Better days; or, A Millionaire of To-morrow

by Thomas Fitch; Anna M. Fitch

The construction of torpedo boats for harbor defense was no longer a novelty, but this was the first attempt made to demonstrate that a submarine torpedo vessel could be used on the high seas to overtake and destroy a flying enemy. The Etna and the Stromboli each carried one hundred shells, each shell being loaded with five hundred pounds of potentite. Chain cradles for holding these shells were suspended to huge fans of finely-tempered steel, shaped like pincers, and the machinery for fastening one or more of these cradles to the bottom of the vessel it was intended to destroy was both simple and ingenious, as were the arrangements for exploding them when fastened. A fuse or wire attached to a steamer running away at the rate of a mile in three minutes would have been impracticable, and the inventor had therefore arranged a time or clockwork cap, which could be set to explode at any given number of minutes from the time the shell should be fastened.

The Siva, containing Mr. Morning, the foreign engineers, and the ordnance officers of the American Navy detailed for the service, left her moorings at nine o’clock and steamed down the bay, followed by the Warspite, flying the British flag, the French corvette Garronne, the Russian frigate Tsar, the Italian ironclad Victor Emanuel, the Spanish ship Pizarro, the Chilean man-of-war Cero del Pasco, the Swedish sloop-of-war Berdanotte, the American iron batteries Charleston and San Francisco, and the great German steel war ship Wilhelm II. It was intended that this latter vessel should follow the Warspite, but there was some delay in getting her under way, and she was the last in the naval procession, being followed only by the Esmeralda—the vessel to be destroyed.

At the termination of the Chilean insurrection it was found that the Esmeralda—the war ship controlled by the insurgents—was, though not unseaworthy, yet too badly damaged by a contest with gunboats to be serviceable for the purposes for which she was constructed, and she was, therefore, sold by the Chilean Government to Mr. Morning for $1,000,000—something less than one-third her cost.

He purchased her for use as a transport in connection with the construction of the Nicaragua Canal, in which he was interested, and he now devoted her to destruction, as a test of the power of the new explosive, and the efficiency of the submarine torpedo boats.

The Esmeralda was an ironclad steamer of the largest size, capable of a speed of twenty miles an hour. She was armored with steel plates, and in every way staunch. On this occasion she carried only sufficient force to navigate her, and she towed a large steam launch, into which her crew would be transferred and conveyed to a place of safety so soon as the torpedoes should be fastened to her. Two lifeboats were also swung, ready for launching in case of accident.

Baron Von Eulaw had been indulging the previous night in deep potations, and was, consequently, so belated that the carriage containing the baroness and himself did not reach the Coronado wharf until the Siva had steamed away, and was being followed by the other vessels in the order described. The launches and small steamers, with the guests apportioned among the different vessels of the fleet, had also left the wharf, and two-thirds of the vessels which were to accompany the Siva, with their steam up and whistles blowing, were impatiently awaking the signal to move, and were uneasily churning into a foam the placid waters of the harbor.

Hastily summoning a boat lying at the wharf, the baron escorted the baroness on board, and, seating himself beside her, directed the crew to row for “that ship,” pointing to the Esmeralda. It will never be known whether this direction was the result of accident or design, for the Esmeralda, in size and general appearance, strongly resembled the Wilhelm II., which was anchored just ahead of her in the stream, and it was the Wilhelm II. to which the Baron Von Eulaw, as one of the representatives of the German Empire, had been assigned.

Arrived at the Esmeralda, however, the anchor of which was then being hoisted, the baron was politely informed by the officer in charge of the deck that no arrangements had been made to receive guests on board the vessel, as she was destined to destruction. The baron, with real or affected dismay, remarked that the Wilhelm II. was already under way; that it would be impossible for him now to gain her deck, and, unless permitted to board the Esmeralda, and remain upon her, they would lose altogether the great spectacle they had, by designation of his imperial majesty Wilhelm II., come all the way from Berlin to San Diego to attend.

He would be in lasting disgrace at home if compelled to admit that, through his own negligence and error, he had not witnessed the destruction of the Esmeralda at all. Might not the baroness and himself, under the circumstances, be suffered to trespass upon the hospitalities of the officers of the Esmeralda until the time came for abandoning the vessel, when they could join the officers and crew on the steam launch, and be placed on board the Wilhelm II., or one of the other vessels of the fleet, or return on the launch to San Diego, as might be most convenient?

With some hesitation, the deck officer of the Esmeralda, after brief consultation with his superior, consented to the request of Von Eulaw, and, apologizing for the condition of the cabin, which, in anticipation of the destruction of the vessel, had been stripped of everything save the standing furniture and a few chairs, he invited them to make themselves as comfortable as circumstances would permit.