"There are continual mishaps to the various ships. One gets sand in her valves. Although six miles off shore, she must have scraped a shoal. Another gets hot bearings and the whole fleet is stopped. Another breaks her condensers, another smashes her propeller blade, another breaks her piston rod. With most of them the steering gear is continually getting out of order. Naval constructors are in demand night and day."
Nothing of that kind happened with the American ships. They were sent out to cruise and they did cruise, accidents in no way interfering with their steady progress.
The effect on the men was most beneficial. They got the sea habit, so to speak. They were in splendid health. You could almost see youngsters growing robust from day to day. Discipline improved all the time. The men, like the ships, were shaken down into a cohesive force, with wholesome, fresh, American youngsters, hundreds of them right off the farm, as the bone and sinew of the fighting force. They are a fine set of men, and no fighting force in the world can compare with them in what is called morale. In every port their conduct elicited enthusiastic commendation from the authorities high and low. They honored their uniform. Contrast this also with the conduct of the Russian crews, as the Russian naval officer already quoted records in his diary:
"A transport, the Malay, is largely loaded with lunatics. She is about to return to Russia with lunatics, drunkards, invalids and men deported for crimes. The crews are all hard cases, beachcombers and the like, picked up in the Madagascar ports. All the officers carry loaded revolvers; mutiny breaks out among the lunatics and other prisoners; the officers suppress it with slaughter."
It's many a year since an American naval officer carried a loaded revolver because of fear of his men. The scum of the country is not found in the American navy these days. No brighter, more hard working, loyal men in the world are to be found than those behind the guns on the Atlantic fleet, and when the ships left Magdalena Bay no crews on any warships in the world were in more efficient fighting shape.
Although much has been said about the need of a hospital ship to accompany the fleet, and the Relief did join the ships at Magdalena Bay, the truth of the matter is that each of the ships cared for its sick adequately on the way around. Surgeon-General Rixey lamented publicly that when the fleet left Hampton Roads it had no hospital ship with it. While there can be no doubt that some cases could receive better attention on a hospital ship than on a battleship, especially in the way of better quarters and possibly better diet, it is also true that none of the sick on the fleet suffered seriously from the lack of a hospital ship, unless it was in tubercular cases. Such could have been put on shore for better air and sustained treatment in various places had it been necessary. The sick on each ship were not more than from twenty to twenty-five cases on an average and a large part of these were trivial, slight accidents of colds and the like.
There were the usual number of deaths. No one can say that any of these lives would have been spared had there been a hospital ship with the fleet. Some of these cases developed on a single run, when it would have been impossible to transfer them to the hospital ship. This comment is not meant in any way as taking sides in the hospital ship controversy. It is meant to declare that it is quite feasible for a great fleet while cruising to take care of its sick successively, even if no hospital ship be at hand.
One great drawback to the full enjoyment and probably to the full development of the benefits of the cruise was the condition of Admiral Evans' health. Soon after leaving Trinidad, his old enemy, rheumatism, took hold of him and laid him low for the rest of the voyage. Complications in the nature of stomach troubles followed. The Admiral suffered intensely from pain. At times he was in a most serious condition, as the country now knows. The correspondents with the fleet did not feel it necessary to reveal the grave condition of the Admiral's health, largely because of the misunderstandings that might arise, to say nothing of possible complications. For the most part they kept silent, recording, however, at every opportunity any favorable change in his condition.
Nevertheless, although Admiral Evans was a gravely sick man, the truth is that he was always in command of his fleet up to the time when he left it at Magdalena Bay. He might have done more work with it in the way of manœuvring had he been well. His work may have been negative rather than positive, but he was in command all the time. He directed all important movements. He was informed of every situation. He gave every important order himself. He also kept up with the routine and many painful hours did he spend signing documents and going over routine work.
The details of an Admiral's task are burdensome even to a well man. Yet Admiral Evans insisted on keeping up with most of the work even when every stroke of the pen caused him severe pain. Never did he have more loyal subordinates.