Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-04-30
DARK SIDE OF NAVY LIFE.
" is NOT ALL FUN AND FRoLIc,
But VERY LARGELY A BORE.

The Work Is Hard to Begin with, and
Unhappy Ships Are More Plentiful Than
Happy ones-Even the Captain Has =
Hard Time-Paternal Control.
'The life of a naval officer is very far from
being an easy or amusing one in my opinion, I"
said young lieutenant "People generally
have notion that we do nothing but lark
and play, but such is as far as possible from
being the case. To begin with we have to do
at least eight hours out of the twenty-four of
the hardest sort Of toll work, indeed ,, disa-
greeable in its character that there are few
kinds of labor which are not pleasant in COM
parison. Four hours by day and four hours
at night, month after month and year after
year, we must spend in silently walking q
plank, forbidden to utter word to any one,
unless it is necessary to make formal COM
munication to the captain, and even denied
the privilege of sitting down if we are tired.
Such is watch duty. You can imagine how
slowly the time must pass, SO occupied, par
ticularly at night, when the incidental re-
sponsibility for the ships safety rests heavy
on the mind, Maybe your night watch be-
gins at 8 p. m. and lasts until IL; If not you
must be engaged in this pleasing duty from
midnight till in the morning. But all the
same you must be through breakfast before
a. m. and ready for morning drill. The
blue jackets have to be put through their
evolutions like soldiers, marching in squads
and practicing at the guns. In the afternoon
it is likely there win be another drill. Dur
ing the intervals Of such duties you may loaf
or go to sleep. In this way is life on board
ship made up. For my own part l would
rather live on land"
SHIPS HAPPY AND OTHERWISE.
"But you have an agreeable companionship
among your fellow offlcers"
TT all depends. When the ward room mess
is composed exclusively of jolly and congenial
men things go very pleasantly. But such a
fortunate condition of affairs is rather the
exception than the rule. There are many
more unhappy ships in the service, as we
phrase it, than happy ones You see, social
existence under such circumstances is reduced
to very close quarters, and small things be-
come serious annoyances A disagreeable
fellow, not in any way to be avoided or got
rid of, can occasion much discomfort But
the most common source OF uncomfortable
ness is mere want of sympathy among the
officers. How can it be expected that the
man of mature years could find companion
able fresh young ensign not long out of the
naval academy, or vice versa2 Such differ
ences of age, feelings and opinions are neces-
sarily productive, if not of discord, at least of
unhappiness. If the executive officer, who
always presides over the ward room mess, is
an unpleasant person, things are made ex-
ceedingly miserable. He may behave in a
tyrannical manner, carrying his authority to
the table even and the very meals will be
rendered unpalatable through his bad temper.
1t would hardly do for him to go so far as to
criticise the table manners of the other Off
GERS or to insult them in any way, because
they have it in their power to seek redress for
such an injury by meeting him on shore and
thrasbing him; but he can do pretty nearly
anything short of that Over the converse
ton at the board he has control, and, when
he considers that discussion has gone far
enough, he says simply; That will do, gen.
tlemen.'
Zone would imagine the position of a cap
tain to be a very enjoyable one."
DIGNITY ON sHIPBoARD.
at is hardly such for many reasons. To
begin with, it is exceedingly difficult for the
captain of ship to maintain agreeable rela-
lions socially with his officers and to keep up
strict discipline at the same time. II the COM
mander of a man-of- war were seen to indulge
in a laughing familiarity with one of the lieu
tenants that single act would loosen discipline
all over the vessel From that time ON the
naval cadet would be more at ease with the
executive officer, the petty officers would be
trihe more familiar in addressing the younger
lieutenants, and the blue jackets would pay
slightly less respectful attention to the orders
Of the petty officers. Everything on board
must outwardly preserve an air of the coolest
formality, else before you know 1t there will
be trouble, which can only be settled by put
ting score of the men in irons and dropping
all social courtesies between the captains
cabin and the ward room. The captain must
always maintain the role OF an absolute mon
arch. What he says is law. Nominally a
captain has power of life and death over any
one on board, but he would never carry it to
that extreme, unless in case of mutiny, and
he is chary of administering punishment, for
the reason that any common sailor under him
has the ear of the captains own masters if he
has an abuse to complain of, for the captain
is obliged by the regulations to forward to
the secretary of the navy at Washington any
document which the meanest blue jacket may
choose to hand to him for such Transmission,
He may mark it Not approved Of but he has
got to send it, and it may cause his own court
martial and even dismissal from the service
in case the complaint is Of sufficiently seri-
GUS nature and is sustained.
eve have some spells of comparative lib
erty, of course, when we are on leave. On
my last leave went out west and the people
| met said, rs the navy still going on3' '0h,
yes, replied always, lit is still going on.
You must have to save up your pay for such
times as this, when you don't earn anything,
one old farmer suggested. And when told
him that my pay went on while was on
leave he was indignant. What: he exclaim.
ed, do you mean to say that you git paid fer
dom NOTHING The money earn by dggin'
and sweatin' goes ter pay YOU fer loatin'
around here and larkin' with the girlsl By
gee, I'll write to my congressman tonight