The Floating Fortress at Baker's Wharf
Seattle prepares for the Fourth of July as a heavily armed U.S. Navy monitor arrives to show off its new steel power.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The United States steamer Monterey steamed quietly into the harbor yesterday morning and dropped anchor at 7:39 a.m., about 400 yards off Baker's wharf. Since leaving San Francisco a week ago today, she had not been heard from, so her presence in the harbor so early was an agreeable surprise. She came under orders from the Secretary of the Navy to participate in the two days' celebration of the Fourth of July and the completion of the Great Northern Railroad. The great white monitor was eagerly expected, and no sooner had she dropped anchor than she was surrounded by a fleet of rowboats and yachts. Towards night, discipline was relaxed and visitors were allowed on board. Governor John H. McGraw and a committee of citizens were received by Captain Kempff, and as the launch left the ship, a seventeen-gun salute was fired—the first salute ever fired by the Monterey. The ship, a twin-screw steel-armored monitor, is the first of the heavily armored war vessels of the new navy to enter active service.
“The range is twenty miles and the demolition power of these guns is something frightful to contemplate.”
The Monterey represented the Gilded Age obsession with naval projection and 'big stick' diplomacy. Today, the Seattle waterfront is a space of global commerce, but the tension between civic celebration and the intimidating spectacle of military power remains a constant in American port cities.
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