Wichita eagle., 1888-05-03
SUNDAY AT SEA.
DIVINE WORSHIP ON BOARD ONE OF
HER MAJESTYS SHIPS.

TIN y
The "Sit Down. Church for Clear Sky and
for Rough NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of
Both Methods of Worship.
We had two separate and distinct kinds of
divine worship on board, especially adapted
to the exigencies of the weather. One was
know among us as ''Sit Down" church; the
other as 'Stand Upn church When the wind
was fair and the sea smooth, when the sky
was clear and the sun bright, when the sur
face of the ocean was rejecting from myri-
ads of dimpling wavelets the brilliant hue
and glancing beams of the armament above,
then Sunday at sea showed no very striking
contrast to the day of rest ashore. The serv
ices of the church were prefaced by the serv-
ice of the state known to us as divisions"
when careful and searching inspection Of
ship and crew was carried on in grave and
decorous silence by captain, commander and
senior lieutenant.
Divisions" over, the crew would disperse
for short time while the order to "rig
church" was carried out. In large frigate
this was always done upon the main deck,
the principal gun carrying deck, that is, of
the ship, thoroughly protected from wind
and rain by the upper deck above it. Here
accommodation was provided for the men,
some 500 in number, by placing capstan bars
and planks across inverted ''washdeck tubs"
affording thus kind of rough and ready
form on which to sit. These were placed
''athwartships," across the breadth of the
Iacl- yxyhiIa chairs cod fIlrther a Fl
for the senior and junior officers, who gener-
ally sat ON opposite sides of the deck. The
chaplain, who on board ship is known by a
thousand more or less irreverent names
padre sky pilot, etc.-is supplied with a
portable apparatus as nearly akin to the
reading desk of the shore as the wit of
ships carpenter can devise This is also
''riggedn in commanding position between
the officers and men.
All being reported ready to the comman-
der, the order is given to toll the bell. " and
forthwith the sentry begins to thump slowly
and monotonously upon the ships bell, the
clapper of which is held in the hand and used
as a hammer, instead Of the bell itself being
swung. The men are marched off to their
places, the officers take their seats, the cap
tain comes out of his cabin, the chaplain en-
tiers his desk, and the familiar and solemn
words of the service fall upon the ear, accom-
panied in this case by the muff1ed grooming
of the ship as she sways before the pressure
of the breeze. The responses are, as a
rule, not loudly or distinctly made, but
merely muttered; whereas, were all
that congregation of men fully i'm
bued with the spirit of prayer,
great and emphatic stream of duplication
should ascend from that compact parish
to the throne of Him who rules the raging of
the sea. But when the time arrives for
Praise, then, provided that the tune is well
known and popular, the blue jackets break
into burst of song, often most harmonious,
always admirable from the power and rich
ness of the volume Of sound, and in which
many may be noted taking, with well trained
accuracy, the tenor and even the alto parts.
This is sometimes led by small harmopium;
sometimes, should the ship be large enough
to possess one, by the ships band Then fol-
lows, as on shore, the sermon; but when at
last the blessing has been given, and ere the
more seriously inclined have risen from their
knees, the loud imperative order comes from
the lips of the commander, "Boatswain's
mate, pipe DOWN. the shrill trill of that
kNtNF ObiNci HhASLic ID IaiStI, III
obedience to the mandate, and officers and
men leave the main deck, which is speedily
cleared of Its Sunday paraphernalia-
This, however, was fine weather worship,
when we all could meet in prayer without
hindrance. But there came Sundays when
the conditions were far otherwise-when the
wind was shrieking and whistling with fiend-
ish uproar through spars and rigging; when
the waves were roaring and Kissing, striking
with the force and thud of a steam hammer
against the bows Of the laboring ship. which
herself added to the din by the indescribable
means and groans and cracks by which she
gave expression TO her Indignation at such
unfair treatment. She would wriths and
wallow, would plunge and roll. would trem-
bic and stop, and then make a still more furi-
Gus rush forward, until ali thought of divine
worship il the usual form was out CT the
question.
These were the DAYS of "Stand Up church,
and now the elaborate arrangements Of the
fine weather function were conspicuously
absent. The main deck ports wers closed 20
deep out the Kissing and angry seas, and the
only light came from tho hatchways above,
many of them closed by gratings. All
stood, officers and men alike; and those who
had experience Of such things kept their eyes
CD handy ringboli or friendly breeching Of
a gun-anything, in fact, TO which they
might cling should the motion Of the ship be-
come too violent even for well trained sea
legs. Then the chaplain, No longer trusting
himself within the compass Of his reading
desk, but clinging with ali the strength Of
one arm 70 an iron stanchion supporting the
deck above lifted up his feeble voice IN OPP
position 10 those of the str;denIt clements,
which seemed to unite in the effort TO smother
his solemn tones with their deT1oniac uproa-.
les: they should wing their way upward and |
attain their goal No sermon now, no Q yErrrs, |
DO litany, Just the simple morning prayers, |
and tie men are dismissed 70 find Ehst /
comfort they can ca tie close, nusty, dark. |
wet decks.