HOW THE GEORGE WASHINGTON PASSED THE DARDANELLES.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 December 1915, Page 12 (Supplement)

HOW THE GEORGE WASHINGTON PASSED THE DARDANELLES.

"If the allied fleet succeeds in making its way through the narrow strait to Constantinople, it will be an epochmaking event, but it cannot take away from America the honor of having been the first to get a warship past tlu»<giiui\l which the Turk stationed at the gateway in 1453," says the Xew York Independent. "The forts on either side of the Dardanelles .were built by Mahommed 11. in three months witli the aid of 201)0 masons, and called 'The Castle of Europe,' and 'The Castle of A«in.' iA YOUNG .MAN" FROM THE t'.S.A. "But in ISOO there passe,l through tlit, Dardanelles a frigate bearing a strange flag with stars and stripes and a still stranger cargo, to wit, one hundred Algerians, one hundred .negro slaves, \vpmen and children, half a million dollars in gold, four lions, four tigers, four parrots, and a lot of cattle, horse*, antelopes, precious stones and works oi art. The captain, a young man by the name of William Bainbiidge, was brought before the Sultan to explain where he came from and how he got in. He stated that he was from the Utyiti-J States. The Sultan had not heard of that country or, for that matter, of America. Captain Bainbridge, however, assured him that there was such a continent and that it had been discovered some years before by Columbus. NOAH'S ARK. "The Sultan accepted the slatemeni as well as the cargo, and was pY.i-el to sec by the stars and stripes on the flag that the United States was a Mohammednn country. Bnt.be orde'id the governor of the castles at the narrows to be put to death for letting a foreign nian-o'-war get by hiin. CaplAin asked for his pardon, explaining Unit ilie governor was not to blame, for the George Washington had slipped past the guards of the two castles by preleiitling to drop anchor, and then, aft* saluting, suddenly setting sail and speeding up the Dardanelles. The boldnuss and frankness of the American captain found liim favor in the eyes of the Sul tan, and when he sailed away, lie bora a letter from the Sublime Porti' wh'ch enabled liim when he pot back to Algii-f* to set free the Flench men, women rh 1 children held for ransom hv the Dev.

"It was the Uev of Algiers who ha l sent the Ccorge Washington on its queer errand with its Xonh's Ark freight. Puptain Bainbridge bad called ftt Algiers (o pay the tribute or blackmail which the Dey extorted from all the maritime nations as the price of abstaining from preying upon their commerce. The pron.l young captain found tho humiliation of his errand; he would have preferred, as lie confesses, to have paid his piratical majesty in cannon balls rather than coin, and we may imagine his eniution when the Dov commandeered his sV.Ip and ordered him to take the Algerian Embassy and their retinue and presents to Constantinople. Protests were ia vain; resistance was fatal. THE DEY AXP THE U.S.A. "'You Americans pay me a tribute, said the Dey; 'you are therefore my slaves and you will obey niy orders.' To refuse meant not merely 'that the George Washington would be sunk and her crew sold as slaves, hut that every merchant vessel in the Mediterranean would sutler the same fate. So Captain Bainbridgo sailed for Constantinople bearing the Algerine flag—until out of sight, and then hoisted the Stars imd Stripes, with what effect we have seen,"