Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1891-06-12
THE POWDER MONKEY.
ACTIVE DUTIES OF A NiMBLE BOY
ON BOARD A MAN-OF-WAR.

Wv oOHiaO ~ rfAlN-OE-WATts
Admiral Farragut's Experience Under
Commodore Portcr-The Powder Bows
Duties-some Examples of Sharp Work
by Boy Crews-One Boys Enthusiasm.
The word monkey is adiminutive often
attached by sailors to another word to de-
note smaller object of the same kind
Thus we have monkey jacket, a short pea
jacket; monkey yard, a small yard with
the sail bent, crossed on one of the masts
few feet above the deck, for the exercise
and instruction of noys; monkey reef, a
short extra reef formerly put in topsails
and shaken out In a free wind. A monkey
tail was short iron bar used in training
Earronade, and SO on.
So the smallest and youngest member OF
guns crew was assigned to the duty of
bringing the charges of powder from the
magazine to the gun, and was sometimes
called a powder monkey, but more gener
ally Il powder boy.
1t is interesting to know that Admiral
Farragut was once an amateur powder
boy. When little less than thirteen
years of age he served under Commodore
Porter, on board the United States frigate
Essex, in her memorable fight with the En-
glsh frigate Phoebe and the sloop-of-war
Cherub, off Valparaiso, in 1914.
He tells his own story with characters
tic simplicity. During the action" he
says, 81 was like Paddy in the catharpings,
"a man on occasions performed the du-
ties of captains aid, quarter gunner, pow
der boy, and in fact did everything that
was required of meS'
He then goes on to describe the ''horrid
impression" made upon him by the sight
of the first man he had ever seen killed,
and continues:
"When my services were not required
for other purposes [ assisted in working
gun; would run and bring powder from
the boys, and send them back for more,
until the captain wanted me to carry 3
message and this continued to employ me
dnring the action"
THE POWDER BOYS DUTIES.
The part of powder boy, though some
what subordinate, requires activity and
Judgment; for while he must keep his gun
so well supplied with powder as not to
lessen the rapidity of fire, he must not
allow the cartridges to accumulate Oh
deck, lest an explosion take place and
cause more destruction than the fire of
the enemy.
The powder boy must exercise great care
llso, to prevent sparks or fragments of
burning cartridges from getting into his
passing box-the leather box in which the
cartridge is carried. AS a precaution, the
passing box on being presented for fresh
cartridge must be carefully shaken over a
tub of water, to empty it of anything that
might communicate fire.
An explosion at the magazine passage
would be likely to communicate to the
magazine itself and blow up the ship.
History furnishes number of instances
of ships blowing up in battle. The case OF
the L'Orient, the flagship of the French
| fleet at the battle of the Nile, which took
fire and subsequently blew up, gave rise tc
Mrs. Hemans' beautiful poem, "Casabi
anca."
| The experiment has been made of sta
| tioning crews of boys at the great guns OF
| a vessel of war to ascertain how far by
careful training they could be brought up
| to high state of efficiency. The results
| were very satisfactory.
| RAPID WORK FOR BOYS
The pieces to be handled were the Dahl
eren smoothbore, 9-inch gun, weighing in
round numbers 1900 pounds. The iron
carriage weighed 1900 pounds, the car
| fridge 49, and the loaded shell 70 pounds,
| making total weight of the gun to be run
out to battery-not counting metal sights
| and side tackle blocks-more than 1000
| pounds. Each of the 16 boys who form the
| crew of 9-inch gun had 642 pounds to
| handle. This estimate does not include
! the powder boy himself
| After a few months instruction at the
battery a series of competitive exercises
was instituted, and the result demonstrates
the potency of the drill. The first day OF
the series, the ship being at sea and the
battery properly secured for heavy weather
on the drum beating to general quarters q
9-iuch gun was cast loose, run in, load
ed, run out and fired in one minute and
thirty seven seconds.
On the day following, for test Of &C
curacy. combined with rapidity of fire, g
9-inch gun was fired four times at 9
regulation target. The time of the frsi
fire being recorded, the gun was loaded and
fred three more times, and the time called
at the fourth fire. the interval being one
minute and forty eight seconds.
The first shot struck and completely de
molished the target distant from 500 Il
1000 yards. The remaining three shot
we're fired without much regard to accu
racy.
On the third day of the series, the gun
being secured for sea, the ships company
without previous warning. was called t.
quarters little after midnight, when
9inch gun-handled, as in the previou
cases, entirely by boys--was cast loose, rul
in, loaded, run out and fired (the shell ex
ploding) in two minutes and eight sec
onds, counting from the first tap OF tn
: drum.
y AN ENTHUSIASTIC YOUNGSTER.
Now, the statement that the call to qual
!, tiers was without previous warning,
must be taken with some qualification
: The crew knew that "night quarters wa
. one of the exercises belonging to the serie:
i but no one, save the commanding Officer
knew what night or at what hour of tn
n night the summons would come.
;. Every one was on the qui vive of course
:, Moreover, the powder boys knew that SUI
cess in the competition depended in a gres
measure on the prompt supply of powde
This idea was SO fully impressed on tt
mind of one powder monkey, as we sha
call him, that when it was his watch below
= instead of repairing to his hammock, {
II any well ordered powder monkey woul
III or should do, he preferred rather to pic
y out a soft plank OH the lower deck, nei
~ the entrance to the magazine passage,
'e that when the hour of trial came he woul
81 be on hand to receive the cartridge 1lr
/ handed out.
M He slept there for two nights, and pa
ID of the third On the third night he W;
s. to reap the reward of his devotion. thong
ia as the event proved, in part only. On tt
drum sounding for night quarters, our
tie hero was at his post, possessed hlmse
of the first cartridge, and started for b
gun with the nimbleness of his race.
~ But so great was the emulation, SO i
wv tense the excitement. that some boys of {
Is intermediate crew, their spirit of rival
n. quite overcoming their sense OF }ustls
IS, caught the poor little fellow con the fly
ee as It were, "downed" him, took the ca
fridge from his box, passed it to the load
of their own gun and thus won the prlZ
Rear Admiral S. B. Luce in Youth
Companion.