Oxford eagle., 1893-12-14
JACK rAR.s TRICKS.


I HOW %MttCrA ~muZTte Lf4u0r on b0Wru
Their ships
Ous Of the most artu0us tasks devolv-
ing upon the officers OF a war ship is
that of preventing the men from SNUG
/ Cling intoxicants aboard the ship II
Is a task that. perhaps no captain has
/ yet performed with complete and long
continued success. II involves a CON
slant contest Of ingenuity between Off
GERS and the crew, the latter dcvisin2
| all manner of schemes to get the con
traband luxury aboard and the former
endesvoring to ferret out and frustrate
the plans II Is contest in which the
crews are often successful While the
ship is at sea the mems brains are busy
with schemes for smuggling liquor on
board that keep the officers brains busy
when she gets in port Tricks that
were old when the American navy was
young are perenniaIly practiSed by the
sailors. and the officers however smart
ami alert. cannot wholly defeat them
Why said an old captain. I've al
most come to be superstitious on this
subject I'm prepared to believe that
II my ship were at SEA without drop
aboard and VIC sailed anywhere within
sight, even. Of land, half the men in
the forccststIe would soon find the
means Of getting gloriouSly drunk.
I'm sure of it. LiqSOr is simply spir-
ited aboard
When ship Is In home port the
trouble is greatest Some day clever
capture will be made. the nen be de
plorinS the failure OF a new scheme and
the officers chuekIing over its discovery.
and yet the next morning will reveal
that half a dozen of the crew were
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
it from the boat boom and makes
thorough search for liquor. Tie proba-
ably does not discover n trace of any,
and the men appear as innocent as
doves but the next night half that
boats company will perhaps be tipsy.
\ company Of half dozea men on
one of the warShips here during the
naval review last spring had young
parrot for pet. housed IN a gorgeous
big cage. The bird was fas Successor
of several that had occupied the same
cage during a stay at a tropical f=eya
The owners seemed 20 be Enfortanate
with their pets. which lived only a
short time. The one they brought
here which had stood the voyage well.
died soon after the ship arrived in port
The men took the cage ashore and got
some other kind OF a bird That also
soon died. aut so did foar or 6=e Others
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 the
joint owners of these pets got mysteri-
ously drunk aboard ship \ suspicion
dswned upon them. ami they seized the
bird cage They found 1t had Il false
bottom with capacity for several
quarts of whisky. and also that the
food tins, and even the thick bars, were
hollow The men had killed their
cheap pet when other schemes for OBJ
tanning liquor were not available, and,
taking the cage ashore for another.
came back with new bird and half n
gallon or so of whisky.
An old scheme. often tried with more
or less suecsss. Is 20 tow bottles of
liquor behind the Boat when returning
To- the ship. and 10 leave them a short
| distance from the vessel. buoved and
anchored in such way as to be re-
~erable- This Is usually attempted
at night Each bottle IS huoved with
cork ring. but has long line with a
weight on the end attached 20 il % As
- keep it from floating en- the surface.
and also TO keep il beside the ship. The
length of the anchor cord il easily
| gaugcd By the amount of chain out
with the ship : anchors Another light
cord attached to the bottle has di-
nIinutIve feat attached.
/ When close under the ships side the
bottles are le. go. and the men go de-
uiurcly atoard after the boat has been
searched within and without During
the night n man viii angle fer the bot
ties with a shark hook. or will drrr
from a port near where the bottles are
anchored. taking his chance of desec-
tiou by the officers. and recover then
By means of the finat or perhaps means
have been taken for fastening - some
part Of the ships side thread attached
to the taat- by mans OF which IT, 30.
ties can DC hauled in at a b. o.
portunitv-
The stilurrnen might tell columns o.
stories of clever schemes for smuggling
Erog aboard ship. but naturally they
do not care to reveal them and thereby
facilitate their tetection--N- Y sun