Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-04-12

quiry that investigated the treatment of the
men on board the U.S.S. Enterprise during
her recent cruise. Jack Tar's misfortunes in
this particular instance have excited public
sympathy. The result is the telling of numbers
of naval yarns that have long ago become ira
ditions of both ward room and forecastie. and
which have been hauled out from dusty
memories refurnished with interesting details
TO fit the present situation. The STAR last
Saturday contained an article, which threw
some light upon the punishments mostly in
vogue in the United States navy, and it was in
a conversation between an officer and re-
porter on the subject of that theme that the
former said:
advancing civilization has brought means
OF shortening cruises, and, as a result. the
crews are better, their terms are shorter and
life on boarda vessel is by no means what il
was In the days of the old sailing ships. But
with all improvements Jack Tar is a tricky
fellow, ready to take advantage of his captain
as well as his mate, eager for an opportunity to
transgress without detection. thirsty for mis-
chief. But his mischief is not of a harmless
| kind Jack is in the habit of getting drunk.
and then he cares for nobody. not even for the
gold lace on the captains epaulettes, and he is
| ready to fight the first man who comes near
him. A short time before the war law was
passed prohibiting the issue of 'grog,' as il
used to be called, to the men. Before then il
was steady practice to dole out liquor to the
crew at stated intervals, usually once day,
and IN consequence every ship ALWAYS had a
| crew that was hall ready for any desperate deed
that might be suggested. Liquor was as free
as water, and drunkenness among the crew was
more common than sobriety. Today when
Jack wants drink he gets it from shore, and
many are the wiles and tricks in which he is
an adept for the purpose of smuggling rum or
whisky to the ship.
HOW LIQUOR WAS sMUGGLED.
''Ths is in some respects advantageous and
| in others an evil. The discontinuance of the
grog has resulted in the keeping of the crew
sober while at sea, but it puts a premium on
smuggling, which is carried on to a large eX-
tent. 1t IS sometimes funny to watch them as
they come ashore from their liberty. The rule
Is that they must come aboard clean and sober
| and woe be unto the poor fellow who happens
to come OF IN the boat the least bit the worse
for liquor. He is usually detected on the boat
before the ship is reached, but if he should be SO
lucky as to escape that keen-eyed marine guard
at the gangway will be sure to discern his con-
dltion and report him. That means confine.
ment probably on bread and water But
have seen men come on board apparently sober,
without any liquor about them, and in ten
minutes they would be bowling drunk and
raising the most glorious kind of a
row. They would get just comfortably full
to come OF they would take with them a good
big drink or two from a bottle, which they
would throw overheard. BY the time they
passed the gangway they would be perfectly
clean and sober and would be so entered on
the ships log. But in a few minutes the liquor
would begin to take effect and Jack would soon
be rolling around the decks offering to fight
any one in sight. A man will go all lengths to
smuggle whisky aboard. favorite trick is
| done by means of stone jug and an ordinary
dried bladder. The latter is put into the jug
| uninfated, with the mouth kept open at the
cork. Then the man goes ashore and while
there fills the bladder with whisky at some
cheap dram shop near the wharves. When it is
| full he ties the mouth of it with string and
stuffs the whole down into the jug as fan
as he can. Then he will get cup
| Of milk and pour it into the jug
| filling the space on top of the bladder When
| he steps on board ship he is sure to be asked
by the guard what that is in the Jug. and he
promptly replies that it is milk, at the same time
| pouring out glassful. This ordinarily salts
fes the guard, and then Jack goes below in
great glee, chuckling TO think how he has
fooled the marine, whom he hates like poison.
Once down below he punctnres the bladder and
pours out the whisky, treating his mates 10 a
glorious drunk Then men will also bring
liquor on board in what they call skins
which are simply the great lntestines of beet
or other animals well scraped and cleaned
They are sometimes several feet long and will
hold good deal of liquor. A man can easily
conceal one of these. which are TO be obtained
at any sailors grog shop, about his person.
usually in the top of his hat or around his
waist, although he is sometimes searched and
this is found on him.
THE MARINE GUARD.
"The marine guard on ship is an indis-
pensable adjunct These men are the police of
a vessel, and were it not for them it would be
almost impossible to keep order. marine is
expected to report every transgression that
comes to his attention, and, to his honor be il
said, he does it. He does his duty more from
fear that if he does not do it he will be re-
ported himself, but he also knows that he is
! constantly mourning the enmity of the crew,
and so he has nothing to expect from them. A
marine is in the most unfortunate position, his
temper tried hourly, but, by the most astonlsh-
ing process, he has learned to keep cool
and do their duty under all circumstances. /
| have seen sergeant of marines report another
and the other tell him to be damned without
the least change OF tone. 1t all done in
the ordinary conversational voice. each man.
''ln former days there was good deal of ro-
nance about going to sea, and when fellow
stepped on the gang plank he was liable to
stay SO long that one WAS never surprised to
lind barnacles growing on the back OF his neck
or sea weed sprouting from his feet. But today
that is changed. Sea-gOlng, thanks TO the in
PRODUCTION of steam and the shortening of voy-
ages, has been reduced to common-sense
basis, where every man is expected to do just
what he Is there for and do it as quick as he
can. There are not SO many men who stay
long in the navy, and perhaps it is for that
reason.
STRUGGLE FOR MASTERY.
Very soon after a vessel gets away from home
evidences begin to crop out to show the ex-
lstence on board of gang among the men who
are determined to try to get the upper hand of
the mate, who is the man who has the most TO
do with them. Two or three ring leaders are
SURE to be found who take every opportunity
to test the temper of the mate in one way and
another. In such a case the only thing to do
is to pick out these ring leaders and punish
them severely. SO it happens that the court
martial trials are usually more frequent during
the first month or SO than at any other time
This is done to weed ont the unruly Slen. who
are the fashion settlers of the whole ships
morality. For this reason the first mate is
ordinarily man with strong determination
to punish the slightest offenses, and he is cor
daily hated by all the men. 1t must be So
He cannot allow them TO get the better of him
IN any instance or he will have trouble. If he
Is ordering the anchor Gated and tells a man
to put line under the tiuke the fellow is liable
to put il over, just to try the temper of the
mate. He usually finds its quality in a min
ute. They test him In every possible way; it is
virtual struggle for supremacy.
You must remember that it is, by law. only
the captain who is authorized to inflict punish
ments or order them inflicted, but he really
very seldom bothers himself with the men of
the crew, delegating his authority to his lieu
tenant or executive officer, who is virtually