Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1893-04-29
THE POWDER MONKEY.
ACTIVE DUTIES OF A NIMeLs BOY
ON BOARD A MAN oF-wAR.


attached by sailors TO another word TO lie
note smaller object of the same kind
Thus we have monkey jacket. n short pea
jacket; monkey yard, small yard with
the sail bent, crossed on one OF the masts a
few feet above the deck, for the exercise
and instruction of boys; monkey reef, a
short extra reef formerly put in topsails
and shaken out in free wind. monkey
tail was short iron bar used in training
carronade 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. aud was sometimes
called powder monkey, but more Eener
ally powder boy.
II 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-.
glish frgate Phoebe and the sloop of-war
Cherub, off Valparaiso, in 1914
He tells his own story with characteris-
tic simplicity. During the action he
says, II was like Paddy In the catharpings,
IA man on occasions performed the du.
ties of captains aid, quarter gunner, pow.
der boy, and in fact did everything that
was required of me. +"
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 a
gun; would run and bring powder from
the boys, and send them back for more
until the captain wanted me TO carry a
message, and this continued to employ me
during 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 rs not to
lessen the rapidity of fire, be must not
allow the cartridges to accumulate on
deck, lest an explosion take place and
cause more destruction than the fire Of
the enemy.
The powder boy must exercise great care
also, 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 fresl
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 Torrent. the flagship OF the French
feet mt the battle Of the Nile, which took
fire and subsequently blew up, gave rise to
Mrs. IIemans' beautiful poem. "Casabi
anca."
The experiment has been made OF sta
tioning crews Of boys ut 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 70 be handled were the Dahl
gren smoothbore, 9inch gun, weighing in
round numbers 1900 pounds The iron
carriage weighed LOO pounds, the car
fridge 10, and the loaded shell 73 pounds,
making IA total weight Of the gun to he run
out to battery-not counting metal sights
and side tackle blocks-more than 10000
pounds Each Of the 10 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 demoustrat
the potency Of the drill. The first day OF
the series, the ship being at sea and the
battery properly secured for heavy weather.
OF the drum beating To general quarters a
9-inch gun was cast loose, run in, load
ed, run ont and fired in one minute and
thirty seven seconds.
On the day following for test Of ac
curacy. combined with n rapidity of fire a
pinch gun was fired four times at a
regulation target. The time OF the first
fire being recorded, the gun WAS loaded and
fired three more times. aud 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 TO
1000 yards. The remaining three shots
were fired without much regard to accu
racy.
On the third day OF the series, the guns
being secured for sea, the ships company.
without previous warming. was called to
quarters little after midnight, when a
pinch gun-handled, as In the previous
cases, entirely by boys-was cast loose, run
in, loaded, run out and fired (the shell ex-
plodingt in two minutes and eight sec.
ouds, counting from the first tap OF the
drum
An ENTHUSIASTIC YouSGsTER.
Now, the statement that the call to quar-.
tiers was without previous warning
must be taken with some qualification.
The crew knew that might quarters" was
one of the exercises belonging to the series,
but no one, save the commanding officer,
knew what night or at what hour Of the
night the summons would come,
Every one was on the qui yiye OF course.
Moreover, the powder boys knew that sue
cess In the competition depended in great
measure on the prompt supply OF powder.
This idea was so fully impressed on the
mind Of one powder monkey, ~ we shall
call him. that when IL was his watch below,
instead Of repairing TO his hammock, as
any well ordered powder monkey would
or should do. he preferred rather TO pick
out a soft plank on the lower deck, near
the entrance to the magazine passage so
that when the hour Of trial came he would
be on hand TO receive the cartridge FIRST
handed out.
He slept there for two nights, aud part
OF the third ON the third night he was
10 reap the rewaid Of his devotion. though
as the event proved, IN part only. On the
drum sounding for night quarters, our lit.
tie hero was at his post. possessed himself
Of the first cartridge, and started Tor bis
gun with the nimblcness Of his race.
But 10 great was the emulation, so in.
tense the excitement. that some boys OF AN
intermediate crew, their spirit OF rivalry
quite overcoming their sense OF Justice,
caught the poor little fellow ION the fly,s
~ u were, "downed" him, took the car,
fridge from his box, passed IL To the loader
0 III. l..