IR
I
(
, THE OMATTA' STXPAT BEE: .TTLY 21, 1007. '
3
Experience of Middies at Poughkeepsie a Novelty in Naval Annals
UK oarsmen from the Naval hiM nrv f ik. i. .ji...n..
academy who were at Fough- by the time they get to the Hudson for the
keepsle thla year to take part last few weeks.
lor the first time In the Inter
collegiate regatta had
finest training quartern of the
r-t-i. . l
!,v;s. ,, '"ir- v oaon Glendon hail hla men out twice a
id about the day throughout the training period nt. Krum
e tot.' TheV Jvlhnw TI... naw n AiA m -f.nt .1 . .. I
ramped out In one of the best houseboats of hard work over the course the first few
owned In the country
Colonel Robert Means Thompson, Ann
apolis. '68, turned over to the use of the
middles the Everglades, the hi craft from
which he fishes down In Florida ordi
narily. The Everglnde-. wftj tied up at
r.ium ,iuow, a hail mile or so above the
days, but later they stayed up above and
rowed toward Hyde rark Instead of going
down the river where the othera were.
After the morning row when the boats
were put bark Into the house, there wn a
brief wait and then the oarsmen had
luncheon. They had another laay spall
up the monotony of loafing.
After the afternoon row there
was dinner, of course; then more
loafing around on the upper deck.
It was very pleasant. Indeed, up
there, because the Highland side
of the river was much cooler than
the IDughkeepstn side and a pleas
ant breeze swept along where the
Everglades was Uod up eyery
evening.
There was no more delight
ful spot for the crew than
the deck of the Everglades.
. .tVvf 'Vy-'V'ijA -S<trCHArfD Jlkuooh coach.? PL, R M ' f ' J Vlf "E J v'
-
tart of the 'our-ml'.e oour. then, watting for the afternoon wori
There is always difllculty about getting done, of course. In the cool of the
ultable quarters for a crew squad, either day.
at FouKhkeopl8 or at Highland. The local Writing letters, playing cards solitaire
real estate men seize the opportunity an.l mostly playing mandolins or guitars or
demand high prices for the few weeks that the like tilled up the afternoon. The aver-
vjio uuui'siuun imvo nj ayenu in preliminary w i.-uumk oarsmen nas a very lazy time
or it in his training.
The navy men did not ljave much of a
chance to do any walking after meals. The
work on the Hudson
There Is not a great deal of money to
spend for rowing ut the Naval academy,
chiefly because the only Income for sport Is
derived from subscriptions by 'midshipmen
and navy officers. When the Naval acad
emy people st art ad out to look for quarters
near the course they found that oricea
country directly up from the river Is very
hilly and tho road Is very far away. Walk
ing on railroad ties Is not of much use to a
man In training.
The afternoons were hard to wear away.
T'ftA.lHEft OF THK AVI Cf?hS&
15
were away up. At this Juncture Colonul esPec,a"Jr to mpn accustomed to hard work
Y'umpson offered them his houseboat. !I""y mlnuto of th8 day In the academy.
lV-i 1 . . . . Tne oarsmen were very glad to get In their
"JlMb was a great piece of luck, because It ,, w , I 1 . " " .
would have been absolutely Impossible to rowing 10 orea
A Hefct Jiere and there Just relieved the Down below on either side of the Ever
darkness outside. Singing and music glades the protecting torptdo boats were
ret for money accommodations such as
were furnished on board that craft. Tho
Everglades la comparatively a new boat,
having been built only about three years
ago from designs made by Colonel Thomp
son. There are accommodations on board
for twenty persons. The dining room Is fConvrlirht 1W7 h. vv n v ...
, - . - i - . . w, . . , v 1. 1.. . . y rnui
- -lRII'OII. July 18. (Special Corres-
I pondence of The Bee.) I have
Trjrzzxszz rrjr's: rr 'i'rrr;
Features of Life in Heart of the Libyan Desert
to hold
very big c!rW
large enough
quad.
The Navy oarsmen taken to Poughkeepsie
were sixteen In number, eneugh for two
crews. Two coxswains were brought along.
Richard Glendon, the coach of the crowa;
John McMaBters, known better as Scotty,
the trainer, and Lieutenant Beymour K.
uabes In southern Tunisia. They huve po
heed the Sahara with their camel soldiers,
and are now sending escorts with such of
Just returned from Mechla, the
great oasis which lies on the edge
of the Libyan desert, east of
Tripoli. It faces the Mediterranean and is
an Island of green on the edge of this
mighty ocean of sand. It contains morn
Holllday, the manager, were about the only tlan l,0u0,0uu 4ate palms, fully as many
outsider. Commander N. K. Irwin, In olive trees, and vast groves of oranges and
charge of athletics at the Naval academy, lmons. The oaels Is cut up by roads, much
was there with his wife, but they lived on UK8 the reets of a city. Each little farm the caravans as pass that way So far they
hore- h" walls ,ix or elnt h'eh, and every- have not created the requisite market at
The Navy oarsmen did not get up to nere " to be seen the tall frameworks Gabes, and within the past few months thi
Poughkeepsie until June 15. The Everglades of the we"(l b which the land Is Irrigated, reputation of that port has been gTeatly
came up from Bayonne under Its own Tha mot,ve power for raising the water Is Injured, because It has no merchants at
.ows. cameis. aonkeys and women. In many hand ready to buv out a large caravan
placos tunnels or long Inclined ditches, be- when It arrives. The caravans often carry
ginning at the wells and sloping downward goods to the value of tens of thousands of
for several hundred feet, have been dug, dollars ,nnd a big capital Is required to
and In these as tracks, the cow, donkey, handle their trade. The hist caravan which
camel or woman trots up and down, dras- called at Gabes had to put its wares unon
..... .... .UJ.C, miming over a wneei on me in steamers there and ship them to
iup oi me iramework, which raises the
water. At the end of the rope Is a hugo
bag of skin open at both ends. This Is
aropprd Into the well, and. when It Alls.
o. i.i.-io mo oesen are me snortest: Thev tell terrlhi .inri.. .i. i - ,, . ...
k 'chad bJ '.f. tr Tniat and Timbuktu t" through It. Between here and the once a year, bringing together traders from
so that Tr po gets l?h " 0f th f trade of " lZZtt" t"'re ,s a w,do f ho tones, all parts of the Sahara. In ordinary time,
the FrenehPSaa7wei,0f ' 1' tVl ""T.I 1" T"."
The French deridertlv ,,htef f fhi. ,io. ",.... ... : . . " . : ' ue nem on a FTe.it plain
' m nuuui a uib as Kentucky, outside.
The Fezzan, which lies on the other side them, so that going through It la like trav-
power about three days before. It Is
equipped with two gas engines of three
cylinders each.
With the Kverglades came Heotty McMas
teis. He had a busy time for two or three
days looking around for sources of foed
supply, because oarsmen are equipped with
large appetites. When Scotty had hlB craft
all provisioned it was time for the oarsmen
to get there. He had some anxious mo.
of the Hunimada, also covers a larne terri
tory. It Is a shallow depression In the
desort, spotted hero and there by nnsos. It
lies Just about KO miles north of I.ako
Chad, and the chief caravan routes to Kuka
and Bornu pass through It.
The transsaralia trade of the past has
largely consisted of slaves, and slaves are
carried from tho Soudan by that route
through tho Fezzan to Tripoli today. From
here they are smuggled to Tunisia. Algeria
Tripoli.
In Trlpolltana. all such companies must
have their armed escorts, and every Indi
vidual I see In this part of the desert has a
gun strapped to his back. I passe! several
caravans coming In and going out during
and Turkey, finding a ready murket In the Tho houses are box shaped and are so laid
out that the women can walk from one to
another on tho roofs, which are reserved
for their use.
harems of those cities. They are often
taken on the steamers, as the nominal
wives of their masiers. No Mohammedan
will tolerate any Inquiry Into his family
arrangements, and such a statement pre
vents Investigation. Not long ago the num
ber of slaves carried across the desert
this
sea.
niunts while wailing for the arrival of the the lower end Is pulled up, thus forming a
West Shore train which bore the crews to closed bottom, and the whole Is dragged
" liiaiion. nign up inio me air. The bottom la nnw . .m t . . . thrm.h i ir,., .j ... . .. .
- "o mm M x iijur on .a canu i along one ........ , an w.ny iiere in i ripou we nave tw.ixil people. Far
It was more than an hour late. Scotty releaBa1- n the water pours out Into a of the caravan routes a few dnvs ago. The " ln-m VT annum, and It Is said that the ther eastward. In Barka Is the town of
stood on the station platform bewailing "8"'W nlV f" inl'1?'0 " rpf,ervo,r- only roads I could see were the fresh camel route from there to Lake Chad can even Benghazi, which was a thriving city In the
that fact, chiefly because, he was afraid uiee buskets will hold about thirty tracks, but these must be obliterated hv "ow be followed by tho bleaching hones of day of the Phoenicians and Romans and
.u. inn rnnsi orer c had prepared for I, , 7 " everj' sand storm, and. In some places, fir lne numan beings who hove died on the still further east Is I'torna
uioner would be too well done. .. ...... quite a long distance, there were no tracks
When the oarainen did get there they An OaUTarm " J"vl',neWs ,hp Arab" anl Petlou-
tackled Scotty's provender In irreat r.,.,i , ., t ,i,j ' . lns ca" travel ;,W miles over such wastes,
All they had to do was to ma yrT,Z. . . " Z' .".7 n1 not on' tMr '
Everglades, which wa. ..".,".: Z. I n V Z ".''u to the Sou Inn fake, many months, and the
r - r " " i 1 j ire if h l
t,l .... . I....- I - .. ' '"HOI
v.. ma looa. t,-:uiuiiv v'liiuuiu, ruiuunB tunng on I rie ton
get pretty tired In the cmrre of two harA
rowing workouts In a day and they arc
only too glad to get to bed early. At about
10 o'clock things were quiet on board the
Kverglades. Tho boys who slept on deck
had turned In there and the others were
Sleeping In the cabins.
Coach Glendon, Scotty McMasters and
some of the others In charge did not turn
In so early. Coach Olendon Is a great
smoker, and he and the others naturally
had things to say about the coming races.
Eventually, however, they, too. succumbed
to the quU t and the effects of the day In
the open air and turned In, and the whole
navy fleet was In quietude.'
Colonel Thompson Is well known to all
navy nun. Ho has a wide acquaintance
In other countries beside the United States,
as the walls of his dining room In the Kver
glades testify. Pictures of about all the
men prominent In the United States navy
are there.
Admirals Dewey, Fvans, Bchloy, Slgsboe,
Chadwlck and others who antedated tha
Spanish war all have their signed photo
graphs on the wall. King tdward. Sir
Thomas Llpton and the royalty of other
countries also are to be seen there. It
may have acted as a sort of Inspiration to
the midshipmen to sit there beneath the
pictures of the great men In their own
service.
The trip to rougttkeepsle was a fitting
reward for the long training work of the
midshipmen, and It Is exM-ted that a
larger number of oarsmen than ever will
come out for the crews at the academy
next season. Those who were on the trip
this year will have only to tell ot the lux
urious life of ease aboard to make the
were out on deck singing too. The negro of, and there was some very good muslo others anxious to have a taste of It, too.
It Is regarded moro as a sort of premium
stay up very late. They or the men In the second crew, who, of
course, had no chance, barring accident, to
get a place in the reKular eight.
Colonel Thompson's generosity In turn
Ing over the Everglades to the navy oars,
men Is only part of what he has done y for
the cause of athletics In the academy, H
gives a large sum of money annually toth
Navy Athlntlc association, the rest of tr
funds coming, as has been said, from sub
scriptions. Colonel Thompson Is the donor of the
medals for the Intercollegiate fencing
championship, in which the navy takes
part. These medals were worn by the An
napolis oarsmen this year. He presents a
foot ball trophy for the annual army-navy
came and golf foot balls to the navy
players If they defeat the army. He also
gives a cup for the best all-round athlete
of the naval academy.
Although a graduate of the academy,
his title is colotud. lie got that as a mem
ber of the staff of ona of the governors of
New Jersey. The navy oarsmen were sorry
that Colonel Thompson was not at rough,
keepsie to see the race in which they rowed.
Ho was In Europe at the time.
The Manley, a Yarrow built boat, bought
several years ago for use in the navy,
was the coaching launch of the crews. It
Is a black boat, moves with great speed
and makes a pretty sight dashing along;
level with the crews with black smoke
pouring out ot the stack.
The Talbot Is a bigger boat and was used
they are now mnWlno- r,,.ei,.i in.in.n,.n. . .. . " " . ' ' "" y ans
,,t. " ..a muume is near mat ot tne Blue and entered only by gates Its streets are
Ga ' i VI A l r V.rB.n,a. dark passes, wtuses'" 1
eling through the tunnels of a mine.
Gha-dam-es 1 hesitate to write the word,
It sounds so much like swoarlnu Is another
oasis center of about the same character
as Uhat. It has been a traMIng place since
the days of the Romans, and the caravans
of thu Fezzan, Tuat, Timbuktu and Lake
Chad all pass through It. Ghadames is
twice as big as Ghat. It is surrounded by
a wall three miles In length, but the people
live In only one corner of the Wlrmura
Captured by the Americans.
Some of the Interesting parts of
region are along tho Mediterranean
region that the khedlve expects to build
his railroad from Alexandria to Tripoli.
Products of the Sahara.
The products of the di-Bert are much
larger than are generally supposed. The
caravans which are now coming here
bring quantities of ostrich feathers and
also cotton, dates, tobacco and grain, as
well os the ivory and gold dust of the
Soudan. The output of the oases them
selves is greater than that of any similar
area on earth. As I have already said,
these desert islands comprise altogether a
tract about twice as big as the state of
Vlrirlnla, and they produce almost every
kind of grain. Outside of them there nro
vast tracts which are used for the grazing
of millions of camels, sheep and goats, as
well as horses and cattle. And of late
years a new crop has been found which Is
bringing fortunes Into the Sahara.
This last is alfa grass. It grows wild
along the edges of the desert and uj on the
platouus where there Is only a slight rain
fall. A few years ago this crop went to
waste, but now the Arabs are gathering
it and It is brought In from everywhere
bv car and earMvun. T auw It atiiebeH iin
along the railroad In the deserts of Al- moBUy for messenger work. The two boats
gerla and Tunisia; the trains were loaded
way. The capital of the Fezzan Is Mur
.uk, a gloomy city containing about 7.00
people. It depends almost entirely upon
The Journey the caravan trade.
the only place
on the -African continent ever occupied by
Americans. It was captured by our fleet
In 1M5.
me pier, and get to
come oi me couene crews have to hnati. of the sround. so arranged that t
to get the shells out of the baggage oars tie tract could be Irrigated at will. Under
and Into the boathouse before there is any the rich, orange groves beds of beautiful
thought of eating. The Navy men weron t flowers were to be seen here and there: anrt
must be valuable to stand the
cost.
Ghat and Ghadames.
Another Important caravan center la the
I have heard much about the great oasej oasis of Ghat, which lies in the bed of
and the ruins of a battery which
was then erected on the heights are still
to be seen. I am told there are other
tracts along the Mediterranean coast which
might be cultivated, if properly handled,
and that the ruins of many Roman settle-
oomerea mat way. Tl.ey simply ste their
dinners and than after a time went to sleep
on their boat
There was some overflow naturally from
the sleeping rooms, whioh did not hold all
the men brought slong Some of the mid
shipmen slept out on the decks from choice.
In the morning they got the shells out of
the baggage car, and after a somewhat
diffloult launching they rowed up to Kruiu
Klbow. The Everglades followed and soon
tl-d up near the boathouse.
The Columbia crews used to be quartered
up at Krum Elbow, but they had a house
away up on the bank, called Red Top, be
cause the Harvard crews one stayed there
Slid had the roof painted red. They usod
a boathouse down on the shore. The Navy
leun UA,.J I. , . L . I
41 e.r.i Biie.ua in UlSl OOStnOUi
In most places three crops were growing on
the same soil. Over the whole date palms,
with their ragged trunks their wide
branched fan-like leaves quivering In tha
breeze and their yellow fruit shining like
gold under the sun. The trees below werej
loaded with oranges, pale yellow lemons,
flaming pomegranltes and even wttrt
jwachee and pears. On the ground Itself
vegetables were growing, and I saw evert
alfalfa and Kraln of different kinds. This
garden was In the charge of a Rdouln an I
several of his wives. The women wera
boiling dates In a pot, about the size of art
apple butter kettle, over a fire, out In the
open. I don't know whether they were
making daU butter or date honey, of
whether they were merely cooking dates,
for sale In the markets. The women were
onuru wun jeweiry. i nnoed one with a
osnters from tha merchants of Tripoli dry rtvar, and a third la Ohadamaa, In an- tnenU still axist Chare. It la through K"'
IJ ! II f
with It, and there were mountains of it on
the wharves of every port I visited.
Here In Tripoli the alfa grass Is brought
In upon camols. It is picked by the Hed
ouiriB, Arabs and Berbers, every blade of It
being pulled from the ground. It is packed
in bags about four feet wide and eight
feet in length. Two of thesa bags are
slung ver the hump of a camel, and are
thus carried for miles over the desert.
When the grass arrives at Tripoli It is
(Continued oa f e Vive.)
Tae helpers on board the Everglades lived 'fane, and she let me take her photograph.
ti.
W. I
not hii.
to lie
waiting
oi I'm b'tathouse. too: that in in a
. f,
I't there nights. Th Lverclades
J 'i'ii.ese servants, so that the Navy men
I' '- ' ! .. ni selves right at home.
Life on board the houseboat was vastly
o n. rent fruin the round of hard
academy. The midshipmen naturally
up early In th" mornings, but they d;d
any recitations to ult.nrl . x
"i-'Kiasi uii thoy had to do was
around on the pleasant upper deck.
for tho time fur Him iM..ri.in..
Tie newspaper brought up from
Pous-hkut-paif on either the Manley or tne
Talt.ot. the two torpedo boats In attendance,
were eagerly grabbed up. It Is a curious
thing that although college oarsmen natu
rally know more about what is going on In
their own crews than any one else can.
'hey like to read what Is written about
them.
Tiny scan the papers too for ths news
of the other crews, although they knew
that whatever Is done at Poughkeepsie Is
The others were more bashful, and they
wrapped themselves up In their shawls
whenever the camera was pointed thelf
way.
Oases of Barbary.
The osses of Trlpolltana, or Barhary, as
It Is often called, contain practically Its
whole population They are scattered ovur
a territory one-ninth as large as the United
States, and they have altogether about 1,.
OOO.OJ) people. A large number of them,
such a Meeh'a. are found along the shor.
of the Mediterranean; others are further
south In the desert. In a great depression
known as the Feszah, and in addltlo nther
are others In the beds of dry rivers, wher
tha water supply comes from springs cm
artesian wells. There are caravan route
leading from Tripoli to all of these oasnaj
and also routes crossing the desert to tha
Soudan from oasis to oasis.
Tripoli Is. In fact, the commercial me
tropolis of the astern Sahara. It ilea al-
" . . al ' jsb
1 -' Ik
' -M i ma. - -sfcsw..v"
X.
v.va t rid
..ir'.U, ;:!:
. i
ia).
. t E . M b at , x 'VV t T X V W - s f i Si ' - a. I
very likely to ba unimportant, because the most directly north f Laks Chad, and 1U
X MAQAJIITB FAMILY
ii-u up aiungsiae me Tverglaaes gave
quite an air of protected rowlits; camp to
the scene.
On board the -Talbot was a hero Quite
unsung. Napoleon Johnson, president of
the Annapolis Coal and Wood company,
and Incidentally all the other officers and
staff of that great corporation, was so at
tached to the navy crews that' he enlisted
In the navy Just to be near them at
Poughkeepnle. Ho was employed as an
ollei on the Talhot. Johnson Is six feet
tall and much blacker than the ace of
spades.
When volunteering to a reporter tha In
formation as to himself and what brought
him to Poughkeepsie, he also Intimated
that If a good cut were printed abfut him
he would pay $2. By "cut" It developed
later he meant a piece in the paper. Later
on Napoleon said: "Ah'll give yo" three
dollahs If you gf me a good cut." and
digging down he produced a small and oily
roll, adding: "Heah's a dollah to bind de
bargain." (N. B. This cut was pTlnted
gratis.)
, The Fverplades was arranged for com
fort. Ths boat is 130 feet long over all,
with a breadth of twenty-eight feet over
the guards. There Is thus a very roomy
top deck, all set forth with cushions and
seats and tables.
Down below there Is a small recentlon
room,-with tables and a desk. The state
rooms run on either side of a passaguway
bar-k to tha dining room, which runs cross
wise of the boat and la very light and
airy. Back of that room la the commis
sary department. The navy oarsmen had
more servants around than any college
crew had. by a areut majority.
The trip made by the navy oarsmen was
their first. They obtained permission to
come to the Hudson through Victor How
ard Metcalf. secretary of the navy, himself
an old Yale oarsman. The fact tht the
navy came to the river this ytur is, of
course, no guaranty that tho 'midshipmen
will be back again, but it la considered
almost Inevitable that they will take part
In the regatta next season.
If they had won on the Hudson they
might not necessarily have come ba.k.
Now, however. It Is considered that they
are sure to be back for the sake of re
gaining their prestige. Next year there
will be a navy four-oared crew In the race.
This year there) Was pijyxa, yarslt, aUhu
V
ONE! TILB OULEP NAIL UANCINO Q1RX4
oarsd. eras
- - K-i. j ,
