Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-10-17
,oins ship that in all likelihood is to; be

either of commissioned or war
rant OFFICER. unless some trustworthy, old
time chief petty officer happens to be
pound IN the same direction at the same
his charge.
When a batch of recruits steps over the
gargway Of a man-of-war all hands among
the men forward gather around to inspect
the newcomers, and each of the recruits In
his distressingly new and spick and span
blue-jacket uniform. feels as he stands
waiting for his name to be called by the
officer of the deck, that he is the individual
OBJECT OF the general leer which is the in
variable welcome of the raw men by the
old-time fiat feet" who are to be their
future directors. The landsman is given a
iccker In which to stow his gear, his sta
tion Tor general, fire. collision and abandon
snip quarters is pointed out to him by the
chlei master-at-arms; he Is provided with
ships number, by which he is to be more
frequently known to the officer in charge
OF his division than by his name-and he
M ally finds himself In the vortex of man
of-war life. - .
Not only by the officers and the petty
omcers' but by the seameI and ordinary
seaElen with whom he is Immediately as
sociated. the freshly recruited landsman Is
supposed to know absolutely nothing He
Is regarded as sea infant, to be led in
navy who are charged with the guidance
and instruction of green men are not nota-
pie 1or sweetness OF disposition. They are
petty officers whose RAJ ting badges on their
watch arms have probably been acquired
oEly after years of submission to rigid
discipline. and they naturally fail to see
WY they should make any bones abou:
visiting the ne sort of discipline as they
themselves underwent upon TIE new men,
Learning the Signals.
The landsman, of course, knows the mean
irg of none of the DO suns mates pipings
or the ships bugler's trumpetings-for ev-
erything on man-of war is done at the
Of nil
the sudden sound Of which all hands must
attend-and the sharp words which he is
competed to endure at the hands of his
immediate superiors before he has mastered
these calls are sufficiently maddening To-
force him to exert himself to grasp their
significance with all possible speed
III, for instance, at the passing of the
word Up all hands," in the gray dawn of
morning. the lahdsman unwittingly lies in
BIS hammock-which must be dashed and
slowed away in the MEETINGS within seven
minutes after the word has been passed
ne Is hailed by the master alarms before
the officer of the deck, and punished in ac-
corddnce with the report which the latter
makes to the commanding officer.
The dread of the report book" which is
kept hy the ships writer, and which re-
cords every trivial slip which in his ignor-
ahcc the green man may make, soon teach
es him to exhibit an alertness which in all
Likelihood he has never been called upon to
display ashore.
l Ie NoIh WHICH IallS 10 the lot of the
ldhdsman aboard maE-of-war Goes not
demand any considerable amount of brains
hut 1t does call for d whole lot of muscle
and elbow grease" The landsman does
the heavy work of the ship and the dirty
Hcrk He Is intrusted with no greater re-
sponsibiiity than is entailed in the shipping
Oh a mast, The scaling OF the ships side
the cleaning of braSswork But if each one
or these tasks, as well as the many others
OF similar character which he is called up-
on TO perform, is not Done to the satisfac-
tlon OF the inspecting officer, down goes his
name upon the dreaded report book.
Taken to the Mast.
In company with other petty delinquents
he then undergoes the undesirable operation
of being taken Ito the mast c'going up to
the Stick the sailors call it,, which con-
sists in being addressed in no suave or I'M
certain tones by the commanding officer,
who comes from his cabin to the mainmast
to perform this little ceremony. If the
new mans offenSe has been a trifie more
than trivial-if, for example, he returns TO
the ship drunk from shore leave, or hap
pens to break his liberty,"-i.e oyerstays
his leave ashore-his appearance at the
mast Is likely to be no laughing matter for
him.
He is confronted by the immediate posi-
bilty of learning how ii feels to repose in
the brig" piace of confinement, generally
forward on the berth deck) in double irons
for from five to ten days, or even of gath
ering direct knowledge as to the workings
OF summary court-martial, which may
sentence him to thirty days confinement in
double irons in a dark room, on a diet of
bread and water, except on every fifth day,
when he may be given full days ration.
For minor offenses, due to ignorance or
to carelessness, the green man is initiated
into the mysteries of the "claSS list syS-
TEN of the navy. The class list, thoroughly
devised and rgidly adhered to, impresses
the recruit perhaps more than anything
else which he may stumble upon in the
outfit The figure a man-of-warsman
cuts upon the class list decides whether he
is to be allowed to go ashore or not and
| whether he is to be permitted to draw his
pay or not.
There are five classes. The truly good
| men for ard are always to be found in what
is called the special first class. Every
month they are entitled to draw all of the
pay they have on the ships books, and they
| may go ashore on liberty every day that
| the ship is In port. The man on the first
class (minus the 'speciarD may also draw
all of his money, but he is only allowed
shore leave every other day. When a man
gets his name on the second class he may
only draw one-half of his monthly money
and must remain aboard a month before he
| is accorded permission to stretch his legs
ashore con the beachO. The third class
man gets one-third of his pay and stays
aboard two months, and those the
fourth class-the men upon which are
garded as bad lot by the officers-draw
Oue-QudTtcF Ol lHelr wages anu ENJOY tDem-
selves aboard ship for three months before
| they may put foot on the beach.
Disadvantages of Shore Leave.
The fourth class is an accruing affair, SO
that man who at the outset of his naval
service commits an ofense which relegates
| him to this class, then gets himself into
| trouble again before he has made expia-
| ton for his first break" and repeats this
proceeding several times-such an unfor:u-
| nate is likely to be condemned to the
| fourth-class list until the expiration of his
enlistment There is a regulation, however,
which provides that men in this position
| must be allowed to go ashore for twenty
| four hours once in every three months.
| 1t often happens that ''old-timers' pur-
| posely commit some offense that gets their
| names on the fourth class in order that
| they may save their money by not going
ashore. The man, it has been observed,
| who puts in his cruise on the fourth class
| is the man who has the big pay day" at
| the end of it. But 1t often happens that
men who are chronically ON the bad class
| are 'beached' when they thoroughly reveal
| their uncomfortable characters - that is
they are dishonorably discharged and sent
\ adrift
The landsman at sea will not find mis-
| naval fare particularly attractive unless
| he has a natural fondness for salt horse,
| CRACKER hash and various other luNuries
| peculiar to men-of-war. In port however,
i lit l.yyf mn CC