Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-03-22

HE LIFE Of . naval oficer is very
u ZSffar from being an easy or amusing one
in my opinion" said a young heuten-
~ ant the other day to . STAR reporter.
| "People generally have Q 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 so disagreeable in its character
that there are few kinds Of labor which are not
pleasant in comparison. Four hours by day
and four hours at night, month after month
\ and year after year, We must spend in silently
waking plank, forbidden to utter a word to
communication to the captain, and even denied
the privilege OF sitting down il we are tired.
| euch IL watch duty. You can imagine how
| Slowly the time must pass, so occupied particu-
larry at night, when the incidental RESPONSE
bilty for the ships safety rests heavy on the
mind Maybe your night watch begins at s
pm. and lasts until II; If not you must be en-
gagged In this pleasing duty from midnig hit till
\ 4 In the morning. But all the same YOU must
be through breakfast before Gam. 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 will be
another drill During the intervals of such
|
way is life on board ship made up. For my
own part would rather live on land"
SHIPS HAPPY AND OTHERWISE.
"But you have an agreeable companionship
among your fellow officers" suggested the
| STAR reporter.
1T all depends. When the ward room mess
| is composed exclusively of jolly and congenial
men things 60 very pleasantly. But such q
| fortunate condition Of affairs is rather the
II nnfra NkA ~r1lA
more unhappy ships in the service, as We
phase it, than happy ones. You see, social
| existence under such circumstances is reduced
| to very close quarters. and small things become
| serious annoyances. A disagreeable fellow,
not in any way to be avoided or got rid of,
| common source of uncomfortableness is mere
| want OF sympathy among the officers. How
| can il be expected that the man of mature
years could find companionable fresh young
| ensign not long out of the naval academy. or
| vice versa? Such differences OF age, feelings
and opinions are necessarily productive, if not
| OF dlscord, at least of unhappiness. If the
executive officer, who always presides over the
ward room mess, is an unpleasant person,
| things are made exceedingly miserable He
may behave in q 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
| ",
| because they have II in their power to seek
redress for such an injury by
| MEETING HIM on SHORE
and thrashing him; but he can do pretty nearly
anything short of that Over the conversation
at the board he has control, and, when he con-
| siders that q discussion has gone far enough,
he says simply: That will do, gentlemen
Zone would imagine the position of a captain
| to be a very enjoyable one"
| ia hard f0y rTa ha
| gin with, it is exceedingly difficult for the
| captain OF ship to maintain agreeable rela-
| tions socially with his officers and to keep up
| strict discipline at the same time. II the COM
| 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 q
| triie more familiar in addressing the younger
lieutenants, and the blue jackets would pay a
slightly less respectful attention to the orders
| OF the petty officers. Everything Oh board
| must outwardly preserve an air of the coolest
| Formally, else before you know it there will
| be trouble, which can only be settled by putting
SCORE OF THE MEN IN IRONS
and dropping all social courtesies between the
captains cabin and the ward room. The cap
tain must always maintain the role Of an abso-
| lutte monarch. What he says is law. Nomi-
nally 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 docu-
| ment which the meanest blue Jacket NAV
choose to hand to him for such transmission
| He may mark it mot 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 a sufficiently serious
nature and is sustained. But if the captain is
| a disagreeable man he can make life wretched
| enough for officers as well as men without ex-
ceeding the authority which the regulations
| give him."
THE EYE OF AUTHORITY.
SIT would seem that the presence Of the mas
ter must be rather monotonously oppressive on
| shipboard."
THAT is one drawback about the nayy-one
is always under the masters eye. Even at the
mess table authority is present in the person
| of the executive officer. If an offense is COM
mitted it is communicated by him to the cap
| tain and by the captain to the Navy depart
ment at Washington. Thus the department
| may be said to have a stern and ever-watchful
| gaze bent upon each one of US. To get away
| from it is impossible save by leaving the serv-
| ice. The authority by which it is directed is
| memorable, never forgetting and never for
ment each officer has a page, on which is in
| scribed everything bad that he has been found
| out in since he entered the naval academy and
up to date. Nothing is ever rubbed out from that
page; it stands always ready to accuse him of
past misdeeds if there is occasion to examine
into his professional history. Ii he ventures
to owe a debt the department will compel
him to pay it, And a naval officer has excep-
| tional opportunities for running into debt too.
| Any one will trust him-even urge him TO buy
| on credit-because the money is always 10 be
got readily enough. If 1 owed tailor for a
| suit of clothes here in Washington and didn't
pay him he would simply write to the Secre-
tary of the Navy, inclosing the little bill. The
Secretary would respond by line to the pay
| master telling him to send a check Tor the
| amount of the bill to the tailor and deduct the
| amount Of 1t from my next months pay. Thus
| you see that We are held under
SORT OF PATERNAL CONTROL
and obliged to strictly behave ourselves You
can perceive that it must sometimes be irksome
to be never ones own master. We have some
spells Of comparative liberty, Of course, when
we are on leave. On my last leave went out
west and people met said: is the navy still
| A,,9s IN o