AMERICA'S FLEET.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 200, 18 May 1908, Page 7

AMERICA'S FLEET.

ADMIRAL SPEKRY. THE COALING' ARRANGEMENTS. JT IBIiEQaASn—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT (Reo. v May 16, 8.1 p.m.) Now YorU, May 16. • Rear-Admiral Clias. S.' Sperry lias sucjoeded Rear-Admiral Thomas in tho command ; .of '.the American- Atlantic (? Pacific) deot.. : ... . , Sydney, May 16. ■ Tho Seaham Coal Company has secured thocontract for coaling the American fleet at. Sydney. . • ' ■ ! 'i' .•• '-Y ■ ' i SPERRY AND THE SPANISH WAR. r<::- ' • ! MISSED THE GLORY BUT DID THE , WORK. - It was previously announced that as Rear■idmirnl Charles M. Thomas, commander of . tho:second squadron, who took charge of the. ' fleet-after. Admiral Evans's illness, is hear his retiring ago, ho (Rear-Admiral: Thomas) would in.turn be succeeded in tho command

by;Rear-Adnural Chas. S. Sperry.' This is, , ' '/no-doubtj'r the statement that the abovo cable,'gram isLineant,to convoy. '' - ';i 'A'former naval officer of the United StatcSj who-speaks of a closo personal relationship. ■ with Iteaf-Admiral'Sperrv, writes of him as v follows to the reason why' lie' receives :-' - the'appointment, -since neither, political nor. ' family \iiifluonce has ' anything to do with; 1 ' it,; and sincelio in a 'manner; missed tlio - . - cliarico- to .'earn- glory in ; tho lato war with Spain',' tlio circumstances arc perhaps worth " !^xplaiiation. .-'..'.ln'-tho! first,,plade, Sperry had , the' good luck to enter the service very young, s'b that!-his.retiring" ago.-.comes quite;later, ;than:that:of his classmates, -the majority of whom aro already retired. - Then he, had the . ,cpmmoii.seiise,;and brains necessary,to grad- _ ' riate from tho ,Academy away up in .the 'single. : . ; it^b^s;%f;''.bis'''class;::'.\-Ihus you. see right .-at i'tho:" start'he got into 'shape to : become' a . Tear-admiral 1 early and to stay late.: His' Phlegmatic Way. ■■:- .' His start in activo servico was' as romantic■ ;- . as :,t,hd-start of ,a harrowing dime'.novel, al- . . though■ I iiever could persuade him'to view it ;; in..-that' light-. He started for' the.. China '' s't-atipu' oil tho.' ■ corvette - Sacramento, and ' : they. got along all-right until somewhere near; tho: month of tlio Hooghly River on the way ■>' i•' to Calcutta, 'when tho ship .went/ashore at •.. ' liight in a fog and was a total wreck.' No livos. were lost and no clothes wero saved, so 1 ' all hands'camo homo rich only in experience. If I wero commissioned to write Sperry's biography,: I. could no!doiibt rake up lots of ': ; suchi.mdterial 'of ' harrowing , interest to the' people-who. pass their lives at homo, but ~' r* .'"-in-pVdpr/ -to .-be.i'truthfxil I should have to get my detailed facta from the fountainliead, and. ' ; right ,thei'6 <is. where I should meet with- de■f6atj".for tho reason that all .-.'.such episodes 1 would'.appear .to lum as too commonplace to worth: oven recalling;'-'',' '~ . , • . ''Sperry:.'.is': phlegmatic. I doiibt .much:, if ... ho - ;took his : shipwreck any' more ; ; soriously than -a ;porson would who stepped .in a mud, puddlo.. >It- was' all over as -.soon).as., his! ■.* pyj'amas:got dry. Tlio day that lie'got mar-;, nod you'.would havo-thouslit that it- 1 his . ■; . Bisteori^'experience instead; of. his first one. Appearances aro often deceptive, and the •; .' > matter-ofrfact-'air - may come from. absolute •• vacuity, of mind, but such an accusation ..can hardly be laid at lus door.. liis innate niathe-' i iiiatfcal talent sent- him repeatedly to the Nayal:Academy as-'an instructor-in higher ' ' mathematics.' Only ■ tho best' talent in the • sorVice would ever-bo picked ; for President of : tlio .Naval' War College, and ho served in that capacity for three years," relintjuish- '• ing' it to go Vas. tho naval member of ;the last Hasuo Coriference.' . - ■ .As Ordnnnco OfTiccr. : ; ■ : ' A.I. ;havb ! said -'that, ho missed. tho 'glory - of tne -Spanish War.' So he, by'.no. . : missed 'the Hiard 'work 'of it, for as :' ordnnnco officer of tho. New. York navy yard ho-vhad anything* but a .sinecure. To tlio ordnanco officer falls all tho details of fitting tho vessels out with their entire.artillery- ,, outfits.'-; There was. scarcely a' day,-for. more. -'.than.'six months then.that at. least a dozen ' of- the purchased yachts wore, not,at:the, docks to-be armed and started off in a hurry, ' ;but not ;a mistake must bo made.. This only in addition to tho repairs and equipment of ! tlio main fleet. .• - • I, saw- Sherry at his work often m those. ! t "days, and. it was a/joy to the spirit to pee ; tho work. -There .was'a ,tangle in \the:,thread every,-'five minutes, .but,it came : 'Straightin 'a, ; moment,,-and without'a stop ' : in the .regular: motion of tho. shuttle. He; is , ' : " handle theMfeet joi battleships : in : exactly■! the : . bamb way. It is, not'lneroly. a' ■■.•'matter!,'of.:navigating some twenty old vessels in- company. . There- is the comfort, the \'';'V'--' ,: welJ-bemg,' tho training, and tho steady onthu'siaßm of fifteen -thousand people to. be maintained. It takes a steady;hand at the . v/heeli 'and. solid sense, unaffected by what : - is -called tho oxalted'position,, to carry the' ' cruiso to a successful finish;' Trust. Sperry. Mathoti m Appointment. '. • But-iiow did ho 'securo the, appointment ? ' • .'■ Notwithstanding ,'t-hb ..dispatches that state • .'that.''it.has.'just-been i dbtermined after conEultation, there aro all .the finger-marks, of • a long, and wbll-developed; plan of, the' naval ■ authorities. In the. .first . placq; it' is , easily ■ se'oxi what a \ superbtraining, experience has , beeii'gained;by.'everyone connected With the. .rfleet. . .This' .training' has been: as necessary - and.-as,.useful:.to, the. future division com- ' mauders' as to anyone else, and' in order. j... 1 : that-/.the'divisions :; ; oftlio_ fleet should eon-, ;* ,i . .tiiiueVto .benefit it ; 'goesjwithout saying that, ;i ' ] tho. bpmmands should: pas3 J to those - who have had- the: training in ; ;; -The':fo.ur.'rea!r-ajdniirals chosen to the commands v/ero, jof 'course, carefully- chosen, on "tho scoi'o of ability , rather than of '.avail- '- ' ibility - 'Of the four, three must- retire from v.- active v sorvico under-tho ,ago limit boforo ■ re»lly much could bo realised from their full •.."•.fll&r'fiiiininfe.V- Jt-inust-not.be' forgotten that in''adclitibn. to/, the- massejl fleet _r there aro. ?four more active division's in the Pacife'to bo commandedj and a new battle-' ' sHp 'illvisibn almost ready for-assembly hero '. . at htilib. Just prior to itlio sailing of the • fleot'fnrn Hampton Roads, it will bo remembered .'tVat the older captains < woro irelievod and.TeplVced by'younger men, but thero were . two .vex&ptions made. Captains Wain- , wiight anl'-.Schroeder' both belonged, to the, category 'or; pldcr captains, and wero near 'their time, for ' advancement, to . . the ;grade of^rear-admirala.., As Evans and : Thomas' rotircv Wamwright and Schroeder ' •coineVnaturtUy^.ahead, to fill the vacancies ■ in" division ■ all the better '.fitted .' . fo'r;thb' positions from their fleet experience. ; Sperry has the. advantage of eighteen ir.onths.of still ahead of.him '... .'in:'addition' to - his; natural seniority;. Thus. the'solidarity of ! Vhe ' divisional and, fleet< command is maintaiLed, and the efficiency: of the fleet steadily adduces. -.

i A Turiins Up. : \ ' "Ib is oiily now, that lyeryono is beginning to.wakb up to tho fact,that; the cruiso of '•■' the : Hcefc lias not been a'uncro experimental .. . procession i, or a travelling show, but''a thoroughgoing tuning iip oi an already welltrained mass; so weil-traint^l,that the lleot . arrives in more effective condition .than when it started."' Sperry will its efficiency beyond the slightest 'doubt. 1 .\ ' • Of course, .there is the other factor .in this extension of the cruiso to the uttermost ends , of tho'earth, that Americans take to heart. We know that the ships and thV'men"aro all right. •• Socially, also, when it\corae3 to showing tho national character, 'we., want to chow at equal advantage. At this, end of the lino no better representative ckild bo chosen than Sperry., No one couli) talk 1 with liim two minutes without beinj impressed ' with respect for his dig-' nity,' his familiarity with* all the are of •interest in world progress, amhlie possesses : to the full ; that quiet assurar.ee : of tho. American who needs no affectation ito impress his critic. A better examplo of: quiet, imprbssiTC. American character could .not have been chosen.. Tako it all in all, the coming extension of tho cruiso may serve as an invaluable lesson to tho far-away world ns ; to what kind of people tho /American? * really are, not what hide-bound foreign