How to Read Music A Complete Music Theory Guide to Learn How to Read Write and Hear the Different Aspects of Music from Beginners to Advanced 1st Edition Carl C. Jones
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Brief Contents
SECTION 1 CRITICAL READING AND ANALYSIS 1
Chapter 1 Writers and Their Sources 2
Chapter 2 Responding Critically to Sources 32
SECTION 2 THE WORLD OF ARGUMENT 63
Chapter 3 Understanding the Basics of Argument 64
Chapter 4 Writing Effective Arguments 94
Chapter 5 Reading, Analyzing, and Using Visuals and Statistics in Argument 116
Chapter 6 Learning More about Argument: Induction, Deduction, Analogy, and Logical Fallacies 146
SECTION 3 STUDYING SOME ARGUMENTS BY GENRE 175
Chapter 7 Definition Arguments 176
Chapter 8 Evaluation Arguments 194
Chapter 9 The Position Paper: Claims of Values 209
Chapter 10 Arguments about Cause 225
Chapter 11 Presenting Proposals: The Problem/Solution Argument 241
SECTION 4 THE RESEARCHED AND FORMALLY DOCUMENTED ARGUMENT 265
Chapter 12 Locating, Evaluating, and Preparing to Use Sources 266
Chapter 13 Writing the Researched Essay 285
Chapter 14 Formal Documentation: MLA Style, APA Style 319
SECTION 5 A COLLECTION OF READINGS 357
Chapter 15 The Media: Image and Reality 359
Chapter 16 The Web and Social Media: Their Impact on Our Lives 381
Chapter 17 Marriage and Gender Issues: The Debates Continue 401
Chapter 18 Education in America: Issues and Concerns 423
Chapter 19 The Environment: How Do We Sustain It? 443
Chapter 20 Laws and Rights: Gun Control and Immigration Debates 469
Chapter 21
Appendix America: Past, Present, Future 495
Understanding Literature 524
New to the Twelfth Edition xvii
Features of Read, Reason, Write xix
Let Connect Composition Help Your Students Achieve Their Goals xxi
From the Authors xxv
About the Authors xxvii
SECTION 1 CRITICAL READING AND ANALYSIS 1
Chapter 1 WRITERS AND THEIR SOURCES 2
Reading, Writing, and the Contexts of Argument 3
Responding to Sources 4
Abraham Lincoln, “The Gettysburg Address” 4
The Response to Content 5
The Analytic Response 5
The Evaluation Response 6
The Research Response 7
Deborah Tannen, “Who Does the Talking Here?” 7
Writing Summaries 10
Active Reading: Use Your Mind! 13
Ruth Whippman, “Actually, Let’s Not Be in the Moment” 14
Using Paraphrase 16
Acknowledging Sources Informally 18
Referring to People and Sources 18
Joel Achenbach, “The Future Is Now: It’s Heading Right at Us, but We Never See It Coming” 20
Presenting Direct Quotations: A Guide to Form and Style 23
Reasons for Using Quotation Marks 24
A Brief Guide to Quoting 24
For Reading and Analysis 26
Alex Knapp, “Five Leadership Lessons from James T. Kirk” 26
Suggestions for Discussion and Writing 31
Chapter 2
RESPONDING CRITICALLY TO SOURCES 32
Traits of the Critical Reader/Thinker 33
Examining the Rhetorical Context of a Source 33
Who Is the Author? 34
What Type—or Genre—of Source Is It? 34
What Kind of Audience Does the Author Anticipate? 34
What Is the Author’s Primary Purpose? 35
What Are the Author’s Sources of Information? 35
Analyzing the Style of a Source 36
Denotative and Connotative Word Choice 37
Tone 39
Level of Diction 39
Sentence Structure 40
Metaphors 42
Organization and Examples 42
Repetition 43
Hyperbole, Understatement, and Irony 43
Quotation Marks, Italics, and Capital Letters 43
Alexandra Petri, “Nasty Women Have Much Work to Do” 45
Writing about Style 48
Understanding Purpose and Audience 48
Planning the Essay 48
Drafting the Style Analysis 49
Ellen Goodman, “In Praise of a Snail’s Pace” 50
Student Essay: James Goode, “A Convincing Style” 53
Analyzing Two or More Sources 55
Synthesizing Two or More Sources 57
Adam Grant, “Why I Taught Myself to Procrastinate” 57
Suggestions for Discussion and Writing 61
SECTION 2 THE WORLD OF ARGUMENT 63
Chapter 3
UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS OF ARGUMENT 64
Characteristics of Argument 65
Argument Is Conversation with a Goal 65
Argument Takes a Stand on an Arguable Issue 65
Argument Uses Reasons and Evidence 65
Argument Incorporates Values 66
Argument Recognizes the Topic’s Complexity 66
The Shape of Argument: What We Can Learn from Aristotle 66 Ethos (about the Writer/Speaker) 66
Logos (about the Logic of the Argument) 67
Pathos (about Appeals to the Audience) 67
Kairos (about the Occasion or Situation) 68
The Language of Argument 69
Facts 70
Inferences 70
Judgments 71
Sam Wang and Sandra Aamodt, “Your Brain Lies to You” 72
The Shape of Argument: What We Can Learn from Toulmin 75
Claims 76
Grounds (or Data or Evidence) 78
Warrants 78
Backing 79
Qualifiers 79
Rebuttals 80
Using Toulmin’s Terms to Analyze Arguments 80
Erin Brodwin, “The Secret to Efficient Teamwork Is Ridiculously Simple” 81 For Analysis and Debate 83
Christina Paxson, “A Safe Place for Freedom of Expression” 83
Geoffrey R. Stone, “Free Speech on Campus” 86
Suggestions for Discussion and Writing 93
Chapter 4 WRITING EFFECTIVE ARGUMENTS 94
Know Your Audience 95
Who Is My Audience? 95
What Will My Audience Know about My Topic? 95
Where Does My Audience Stand on the Issue? 96
How Should I Speak to My Audience? 96
Understand Your Writing Purpose 97
What Type (Genre) of Argument Am I Preparing? 98
What Is My Goal? 98
Will the Rogerian or Conciliatory Approach Work for Me? 99
Move from Topic to Claim to Possible Support 99
Selecting a Topic 100
Drafting a Claim 100
Listing Possible Grounds 101
Listing Grounds for the Other Side or Another Perspective 101
Planning Your Approach 102
Draft Your Argument 103
Revise Your Draft 104
Rewriting 104
Editing 105
Chapter 5
A Few Words about Word Choice and Tone 106
Proofreading 107
For Analysis and Debate 108
Darius Rejali, “Five Myths about Torture and Truth” 108
M. Gregg Bloche, “Torture Is Wrong—But It Might Work” 111
Suggestions for Discussion and Writing 115
READING, ANALYZING, AND USING VISUALS AND STATISTICS IN ARGUMENT 116
Responding to Visual Arguments 117
Visual Rhetoric and Visual Literacy 117
Reading Graphics 124
Understanding How Graphics Differ 124
The Uses of Authority and Statistics 128
Judging Authorities 128
Understanding and Evaluating Statistics 130
Writing the Investigative Argument 131
Gathering and Analyzing Evidence 131
Planning and Drafting the Essay 133
Analyzing Evidence: The Key to an Effective Argument 133
Preparing Graphics for Your Essay 134
Student Essay: Garrett Berger, “Buying Time” 135
For Reading and Analysis 140
Joe Navarro, “Every Body’s Talking” 140
Suggestions for Discussion and Writing 145
Chapter 6
LEARNING MORE ABOUT ARGUMENT: INDUCTION, DEDUCTION, ANALOGY, AND LOGICAL FALLACIES 146
Induction 147
Deduction 148
“The Declaration of Independence” 153
Analogy 157
Logical Fallacies 158
Causes of Illogic 158
Fallacies That Result from Oversimplifying 159
Fallacies That Result from Avoiding the Real Issue 162
For Reading and Analysis 167
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Declaration of Sentiments” 167
Peter Wehner, “In Defense of Politics, Now More Than Ever Before” 170
SECTION 3 STUDYING SOME ARGUMENTS BY GENRE 175
Chapter 7 DEFINITION ARGUMENTS 176
Defining as Part of an Argument 177
When Defining Is the Argument 178
Strategies for Developing an Extended Definition 178
Preparing a Definition Argument 181
Student Essay: Laura Mullins, “Paragon or Parasite?” 182
For Analysis and Debate 185
Robin Givhan, “Glamour, That Certain Something” 185
Nicholas Haslam, “Crossing the Aegean Is ‘Traumatic.’ Your Bad Hair Day Isn’t” 188
Suggestions for Discussion and Writing 193
Chapter 8 EVALUATION ARGUMENTS 194
Characteristics of Evaluation Arguments 195
Types of Evaluation Arguments 196
Preparing an Evaluation Argument 197
Student Review: Ian Habel, “Winchester’s Alchemy: Two Men and a Book” 199
Evaluating an Argument: The Rebuttal or Refutation Essay 202
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, “Globalization Shouldn’t Be a Dirty Word” 203
For Analysis and Debate 205
Thomas Sowell, “Christmas-Tree Totalitarians” 205
Suggestions for Discussion and Writing 208
Chapter 9 THE POSITION PAPER: CLAIMS OF VALUES 209
Characteristics of the Position Paper 210
Preparing a Position Paper 211
Student Essay: Chris Brown, “Examining the Issue of Gun Control” 213
Zainab Chaudry, “Ending Intolerance toward Minority Communities: Hate Attacks on Sikh Americans” 217
Tim Wu, “Mother Nature Is Brought to You By . . .” 371
Sanford J. Ungar, “Bannon called the media the ‘opposition.’ He’s right, and it’s a good thing.” 375
Heather C. McGhee, “ ‘I’m Prejudiced,’ He Said. Then We Kept Talking.” 378
Chapter 16 THE WEB AND SOCIAL MEDIA: THEIR IMPACT ON OUR LIVES 381
Steven Pinker, “Mind over Mass Media” 382
Susan P. Crawford, “The New Digital Divide” 385
Fareed Zakaria, “Bile, Venom, and Lies: How I Was Trolled on the Internet” 389
Liza Tucker, “The Right to Bury the (Online) Past” 392
Caitlin Gibson, “Clever Is Forever” 394
George Yancy, “I Am a Dangerous Professor” 397
Chapter 17 MARRIAGE AND GENDER ISSUES: THE DEBATES CONTINUE 401
Meg Jay, “The Downside of Living Together” 403
Stephanie Coontz, “Want a Happier Marriage, Dads? Then Take Paternity Leave” 406
Lisa Jaster, “Women Will Make Units Stronger” 409
Jonathan Rauch, “Here’s How 9 Predictions about Gay Marriage Turned Out” 411
Gloria Steinem, “Supremacy Crimes” 417
Chapter 18
EDUCATION IN AMERICA: ISSUES AND CONCERNS 423
Richard D. Kahlenberg, “To Really Integrate Schools, Focus on Wealth, Not Race” 425
Kate Walsh, “The National Teacher Shortage Is a Myth. Here’s What’s Really Happening” 428
Joseph Zengerle, “Why Future Officers Should Read Shakespeare, Know History and Understand Psychology” 430
Danielle Allen, “Tuition Is Now a Useless Concept in Higher Education” 433
Charles R. Pruitt, “Partisan Politics Is Cutting the Heart out of Public Ivies” 436
Howard Gardner, “Why Kids Cheat at Harvard” 440
Chapter 19 THE ENVIRONMENT: HOW DO WE SUSTAIN IT? 443
Gregory M. Kennedy, S.J., “Trash Talk: Reflections on Our Throwaway Society” 445
Michael Novacek, “The Sixth Extinction: It Happened to Him. It’s Happening to You.” 449
Bob Silberg, “Why a Half-Degree Temperature Rise Is a Big Deal” 453
Art Carden, “On Climate Change, Government Is Not the Answer” 457
Alexander Starritt, “The Cleverest Countries on Climate Change—and What We Can Learn from Them” 459
Rachel Nuwer, “Elephant Loss Tied to Ivory Trade” 465
Chapter 20 LAWS AND RIGHTS: GUN CONTROL AND IMMIGRATION DEBATES 469
Daniel Webster and Ronald Daniels, “Allowing Guns on Campus Will Invite Tragedies, Not End Them” 470
David B. Rivkin Jr and Andrew M. Grossman, “Gun Control Proposals in the Wake of Orlando Could Endanger Constitutional Rights” 474
Robert Wilson, “It’s Time for Police Officers to Start Demanding Gun Laws That Could End Up Saving Their Own Lives” 476
Amy Chua, “Immigrate, Assimilate” 482
Roberto Suro, “Legal, Illegal” 487
Janet Napolitano, “The Truth about Young Immigrants and DACA” 491
Chapter 21 AMERICA: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE 495
Abraham Lincoln, “Second Inaugural Address” 496
Deidre N. McCloskey, “The Formula for a Richer World? Equality, Liberty, Justice, and Wealth” 498
Barack H. Obama, “Remarks by the President at the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Marches” 502
Kwame Anthony Appiah, “How the Future Will Judge Us” 511
Anne Applebaum, “Trump’s Dark Promise to Return to a Mythical Past” 514
Neil DeGrasse Tyson, “A Cosmic Perspective” 517
Appendix
UNDERSTANDING LITERATURE 524
Getting the Facts: Active Reading, Summary, and Paraphrase 525
Paul Lawrence Dunbar, “Promise” 525
Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour” 526
Summary of “The Story of an Hour” 528
William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 116” 528
Paraphrase of “Sonnet 116” 529
Seeing Connections: Analysis 530
Analysis of Narrative Structure 531
Analysis of Character 531
Analysis of Elements of Style and Tone 532
Drawing Conclusions: Interpretation 533
Writing about Literature 533
Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress” 534
Christopher Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” 535
Sir Walter Raleigh, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” 536
A. E. Housman, “Is My Team Ploughing” 537
Amy Lowell, “Taxi” 538
Janet Taliaferro, “The Last Civilized Act” 539
Susan Glaspell, “Trifles” 544
Student Literary Analysis: Alan Peterson, “Faulkner’s Realistic Initiation Theme” 561
Suggestions for Discussion and Writing 567
Index 568
New to the Twelfth Edition
This new edition continues the key features of previous editions while adding new material that will make it even more helpful to both students and instructors. Significant changes include the following:
• New readings. This edition features a rich collection of eighty readings, both timely and classic, that provide examples of the varied uses of language and strategies for argument. Forty-six of these readings are entirely new to this edition and include high-quality examples of argument written by author and activist Kaye Wise Whitehead, philosopher and novelist Kwame Anthony Appiah, Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign policy journalist Anne Applebaum, noted author and professor of psychology Steven Pinker, political columnist and CNN host Fareed Zakaria, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and engineer and U.S. Army Reserve soldier Lisa Jaster—to name only a few.
• New coverage. An entirely new section in Chapter 5 introduces students to the concepts of visual rhetoric and visual literacy, including Gestalt principles and the C.A.R.P. design model. Chapter 6 includes additional in-depth coverage of deductive reasoning in written argument, and Chapter 13 is updated to address changes in technology for drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading a paper, as well as submitting it to an instructor.
• New visuals. Almost all of the readings in this edition feature compelling visuals that illustrate the topics discussed therein. At the outset of each chapter, students are presented with a visual prompt tied to critical thinking questions that engage them with key concepts covered throughout that chapter.
• Updated documentation coverage. MLA coverage is updated throughout to align with the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. Chapter 14 includes instruction around these new guidelines, including ten new example MLA citation models. This chapter also covers the latest APA guidelines for using and citing secondary sources.
• Focus on current issues that are relevant to students. Of the seven chapters in the anthology section, all have new readings and several take on a new and timely focus. For example, Chapter 17 on marriage focuses on the issue of marriage equality, Chapter 18 on education concentrates on the topics of school choice and tuition, and Chapter 20 on laws and rights examines guns on campus and the “Dream Act.”
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Features of Read, Reason, Write
Read, Reason, Write supports and aligns with the WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition (NCTE, 2014). This text’s content and presentation are guided by decades of classroom experience and by research and theory in composition and rhetoric. This combination has made Read, Reason, Write a best-selling text for now twelve editions.
• Teaches critical thinking, reading, and composing through a step-by-step approach to inquiry, analysis, and writing. This text introduces students to various genres and guides them in analyzing style, rhetorical construction, and effectiveness. It provides exercises for individual and group work to practice critical reading and analysis. Questions are included to guide students in responding to, analyzing, evaluating, and researching and writing about content.
• Provides instruction for beginning, drafting, completing, and then revising summaries, analyses, and arguments. Guided by convention expectations, the text provides instruction in overall organization, paragraph structure, and sentence-level issues such as tone, mechanics, and attribution tailored to various genres. The text also contains instruction in analyzing and using graphics, images, and document design, helping students to think critically about—and also produce—visually enhanced communication.
• Provides instruction in both classical and contemporary rhetorical theory. The text presents rhetorical theories in an accessible way to help instructors teach and students learn these concepts. But, Read, Reason, Write also presents argument as contextual: written (or spoken) to a specific audience with the expectation of counterarguments.
• Includes guidelines and revision boxes throughout. These tools provide an easy reference for students.
• Offers thorough and easy-to-reference coverage of both MLA and APA documentation requirements.
• Features nine student essays. These illustrate the kinds of writing students will be asked to prepare in the course—summaries, analyses, arguments, and formally documented papers.
• Presents a rich collection of readings. Readings are both timely and classic, providing examples of the varied uses of language and strategies for argument.
• Offers a brief but comprehensive introduction to reading and analyzing literature. Found in the appendix, this section also contains a student essay of literary analysis.
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Let Connect Composition Help Your Students Achieve their Goals
Connect is a highly reliable, easy-to-use homework and learning management solution that embeds learning science and award-winning adaptive tools to improve student results. Connect Composition addresses the specific needs of the writing course and various redesign models of instruction. In addition to the innovative content, revolutionary learning technology drives skills for the Argument course through a selection of corresponding toolsets.
Power of Process
One overarching goal is at the heart of Power of Process: for students to become self-regulating, strategic readers and writers. Power of Process facilitates engaged reading and writing processes using research-based best practices suggested by major professional reading and writing organizations.
Power of Process promotes close, strategic reading and critical thinking, leading to richer, more insightful academic reading and writing in the Argument course and beyond.
Connect Composition eReader
The Connect Composition eReader provides approximately seventy compelling readings that instructors can incorporate into their syllabi. Readings are available across a wide variety of genres, including arguments and literary selections. Instructors can filter the readings by theme, discipline, genre, rhetorical mode, reading level, and word count.
LearnSmart Achieve
LearnSmart Achieve offers students an adaptive, individualized learning experience designed to ensure the efficient mastery of reading and writing skills in tandem. By
Power of Process
targeting students’ particular strengths and weaknesses, LearnSmart Achieve customizes its lessons and facilitates high-impact learning at an accelerated pace.
LearnSmart Achieve provides instruction and practice for your students in the following areas.
UNIT
THE WRITING PROCESS
CRITICAL READING
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
TOPIC
The Writing Process Generating Ideas
Planning and Organizing
Reading to Understand Literal Meaning
Evaluating Truth and Accuracy in a Text
Developing and Implementing a Research Plan
Evaluating Information and Sources
Writing a Rough Draft Revising
Proofreading, Formatting, and Producing Texts
Evaluating the Effectiveness and Appropriateness of a Text
Using Evidence and Reasoning to Support a Thesis or Claim
Parts of Speech
Phrases and Clauses
Sentence Types
Fused (Run-on) Sentences
Comma Splices
Sentence Fragments
Pronouns
PUNCTUATION AND MECHANICS
Commas
Semicolons
Colons
End Punctuation
Apostrophes
Quotation Marks
Dashes
STYLE AND WORD CHOICE
MULTILINGUAL WRITERS
Wordiness
Eliminating Redundancies
Sentence Variety Coordination and Subordination
Helping Verbs, Gerunds and Infinitives, and Phrasal Verbs
Nouns, Verbs, and Objects Articles
Using Ethos (Ethics) to Persuade Readers
Using Pathos (Emotion) to Persuade Readers
Using Logos (Logic) to Persuade Readers
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
Pronoun Reference
Subject-Verb Agreement
Verbs and Verbals
Adjectives and Adverbs
Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers
Mixed Constructions
Verb Tense and Voice Shifts
Parentheses
Hyphens
Abbreviations
Capitalization
Italics
Numbers
Spelling
Faulty Comparisons
Word Choice
Clichés, Slang, and Jargon
Parallelism
Count and Noncount Nouns
Sentence Structure and Word Order
Subject-Verb Agreement
Participles and Adverb Placement
LearnSmart Achieve can be assigned by units and/or topics.
Book-Specific Resources for Instructors
The following teaching resources are available in Connect. Please contact your local McGraw-Hill representative for the username and password to access these resources.
Gradeable Assessments tied to Readings
Instructors can assign gradeable assessments tied to more than sixty of the reading selections in the twelfth edition of Read, Reason, Write. More than 700 new assessments are now available through Connect.
The Read, Reason, Write Master Course
In the Read, Reason, Write Master Course, which you can copy to your own Connect account and adapt as you wish, you will find various Connect Composition assignment types to accelerate learning, including LearnSmart Achieve topics, pre- and post-tests,
Power of Process assignments, Writing Assignments, and Discussion Board prompts for every chapter of the text. Contact your local McGraw-Hill representative to copy the course to your Connect account.
Instructor’s Manual
The Instructor’s Manual is written with the diverse needs of composition instructors in mind. Faculty new to teaching reading will appreciate the brief presentations of theory that accompany the reading pedagogy in the textbook, as well as the suggestions for how to teach some of the more difficult argument writing skills. Faculty new to teaching writing will find help with ways to organize chapters into teachable sections and suggestions for selecting among the easier and more challenging readings.
Flexible Content for Your Argument Course: Customize Read, Reason, Write with Create™
As an alternative to the traditional text, instructors may use McGraw-Hill Create™ to arrange chapters to align with their syllabus, eliminate those they do not wish to assign, and add any of the Read, Reason, Write content available only in Create™ to build one or multiple print or e-book texts, including Connect Composition access codes. McGraw-Hill Create is a self-service Web site that allows instructors and departments to create customized course materials using McGraw-Hill’s comprehensive, crossdisciplinary content and digital products. Through Create™, instructors may also add their own material, such as a course syllabus, a course rubric, course standards, and any specific instruction for students.
From the Authors
I have written in previous prefaces to Read, Reason, Write that being asked to prepare a new edition is much like being asked back to a friend’s home: You count on it and yet are still delighted when the invitation comes. But an invitation to a 12th edition?! I am amazed and humbled. I am also delighted to introduce you to my new coauthor Allen and to share with you our story. Allen is actually a former student of mine from NVCC. He was kind enough to let me know when he completed his PhD and took a position at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore—and thus made it easy for me to find him when the time came to bring in a new member of the team.
We can assert that while Allen has brought some fresh ideas to this edition, the essential character of this text remains the same: to help students become better writers of the kinds of papers they are most often required to write both in college and the workplace, that is, summaries, analyses, reports, arguments, and documented essays. Read, Reason, Write remains committed to showing students how reading, analytic, argumentative, and research skills are interrelated and how these skills combine to develop critical thinking.
It continues to be true that no book of value is written alone. Over its more than thirty years of life, a chorus of voices have enriched this text, too many now to list them all. Two editors should be given a special thanks, though: Steve Pensinger, who led the team through four early editions, and Lisa Moore, who brought new ideas to the 6th and 7th editions. Other sponsoring editors, developmental editors, and production editors have enriched my journey through eleven editions and aided us in preparing this 12th edition. May you all live long and prosper!
With Allen’s support I will once more close by dedicating Read, Reason, Write to my daughter Ruth, who, in spite of her own career and interests, continues to give generously of her time, reading possible essays and listening patiently to my endless debates about changes. And for all of the new students who will use this edition: May you understand that it is the liberal education that makes continued growth of the human spirit both possible and pleasurable.
Dorothy U. Seyler, Professor Emerita, Northern Virginia Community College
Allen Brizee, Associate Professor, Loyola University Maryland
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About the Authors
DOROTHY SEYLER is professor emerita of English at Northern Virginia Community College. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of William & Mary, Dr. Seyler holds advanced degrees from Columbia University and the State University of New York at Albany. She taught at Ohio State University, the University of Kentucky, and Nassau Community College before moving with her family to Northern Virginia.
In addition to articles published in both scholarly journals and popular magazines, Dr. Seyler is the author of ten college textbooks, including Introduction to Literature, Doing Research, Steps to College Reading, and Patterns of Reflection. Read, Reason, Write was first published in 1984. In 2007, she was elected to membership in the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., for “excellence in education.”
Professor Seyler is also the author of The Obelisk and the Englishman: The Pioneering Discoveries of Egyptologist William Bankes (2015), a “fascinating story,” according to Kirkus Reviews, “of a figure who deserves to be much better known.” She enjoys tennis, golf, and travel—and writing about both sports and travel.
ALLEN BRIZEE is associate professor of writing at Loyola University Maryland. At Loyola, Professor Brizee teaches courses in first-year writing, rhetoric, technical writing, and writing for the Web. He also coordinates the writing internship program. Allen began his educational journey as a student of Dorothy’s at Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC). After graduating, he transferred to Virginia Tech, where he earned a BA in English (Phi Beta Kappa) and a master’s in English.
Professor Brizee taught part time at NVCC, The George Washington University, and the University of Maryland while working as a technical writer. He then completed his PhD at Purdue and, while there, also worked on the widely used Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL).
Dr. Brizee’s research interests include writing pedagogy and civic engagement, and he has published articles in a number of academic journals. He coauthored Partners in Literacy: A Writing Center Model for Civic Engagement and coedited Commitment to Justice in Jesuit Higher Education, 3rd edition. He enjoys collaborating with community groups in Baltimore and participating in medieval martial arts.
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BURNING OF THE FRIGATE PHILADELPHIA IN THE HARBOR OF TRIPOLI BY STEPHEN DECATUR.
Among the exploits of our sailors there is one which for daring is almost unparalleled in the history of naval warfare. It was a desperate undertaking, and had the enterprise failed those who undertook it would probably have been laughed at as foolhardy, but its success justified the daring of the little band of heroes and brought not only fame, but reward to all concerned.
The story of the Barbary pirates and their former control of the Mediterranean is too well known to need repeating. Such was once the power of the petty states which bordered the southern shore of the Mediterranean that they levied blackmail on every maritime nation of the world. No ship entered or left the Mediterranean without paying tribute to the Moors. The Deys of Algiers, of Tunis, of Tripoli, became immensely wealthy through the contributions they levied on Christian vessels and the tributes paid by Christian States for immunity from piracy. The United States was one of the nations which officially helped to fill the coffers of these barbarian chieftains, but even the tribute which was paid did not secure immunity, and in the early years of this century it was perceived that something must be done by the government to protect United States commerce in that quarter of the world. Then came the war with the Algerian States, a conflict entirely on the sea, for the distance, of course, was too great for an army to be sent from this country, and the war practically amounted to a blockade of the ports and the capture of such corsairs as attempted to enter or leave.
In the autumn of 1803, the Philadelphia, a frigate of thirty-six guns, in those days a man-of-war of the first class, was blockading the harbor of Tripoli. A storm came on, the ship was driven to sea, and on returning after the wind had lulled noticed a brigantine endeavoring to steal into the port. The Philadelphia gave chase and pursued the corsair close into the shore and within three miles of the guns of the forts. Capt. Bainbridge, of the Philadelphia, expressed his uneasiness at running so close to the shore, but the sailingmaster professed an intimate acquaintance with the neighborhood, having been there before, and the pursuit was continued. Bainbridge
did not know that he was among reefs, but without a moment’s notice the ship grounded with such violence that many of the men were thrown down on the deck. As soon as the corsairs perceived that the ship was fast they sallied out from Tripoli to attack the vessel, and during the day of October 31 the fight was kept up while ineffectual efforts were being made to get off the ship by cutting away the foremast and throwing overboard all the forward guns, but toward evening Bainbridge, recognizing the inevitable, and fearing lest when night came on the ship might be boarded and all on board massacred by the pirates, he scuttled the ship and surrendered the vessel.
The pirates swarmed on board, ordered the prisoners, 315 in number, including twenty-one officers, into their boats and took them to shore. Day, the American poet, who was one of the crew, thus describes an experience as the captive of the Moors: “When we approached the shore, we were thrown headlong into the waves, foaming from a high breeze, where the water was up to our arm-pits, and left to strangle, or get ashore as we could. At the beach stood a row of armed janizaries, through which we passed, amidst cursings and spittings, to the castle gate. It opened and we ascended a narrow, winding, dismal passage, which led into a paved avenue lined with grizzly guards, armed with sabres, muskets, pistols, and hatchets. Here we halted again a few moments, and were again hurried on through various turnings and flights of stairs, until we found ourselves in the presence of his majesty, the puissant Bashaw of Tripoli.
“The throne on which he was seated was raised about 4 feet from the surface, inlaid with mosaic, covered with a cushion of the richest velvet, fringed with gold, bespangled with brilliants. The floor of the hall was of variegated marble, spread with carpets of the most beautiful kind. The person of the Grand Bashaw made a very tawdry appearance. His clothing was a long robe of blue silk, embroidered with gold. His broad belt, ornamented with diamonds, held two goldmounted pistols and a sabre with a golden scabbard, hilt and chains. On his head he wore a large white turban, decorated in the richest manner. His whole vestments were superb in the extreme. His dark beard swept his breast. I should suppose him to be about 40, is
rather corpulent, 5 feet 10 inches in height, and of a manly, majestic deportment.
“When he had satisfied his pride and curiosity, the guard conducted us into a dreary and filthy apartment of the castle, where there was scarcely room for us to turn round and where we were kept for nearly two hours, shivering in our wet clothes and with the chills of a very damp night. The Neapolitan slaves, of whom the Bashaw had more than 150, brought us dry clothing to exchange for our wet, and we sincerely thanked them for their apparent kindness, expecting to receive ours again when dry; but the trickish scoundrels never returned our clothes nor made us any restitution. Our clothing was new, and what they brought us in exchange was old and ragged.”
Two days after the ship had grounded the Moors got her off, recovered most of her guns and brought her into the harbor of Tripoli, where she formed a substantial addition to the Bashaw’s fleet. While in captivity Bainbridge found means to communicate through the Danish Consul in Tripoli with the Americans, and wrote a letter to Capt. Edward Preble, of the Constitution, then in the Mediterranean, describing the position of the Philadelphia in the harbor and suggesting that an expedition be sent to destroy her. Stephen Decatur was then a young Lieutenant, in command of the sloop Enterprise. A few days after the letter from Bainbridge was received he had captured, south of Sicily, a ketch named the Mastico, filled with female negro slaves, and brought his prize into Syracuse, where the slaves were liberated and the property on board was sold for the benefit of the crew. As soon as Decatur heard of Bainbridge’s suggestion he was eager to undertake the task in his own ship, the Enterprise. But his proposal was rejected by Preble, who believed the Mastico better suited for the task, and ordered that she be employed. “Volunteers for an unusually dangerous service” were called for, and sixty-two responded, the number being subsequently increased to sixty-nine, and among them, besides Decatur himself, then a mere boy of 24, were two other boys destined to play an important part in naval affairs. One was James Lawrence, a midshipman of 16 years, the other Thomas McDonough, of 20.
THE CLERMONT FULTON’S FIRST STEAMBOAT 1807
FIGHT WITH ALGERINE PIRATES
A large quantity of combustibles was prepared and placed in the ketch, and with his daring crew Decatur left Syracuse for Tripoli in company with the brig Siren, which was to wait off the harbor and pick up the Americans in case they should be compelled to take to the small boats. On February 9, 1804, the expedition sailed from Syracuse and arrived off Tripoli by night, but a furious gale from the shore precluded the possibility of making the attack, and for six days the voyagers were tossed to and fro on the waves of the Mediterranean, their little vessel being almost swamped by the heavy seas.
On the morning of February 16 the sun rose fair and clear, the combustibles were examined and found to be dry and in good order, and sail was made for the harbor, the ketch and brig proceeding slowly in order not to arrive before night. As the darkness came on the brig paused in the offing, while under a brisk breeze the ketch
sailed into the harbor An hour later the wind lulled and the ketch slowly drifted toward the Philadelphia, which was plainly visible from its great bulk, the lighted portholes indicating that the crew was still awake. As the ketch approached it was guided so as to foul the Philadelphia at the bowsprit, and the Maltese pilot who had been taken on board at Syracuse principally because he could speak Arabic called to the officer on the Philadelphia and requested permission to make fast to the ship’s ropes, for the ketch had lost all her anchors in the storm. Permission was given, and a line was cast, which was caught by the three or four men who appeared on the little boat. The remainder, stripped to the waist for battle, and with cutlasses and pistols ready to hand, lay stowed away behind the bulwarks and invisible to the corsairs.
The Tripolitan officer in command asked the pilot what ship was in the offing, for the Siren had been seen, and the Maltese replied that it was an English brig waiting for daylight to cross the bar and enter the harbor. Not the least suspicion was roused in the minds of the corsairs, although the rope which made fast the ketch to the Philadelphia was even then being handled by the men concealed beneath the bulwarks of the little slaver. As, however, a line must be fastened from the stern to the larger vessel before boarding could be effected, it was quite possible that the men would be discovered as soon as the ketch was brought alongside. The pilot, however, kept the Moors entertained with narratives of the cargo the ketch contained, manufacturing very clever stories of the beautiful slaves and immense wealth on board. A moment later the stern line was made fast and the ketch brought alongside, when the Moors discovered the figures beneath the bulwarks and raised the cry of alarm, “Americanos! Americanos!”
Decatur had divided his men into five crews—one to remain on board and guard the ketch, the other four were first to storm the upper deck of the Philadelphia, then three parties were to go below and fire the ship, while the fourth held the deck against possible Moorish re-enforcements. The moment the ketch was brought alongside Decatur gave the word, “Boarders, away!” and the American boys swarmed through the portholes and up over the bulwarks of the Philadelphia. So sudden and furious was the
onslaught that the Moors were taken by surprise, and as the Americans rushed forward, cutlass in hand, fled before them, jumping into the water to escape the terrible enemy. Of the Moorish crew of nearly 300 on board, twenty were killed outright, how many were drowned could not be ascertained, but a number, afraid to leap from the ship, hid below to perish a few minutes later like rats in their holes.
In five minutes from the time of boarding the deck was cleared of the pirate crew, the work being done solely with the cutlass; not a shot was fired from beginning to end. The parties appointed to do the firing at once began the work of hauling the combustibles aboard and passing them to the lower decks, cabin and hold. Fire was set to the ship in a dozen different places and the flames spread with such rapidity that some of the Americans had a narrow escape, and one was severely scorched by being compelled to pass up through a burning hatchway. The work was well done, and, as the flames appeared through the portholes, a rocket was sent up from the ketch to notify the brig outside that the enterprise had been successful. Their work finished, the Americans hastily let themselves down into the ketch, and not a moment too soon, for so rapidly did the flames spread that there was danger of their little boat taking fire. The Philadelphia was a mass of glowing flames before the ketch could be disengaged, and such was the draught of air toward the burning ship that for some moments it seemed uncertain whether the ketch could be gotten away. The stern and sails did actually take fire, but a few buckets of water extinguished the blaze, and the men set to work with a will at the oars, of which there were four on each side.
The capture of the ship had been effected without apparently the least suspicion on shore of what was going on. The Philadelphia lay directly under the guns of the largest fort and not quite 400 yards away. Long before the swimmers from the ship could reach the shore the blaze warned the garrisons of the forts that something was wrong. Small boats were immediately dispatched, some of the swimmers picked up, and thus the truth became known. As the ketch was in plain view, a heavy fire was at once commenced and from a hundred guns on each side of the harbor belched forth flame and iron in vengeance for the daring act. But whether from haste or
inefficiency, the aim of the gunners was bad, and although shell and shot plowed up the water all around the ketch she was struck but once, and then only by a ball going through the sail.
More to be dreaded than the artillery fire was the swarm of boats crammed with corsairs that put forth from the shore in pursuit. Decatur said afterwards that the little crew of the ketch must have been chased by a hundred craft of all sizes, containing probably a couple of thousand men, but the pirates reasoned very correctly that Americans who could attempt so desperate an act as the burning of a ship almost within stone’s throw of the forts were not to be trifled with in a hand-to-hand engagement, so kept at a respectful distance and contented themselves with a running fire of musketry. The Americans replied, those not at the oars maintaining a lively fusillade, while another rocket was sent up as a signal to the brig for aid. It was responded to by a rocket in the offing, the Siren’s boats, full of well-armed men, put off to the rescue, and as soon as they came within firing distance the Tripolitans withdrew.
Thus was achieved what Lord Nelson called the most daring act of the age. Not an American was killed, only one was wounded, he very slightly, and a third was, as already stated, severely scorched. Every participant in this hazardous adventure received his reward. Decatur, although only a boy, was made Captain; Lawrence and McDonough received substantial promotion; and every seaman was voted two months’ extra pay. The exploit had serious consequences for the crew of the Philadelphia, for the Dey of Tripoli fell into a furious passion at the loss of the ship and at once consigned the Americans to the filthiest dungeons in his castle, where they remained until liberated at the close of the war. The act of Decatur’s expedition had an important influence in bringing the war to an early conclusion, for, as the Danish Consul expressed it in an interview with the Dey, “If the Americans can burn your ships lying under the guns of the fort, they may undertake to burn your palace over your head,” and the Dey seems to have taken the same view of it. He did not have long to reflect upon the matter, however, for in less than six months Preble’s squadron arrived off Tripoli with better pilots than those of the Philadelphia, sailed through the intricate channels, entered the harbor, bombarded the forts and town, and the Dey was glad to
conclude a treaty of peace, releasing all the American prisoners and promising not to demand nor exact tribute from American vessels. Decatur’s later career fully justified the reputation he won in his earliest exploit, but none of his subsequent deeds of bravery exceeded the burning of the Philadelphia.
McDUGALL’S PLUCKY FIGHT IN SIMONOSEKI STRAITS.
Another of the almost unrecorded chapters in the annals of the American Navy was the heroic action between the U. S. ship Wyoming, Commander McDugall, and three Japanese cruisers supported by six shore batteries, during the Civil War.
The Wyoming had her part in all the hardest of blockading and cruising service and fought well whenever she had a chance. She was sent at the same time as her sister ship, the Kearsarge, to cruise for that scourge of the seas, the Alabama, and just missed her by the merest chance on two occasions in the China Seas. From there the Alabama squared away for the Atlantic again and went to meet her fate under the heights of Cherbourg, while the Wyoming sailed to her hardest fight with the forces of the Tycoon.
It was in 1863, toward the end of the dual reign of the Tycoon and the Mikado. Japan was in the throes of civil war, and the foes of the rebel princes were resisting to the last the passing of the old feudal system.
The Prince of Nagato was one of these, and from his tiny kingdom that fronted on the Straits of Simonoseki he declared himself lord of all he surveyed, including the neighboring seas, from which he took as generous toll as did ever the pirate chiefs of Tariffa. He had laid violent hands upon the vessels of various powers, including Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, and the United States. Representatives of these powers had protested, but the protests had been of little moment. The Japanese central government had disavowed the acts of the pirate prince, but confessed its inability to deal with him while more formidable matters engaged its attention.
Meanwhile Prince Nagato throve and flourished, and one day fired on the American merchantman Pembroke, having failed to wring tribute or blackmail by any other means, and killed two of her crew
Another diplomatic protest from the combined foreign representatives followed, but Commander McDugall, who was in port with the Wyoming, suggested that if the Mikado could not subdue his rebellious subject the Wyoming could and would without much urging. Accordingly, McDugall was given carte blanche to settle accounts with the Prince of Nagato in behalf of all the powers concerned.
It was the middle of July when the Wyoming found herself in the Straits of Simonoseki and in sight of the shore batteries, which were a part of the prince’s defenses to seaward. Before she had time to open on the batteries two Japanese gunboats loomed up, one ahead and one astern, in the narrow straits, and presently a third came cruising out from among the neighboring islands. It was a nasty place for a fight, McDugall being without charts or pilots, and the odds were more than enough for Nelson himself, being forty-eight guns of the three Japanese vessels to the twenty-six of the old Wyoming, to say nothing of the batteries on shore.
Working to windward of the nearest Japanese ship, the Wyoming opened at long range, and worked down on her till when close aboard there was nothing of the enemy left standing above decks. The other two vessels had come up in the meantime and engaged the American on either side, but she lay to and gave them shot for shot, port and starboard, till her gunners were smoke-blind and the flame of the guns no longer served to light the battle-cloud that rolled in white billows over the smooth waters of the straits. It was desperate work in the shallow water, but the Wyoming was the best vessel and she outmanœuvered her two opponents from the start, though twice aground and once afire, with as many men disabled from splinters and heat as from the enemy’s shot.
Fighting themselves out of one smoke-patch into another, the three combatants circled around till they had drifted down in range of the shore batteries, which opened upon the Wyoming. But McDugall ran across the bows of one of his enemies, raked her as he went and left her a floating wreck, and then turned his attention to the batteries. The Wyoming’s men rigged the smith’s forge on deck and tossed hot shot into the works ashore till they set them afire, and the
soldiers fled, and the crew of the remaining cruiser followed their example.
McDugall mended his rigging and patched his bulwarks, sent word to the recalcitrant prince to arrange for indemnity, which he did. The share of the United States was $300,000.
In this action McDugall’s loss was five men killed and six wounded.
CAPTAIN McGIFFEN AT THE BATTLE OF THE YALU.
On September 17, 1894, the Chinese ironclad Chen-Yuen with her sister ship, the flagship Ting-Yuen, and nine smaller war vessels, met the Japanese off the mouth of the Yalu River.
The Chen-Yuen was protected by 12 and 14-inch armor, and carried four 12.2-inch, two 6-inch, and twelve machine guns. Her commander was Captain McGiffen of the United States Navy.
Here the famous battle of the Yalu, the first great trial of modern ironclads, was fought. Owing to the cowardice of several Chinese commanders, who ran away at the first exchange of shots, eight Chinese ships did all the fighting against the twelve ships of the enemy. The battle was altogether a contest of Orientals, except that one man of European blood, trained in the naval school of a great Western power, commanded the Chen-Yuen—Philo Norton McGiffin, of the United States Navy. His fighting that day was the dramatic climax of a brave and spotless life that had been a nineteenthcentury revival of knight-errantry. The lives of none of the free-lances and fearless adventurers from Hawkesworth to Gordon were more romantic than that of McGiffin.
C
The reduction by Congress of the U. S. naval force sent adrift Lieutenant McGiffin, a graduate of Annapolis in the class of ’82. As China was engaged in war in Asia, McGiffin straightway tendered his services to the Chinese Government. The result was eventually that China took one French gunboat in a war otherwise entirely disastrous to her. In 1887 McGiffin became the head of the Chinese Naval Academy at Wei-Hai-Wei. This was the reason for his command of one of China’s two most formidable warships in the battle which decided the outcome of the Chino-Japanese war.
The crews of the Chinese fleet had gone through their morning drill and dinner was nearly ready when smoke from the Japanese ships was sighted by the lookout. The appearance of Japan’s fleet had been expected for a week, but nevertheless the blood in every man’s veins throbbed quick as the call to action sounded throughout the fleet. The Chen-Yuen had already been stripped for action. The decks were cleared for the passage of ammunition and for the free movement of the crew and in order to secure unobstructed arcs of fire for the guns. The small boats had been abandoned, the ladders overboard or wrapped in wet canvas. These measures were taken to avoid the danger from fire and flying splinters, both of which are as much to be feared in a sea-fight as the enemy’s shot. The gunshields, by order of Captain McGiffin, had been removed from the big guns as affording no protection from heavy shot and as serving to intercept and cause to explode shells that would otherwise pass over the heads of the gunners. The ship’s firehose had been connected and let out and bags of sand and coal placed on deck to form breastwork against small shot. Ammunition for immediate use was piled beside the guns. The suggestive hospital appliances, bandages, and cots and chairs rigged for lowering the wounded to the sick bay, were in position. Buckets of sand were placed about the decks and inside the superstructure; for when men are torn to pieces the flow of blood makes the deck slippery.
In less than an hour after the Japanese ships dotted the horizon the battle had begun. The Chinese sailors were brave and eager for the fight. They were prepared neither to give nor take quarter and expected either to win or go down with their ship.
McGiffin stood motionless on the bridge listening to the reports of the range announced by the sub-lieutenant in the foretop as the fleets rapidly neared each other. The ordeal before him and his men was more terrible than soldiers had been called upon to face in regular battle since the beginning of human wars. That McGiffin fully realized the situation was shown by a letter written to his brother upon starting to meet the Japanese ships. “You know,” he said, “it is four killed to one wounded since the new ammunition came in. It is better so. I don’t want to be wounded. I prefer to step down or up and out of this world.” Not extraordinary words, but splendidly expressive of a soldier-like way of facing fate.
The closing lines of this letter were sadly prophetic. McGiffin wrote: “I hate to think of being dreadfully mangled and then patched up, with half my limbs and senses gone.”
He came home in exactly the condition he had described. and, true to his determination, chose to step up and out of it all.
There was no sound but the panting of the ship under forced draught. The men, grouped quietly at their stations, did not venture to speak even in whispers. “Fifty-two hundred metres,” the range was called. Then the great yellow flag of China was raised to the main truck, the quick-firing guns opened fire, and the fight began.
The battle lasted for nearly five hours, with the two Chinese battleships as its centre.
It was estimated that McGiffin’s ship was hit 400 times and 120 times by large shot or shell. The rain of projectiles visited every exposed point of the vessel. Early in the fight a shell exploded in the fighting top, instantly killing every one of its inmates. Indeed, all such contrivances proved to be deathtraps. Five shells burst inside the shields of the bow six-inch gun, completely gutting the place. Though the carnage was frightful, the Chinese sailors, with their commander to encourage them, stuck to their posts. A chief gunner was aiming his gun when a shell took off his head. The man behind him caught the body, passed it back to his companions, calmly finished the sighting of the piece and fired it.
The Chen-Yuen gave as hard knocks as she received, and until her ammunition ran low her fire was rapid and more effective than that of her adversaries. One of the last shells, fired under McGiffin’s
personal direction from a twelve-inch gun, disabled the thirteen-inch gun on the enemy’s flagship, the Matsushima, and exploded the powder on deck, killing or wounding more than 100 Japanese officers and men. Then McGiffin’s Chinamen cheered joyfully.
Throughout the whole fight McGiffin was the dominating spirit of his ship. He was at once her brains and her inspiration.
Even cowardice itself was moved by his fearless example. At the opening of the fight he discovered a lieutenant and a dozen terrified men hidden below one of the engine turrets. McGiffin thrashed the officer and sent them all on deck, where they afterward fought like heroes.
The five hours’ strain on the commander was terrific, for there was no subordinate who could relieve him, and his presence was required everywhere. Whilst the fight was hottest a fire broke out in the superstructure above the forecastle. It became necessary to run out a hose in the range of the starboard guns, which had been ordered to fire to port across the forecastle. The men refused to do this until McGiffin called for volunteers and offered to lead them. Word was sent to the head-gunner at the starboard battery to train his pieces ahead, and McGiffin and his volunteers started with the hose for the forecastle. Half of the men were shot down by the enemy. As the captain stooped over to grasp the hose a shot passed between his legs, burning his wrists and severing the tail of his coat. A fragment of a shell that had burst against the tower wounded him a second time.
Meanwhile men at the forcastle gun were falling rapidly and the head-gunner was killed. The man who took his place, not knowing that his comrades were in front of his guns, discharged one of them. The explosion knocked the captain and his men down and killed several outright. At the same instant another shot struck McGiffin. He would probably have remained there unconscious if water from a gash in the hose had not revived him. His first glance on coming to his senses was into the muzzle of the starboard gun. It was slowly moving into position for firing. “What an ass I am to sit here and be blown to pieces,” thought McGiffin. So he flung himself from the superstructure and fell eight feet to the deck below. With blood pouring from his mouth he crawled into the superstructure and told
the men to carry him aft. In a few minutes he was fighting his ship again.
McGiffin stood very near a large gun when it exploded. He was almost blinded. His hair and eyebrows were burned off and his clothes torn and set on fire. There was a series of gashes in his trousers extending their entire length. Throughout the fight his ears were stuffed with cotton, as were those of all the gunners, but after the day’s fighting his ear-drums were found to be permanently injured by concussion. Several times he was wounded by splinters, which he extracted himself.
With forty wounds in his body, holding an eyelid up with one hand, this man of iron nerve led the fighting on his ship until the Japanese vessels gave up the contest and he alone of all the Chinese commanders kept his ship in its proper position throughout the fight, thus protecting the flagship and saving the fleet from total destruction.
When the Japanese admiral withdrew, McGiffin navigated his ship to its dock. His mind never lost its effectiveness, though his body was shattered beyond repair. In fact, his body was described as being so covered with bruises that it resembled a checker-board.
In this action a new style of sea-fighting was inaugurated and an American sailor, a young man 34 years of age, set its standard for daring and fortitude under fire of the modern guns.
After his great battle Captain McGiffin, a mental and physical wreck, came to America to die. He met death as a brave man should, with but one regret: He wished that he might have had one chance to fight for his own country, with a Yankee crew at his back and a Yankee ship under him.
OUR NEW NAVY
ince the last of the naval battles recorded in preceding chapters was fought, the advance in ships, engines, and guns has been such that warships of the past are considered obsolete; while the introduction of smokeless powder and projectiles containing heavy charges of dynamite or gun-cotton has increased the efficacy of modernordnance.
The use of armor for ships is so recent, only dating from the time of our civil war, that modern war-ships have been little in action. In fact the war between England and the United States, in 1812-15, was the last important naval war previous to the introduction of steam. The revolution in naval tactics caused by steam was very great, but our civil war afforded little experience in fleet actions, the important naval affairs being for the most part attacks of fleets upon land fortifications. The only fairly wellmatched, stand-up fight of that war between vessels was that of the Kearsarge and Alabama.
Steel has come into use for the hulls of vessels—and the invention, by our own citizens, of nickel-steel, and of the Harvey process for plates, has caused a revolution intheapplicationofdefensivearmor
We may instance the armor for the battle-ship Maine, which vessel carried on her sides alone four hundred and seventy-five tons of metal—Harveyized nickel steel.The plate which was tried at the Naval Proving Ground, at Indian Head, on the Potomac, and upon the proof of which depended the receiving of the whole quantity from the contracting company, was thirteen feet seven inches long, seven feet wide, and twelve inches in thickness at the top, tapering to six inches. These measurements may give some idea of the tremendous power of the implements employed in forging and tempering such a mass ofmetal.
Itsuccessfullyresistedfourshotsfroman eight-inchrifledgun,firing,atonlyafew yards’ distance, the best armor-piercing shot, breaking the latter to fragments. Then a ten-inch gun was tried upon the same plate. Again the shot was broken up, and the plate, already hit four times before, was cracked, but remained still capable of affording perfect protection. It is not at all probable that any one plate would be hit five times in the course of an action—and so this armor is considered as near perfection as it is possible for metallurgists to come, in the present state of knowledge. The Maine and Texas, and the battle-ships of the Iowa class, as well as the great monitors, Puritan and Monadnock, all of which vessels are of the latest construction, have these plates, thereby saving much weight, and allowing of additional armor protection to the upper works.The heavy armor extends from one barbette to the other, in the Iowa being about 180 feet, and from four and a half feet below the water line to three feet above it. At the level of the belt is a curving steel deck, three inches thick, to deflect plunging shot; while the massofcoalissoarrangedinthebunkers asto protect theboilers and machinery
The Iowa carries four 12-inch rifles, mounted in pairs in two turrets, eight 8-inch rifles, also mounted in pairs in turrets, six rapid-fire 4-inch rifles, and an ample secondary battery of twenty 6-pounder and six 1-pounder rapid-fire guns, and two gatlings—all high powered breech-loading guns of the best American manufacture.
In the last few years there have also been great changes and improvements in different forms of explosives, the development of torpedo boats and torpedo-catchers, and modes of defence against such attacks. Almost all the large vessels have double bottoms, divided in many separate cells like honeycombs—and packed with a preparation of cocoa-nut fibre, which swells when in contact with water, thus effectually stopping shot holes. There are also many transverse bulkheads, making many compartments of the vessel’s hull; while the engines are so cut off by them that one is independent of any injury to the other There are also many small engines, for various purposes, and electric light makes the deepest part of the interior of the great ship’s hull as plain as the upper deck, in full sunlight. Lastly,thegreatincreaseinspeedandpowerof engines tendto make thewar-ship avery differentthing fromwhatshewasatthetimespokenof in thepreviouschapter.
There are, of course, limitations to the range and efficiency of the new Navy, owing to the necessity of replenishing supplies of fuel,—a most difficult and extremely costly process in many parts of the world. Such modern cruisers as the Columbia carry, to be sure, an immense quantity of coal—and there are others,suchasthe New York andthe Olympia, which not only possess great speed, but also carry more fuelthanmost vesselsoftheirclass.Theyneed todoso, for ourcoalingstationsabroadarevery few
Some nations, especially the Italians, who have a very formidable navy, and one far above their means, have experimented extensively with petroleum, in its crude form, as a fuel, and, it is stated, with a certain degree of success. But this for the most part is a consideration for those nations which have no mines of coal under their own control, and we must remember that, in time of war, the supply of petroleum might be cut off even more effectually than that of coal. But to return:—The use of steel for the hulls of vessels, the armor, protective decks, and other purposes of construction, has greatly multiplied the strength of those parts, while it has made the whole much lighter, so that the same expenditure of steam will carry the structure much farther and much faster We have already stated that nickel-steel is able to resist very effectually the most modern projectiles from the latest guns. When, a few years ago, such qualities were claimed for it by us, the English experts in such matters rather sneered at the idea, and said that more extensive trials should be had before they could believe in its value. The experiments were so triumphantly successful that not only was all opposition withdrawn, but the object then was to get hold of the process as soon as possible. Nickel-steel is what may be called a greatfact,andsubsequentdiscoveriesinmetallurgywillneverdestroyits valuefor certain purposes.
The Harvey process was another thing upon which the Europeans looked with great doubt until the perfect success of armor made in that way, in trials against very powerful guns at short range, opened their eyes. This process consists in the hardening of the outside surface of a thick plate to a certain depth, leaving the back part of the plate with the toughness of the untempered metal, so that the shot which strikes it has to encounter obstacles of two kinds—the hardness which breaks it up, and the toughnesswhichpreventsseriousentry
As it is, the contest between gun and armor is continually going on. When armor is found which resists very powerful guns and the newest explosive, a more powerful gun is built, which makes another increase in armor necessary At the present time there is no predicting how long this contest may go on, fortheimprovementsingunsandarmorkeep equal pace.
New explosives have the same story to tell. They vary in name and in effect, but most of them are based upon the same chemical principles. Some keep better than others, and are thus best suited for preservation in the magazines of ships, where, especially in case of faulty construction, or of prolonged stay in hot climates, the delicate chemical combination of which the modern explosive consists is very much more likely to undergo change than the old-fashioned “black power”—especially when the latter waswellmade.
Thereis,therefore,constantexperimenting,and constantchange inopinion in regardtoexplosives.
Torpedoes are another source of trouble to experts in naval warfare; the fact being that they have never been sufficiently tried in actual service to settle completely their respective values. Of the mobile torpedoes one was used with destructive effect during the Chilean War, and some spar-torpedoes were effective during our Civil War, and during the Russo-Turkish War, where mobile torpedoes were also used, but it is still a matter of doubt with many naval officers of experience as to what part the mobile torpedoistoplayinanyfuturecontest.
As regards torpedo-boats, which launch their torpedoes one at a time, and directly in the line in which the boat is pointed, the opinion is that they will prove very useful for coast and harbor defence, but unfit for severe weather or heavy seas, very wearing upon their crews, liable to accidents of a serious nature, and only able to carry fuel for short runs. Many of the accidents to this class of boats have involved loss of life, and, while the French and English have increased their number, other nations, such as the Italians and the Germans, have rather decided against their increase. At one time within recent years the Italians encouraged torpedo-boats, and in Germany one of the most successful of all builders is the ShichauCompany,whichhasbuiltboatsforall the worldbutFrance, America, andEngland.
The “torpedo catchers,” so called, are quite different affairs from the ordinary torpedo-boat. They are quite large and swift vessels compared with the ordinary torpedo-boat, and are intended as “counterminers,” and, by speed, and ability to keep the sea better, to prevent the swarm of ordinary torpedoboats from doing serious damage. Sufficient experience has not been gained in the experimental trials to know just how much these vessels will do in case of actual warfare, but much is expected of them. Very lately a well-known English builder of torpedo boats and other small craft has launched a boat
which is said to have made twenty-seven knots, or about the average speed of a passenger train on a goodrailroad.
Submarine torpedo-boats have received much attention of late years, when improvements and inventions, especially in electricity, have rendered them comparatively easy to handle. In France and Spain, especially, very successful boats have been experimented with. In our own country, where the idea originated early in the century, there have been several submarine boats built which have remained for a long time under water, being directed by the crew in any wished-for course. Not long ago Congress appropriated a large sum for building a sub-marine torpedo boat; but experiments conducted to show whether an explosion effected by such means would not be also fatal to the boat herself, led to hesitation on the part of the authorities as to expending the money in that way, and to a proposal to build surfacetorpedoboatsinstead.
Speed is becoming more and more a factor in naval problems. Speed, fuel capacity, a powerful battery, and protection, especially to the vital parts and to the crew, are now recognized as the requisites which go to make a fine, or capable ship, and one most likely to be generally useful in war. Among such vessels may be mentioned the New York, Olympia, and the Columbia, of our own navy The battleships, so called, come under a different category—being heavily armored, and supposed to be able to resist heavy projectiles at close quarters. We have a few of these under construction, but none of the great size which we see in some foreign navies, principally for the reason that many of our ports will not admit vessels of such great draught of water—and that our authorities consider smaller vessels capable of being more readily manœuvered. The largest battle-ships we are building will only measure 10,200 tons, while in foreign navies they have them of 15,000 tons. But the best naval opinion is that the latter are too large; and experts are advocating a return to smaller size and greater number—just as a reactionhastakenplaceagainst110-tonguns.
The latest completed battle-ships are the Iowa, Indiana, Massachusetts and Oregon, all of 10,200 tons, with twin screws, and carrying sixteen guns in the main battery, beside smaller ones of the most moderntype.
The Maine and Texas are battle-ships of the second class—of about 9000 tons, with twin screws, and carryingabouttengunsinthemainbattery, anda proportionof rapid-firesmallerguns.
Such great battle-ships as these have never been tried in a close general engagement, and, though viewed with some distrust—especially since the accidental sinking by collision of the Victoria—nations go on building them in rivalry, and the end is not yet. In case of a grand battle between fleets of these giant ships, the force being anywhere near equal, the chances would be in favor of the fleet which is best handled. That is all that anyone can say at present. It may give the reader some idea of these great armaments to say that, in 1894, England had in her Mediterranean fleet twenty-four vessels of the first class, none less than 7350, and most of them above 10,000 tons. Thirteen of these were battle-ships, andelevenprotectedcruisers.
France and Russia, combined, had at the same period in those parts thirty-three ships, none of which werebelow4000tons,andmostofwhichwereof 10,000tonsor more.
In addition to this we must count numerous torpedo-boats, despatch vessels and gunboats in such fleets.
The Italian navy is now a very powerful one, and contains in its list some of the largest men-of-war afloat; and the German navy has made great strides in advance. The Spaniards have some fine ships, butmostlyofthefastcruiserclass,armedwith powerful guns.
We have heard very much of late regarding the Chinese and Japanese navies. The vessels which compose these forces have mostly been constructed in France and England—and a few, of moderate size, have been built at home. The Chinese have a very fine gun-factory, as well as shops for repairs, but many of their vessels, especially in what has been called their Southern fleet, are in very bad condition as to hulls, engines—and especially as to the discipline of the crews. This has become much worse since they dispensed with the services of European officers. Their Northern fleet is in much better condition, but time alone can prove what it is worth. Neither China nor Japan have any vessels above 8000 tons displacement, and many are much smaller Their important fighting craft consist of what are called cruisers—protected and unprotected—but armed with excellent modern high-powered guns, and torpedoesofthelatestmodel.
The vessels of the Japanese navy are kept in exceptionally good condition in every respect, and their officers are considered the more able, and their men, with a natural aptitude for the sea, are in excellent training and discipline. Thus Japan should prove superior to China, if only on account of the better
personnel. Many of the Japanese officers have passed through our own naval school with credit, and others have been educated in the German service. Some of them, thus educated, have already attained highcommand—andallshowgreatenthusiasmandmilitary ardor
The battle of the Yalu, between these two fleets and treated in a subsequent chapter, was a most instructivelessontothenaviesoftheworld atlarge.
While we do not pretend to say that we need such a navy as England (the national life of which country depends upon her ability to furnish food and clothing from abroad for her population), it is evident to anyone who thinks for a moment that a country like ours, with the most extensive coast-line of any,shouldhaveamoderatelylargeandveryeffectivenavy, ifonly asa matterof sea-policeforour own shores, while the protection of our vessels and of citizens living and doing business abroad comes underanotherhead.
Persons, especially those living in the interior of our great country, are apt to think, and to say, that there is little chance of our becoming embroiled with any of the nations of whose great navies we have just been speaking. But we have to go back a very few years to show in what danger we have been of having our coasts invested by hostile fleets for want of proper force to resist them. Spain was very threatening in the troubles about Cuba in 1873. The attitude of Italy, with her powerful vessels, at the time of the difficulty about the New Orleans riots, was disquieting for a time, and, had her financial condition been better, that country would have certainly made a naval demonstration here. Then there was the still more threatening attitude of Chili, which might have been very serious. However sure we might be of eventually putting down that warlike little country, immense damage might have been done by her in a naval raid on our west coast. There is constant need for ships in China; not only for the protection of Americans, but to assist in keeping down piracy, a very present danger in that part of the world. Few months pass that it is not necessary to send ships to Hayti, always on the verge of revolution, or actually in the throes of civil war; and the same may be said of the countries comprising Central America. Then Brazil may be added to the list of unsettled countries, and we have a large and important trade there. Of the troubles in Hawaii, and of the cruising against the seal robbers in the North Pacific, the whole country has heard more than enough, and everyone knows that without a navy we should be perfectly helpless in such emergencies. The very establishment and maintenance of great dock-yards and naval stations at Vancouver, Halifax and Bermuda by England admonishes us to at least partially prepare to resist the threats of naval coercion which was that nation’s favorite mode of treating withusnotsomanyyearsago.
