Birmingham age-herald., 1895-07-21
EWING ON WARSHIPS
houSEKEEPlNs ARRANGEMENTS ON
 UNCLE SAWS BOATS.

Enlisted Men Are Fed at the Expense
 of the Government.
 To you of the land who have plenty of room for all the various departments or your housekeeping affairs, it 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 well forward on tho gun deck there is the galley on which all the cooking for the officers and men is done. This galley is large range fastened down to the deck with iron straps, and from early morning till sundown 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 a fagship-that Is, one bearing an admiral in command of fleet or station, the first mess of importance is that of the admiral who has all to himself a steward, a 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 tho same complement of sery- ants Next we go down into the wardroom where the 15 or 20 watch officers, engineer officers, paymasters doctors, chaplain and marine officers are all together in big mess with steward, cook and five or six servants or wardroom boys, as they are called aboard ship.
 In this mess one of the officers is elected caterer and has general supervision of ey- erything pertaining to it-the general di- rection of the steward and boys and of tho menu-and the grumblings of the dis contented 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 serv- ice, and all hold minor fighting stations, at which they regularly drill, but every mouthful of food is bought by the officers themselves.
 Until quite recently the officers of the messes were required to buy their own kitchen utensils and dishes, glassware and tableware, but these are now furnished by the government leaving the officers only the napery to buy.
 The steward is intTusted with tho duty of buying the daily provisions for the mess and seeing that the cook prepares them properly, and that tho 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 month.
 Tho duties of the boys, besides serving 1. l. oil the staterooms in order as well as the messrooms.
 The stewards arc generally old and tried men, who have served through the inter mediate stages of boy and cook, while the 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 missioned 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 row quarters where they must eat, sleep 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 inclosure 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 berths for the junior officers, and their comfort is vastly increased thereby.
 Let us turn to the enlisted men. the blue jackets and marines, who live on a ration issued by the government, each ra- tion being of the average value of 30 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 well.
 The other enlisted men arc divided up into messes of 10 or 1 3 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. Tho ships provisions of beans, four, salt and COrned meat ana canned goods occupy space in large storerooms especially de- signed for the purpose, and the stock is quite extensive when laid in for a long cruise. The days provisions are served out in the morning, and the contracted space around the gallery is crowded until dinner time, when n signal is piped by the boatswain, the tables come down from tho deck beams above, where they are 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 arc eating their dinner, which, if in port may consist of fresh meat, roasted or stewed boiled potatoes, canned corn, fresh bread, coffee, with perhaps dessert of duff, !" as bread pudding is called, or even plum duff, the same pudding with raisins in it. If at sea for a long time salt meat or 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 now the ''jacky" is lucky if he is allowed a bottle of beer before dinner and supper o,,ic Rant,b1io