The Wichita daily eagle., 1893-12-16
JACK TAR.s ra,cxs
low Sailors sasegis Lsquer q -
Their Sh1pA


Low Sailors 0Waggis Lsquoe q DonRa
Their ShipA
One Of the most arduous tas1rx devo1v
ing upon the officers Of . war ship 4
that Of preventing the men from smuR>
Cling intoxicauts aboard the chin Il
is task that perhsns no captain has
yet performed with complete and long
continued success II involves . con.
slant contest of ingenuity between cfEi-
Gers and the crew. the latter devis;nR
all manner Of schemes TO get the coa-
trahand luxury aboard and the former
endeavcring to ferret out and Illustrate
theplanS II Is > contest in which the
crews are often successful While the
snip is 1t sea the mems brains are busy
with schemes for smuggling liquor on
board that keep the ofEccrs' brains busy
when she gets in port Tricks that
were old when the American navy WAS
young are pcrcnnially practisei by tho
sailors. and the officers, however smarS
and alert, cannot wholly defeat them
Why" said an old captain. I've al
most come TO be supcrstitiocs on this
catIt&~ A Us fs1<tsR W tEsltNC tu3A
II INV ship were 1T sea wit aout n drop
aboard and we sailed anywhere within
sight, even, of land. half the men In
the forecastle would soon find the
means of getting gloriously drunk
I'm sure Of IL Liquor - simply spir.
tied aboard"
When ship Is in home port the
trouble is greatest Some day . clever
capture will be made. the men Be de-
ploring the failure Of new scheme and
the officers chuckling over It's discovery.
and yet the next morning will reveal
that half dozen OF the crew wero
drunk the night before When . boat
load of men return from shore leave.
the boat is stopped several yards from
the ships side and an officer drops into
II from the boat boom and makes .
thorough search for liquor. He preba.
ably does not discover trace of any,
and the men appear as innocent as
doves; but the next night half thai
boats company will perhaps be tipsy.
A company Of half dozen men on
one u the warships here during the
naval review last spring had a young
parrot for q pet housed in gorgeous
big cage. The bird was the successor
of several that had occupied the same
cage during stay as tropical port.
The owners seemed 20 be unfortunate
with their pets. which lived only a
short time The ono they brought
here. which had stood the voyage we'll.
died soon after the ship arrived in port
The men took the cage ashore and goa
some other kind Of . bird That also
soon died; and so did four or Eve osher
in succession in few weeks Finally
the officers noticed the great mortality
of pet birds, as they had also noticed
the great frequency with which tho
joint owners of these pcts got nySteri-
ously drunk aboard ship A Suspicion
dawned upon them, and they seized the
bird cage. They found IL had false
bottom with q capacity for s~verai
food tins. and even the thick bars. were
hollow. The men had killed THEN
cheap pet when other schemes for OBJ
tanning liquor were not available, and.
taking the cage ashore for another,
came back with a new bird and half =
gallon or so of whisky.
An old scheme. often tried with moro
or less success. Is 10 tow bottles OF
liquor behind ths boat when returning
to the ship. and To leave them a short
distance from the vessel. buoyed and
anchored in such a way a. 10 be re-
covera ble. This Is usually attempted
at night Each bottle Is buoyed with
a cork ring. but has long line with a
weight on the end attached 10 1t so az
to keep 1t from floating on the surface,
and also 10 keep IL beside the ship Tia
length OF the anchor cord Is easily
gauged by the amount of chain ouA
with the ships anchors Another l!ghs
cord attached to the bottle has di-
minutive float attached
When close under the ships side the
bottles are let 20. and the usen 20 de-
mureiy atoard after the boat ksa b~ea.
searched within and without Durieg
the night a man vii angle for the bot.
ties with shark hook. or will dror
from port nesr where the bottles are
anchored, taking his chsnes of detec.
tion by the officers and recover then
By means Of the Goat or perhaps mean,
have been taken for fastening % sorus
part of the ships side thread attached
10 the float. BY means Of which the bot
ties can be hauled in al . favorable op-
portunity.
The sailormeu might tell columns al
stories Of clever schemes for smuggling
grog aboard ship. but naturally they
do not care 70 reveal them and thereby
facilitate their detection ~. Y. SON.