The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1893-08-12
THE HERMIT OF THE SEA
Tho Awful Dignity and Isolation OF tn, Cap
tam of an Amsrcan Man .of.War.

Tho Awful Dignity and Isolation Of tn, Cap.
ta'nof an Amsrcan Man.of-War
New York Sun: When n British adj
miral and n midshipmite of 10 or there
abouts tipped a coin to see who should
take an odd place in a game of tennis
at Norfolk, United States naval officers
looked on with some astonlshment. When
another British midshipmlte plucked
the sleeve of his captain at Chicago,
and said, "We're going to see the town;
don't you want to go along? Nobody
will know you," and the captain de-
clined, good naturally. adding to u by
stander, ''D'ye hear the youngster?'
American naval officers wondered how
Don a naval cadet would attempt sncll
familiarity with the commander of n
United States man-of-war.
If the lieutenant is the type of the
line officer, the captain may be es-
teemed q type of himself. Tho lieu
tenant is essentially and necessarily
gregarious. He must live ut close
quarters with other men of varying
ranks above and below him. and must
accept the discipline that such life i'm
plies if he is to continue in the navy
with any degree of comfort to himself.
1t is n 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 Il
peculiarly unpleasant person. As soon
as a United States naval officer steps
from the ward-room to the cabin, a
whole set of habits, the growth OF
thirty years in the service, drop from
him as q cast-off garment. From the
social beng, penned between
four narrow walls with a dozen
of his kind, and dining always
in company with his fellows, from the
subordinate, looking to some higher
power for instructions as to the very
coat he shall put on, he becomes a
lonely nutocrat, forbidden by naval
regulations to share his mind with his
shipmates, required to make the line OF
demarkation between himself and all
else on board unmistallablc and impass-
able.
The American commanding officer is
the hermit of the sea. His cabin is
sometimes nearly as large as the ward
room hat shelters a dozen subaltern
officers. He has his own cook, his own
steward, his own orderlies, his own
boats crew, to take him whithersoever
he will. His power is absolute and au-
t%ocratic, and he is intended to be lust
what he is, m awe-inspiring creature,
conspicuously lifted above his fellows,
and ostentatiously surrounded by all the
marks of form and rank. 1t matters
not what a mar may have been in the
ward room, he must be in the cabin a
self-centered autocrat. and tho com
mander who should seek by familiar.
tiles to change the outward aspect of
his relations to su%bordinates would be
guilty of an improperly and might en-
counter the disapproval of his super
Tors.
Individual captains differ in the de-
| gree of strictness with which they carry
out the autocratic theory. Every cap.
tain now and then accepts an invitation
to dine in the ward room. His place
then is Immediately at the right of the
executive officer, who sits at the head
of the table. This invitation is always
given when a new captain comes
aboard ship, and it is repeated from
time to time during the cruise . The
captain unbends on such occas,
ions, and the ward room does
not greatly alter it's routine.
Most captains, from time to time, invite
one subordinate or another to a meal
in the cabin. If the meal is u luncheon
the officer ONE 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
guest ordinarily presents himself in
full dress uniform. With some cap
tains these invitations are frequent, but
with many they are comparatively rare.
A naval officer who has seen nearly ten
years of sea service says that he has
not taken three meals in the cabin dur.
ing that whole period, and he has
served under at least half u dozen com
handing officers. Some captains nov
and then go ashore with,subalterns, bu,
this is a rare case of unbending.
The ceremony of a captains going
ashore is really one of considerable
interest, especially if he is a captain
that lives up to all his privileges.
He has four .'side boys" which
means that iour sailors stand ut the
gangplanll to see him safe into his
boat. This practice is not altogether
one of ostentation, for 1T doubtless
came down from a time when the con
veniences for getting off and on a man
of-war were less comfortable than they
now are. The four boys We're intended
to see that the captain caught a rope at
the right movement and went over the
side without risk to bump or impair.
ment of dignity. Even a lieutenant is
entitled to two boys. The captains
gig is usually manned by enough sail,
ormen to insure speed, and to confer
dignity. At ordinary times no com
missioned officer accompanies the boats
crew, and the captain acts always as
his own steersman. There Is Il
vast amount of whistling us the cap.
tain goes or comes, and anybody who
happens to be about makes the proper
military salute. The captain must be
saluted at all times. Even more, the
quarter deck must be saluted though
the captain be nowhere visible. That
sacred precinct is n place to be held
in awe by every man on board.
No one may loiter on tho star.
board side when in port or to wind.
ward when at sea. An officer has
been reprimanded for reading a letter
ven on the port side. 1t does moi
comport with discip ile that a subor.
dinate come betwist the wind and the
captains nobility.
1t is tho captains business to be re.
sponsible to higher powers for all that
happens aboard ship. He is held re
sponsible for the safety of the craft
and the lives of all on bonrd. That, in
nautical phrase, is what he ships for.
He has an executive officer tc
police the ship, a navigator to sail her,
engineers to tend her machinery, and a
Junior to attend to his official writing.
If these men do we'll the captains is
the glory. If they do ill the blame
falls Immediately up.r him, With
SHIPS and stores. with perhaps millions
and the safety OF hundreds committed