Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-09-20
LIVING ON WARSHIPS
HOUSEKEEPING ARRANGEMENTS ON
UNCLE SANS BOATS.

Expenses Arc Paid by the OhiCers-The
Enlisted Men Are Fed at the Expense
of tho Government.
To YOU of the land who hav6 plenty Of
room for all the various departments of
your housekeeping affairs, 1t may be inter
esting to know how the several hundred
people crowded beneath the decks of big
man-o war manage to exist comfortably
in the contracted space allowed. Generally
we'll forward on the gun deck there is the
galley on which all the cooking for the
officers and men is DONE This galley is a
large range fastened down to the deck
with iron straps, and from early morning
till shutdown it is surrounded by the cooks,
preparing and cooking the food for the va
rious illnesses" or different tables aboard
the ship. If it be u flagship-that is, ono
bearing an admiral in command of n fleet
or station, the first mess of Importance is
that of the admiral, who has all to himself
steward, n cook and boy He may eat
alone in his cabin or have the captain and
members of his staff with him. Then
comes the captains mess in his separate
cabin, with the same complement of scrv-
ants Next we go down into the wardroom
where the 10 or 90 watch officers, engineer
officers, paymasters, doctors, chaplain and
marine officers are all together in big
mess with q steward cook and five or
six servants or wardroom boys, rs they are
called aboard ship.
In this mess one of the officers is elected
caterer and has general supervision of ev-
erything pertaining to 1.-THE general di-
rection of the steward and boys and Of
the menu-and the grumblings of the dis
contentcd members are directed against
this official.
Contrary to the general idea of the civil
ian who visits the ship the officers are
not furnished everything by the govern
ment, but must pay for all their food from
their monthly pay, and the caterer becomes
the treasurer of these payments from all
the officers OF course the stewards, cooks
and boys are regularly enlisted in the scrv-
ice, and all hold minor fighting stations,
at which they regularly drill, but every
mouthful of food is bought by the officers
themselves.
Until quito recently the officers of the
messes were required to buy their own
kitchen utensils and dishes, glassware ard
tableware, but these are now furnished by
the government, leaving the officers only
the napery to buy.
The steward is intrusted with the duty
of buying the daily provisions for the mess
and seeing that the cook prepares them
properly, and that the boys serve them
well.
His value depends upon his knowledge
of marketing, cooking and the discipline
he has among the boys and last, but far
from least, upon his honesty, for in a large
mess he may handle hundreds of dollars
in u month.
The duties of the boys besides serving
the officers at meals, consist in keeping all
the statcrooms in order as well as the
messrooms.
The stewards are generally old and tried
men, who have served through the inter
mediate stages of boy and cook, while tho
boys are Of every grade of efficiency and
every nationality.
Next in Importance after the wardrOom
officers mess is the junior officers mess,
made up of the junior line and staff COM
missioncd officers and the naval cadets
and perhaps of all the officers aboard ship.
The members of this mess enjoy life the
most, for though often crowded into mar
and live in one room, the buoyant spirit
of youth asserts itself, and good humor
reigns.
In the old navy the junior officers quar-
ters was called the "steerage," and it was
little more than an Enclosure on the berth
deck, were the crowd of junior officers
slept in hammocks at night and ate and
lounged by day, but in the new ships of
the modern navy there are rooms with
double bcrths for the junior officers, and
their comfort is vastly increased thereby.
Let us turn to the enlisted men, the
b tie jackets and marines, who live on a
ration issued by the government, each ra-
ton being of the average value of 80 cents
per diem.
Among the enlisted men there are also
grades of rank, and the petty officers, who
| are given more or less authority in the va
rious departments, generally have a mess
| by themselves, where they live plainly, but
neatly and we'll
The other enlisted men are divided up
! into messes of 10 or Is men each, and each
mess has a cook taken from their own
number who prepares the food with the
ships cook and his assistant
This ships cook is an important person
age among the enlisted men, and upon him
rests the responsibility of preparing the
bean soup and other dishes that are the
| same for all, while the mess cooks prepare
the especial dishes for each mess. The
ships provisions of beans, flour, salt and
corned meat and canned goods occupy
space in large storerooms especially de-
signed for the purpose, and the stock il
quite extensive when laid in for long
cruise The days provisions are served
out in the morning, and the contracted
space around the gallery is crowded until
dinner time, when q signal is piped by the
boatswain, the tables come down from the
deck beams above, where they arc stored
when not in use, the knives, forks and
spoons and agate ware dishes are set out
from the chest in which each mess keeps
its belongings and in ten minutes the
meal call sounds and the 300 or 400 sea.
men and marines and engineer force are
eating their dinner, which, if in port, may
consist of fresh meat, roasted or stewed
boiled potatoes canned corn, fresh bread,
coffee, with perhaps a dessert of duff, u
as bread pudding is called or oven "plum
duff, the same pudding with raisins In
it. If at sea for u long time, salt meat OIL
corned meat is used, and perhaps hard
tack instead of bread, and baked beans and
bean soup often appear in the menu. In
the olden time grog was served out at the
mast each day at noon, but the influence
of temperance societies stopped this, and