The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-03-08
NAVAL RUNAWAYS.
Two Ships With a Big
Hoodoo.'
WHY THE CREWS WON'T STAY.
A Board of Officers to Investigate the
Continual Desertions From the
Adams and Ranger.
WHY THE CREWS WON'T STAY.

grateful for the good things which Uncle
Samuel bestows upon Elm or else these
good things are ashes and bitterness to the
taste, for laie dispatch states that board
of officers has been ordered by the Navy
Department a Washington to investigate
the numerous deseriions from the crews of
the Adams and Ranger.
This is an unusual proceeding, as the
enlisted man generally gets official notice
only when cOurt-martial brings him up
with round turn on charge of some
offense tending toward the destruction of
the efficiency aud moral tone of tile service.
The bare fact that the department moves
Itself TO learn why constant assertions from
these vessels occur and such general dis
satisfaction exists among their crews shows
that wrong rests some where.
1t viii be remembered that the Adams
returned from the north few months ago
with workmanship reputation of cruelt v
toward the men. An apprentice boy had
been found dirty by the master alarms,
and was scrubbed with salt water and can
vas, standing naked on the topgallant fore
castle until the blood OF the luckless sailor
lad had tTlckled down to his heels No
board OF officers was ordered to investigate
the lnhuman conduct of her commander,
even when the daily press published tn a
story. However, the boy was permitted to
desert, ana the report Of his desertion sent
10 Washington was the best method Of
quashing all inquiry from headquarters.
The Ranger when she went To BeriDg Sea
last April carried a "hOCdOo" with her.
Ihat uBcannY passenger was q StOwaway,
1t Is true, but it stuck TO her shaft-alleY dur
Ing all the cruise. ard the diseased propeller
thuMped and pounded, an not only warned
every poacher back 10 Victoria, but
frightened every seal out Of the sea, She
bpeu far he or Mara lei. Il,
hands OF the yard workmen, who have op-
Grated upon her engines under the expert
eneed eye OF n corps OF eng neer officers with
sucll success that her propeller Is humping
and pounding yet.
In this city there is a large mum Der of ex-
men-oi-waI's men who have left these two
llI-Starred ships, ana among them q CALL
reporter made inquiries as 10 why thev and
the naval service Jailed to pull together.
l WAS chief petty officer aboard of one
OF these ships" said quiet, intelligent
man to his questioneF, "aud have been in
the service over twenty years. a man who
has passed the best part of his life at sea has
learned 10 rough 1t In the extreme sense of
the term, and he Is not calculated to jump
his ship without reason 1t is tTua the
naval sailor is not dubbed TO death like a
clipper roustabout, but ne is forever nagged
aud DuIlyTagged, and sent here and hauled
there until ne begins TO hate everything in
sigh, aud he jumps.
A4G - Atpl III Ike u CNUVlCL ana kaS
to plead so humDly for the slightest shore
privileges. His money is kept from him
and dOled out in fractional parts of a
months pay at stated intervals. This
often comes hard TO Jack, especially as the
Government ration of food is of a pnor
quality and quantity and to exc out the in
ADEQUATE bill of fare each man contributes
from his pocket TO his mess.
Il don't want to be unfair. On some
ships the treatment of the men is good and
that IS because the commanding officers OF
Such vessels devote portion of their Dreams
of leisure to teaching the younger officers
that sailor has rights which an Annapolis
cadet must respect And again many of the
deck officers are kind and considerate toward
the men. This is often, however, when the
otncer Is N good hnmOr and the man is Verv,
very good. Neither poverty, insanity. nor
patriotism will ever get me into the naval
service again"
81 was in the Ranger for seven months"
SAID man who was running donkey
engine on the city front, land never want
10 live seven such months again. | have
worked around machinery most all my life
and when l enlisted | expected something
In the way of employment where my ex-
perlence would soon advance me 10 better
wages than that OF a cOalheaVer, the rating
IN which l was induced to ship. Well,
delved in the cOal-bunkers while the ship
was at sea and swept the decks while she
was IN port. | was punished for not know
Ing the grains of powder in the charge of
mlilmeter shell and | skipped the first
chance. see IN the papers that a board
has been ordered to Investigate the whole
sale assertions from the Adams and
Ranger. There are forty or fifty men In
this city who, If they dared, could 60 before
that board and give very good reasons
why those ships lie at Mare Island with
vacancies in their crew-lists. or course,
we won't be there-if we can help it-and
the officers whom the board will summon
before it will state that the men who run
away are naturally disseminated and never
satisfied anywhere, and are of an Inferior
class generally. Not a word will be said
about the workhouse condition of those
vessels, the comfurtless arrangement of the
quarters Of their crews, the daily repri-
mands and prison punishments for iRsignifi-
can't O1enses, The deprivation of liberty on
shore and the keeping back of monthly pay.
Oh, no! these are triflng matters, and the
honorable board VIII submit its yuluminOus
report 10 the department. stating that in its
official opinion Jack would growl even if he
were given pe.''
81 am glad to see that the Navy Depart
ment is waking up to the fact that there is
hoodoO on those two ships" said the second
mate OF coast steamer TO The CALL re-
porter.
"a few weeks ago l heard the captain
of the Ranger ask one of the officers, why
Is 1t, Mr.. -, that the best men and petty
officers are deserving this shipP'
Whatever the answer was, no change
was made in the daily routine, and with
four others went several evenings after"
To tell you the truth" said an old mari
ner, 1.-THE navy Is the last resort of the hard
up, anyhow. Nobody enlistS except old
men of-warsmen, who would be useless and
would starve elsewhere; penuiless and hun
CRY recruits, with the City Prison or Aims
house staring them in the face, and few
foolish boys, sons of ignorant parents, who
enlist the youngsters and place them ia
place from which they will come IN a few
years worthless young men. The influence
of the service IL bad and totally beyond the
reach of those officials who would reform it.
lntenlperance, immortality and pauperism
are the pitfalls that engulf many young
sailor apprentice"
'One reason why the commanders of the
Adams aud Ranger are called upon to re-
port so many assertions from their respect
i've ships" said another runaway, sis be-
cause men that enlisted especially to 90 in
the coaStdefense vessel Monterey were
drafted to those two unpopular and COM
FORTRESS old steamers to fill the constantly
occurring vacancies. You see, they are like
sleeves The crews leak out as fast as they
are put in. Nobody wants &c go in them,
and each man who is sent from the receiv-
ing ship goes kicking. The Adams will
probably go back to Boring Sea, misera BILE,
cold, cherries prospect for SIX months or
so, and the Ranger to Samoa, where, with
her disabled shaft, which The ward engineers
have failed to cure, she will go ashore in the
first cyclone that strikes Apia Conse-
quently the men are jump ping like rats, and
the Navy Department asks why?'
HARROp IGHTG