The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1894-08-03
THE WOODEN NAVY. !"
Life on the Early warships OF the
United States.
An Admiral Who Looked NTore Like y
Farmer Than Commander OF
GunbOat-A Crew That OBJ
jected to Shaving.


Early in. August, 1881, the United
States 44-gun frigate Potomac, Capt.
John Downes, lay in New York har-
Dor tugging away at her anchor in
half-restless, half-indolent mood, as if
anxious to get to sea, but was deferred
from making the necessary exertion
by the enervating heat of the sun.
President Jackson, writes Edgar Stan
ton Maclay in Harper's Magazine, had
recently appointed Martin Van Buren
minister to England, and the frigate
was waiting to convey the future pres
ident of the United States to the
Tight Little Island" Conscious of
the honor of having distinguished
passenger with political infuence),
the younger officers of the ship spent
more time than usual before the mir
ror. endeavoring to give a martial
part to their hair. They even got out
their uniforms, as if they expected to
wear them every day in the week,
instead of only once or/twice in the
cruise, when some special ceremony re-
quired it.
The scale of pay established at the
time of the war of 1912 allowed our
captains only one hundred dollars a
month, with which to maintain the
honor of the flag abroad, and incident
ally support a family. The lieutenants
got fifty dollars month, and the mid
shipmen struggled along on consider
ably less, so that it was not to be ex-
pected that they could afford the lux
ury of uniform every day in the week.
In the cruise in which he captured the
Macedonian, Capt. Stephen Decatur is
described as wearing an old straw hat
and plain suit of clothes, which made
him look more like farmer than.
naval hero
If the handsome young officers of the
Potomac could not make as noble dis
play as they might have desired in the
matter of padding, epauIets and gold
lace, they at all events could devote
more than usual attention to their en-
bryo boards. The regulations in force
compelled them to shave their faces
smooth at least once in so many days,
no matter how luxuriantly inclined
some of them might have been toward
whislzers. The officers who were espe
cially prone to run to hair found the
regulation a stumbling block to their
pride, and no small amount of temper
was expended in consequence. But in
view of the fact that their distinguished
passenger ''had a pull" which might
land them in choice position some
day, the officers 1athered and scraped
away at their chins with more good
grace than could have been expected.
Moreover, the hearts of these officers
warmed toward Martin" because in
ty, witty, saucy, active tavern keepers
II ,4ar.7 hit i
President Jackson's cabinet, he sided
with Peggy Peggy was the widow
of naval officer.
The same hustle and air of expect
ancy was noticeable among the sailors
gagged in logging themselves out in
their best rig, polishing their neat
morocco pumps, and going through the
most approved and latest style of nau-
tical prinking. Some of the real old
salts in the frigate, however, who af
fected to despise the innovation of
uniforms and whose sigh for the
good old days when men-owars-men
mad their inalienable rights to dress
their own exclusive persons in their
own exclusive tastes were not SO par
ticular in washing and pressing out
their neat nanlzeen uniforms. They
were satisfied with greasing their long
hair, and then braiding it down their
backs, with just enough wax in the end
to make it curl up like fish hook
These were the men who had mad e
the American navy famous. They had
taken hand in flogging the Parley-
vous in 179s-1s01, and had downed the
Turks in the fierce
hand to hand encounters off Tripoli,
and had exterminated hordes of pi-
ra tes along the Spanish main. But
their greatest glory was in having
been through the ''late war; in which
the pride of the mistress of the ocean
was taken down peg or two.
That the distresses of an Atlantic
voyage might be made as endurable as
possible for their passenger ''with a
pull and his '1and-lubberly'' retinue,
supply of hideous-looking easy
chairs, such as never before had desc
Grated the decks of the frigate.
and Notwithstanding trunks, pre-
posterous bundles, and outlandish
packages, were piled around in just
the places where an out-and-out good
seaman would be most likely to crack
his shins against them. The stewards,
also. began to assume a pompous and
condescending air that was entirely
beyond their station, while the master
alarms and quartermasters were. busy
hoisting s1uealing pigs tiled in
punches by their feet), coops filed
with cackling hens, and many other
delicacies that might tempt the weak
stomachs of the guests.