As soon as the spring sets in, the St. Mary's is towed over to a suitable harbor in Long Island, and there the boys are thoroughly drilled in the furling and unfurling of sails, and in all the practical knowledge that will enable them to handle the ship when she puts to sea.
When all is ready, she starts off on a cruise which lasts till Fall, and returns to her pier in October.
Arrived in dock, the graduation exercises are held; and the graduates are assigned to such ships of the merchant navy as are in need of them.
This year there are eighty-nine scholars on board the St. Mary's. It is the intention of Lieutenant-Commander Reeder, who is in command of the vessel, to sail across the Atlantic to Fayal, Lisbon, Gibraltar, and Madeira, before he brings his ship back to winter quarters.
It is said that the young sailors who are turned out of this nautical school are in great demand, and have no difficulty in finding good berths as soon as they have graduated.
A new torpedo-boat, the Holland, has just been launched at Elizabethport, N.J.
There has been a good deal of mystery all winter about the building of this boat.
Some said she was being built for Cuba; others that Spain had bought her.
No one was allowed to enter the yard where she was building, and the strictest secrecy was kept as to her make and shape.