St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-01-31
looking fellows in town today, and
Jim Donnelly won't DO one of them.
A NAVAL SKETCH.
The Experience of a st. Paul
Cadet With Admiral Gherardi.

Bancroft Gherardi, at present adj
miral of the flagship Charleston, and in
general command of the whole North
American fleet in CHILEAN waters, is
gentleman of the old school, and man
of considerable ability. l served under
him as midshipman in 80 on the flag
ship Lancaster. then cruising in the
Mediterranean. He was then we'll up
on the list of captains, and since that
time has been doing shore du,y
in the capacity of a commodore.
He is short, thick-set man, with a
genial blue eye, and rather handsome
for a man of his years. His face is COW
cred with buShy beard. which gives q
rather stern cast to an otherwise kindly
phySiognomy. In the days when knew
him, he was always pleasant to his sub
ordinates and was not a man who was
continually up on his dignity. How
ever, if needs be, he could be severe.
as many blue jacket had occasion to
know during the course of the cruise.
One thing | particularly liked about
Gherardi, and that was. he always stood
by his younger officers in their dis
puteS and difficulties with the men.
If he had any suggestions or corrections
to make in the case of the officers. it was
| done in private, and never before the
men, because he realized full well the
demOraliZing effect this would have on
the discipline of the ship. Gherardi's
| course i'll this respect was in marked
contraStto that of other captains whom
l served under, who seemed to think a
young officer had no rights that any
body was bound to respect. AS an eX-
ample of the affableness of 1.-The old
man" for so we called him, cite an in
stance:
While lying off Tompkinsville, in New
York harbor, l was sent ashore to get
the captain. As we approached the
landing two of the boats crew re-
quested that they might be al
lowed to go to pump hard by
to Quench their thirst. At the
time [ was green at the business,
having been in the service but a few
| months. Of course L granted the re-
quest. telling the men to hurry back, as
the captain might put in an appearance
at any moment. But they didn't hurry
worth cent. In the words of the old
song: They never came back After
waiting around for couple of hours.
and no word of either the men or the
captain, / decided that the latter had
made up his mind to spend the night
ashore. SO pulled off leisurely to the
ship. l got within hailing distance of
the Lancaster when | heard a voice
which 1 recognized as that of the first
lieutenant:
where's the captain, sir?''
''He has not come yet, STRIP
''GO and get the captain. sir.''
There was no chance for argument on
that proposition, so L headed for shore
again, while all the time silently heap
ing imprecations on the head of the man
who first suggested the navy to me.
When about halfway in | saw a boat
coming towards US; AS we neared it l
saw it contained the captain, who had
evidently arrived during my absence.
and, having tired of waiting, had con-
cluded to go it alone. Anybody ac-
quainted with the dignity surrounding a
captain will recognize the comicality of
GherardTS posi- ton. There he was. in
all his bars and stripes, seated in an or
binary market boat and being lugged off
to his ship by greasy Italian. And the
comical part Of it all was | was
the cause of it. Comical! Yes, side
splitting. But L could not enter
into the enjoyment of the thing.
| was too scared. L shook like a leaf.
/ asked the captain if ne would come
aboard. He answered simply, no. But
there was tinge of resentment in that
little mo- that spoke volumes. fol-
lowed leiSurely after my chief, all the
while thinking of the roast in store for
me. Having boarded the ship, | sought
out the executive officer and told him of
my misfortune in losing two men from
my boat. | told him they asked me to
go ashore for drink of water and |
could not refuse their piteous appeals.
This is very serious matter, sir, and
indicative of gross carelessnesS on your
part. Report the circumstances to the
captain" Thus spoke the executive
officer, and in tone that carried con-
victiOn with it, that | was in ID of a
fix. went directly to the CAPTAINS
cabin, and, after saluting the "old MANI
most courteously, proceeded to make
my excuses for not meeting him at the
wharf. Before | had half-fnished nv
| story he broke in brusQuely, but good
| naturally, to inform me that 81 need
not worry about that; that [ was Young
and would know better the next time. :"
felt greatly relieved to hear this, but
| had yet to tell him about the loss of the
two men, and this bothered me sorelv.
for felt [ would not get off so easily
after had unburdened myself of this
| information. But [ was more imbued
now with the sense of the "old man's''
| power of forgiveness, so | launched out
boldly with my little tale of woe. put
| on the most penitent air at nv com
mand in the telling of my story, and I
could discern from the change of ey-
| preston Of the captains face that was
| impreSsing him as to my sincerity and
| honesty.
"Well now, my son. said the can
tain, when | had finished, "let this be a
lesson to you. Under ordinary circum-
stances [ would consider that you had
been guilty of grave offense in per
hitting the men to leave your boat, but
this being your first offense | will let
you off without even reprimanding.
Look out for yourself in the future" /
could have Rugged the "old man" then
and there if he would have permitted
it. AS it was, / thanked him and bowed
myself out OF the cabin without further
parley.
This little incident shows the nature
of Gherardi. From my knowledge of
the man l believe he would put up a
good fight and give the Chilians a little
better than they sent. I have never
seen him in battle, but l have seen him
when his ship was enveloped in hur-
ricane, and know of no situation more
trying or one that requires more nerve
and GOODNESS. If he does as we'll fight
ing the Chilians as he does battling the
elements, there need be no fear as to
| the OutcOme-the ChilianS won't be in ii.
NJ. j. DoNNELLY.