joined each of two processions and had the distinction of carrying the flags and hurrahing every other step. It was great fun. The naval officers on sh.o.r.e heard of what was going on and dashed up in automobiles. The Brazilians would not let their dear friends go and the officers had a hard time to get the men free. They at once obeyed instructions to scatter, and said they were simply having a good time with their new friends.

Ten minutes later those two parades minus the bluejackets came into a collision and there was quite severe rioting, with stone throwing and the use of knives and bludgeons. Had the bluejackets remained innocently with the parades they would have been in the thick of it and terrible reports would probably have been cabled to the United States of our sailors mixing in political affairs, probably instigating revolution and being most awful rioters. It was a narrow escape to get them away in time.

By the end of the week so completely had good feeling been established that from 4,000 to 5,000 men were sent ash.o.r.e on Sunday. It was the largest liberty party of American sailors ever known. New York never saw so many of our men ash.o.r.e at one time. It made one proud of his country and its men to see that party ash.o.r.e. There were not twenty cases of drunkenness when the boys came home.

Nothing could have been more cordial and warmhearted, more lavish, than the entertainments given in the name of the Brazilian Government. The one regret was that Admiral Evans, because of an attack of his recurrent malady, rheumatism, was unable to take part in them personally. Admiral Thomas took his place admirably.

The tone of all the official greetings was that of undisguised friendship. President Penna made it manifest on the first day when he met the officers at Petropolis. Then Vice-Admiral Cordovil Maurity voiced it in English on the top of Corcovado the next day, and perhaps it is well to give his speech in full. Here it is as translated for the Americans:

Ladies, His Excellency Vice-Admiral the Minister of Marine, Gallant Admirals, Captains and officers of the Navy of the U. S.

A., Gentlemen:

In my character of Admiral of the Brazilian Navy, Chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet, as well as with the authority of an old sailor, who knows the rules of military and diplomatic pragmatic, I feel very happy in this moment, to speak to you, American sailors, in the name of my Government, of the Brazilian people and of my comrades of the National Navy, in order to salute and give the hearty welcome to Admiral R. Evans, the Commander-in-Chief, Admirals Charles Sperry, Charles Thomas and William Emory, the Captains, Officers and Crews of the powerful North American fleet that entered the day before yesterday in the harbour of Rio.

I beg then to avail myself of this fine opportunity, when we are just gathered at the summit of Corcovado, at 800 metres above the level of the sea, to present the warmest demonstration of sympathy and friendship towards our brothers of the great Navy of the United States of America, as a general and sincere greeting spontaneously born from the core of the Brazilian's hearts. The real proof of this true a.s.sertion of mine you have just met during the solemn occasion of the triumphal entrance of your brilliant fleet, the most efficient naval strength, up to the present, that has ever been seen crossing this side of the Atlantic Ocean and getting into waters of the bay of Guanabara.

Indeed, it was such an important naval scene, such a splendid maritime spectacle, that the whole of the population in Rio, of all ages, chiefly belonging to the fair s.e.x could not avoid going out their houses to crowd the neighbourhoods of the harbour, the hills and islands around it, and all other points of view from the city of Rio and the Nictheroy side, in order to greet the pa.s.sage of the American fleet and to better appreciate the interesting display of her manoeuvres. So, I may a.s.sure you, gentlemen, with my experience of a sea man, that the splendor of the scenery just alluded to, in combination with the singular and natural beauties of the bay of Guanabara, in which you were fraternally received with open arms, by the mild people all cla.s.ses of our society, was of the sort of those fairy things impossible to be described, written or spoken about.

Yes, gentlemen, the peaceful commission of your fleet waving the star spangled banner of the great Republic of the United States of America around this continent of ours and training the crews of her men-of-war across the largest and deepest oceans, is certainly an act of very right naval policy, chiefly on the behalf of order and discipline of industry, labor and trade, of diplomacy and fraternal comity, and, at last, it means an exchange of civilisation amongst the peoples of the several countries of the young, immense and futurous continent of both Americas.

Therefore, I raise my cup for the health and prosperity of the sister Navy of the United States of America, one of the mightiest and more ill.u.s.trious of the world, whose sacred emblem in command and perfect sisterhood with ours, let G.o.d grant may float side by side--ever for ever and ever--for the benefit of universal peace and general comfort of mankind.

President Penna again made the welcome plain when he said at his luncheon the day following to the Admirals and several Captains at Petropolis:

The warm and fraternal welcome which the people of the capital of the republic have given to the American fleet which is now visiting us ought to prove how deep and sincere the sympathy and friendship which the Brazilian nation feels for its great and prosperous sister of North America.

These are no fleeting or transitory sentiments, since they date from the hour of our birth as a nation and are ever growing in strength. Every day the bonds of friendship and of trade between the two nations are drawn closer.

When the South American peoples proclaimed their independence, at that moment so fraught with misgivings and uncertainty as to the future, the young American republic gave them strength by solemnly declaring the intangible unity of the peoples of the new world through the declaration of their great President Monroe, whose name figures in history with brilliance as a statesman of great perception and of rare political foresight.

The long and difficult voyage of the powerful fleet which to-day is the guest of Brazil, necessitating as it does the doubling of the American continent, is a fresh and splendid evidence of the unequalled vigor and the extraordinary energy of the great power which is a friend of Brazil.

With an expression of ardent and sincere wishes for the fortunate continuation of the voyage of the friendly fleet I drink to the glorious American navy, to the prosperity of the republic of the United States of America and to the personal happiness of its eminent chief, that great statesman, President Roosevelt.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs added to all this in the great banquet given to the officers later in the Monroe Palace when, after offering a toast to President Roosevelt, he said:

The ancient sympathies between the American and Brazilian navies, added to by these deeds of war, could not fail to be augmented, until the point they have attained by the beneficial force of the increasing approximation between the two friendly peoples. In Norfolk and Washington last year the unequivocal demonstrations made to our officers, which the American Government so expressly a.s.sociated itself with, caused the Brazilian grat.i.tude and indebtedness; and it is to-day with the greatest satisfaction that in the entertainments promoted by the Brazilian Government, by our navy, and by our society the people of Rio de Janeiro welcome the American sailors with the same spontaneous enthusiasm with which they saluted, in his memorable pa.s.sage by this country, the eminent propagandist of peace and of continental concord, Mr. Root.

Brazil is grateful for the visit of her Northern friends, arrived here in these powerful men of war, which, according to the fine expression of President Roosevelt, are messengers of friendship and good will, commissioned to celebrate with us the long continued and never to be broken amity and mutual helpfulness of the two great republics.

I invite my countrymen here present to unite with me in the name of the Brazilian nation and its Government in a toast to the gallant American navy, an example of skill and military discipline, a model of devotion to their country, and a formidable guardian of the immense prestige of the Great Republic, the pride of the continent.

The same thing was iterated and reiterated in hundreds of private dinner parties. It received its most vociferous expression on January 16 at a smoker given to the officers of the fleet at the Park Fluminense, an outdoor music hall with a mere roof covering and a stage, set in a garden. It was like the outdoor suburban amus.e.m.e.nt places in which St.

Louis and other of our Western cities abound. Four bands of the ships were ma.s.sed at the entrance to the pavilion. An immense American shield was lighted with electricity.

The flags of Brazil and England and the United States were entwined. The place was reserved exclusively for American officers and their hosts.

They had an unusually good vaudeville show and in the intervals our combined band played. Beer and cigars were served, and soon things began to warm up. When a medley of patriotic American airs was played the cheers began to rise. They could have been heard for blocks. Soon Annapolis songs and yells and shouts were being given. In the intermissions the place fairly rocked with the songs and yells of old days. Men who had been tablemates for months shook hands with one another as if they had just met after a prolonged separation. Speeches were going on at a dozen places at once.

Then came the close. Our bands first played the Brazilian national hymn.

What a job that is will be told later. A great outburst of cheers followed after every man had ceased to stand at attention. The Brazilians were beside themselves with joy. Then came "G.o.d Save the King!" Every one could sing that, and while standing at attention a mighty chorus of song rolled out. More frantic cheering!

Then came "The Star Spangled Banner." Profound silence was observed to the last note. When the salute was finished a cyclone roar followed. Men jumped on chairs and yelled and yelled. Hats went into the air. The Brazilians and English could not be contained. A score of men were on tables, each trying to take command of the occasion, each calling for three cheers for this person and that, for this country and that. None heard the others, but it was a grand acclaim of good fellowship and intense patriotism.

One little Brazilian called for three cheers for President Roosevelt.

The Sun man heard him because he was only two feet away. The cheers rolled out and the Brazilian thought he had taken the place by storm, and was as happy as a child, but the cheers were simply a part of all that was going up and meant for everybody and everything in the way of international friendship. It was a night that stirred one.

And so the visit wore on, and it was a pretty tired crowd of guests and hosts before the finish came. Probably the weariest men on the ships were the bandmasters who struggled through the bars of the Brazilian national hymn. No disrespect is meant, but those Americans who are clamoring for a new national hymn ought to hear what the Brazilians have to put up with and then rest themselves content for all time with what we have.

In the first place the Brazilian hymn is so long that when you are playing it as a Brazilian warship pa.s.ses the Brazilian gets out of hearing and almost out of sight before you finish. After a few struggles with the music the orders were given on some ships to shorten up if the other ship was out of hearing and save the wind of the players. Then too it is queer music. It goes hippety hop--it seems a combination of waltz and march, of anthem and jig. It may be music, but the writer of this is frank to say that the j.a.panese national hymn, with its weird swoops and dives, curls and twists, seems like a gliding Strauss waltz compared with the Brazilian hymn. One of the bandmasters on the fleet complained that his men could not play it properly.

"Musish no-a good," he said. "No Italian musish players. All come from Kalamazoo, bah!"

The Brazilians had hard struggles with the names of our warships.

Minnesota, Louisiana and such were all right, but Connecticut staggered them. They made almost as bad as a mess of it as when they p.r.o.nounced the name of the High Life Club here or the Light and Power Company. The Brazilian name for the High Life Club is Higgie Leaffie Cloob. That of the Light and Power concern is Liggety Poor Companee. Let it go at that.

The reader must imagine how they p.r.o.nounced Connecticut, for it can't be put down on paper.

The departure of the fleet bids fair to be even more spectacular than the one at Hampton Roads, only the powder and smoke, and the blare of the bands and all the rest of the show will be in honor of another President than our own. When the last gun has boomed it will mean not only good-by to President Penna and Brazil, but it will be the blackthroated response of 14,000 American sailors to Rio. The guns will declare Rio to be not only the City of All Delights but the City of All Hospitality.

CHAPTER VI

NATIONAL SALUTES AT SEA

Unique Meeting of United States and Argentine Ships 300 Miles From Land--Grand Naval Spectacle--High Honors for Admiral Evans and Cordial Greetings for All His Men--Fine Display of Seamanship on South American Vessels--Picturesque Incidents of the Voyage From Rio to the Most Southern City in the World-- Nature Put on Mourning as the Farewells Were Said and Signalled at Brazil's Capital--The Man-o'-War Mail From Home.

_On Board U. S. S. Louisiana, U. S. Battle Fleet_, PUNTA ARENAS, CHILE, Jan. 31.

The pa.s.sage of the battle fleet from Rio to this the southernmost city of the world was marked by a marine spectacle unprecedented, so far as any one in this fleet can recall, in naval annals. A squadron of the Argentine navy came out hundreds of miles to greet our ships, and probably for the first time in the history of navies national salutes were fired upon the high seas. Squadrons and fleets have pa.s.sed one another before time and time again, and honors have been exchanged, the flags of flag officers have been saluted, but after these courtesies have been finished they have gone their separate ways, all official proprieties having been observed.

But this greeting was so unusual that Admiral Evans set a new naval fashion, and after his flag had been saluted--seventeen guns, by the way; the number increases on the way around, and if the warships keep it up, each one giving the Rear Admiral more and more guns, he will soon be an Admiral of the fleet in the thundered judgment of other nations, no matter what action Congress may take--he ordered the salute of twenty-one guns for the Argentines. The Argentine ships gave full justification, for they had manned the rails on approaching our ships, an honor paid ordinarily only to the head of a nation.

Admiral Evans met this unusual compliment by choosing to regard it as an honor to our nation, not a personal matter, and he fired twenty-one guns, to which the Argentine flagship responded at once. In addition to those honors the crews of the various ships cheered one another as they pa.s.sed. It was all different from the accepted rule of fleets or squadrons in pa.s.sing and it left a fine feeling.

"I never saw sentiment carried so far in all my naval experience," said one man who will soon have the right to hoist a two-starred Rear Admiral's flag. "Perhaps it was unusual, but it was impressive; it was impressive."

Our fleet had no sooner reached Rio than Admiral Evans was informed that the Argentine ships would come out from Buenos Ayres to greet him on the way to Punta Arenas. Three days before sailing inquiries were made as to his probable course and the hour when he would be off the mouth of the River Plata. The information was cabled duly and our fleet held itself in readiness to do the proper and handsome thing for this unusual occasion. Sat.u.r.day, January 25, was almost a wonder day at sea. The air, which had been acc.u.mulating a chill under cloudy skies and an eastern wind, became balmy and the sea was as smooth as a pond. The sky remained overcast and the fleet had been running for three days practically by dead reckoning. Late on Sat.u.r.day night the fleet overtook the tender Yankton and the "beef boats," Glacier and Culgoa. They were ordered to take their places with the fleet and when everybody except those on watch went to sleep it was expected that the three smaller craft would be in their places in the morning. But the wise weather sharps who know this region sniffed the air and said:

"Weather breeder!"

Sure enough at daybreak a heavy sea began rolling across from the southern coast of Africa and the wind began to blow. Before 7 o'clock the ships were plunging and making heavy weather of it. On the log books it was set down as a moderate gale. The waves sometimes were twenty-five feet high. The ships with quarter decks cut down were smothered with spray and solid water from time to time. The ships rolled very little--never in the strongest gale have the ships of the Connecticut cla.s.s at least had their tables racks in place--but they yawed and dipped, as all ships in heavy weather are expected to do. The Yankton and Culgoa were not in sight. The weather had been too much for the little Yankton and she was ordered to slow down and the Culgoa was told to stand by her. The air was thick with rain squalls and mist and a more miserable day could hardly be imagined.

The morning wore on and nothing was heard from the Argentine ships.