The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-09-15
Usage and Necessity Demand that tho
Captain OF warship Hold Aloof
From SubordIn Ates.

take an odd place in a game of
tennis at Norfolk, United States
naval officers look on with some
establishment. When another Brit
ish midshipmite plucked the sleeve
of his captain i'll this city and said
" We're going to see the town
don't you want to go along? No
body will know you," and the cap
tain declined, good-naturedly, add
ing to a bystander, Dye hear the
youngster ?" American naval Off
GERS wondered how soon a naval
cadet would attempt such familiar
ity with the commander of a United
States man-of-war.
If the lieutenant is the type of
the line officer, the captain may be
esteemed a type of himself. The
lieutenant is essentially and neces-
sarily gregarious. He must live at
close quarters with other men OF
varying ranks above and below
him, and must accept the discip-
line that such life implies if he is
to continue in the navy with any
degree of comfort to himself. 1t is
regarded by the New York Sun as
a fortunate thing that the captain,
as lieutenant and ensign, must
have encountered this discipline,
else the life that naval regulations
impose upon him must develop the
captain into a peculiarly unpleas-
ant person.
AS soon as a United States naval
officer steps from the wardroom to
the cabin a whole set of habits, the
growth of thirty years in the SER
vice, drop him as cast-off gar
ment. From the social being,
penned between four narrow walls
with a dozen of his kind, and din
ing always in company with his
fellows from the subordinate, look
ing to some higher power for in
structions as to the very coat he
shall put on, he becomes a lonely
autocrat, forbidden by naval regu-
lations to share his mind with his
shipmates, required to make the
line of demarkation between him
self and all else on board unmis-
taxable and impossible.
A LONELY AUTocRAT OF THE SEA.
The American commanding of
fcer is the hermit of the sea. His
cabin is sometimes nearly as large
as the wardroom that shelters a
dozen subaltern officers. He has
his own cook, his own steward, his
own orderlies, his own boats crew
to take him whithersoever be will.
His power is absolute and auto
cratic, and he is intended to be
| Just what he is, an awe-inspiring
creature, conspicuously lifted above
| his fellows, and ostentatiously sur
rounded by all the marks of form
and rank. 1t matters not what a
man may have been in the ward
room, he must be in the cabin a
self centered autocrat, and the
commander who should seek by
familiarities to change the outward
aspect of his relations to subordi-
mates would be guilty of an impro-
priety, and might encounter the
disapproval of his superiors.
Individual captains differ in the
degree of strictness with which
they carry out the autocrat theory.
Every captain now and then &C
cepts an Invitation to dine in the
wardroom. His place then is at
the right of the executive officer,
who sits at the head of the table.
This invitation is always given
when new captain comes aboard
the ship, and it is repeated from
time to time during the cruise.
The captain unbends on such occa-
sions, and the wardroom does not
greatly alter its routine. Most
captains, from time te time, invite
one subordinate or another to a
meal in the cabin. If the meal is
luncheon, the officer comes in the
dress of the day, which has been
prescribed to all on board by the
captain early in the morning. If
the meal be dinner, the guests ordi-
narily presents himself in full
dress uniform. With some cap
tains these invitations are frequent,
but with many they are compare
lively rare. A naval officer who
has seen nearly ten years of sea
service, says that he has not taken
three meals in the cabin during
that whole period, and he has
served under at least half dozen
commanding officers. Some cap
tains now and then go ashore with
subalterns, but this is rare case
of unbending.
This ceremony of a captains 60
ing ashore is really one of consid-
cradle interest, especially if he is
a captain that lives up to all his
privileges. He has four "side boys"
which mean that four sailors stand
at the gang plank to see him safe
into his boat. This practice is not
altogether one of ostentation, as it