Evening star., 1896-03-07
NAVAL HOUSEKEEPING.
When Jack Tar Isn't Drilling He's
Often Cleaning Ship.


Often Cleaning Ship.
From the Philadelphia Ledger
The cleaning and scrubbing necessary to
keep our men-of-war in the beautiful con-
dition one always finds them is done ac-
ccrding to a regular routine, only broken
into by freezing weather or when coal is
being taken on board.
Five o'clock is the usual hour at which
Jacky is reused from his slumbers, though
1t Is sometimes half an hour earlier and
sometimes half an hour later. At the
stroke of the hour for ''reveille" the CHEEKY
notes OF the bugle may be heard, and the
stentorian voices Of the masters-at-arms
yelling In melodious cadence Turn out
here, sleepers," Rise and shine,'' Lash
and carry" or some other pet phrase calcu-
bluejacket.
The men turn out of their hammocks, lash
them up and stow them in the nettings
where they belong: Twelve minutes are
are allowed for hot coffee and smoxe, and
then the pipe and voice of the boatswains s
mate are heard in Turn to- ar which
smoking Is stopped. and all hands proceed
to carry out the morning orders, which are
gwen by the officer of the deck.
Monday morning the men scrub clothes
and stop" or tie them on the clothes lines,
running them from mast head obl;u,lcly ro
the deck. Blue clothes are put on n1e line
and white on another. All must scrub and
all must stop their clothes On the lines pro-
vided. After clothes are scrubbed, the
decks are scrubbed down, ladders and graf
ings scrubbed and the dirty spots OH the
paint work washed off. This carries Jacky
without much spare time UP to 7:15, when
mess gear" is piped and the breakfast ta-
bles are set. At I:3O Jacky is piped to
breakfast. and at S:15 that everlasting
turn to- is heard again and more cleaning
Is Immediately started. The brass work
about the decks and forming part Of the
gun mounts Is all shined up until you could
see your face, and tnen TIE decks finally
swept and cleared up for quarters at 9:30.
This finishes the general cleaning, though
the decks are swept about every two hours
throughout the day. Where the dust and
dirt comes from no one ever discovered,
even on the old vessels which had no
steam, but there it is and it must be swept
away.
Tuesday the decks are washed and the
same general cleaning routine gone through,
except that, on the first and third Tues
days, the hammocks are scrubbed. Ham,
three, in which Jacky puts his mattress, pill
low and blanket, and hangs himself UP to
sleep.
Wednesday clothes are scrubbed again.
and on the first and third Wednesdays mat
tress covers are scrubbed, also the white
bags in which the clothes are kept.
Thursday the boats are scrubbed inside
and out, and all the oars, gratings. boat
hooks, etc., are taken out and thoroughly
scrubbed.
Friday clothes are again scrubbed, and
then wind sails sail covers and all odds
and ends Of canvas used about the ship are
scrubbed.
A wind sail is wide -mouthed canvas fun
mel used for throwing fresh air down cnto
the lower deck. 1t is one OF the few LESS
ings of life aboard ship.
Saturday is the grand cleaning day of the
week. Every day the decks are ser; b5ed
sometimes with sand and sometimes with
out, after the regular routine of scrubhlns
clothes, ETC.; but on Saturday previous eff
forts at cleaning are outdona. The decks
are sprinkled with sand after being wet
down, and then "hoiystoned."
Each man takes a fl:at-bottomed stcne
with a small hole in the top, anil putting
stick in the hole, monotonously pushes
the stone back and forth over the deck
This produces smooth, white surface
At the same time every bit Of woodwork
til not speck of dirt appears anywhere.
Every day, too, as part of the regular
cleaning, men wash off any spots On the
outside surface of the ship, touching I'D
spots with white paint where necessary
and producing that effect by which our
men-of-war are justly called white ships"
Sunday morning decks are washed and
everything polished up for the captains in
spection. This is a :inLl elimination of the
pent-up cleanliness of the ship, when shin
and men, in all repects, look as If they had
at and admired.
Jacky likes his housekeeping duties, too,
and is as anxious as any one to see the
snip clean In all Its parts; and, as a Con-
sequence, in spite Of their crowded state.
our men-of-war are exceptionally healthy