Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-06-11
TRAINING NAVAL CADETS.
THEY co TO SEA ON THE REVENUE
BARK CHASE.
She Il to Spend the Summer on the Baltic.
Work and Play Of the Cadets While on a
Cruise.

w
method of training midshipmen Is that
by which Uncle Sam educates his Of
ficers for the revenue service. In each
case says the Detroit Free Press, the
effort is to teach by practical work.
The English youths are spread
throughout the British navy. The rev.
enue cutter cadets are taught on board
the bark Chase, sailing vessel.
The Shase, while being fitted In
Baltimore for a trip to the Mediter-
ranean, was visited by the writer a
few days ago. She is rather small,
but being painted white, looks the
prettier for it. Her length Is $50 feet,
breadth rs feet, depth 20 feet. But
each cadet has plenty Of space for
his goods. The English MILDLY, on the
contrary, practically ''lives in his
chest" Few ships have pleasanter
steerage than the Chase. The panel
lings of quartered oak, with the blue
and white OF the ceiling, give the room
q most cheerful air. The cadets rooms
are in white, with ceilings covered by
canvas painted dainty blue.
At present there are twenty four
cadets on the Chase, though the ten
that compose the senior class will soon
receive their commissions as third lieu
tenants, and be replaced by new ca
diets. The Chase has quarters for but
twenty-four cadets. They live in the
twelve rooms that line the neat little
steerage.
But first we must visit the genial
Captain Hamlet in his cabin. The
commanding officers quarters consist
of reception room, dining room, Of
fee, two staterooms and bath room.
They are finished in cherry, the cell
ing being of a lighter color. Plenty Of
made the writer quite forget that ships
have habit Of rolling at sea. The
ships library, well supplied with
books, technical and instructive, as
well as the dispensary are between
the cabin and wardroom. How so
small ship contains so large ward
robe puzzles the writer. Beside the
Office of the executive officer there are
five state rooms to the wardroOm.
The wardroOm proper is finished in
cherry, the whole effect being cheer
full and light.
Occupying the body Of the ship, the
steerage extends from wardroom to
fo'castle. One descends the compan-
ionway to find himself in the center of
a room lighted by skylights over two
long tables, and fianked on either side
by six state rooms. A, the after end
of the steerage is an ornamental
mantle over a fireplace In which no
fire is ever lighted. Against the for
ward bulkhead is piano in quartered
oak to match the finishings. Several
cadets have assured me that the piano
is easily worth n million dollars, If its
value be measured by the pleasure II
has given.
CoZy is the best word to describe the
rooms. All are alike, each accommo-
dating two cadets. The cadets have
each a bunk, luxury by the way,
that some Of the junior officers Of the
navy that sleep in hammocks might
APPRECIATE. Every bit of space, over
the hunks, under them, the ends Of the
rooms, the corners, all is utilized and
turned into ingenious lockers and
drawers and clothes closets.
The steerage is for two years the
home of each class of cadets Here
they sleep, eat, work and play. Over
these long tables they recite their les
sons. From the lf-darkened steer
age, with it's one swinging lantern,
they creep out unwillingly to stand
their night watches at sea. And into
the same steerage they tumble noisi-
ly after good time ashore or hop
in some foreign port. Here. too, they
scribble for commissions during the
dreaded final oceans that end the
course on the Chase.
Forward of the steerage Is the fO'-
castle in which live the petty officers
and seamen, thirty-three in number.
Below this are the chain lockers and
continuing aft, come main hold, water
tanks, store rooms and sail rooms.
For main battery the Chase has four
Hotchkiss three-inch breech-loadfng
rifled guns of the old pattern. The
secondary battery consists Of one 3
FOUNDER rapid fire Driggs-Schroeder;
on the top gallant forecastle and aft
are two one-pounders Of the same
Make. The cadets are drilled quite
regularly at these guns. Also during
pleasant weather at sea and in port,
the Junior cadets are taught the set
ting up drill and infantry manual.
: Being constantly exercised in the du
ties of sailor during the first year.
and having charge of the deck at in
tervals during the second year, the ca
diets acquire a practical knowledge of
seamanship that is not to he had by
any other method of instruction. At
sea, all the cadets are on watch in
the day from 8 to 8, and they stand
quarter watches at night The old
saw, practice makes perfect" Is
well illustrated by the proficiency
shown in seamanship.
The severity of the entrance exam
nations, which require arithmetic,
algebra, trigonometry, geometry, his
tory, grammar, physics, chemistry,
geography, literature, general infor-
nation and either French, German or
Spanish, insures candidates who may
at once be taught those branches re-
quired to equip them as officers Of the
Revenue Cutter Service. The course
includes gunnery, seamanship, navi
cation, signals, revenue law and inter-
national law. I'm port Rotations are
held five days of the week, study