The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-28
Fo,CAsTLE ut AT THE ALDINE.
shelbncks and Lnndiubbers Smoke and
Spin Yarns OF tho Sea.


remnants. jacks, and pictures OF sea fights in
which tho blueJackets Of Uncle Sam first
showed their prowess were conspicuous last
night on the walls of the Aldine Club. IL was
not necessary to give the regulation nautical
hitch to the trousers on entering the rooms, but
ifanybody had ventured to do so he would not
have been put in irons. 1t was "Fo'castle
Night ut the club.
Everybody who had u talent for spinning a
yarn, whether landsman or deep.sea sailor, was
expected to do 1t In his best fashion. liam
ilton Msble, who Is not q seafaring per-
son, introduced the story tellers. Church.
warden and corncob pipes were lit, and
as their smoke curled Enthusiastically to the
ceiling Rear Admiral Irwin made bluff, sailor
like remarks. He said that yarn spinning was
dying out with the old-time sailor. He was
inclined to think that the bluejacket of the past
would never be seen again. They were u loyal
lot" he said. Jack was always true to his ship
and to his officers"
The Rear Admiral recalled the timo when q
pitch-pine rebel drydock drifted out from PEN
sacola under the guns OF Fort Pickett. and some
Of the men of the army were ordered to capture
it. A boats crew from the Ienkee war ship
and the light from the fire was SO brilliant that
a newspaper could have been read on the deck
in the man-of-war's boat were called to testify
in regard to the burning OF tho dock. every
mOtheT D bUn VI lHtlh ueClaTeu. III OTNeT 10 sHitNi
the three officers in charge Of the boat, that he
did not know of the existence of q fire and that
The Admiral said that When he was in London
two years ago all the London theatres sent
w "GI%r to % the nS,i Amer' Snni sh' Ps t a9 II a Any ny American m r IN
the theatres without charge. The Admiral said
he was at the Royal Italian with several
ladies. and some OF item remarked that they
noticed three Yankee bluejackets In the audi
encc. The Admiral Tecognized one Of them as
his shipmAtes nll through the performance. OF
which he didn't understand 2 word. He asked
we'll" said The Admiral why didn't you
swered. you couldn't leave until the Prince Of
Wales left and 1 could't leave till you left; sol
The Admiral spun the yarn of Capt. Grcgory,,s
experience on the British wnr ship in the Med
had been captured and taken to England, and
on the voyage over struck up a fast friend
s sRipper WI VINO ' had Captured nl5t'sa G him Was his host
!bs Yankee Captain was brandy, 6i;sait, And
brandy than anything else. In those days
the A m naval Tha p men wore nn the :. old
saw h would be drink under tho table
tho brandy down his old-fashioned stock. lie
LETT no ordered the steward to bring an.
other bottle. When the british skipper got
what had become Of Gregory. The steward told
him, and the British skipper remarked Il
never saw a man drink as he did. and | never
saw n man sweat as he did"
iiMr. Mabic introduced Rear Admiral Meade as
to r ensr%ye on IL. 'a tomEs tHas 1t OF %f tel i"' from S%n' the
Rear Admiral's town. His long sleep is over"
The keaS aG pari laid ala he eva WA ! Porn 1s Al, 10 the ; Ntn,h
come from PHILADELPHIA he was proud of it.. He
said that the largest share OF the stocks OF New
York surface roads was owned by Philadel-
phians. and that tho American line OF steam
ships was II pl! lad lp hia institution. lie appre-
ciated Admiral Twins feeling for the blue
He recalled the time when everybody was
irwin reminded them that they had forgotten
to mention the -, man behind the spn" ,
shipman from festive Philadelphia who was in
charge of n cutter In a foreign port where there
man had been having a good time. as had tho
e%oxswain Of he cutter and his twelve
beach, beckoned to the midshipman and asked
h!m, In a R Fna WAY Mn%r to 1 ,nAS him 2yer TO
1t. There WAS a controversy, and mo chaplain
was thrown into the water. All hands wero
coxswain, and every man declared under oath
tina, the chaplain had come down to the boat
very drunk. had insisted on being row ed out to
his ship, and had fallen into tho water In at
lacking the boat's crew.
the English idea OF arbitration, over on the
other side OF the water he had never heard
To- arbitratc' with the. weak. ArSitratioss
was a good thing from the British standpoint
only when there was II chance Of the RritiSher
getting hurt. When he was on the Portsmouth,
in the Pacific, there was n dinner aboard the
ship, In which even the boatswain and the
gunner participated, and which was attend
ed by the officers OF u British ship then in
the harbor. Everything went along smoothly
until all hands were pretty merry. Then the
PortsnOuth's boatswain let his Amtricanism run
away with him. Jumping up on his seat. no
declared that he could lick any damned English
man IN the party. He was promptly 5uppressed;
but, Admiral Meade said. he illustrated tho
invincible feeling of nntagonism among Yankee
sailors toward tho English.
Other landsmen and shellbacks who spun
yarns were; +. HOpkinson Smith. Julian Hnw-
thorne, Wadsworth Longfellow, James barnes.
Edward NJ, TOwnsend, Can't, j. ". Miller OF the
Naval Reserve, Lieut.. A. {. Dillingham;, and
John II. Spears.
Ali hands we're pIped to groG at six bells.