[CHAPTER XX.]
WHEREIN IS NARRATED THE ADVENTURES ON THE HIGH SEAS OF SPRINGFIELD'S SAILORS.
WHILE the land soldiers which Springfield furnished the government were enjoying themselves in Florida and Cuba and toying with the canned roast beef and other incidentals of a campaign, the Springfield marine contingent was not having an altogether lovely time. On the monitor Lehigh and the auxiliary cruiser Prairie there was work and hard work too in plenty but on the whole the rations and the quarters were better than those enjoyed by the infantry contingent. But the boys of H company, naval brigade, pined for active service and those on the Lehigh were aggrieved at not getting it while their comrades on the Prairie were roaming the seas on a fast ship in chase of the enemy or doing blockade duty off the coasts of Cuba and Porto Rico. It was hard work for the Lehigh men to be cooped up on their old, "flat boat" in Boston harbor during the stirring times of the summer of 1898 but it is to their credit that although they grumbled at their lot as all good sailors do, yet they did their full duty and did it well.
The bringing of the Lehigh from the League Island navy yard to Boston Harbor was in itself something of an achievement for the tug which towed her broke down and the monitor was forced to proceed under her own steam, much to the surprise of those on the tug Clara Clorita. This happened at Vineyard Haven and from that point to Boston the Lehigh was cast off from the tug and was sailed the remainder of the way under her own steam and by her own crew. When the Lehigh left Philadelphia the navy yard officials were apprehensive of her behavior at sea as she was primarily a coast defence vessel but the naval brigade men in the monitor found no great trouble in sailing her.
The Lehigh reached Boston on May 5 and on the 9th the Springfield officers and men of the crew were given leaves of absence and furloughs to enable them to attend the presentation of "The Ensign" by Springfield amateurs at the Court Square theater for the benefit of the company fund. The crew included Lieut. J. K. Dexter, Lieut, (j. g.) W. O. Cohn, Ensign Walter S. Barr and Seamen W. A. Sabin, A. N. Luce, R. P. King, Paul H. Lathrop, L. E. Ladd, W. S. Johnson, W. F. Bright and R. H. B. Warburton. The presentation was a successful one in every way and netted quite a sum.
Meanwhile the Lehigh had been permanently detailed for duty in Boston harbor as a coast defence vessel and a disagreeable surprise was in store for some of the Springfield men when they returned from their furloughs. They were all anxious to re-enlist for service and had been assured by Capt. Weeks, commanding the naval brigade, that if they telegraphed to him their willingness to re-enlist before a certain hour on the 10th, places would be kept for them. But on their arrival on the ship on May 12th they found that there was only one vacancy left. Just how the mistake was made was never thoroughly explained, but it was suspected by the Springfield men that there was a scheme to shut as many of them as possible out in favor of some Boston naval militiamen. They felt it keenly and Lieut. Dexter succeeded in straightening out matters so that Coxswain Johnson and Seamen Bright and Warburton were re-enlisted. Sabin, Luce and King had already done so and this left only Lathrop and Ladd out in the cold. In spite of their efforts they could not get in.
The officers suffered also from the fact that there were not places enough for all of them in the Lehigh's complement as a coast defense ship. Lieut. Colin was offered the alternative of going on the waiting list or being reduced in rank to ensign. He chose the latter and remained with the ship but there was no place for Ensign Barr and he was placed on the waiting list and returned home to await orders. Later Lieut. Dexter was taken from the Lehigh and placed on the converted ferry boat "Governor Russell," the property of the City of Boston which had turned over to the government, as executive officer.
All this time the "Prairie dogs," as the crew of that vessel were dubbed by their less fortunate comrades, were having a fairly good time at the Brooklyn navy yard. Much time was spent there in fitting up the vessel as an auxiliary cruiser and until the work was well advanced the crew was lodged and fed in hotels and later in the navy yard barracks.