The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-08-11
4 MAN-0F-WAR'S men,.
How They Pass the Time When
Off Duty on the White
Ships.
What q Visitor to the White
Squadron Saw on a Re-
cent Trip.
Modern Jack Tar Is . Great Reader
He Does not Sing Of the
Sea Salty.

The visitors to the White Squadron
bswildering glance of the inner life of
man-of-war. They saw a good deal Of in
tricate machinery. heavy guns, dynamos
and search lights and just n little of how
jack manages to pass away the time in hi!
watch below says the New York News.
On war vessels where there are, as sailor
say, ''more cats than catch mice" there i,
vast mount of leisure time at the dis
posal Of the crew. The amount varies with
the disposition of the commanding Officer
and his executive officers; but in the piping
times of peace it will easily average eight
hours out of twenty-four. In fact the life
of \ man-of-wst's man is nearly n perfect
realization OF the terrestrial paradise which
the workingman pictures for himsef.
One would imagine hat the sailor on
board one of the new iron clads, where
what is not accomplished by steam is COW
cred by electricity, and where there ia little
work to be done aloft with sails. ropes or
spars, would find time hanging heavily on
his hands. Such, however, is far from be-
ing the case.
The men have solved the problem of turn
luz &ll tASll HpATc llIAd uuI1uH tIelE WAUGH
below to account, and the various methods
employed to pass the weary hours fur
nished an interesting study to visitors to
the Chicago and the other vessels OF the
fest.
Making and mendine their clothes takes
up q fair proportion of jacks spare time.
Unlike the man who enlists in the army,
the q. S. sailor has to pay for his outfit,
which costs him $50. He is often an excel
lent tailor, who makes his own clothes. and
in every case he knows how to repair them,
having all the necessary material in his
ditty-box. Next to making and mending
his clothes ZONES the production of pictures
of the ships of the squadron, ocean steam
ers and yachts.
Only the background of these pictures are
painted, all tbs rest bearing testimony to
Jacks marvellous skill with the needle. The
sails are made of stiff paper, painted to tho
natural color of canvas. and stand out in
relief. The hull and spars are embroidered
or worked in with colored silk threads.
Yellow silk is employed for the masts and
spars and the smokestacks of the new cruis-
ers, while the brass work is wonderfully
we'll initiated with lemon-colored silk
thread.
The waves are moulded with putty into
the shape that Jack thinks waves should
have and are then painted. The back
ground is painted to convey the nautical
idea of what a sky at sea looks like. The
picture when complete presents q section of
the vessel on the keel, and the effect is ex-
tremely realistic. These products of Jacks
handiwork easily sell for from 1926 up, md
find a ready sale to visitors and among
dealers in bric-a-b1ac and curios. Their
production. however, takes as much as two
or three months and involves a vast amount
of patience and care on the part of the
artist.
The manufacture of mats is another great
employment of the m~an-of-war sailor in
his watch below. These mats are worked
in MIXED silk and worsted, and are to be
found in nearly every cabin in the feet, in
addition to which they find a ready market
ashore.
OF %non-gainful occupations for his spare
time Jack has plenty. Every ship is we'll
supplied with books, and while in port on
the home station all the local papers and
magazines are taken. The modern Jack
tar is a great reader, and takes his reading
very often in solid chunks. When the
writer visited the Chicago he was surprised
to find an apprentice boy reading the "North
American Review" and an ordinary sea
man Struggling with Henry Georges
progress and Poverty"
Che ckers is an unfailing resource for
passing time, and where vessels are in COM
pany, as in the white squadron, it is no un-
common thing for match games and even
tournaments to be gotten up among the
champion players of the different ships.
Cards are not encouraged on board ship, as
they tend to induce gambling, but quiet
little games are by no means uncommon,
especially among the petty officers.
In the cool of the evenings, when tho
naval apprentices are tuned up to play or
skylar1, the men not on watch will gather
forward to smoke, sing and spin yarns.
There are very few ships on which there
are not quite a number of good singers
among the men, and these impromptu con-
certs give a spice of variety to a life which
in its very nature is essentially monoton-
GUS.
A curious thing about the song our sail
ors sing is that not once in a hundred times
are they in the slightest degree of the sea
salty. On the contrary, they are the latest
productions of the concert halls, and are of
the mothers song'' and topical song"
type.
This is natural enough. The fine old sea
songs of the days of Dlbden, Campbell and
the rest have nothing in common with the
monster creations of steam, steel and cleo
tricity that now plow the waves. Tom
Hood recognized even with the first advapt