The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-02-16
Life on Board a
Yankee Man=O'=War. y
Readable Incidents of a Cruise i'm the
American Warship Trenton.

j. Lyon Woodruff, of New York, de-
lighted large audience Monday night
at the Railroad Y. M. C.. A. with his eX-
perience on a Yankee Man-of- War"
Mr.. Woodruff was on board the Tren-
ton in March, 1889, when a hurricane
destroyed fleet of vessels in Apia har-
bor Samoa. The Trenton was COM
pletely wrecked and her hull remains
IN a shattered condition on the harbor
reefs. During his lecture he remarked:
Poetic Notions OF Sea Life.
"A great deal has been written about
the beautiful deep blue sea, on whose
bosom stately ships and gallant barks
with majestic spars glide smoothly on;
their Snowwhite sails, filed by the
gentle zephyrs or pleasant gales, glis-
tening in the sunlight; of the gallant
crew, clad i'm uniforms of lovely blue,
or most immaculate white, lolling
about the decks spinning yarns, sing
ing songs, or silently shifting their
guilds from right to left, and from left
to right; and a halo of poetic sentiment
has been thrown around the life of
the sailor that does not exist and never
did exist, except in the imagination of
the poet. | do not pretend to say, of
course, that all these statements are
untrue; that there are not times when
the sea is as smooth as glass and the
sails glisten in the sunlight, but, | do
say that these circumstances are rare
ly combined in the life Of a sailor, and
especially of man-of-war's man.
Il well remember the day my father
took me to the Brooklyn navy yard to
enlist me as an apprentice in the navy
/ was but Il youngster then, not quite
Is years old, whose ideas concerning
the sea had been drawn largely from the
perusal of dime novels and other juven-
lie stories of an equally trashy nature
the remembrance whereof filled me
with awe, and caused by knees to
quake with fear, as each step brought
us nearer to the gates. Once
in uniform | soon strutted about the
decks as proud as peacock, notwith-
standing that my trousers Were very
much like two cities in France-Toulon
and Tolouse.
Punishment on Board Ship.
punishment for misconduct on
board ship is notable not so much for
its severity, as for the fact that it
generally gains the desired result by
constantly keeping the delinquent re-
minded of his offence, by depriving him
of the benefits and privileges which the
good-conduct men enjoy. But as the
average sailor is prolific in eXpedients,
even apparently severe measures are
often circumvented. They generally
E,,1 in
bribe boatmen to wait for them at a
certain distance from the ship on a
dark night, and then watch their
chance and drop over the bows while
the sentry is otherwise engaged, and
swim out to the waiting boat. In the
morning before daylight, they get
back to the ship in the same way,
though sometimes they are detected
and punished for leaving the ship with
out permission-a grave offence, equal,
almost. to desertion. This reminds me
of an anecdote they used to tell of a
man who jumped overheard to rescue
another from drowning and then was
court-martialed for leaving the ship
without permission, but l do not vouch
| for this
"A common form of punishment or
q man-of-wa is the black list Mer
are put on the black list for minor Of
| fenses and kept from day to three
months. A black-lister never gets any
rest from morning till night. When al
the routine has been carried out, and
the men settle down for quiet smoke
| or amusement among themselves, the
| call is sounded for the black-listers, and
| they are set right to work again. Al
the dirtiest work falls to their lot, and
| If there happens to be none, they are
| compelled to provide it themselves
| For instance have seen them ordered
to paint black all the bright brassworR
around the matches. The next day
they We're set to work with scrapers
and files to get the paint off and burn
| ish ii again. The following day they
had to paint it over again, and so on
| Truly, black-lster's lot is not happy
one. and l have known of cases where
men deserted, rather than submit to q
month on the black list.
There is another kind OF punishment
which exposes a man to ridicule, and
which, in my opinion, often goes far
I
! at than those affecting liberty or bodi'
! ly comfort. Thus, for instance, was
the punishment of those caught spit
ting on the deck, a fiagrant offense, as
a ships decks are kept as clean as your
dining tables at home. In the case OF
one ship | was on they tied spittor
around the neck of the culprit and
compelled him to carry 1t for certain
! length of time, or until he caught some
one else in the act, if he was fortunate
enough to do so, with this reminder
| hanging to him.
"Occasionally wave of reform
would strike the ship and an attempt
would be made to stop the men from
swearing, with about the same results
as we get when political reform wave
strikes our country. Culprits were
| turned over in those times to the ships
corporal. who scrubbed out theil
mouths with sand and canvas. Rarely
however. was this measure resorted to
except with boys.
Menu of the Marines.
"There has been great Improvement
concerning food on board ship, in the
navy, during the last few years, botl
as to quality and quantity. and the
navy, during the last few years, botl
semblance to what II was when | first
Joined the service twelve years ago
A good many varieties of canned foods
have been introduced, and today tho
sailor Mt sea lives almost as well as ht
would in port, but for the absence OF
fresh meat, which no other staple car
replace. The most common article OF
food on board ship are the crackers
that take the place of bread. These
the sailors call hard tack and tC