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On Board a Man-of-war from New York to Morocco
Admiral’s Orderly on the U. S. Cruiser New York—A Storm on the Atlantic—Duties of a Marine—The Author Reads his own Obituary—Under the Guns of Gibraltar—A Bull-fight in Spain—Pressing an Indemnity Against the Sultan of Morocco—An American Subject Burned at the Stake by Moors—Burial in Morocco of a Shipmate.
The Boxer outbreak in China in 1900 attracted the attention of the entire civilized world, and was the incitement that inspired many of an adventurous turn of mind to cast their fortunes with the allied forces in suppressing the depredations of the Tartar tribes in the land of the Heathen Chinee. In August, 1900, while a spectator at the Corbett-McCoy bout, in “Madison Square Garden,” New York, I learned, from a chief petty officer of the battleship Massachusetts, that the United States cruiser New York, lying in dry dock at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, was being rapidly prepared to be put in commission, and was to be the “flag-ship” of Rear Admiral Rodgers, who was destined for a cruise to the Chinese coast. Upon further inquiries at the Navy Yard, I heard this news authentically corroborated, and at once determined to see the Orient.