Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-15
PESTS OF THE OCEAN.
Admiral Kimberly Tells How
They Got Rid of a Lot of
Reaches and Rats
ON HIS FIRST CRUISE.
Messenger Boys Had to Catch the
Bugs or Take Flogging.
TIE TRICKS THEY RES0RTED TO,
Smoke Was Used Very Effectively to Get
Rid of the Rodents.
CATS OF THE SHIP SUFF0CATED TOO
Smoke Was Used Very Effectively to Get
Rid of the Rodents.
CATS OF THE SHIP SUFF0CATED TOO
rwRITrEN FOR THE p1sPArcH.I

Ihat the snip served ABOARD sailed from
the good old Boston navy yard on three
years cruise; in those days it was the Gus
tom tor the flagship of the African station to
spend half of her cruise on the African
coast and adjacent islands, and the other
half up the Mediterranean.
The ship was almost new, having only
made previous cruise and was considered
at that time one OF the finest vessels of her
class in the navy, il not in the world. The
history of the ship from the day she was
launched has fully proved this fact, as she
is in commission this day, and doing good
service after lapse of 43 years.
Reaching the station, we were very COM
Portable on our good new ship, excepting
for two nuisances that required a great deal
Of ingenuity to overcome; one was cock
reaches, the other rats. No ship could be
cleaner than she was, but the heat of the
climate was favorable for the rapid increase
Of the reaches, and our never going along
side of a wharf or pier prevented any loss
Of the rats by emigration; SO they both
thrived and increased.
Making the Boys Hunt Reaches
On our distant station no insecticides nor
trough on rats" could be obtained. Even
If they could have been procured, we could
not have used them, because the rats and
reaches would have died in the ceilings and
between the timbers, and rendered her un-
inhabitSble. So something else had to be
done to abate the nuisance. After a great
deal of thought and consideration on the
part of our First Lieutenant, the following
plan was determined on:
We had on board about eight or ten bright
messenger boys. As was the custom of the
service, they were rigidly inspected every
morning watch, with their trousers rolled
up TO their knees, their frock-sleeves to
their elbows, and their collars open and
thrown back, all toeing seam with their
caps in their hands. This inspection was
held by the officer of the deck and the
master at arms, called by the crew Jimmy
Legs"
One fine morning it was announced to
these messenger boys that hereafter each
one was to muster at the morning inspec-
tion with 25 reaches, and that they had per-
mission to visit and search any part of the
ship to obtain their quota; in case of failure
10 produce the proper number, the delin-
quent (unless some good reason was given)
was to receive as many strokes of rattan as
he was short of the number of reaches re-
quired.
Operations were to commence at once.
AAC ASAk LuOIuluB Tue COuullUS LOOK place
under the supervision of Jimmy Legs.
Each boy after the counting was found to
have his proper number of reaches. After
inspection they were marched to the gang
way and threw their collection into the sea.
This they did every morning for long
time.
How They Escaped n FIogging.
Finally it became a hard matter to mus
ter with 25 bugs every morning. Conse-
quently the number required was reduced
TO 20; after another lapse oftime to Is; then
TO ten; then to five; and finally to three
apiece. But long before this latter number
was reached the boys resorted to all sorts of
devices to get their complement of reaches
for they well knew the penalty hanging
over them.
To avoid punishment and preserve their
game each one provided himself with an
empty mustard bottle and cork, and slung
il around his neck inside of his sshirt, and
every time he caught roach he bottled it
At the inspections the boys counted out.
their quota from the bottles, which were re-
Corked and returned to their bosoms with
what was left over, to be ready for the next
call.
OF course, by the time the complement
required was reduced to three reaches,
they had very hard work to keep their
number up. So they resorted to a device
AAttll lAOS llClEu lOI sOluc lllUS DGlOIe IL WAS
discovered. 1t was this: When they were
marched to the gangway to throw their
bugs into the sea, by turn of the wrist
they threw them into the main chains; and
when the master-at-arms dismissed them,
they quietly, when unobserved, went into
the chains and picked up and returned to
their bottles all of the reaches that had
lodged there, and this picking was honor
ably divided among the squad for the
mOrD1r1p'C M This
ing dangerous and liable to bring detection
and punishment, was taken in turn by the
boys After this had been going on for
some time it was discovered and stopped.
Kidding Strange Craft OF Pests.
However, they resorted to another device.
It was customary in port on Sunday after
noon to allow visiting parties to go about
among the ships that might be at anchor In
the harbor. So one afternoon in the harbor
Of Porto Praya our boys were allowed to
pay visit to one of the vessels, a top sail
schooner and quite celebrated vessel in
her day; at this time she was commanded by
an old lieutenant who afterward became an
admiral and lost his life on the Asiatic sta
tion he commanded at the time.
The officer the next day made a visit to
our ship, and calling on our grand First
Luff he said: "Well, T, you have lot of
the srrangest boys in your ship that 1 ever
board of my vessel, and as soon as they went
forward they commenced catching reaches
and putting them in bottles which they had
in their SHIRT bosoms; they went through the
ship over and under the boom covers, ham,
mock MEETINGS, galley, berth deck, mess
chests and everywhere! They we're not still
a minute. Such squabbling and striving
for reaches 1 never saw! What does it all
meau?"
The matter was satisfactorily explained
TO him. And the fact became now apparent
that reaches in our ship had almost disap-
peared, as only occasionally one would be
observed when its fate was sealed on sight
For during the remainder of our cruise
those boys had become so habituated and
expert at catching them that never after
ward did a bug escape, and to all intents
and purposes the ship was considered free
from them.
The Roaches Ate Finger Nails.
No one not shut up in ship with these
Vermin can conceive what a great nuisance
these reaches were. They would destroy
brushes, shoes, binding of books, eat the
toe and finger nails of persons sleeping
down to the quick, and would at times live
in such numbers and emit such a pungent
and penetrating odor as to drive the occu-
pants Of the staterooms out At the end of
the cruise the boys were admitted to be the
smartest boys in the squadron, and several
OF them served with me years afterward as
petty officers.
L will now discuss the question of rats 1t