The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-05-09


the men may smoke is from the time the
hammocks ara down, about p. m, until
tattoo" at %. m, but they must remain
on the upper deck with their pipes at this
hour.
Every Sunday morning divine service is
read by the chaplain, ii there is one on
| board, or. If not, by the senior officer pres
| ent. Attendance upon the services is not
OF course, compulsory, but the majority
of the men seem to prefer to come. on
| the first Sunday of every month the arti-
cles of war are read to the whole ships
company. The frequent repetition OF these
serves to keep the numerous regulations
fresh in the minds of the men, and those
who have been long Ia the service doubt
less know the list by heart That the
reading becomes mechanical to the officers
is disclosed occasionally, when amusing
slips are made. There is one section, for
| instance, which provides punishment for
several offenSes, one of which is for man
ito draw or offer to draw his sword"
etc. A certain paraphrase of this is a cur
rent wardroom joke, which is not how
ever, meant to be read publicly to the
men, as was done by an absent-minded
officer, who gave 1t with apparent serious
ness, ito draw or offer to draw a drink
after ii has been drawn"
The system of conduct classes in the
navy has been found very efficient in pro-
noting good behavior among the men. II
consists in having the enlisted men ar
ranged according to their conduct, and
without regard to rating, in four classes.
OF course, when the crew is first received,
the captain must do this to the best of his
information as he knows personally little
| about the different individuals. If a man
has served in the navy before, his dis
charge papers will afford some data on
this point After the first appointing to
| the various classes, the men are promoted
| Il.
| cording to the deserts of each one.
The advantage attached to being Ia one
of the upper classes comes in the shape of
| additional privileges of many kinds If the
| ship is lying near a port, 1t means longer
and more frequent shore leave than is
! granted to the men whose behavior has
kept them in the lower classes. IL also
means a more liberal allowance of money
at the end of the month, for, as is perhaps
not generally understood. it is not Gus
tomary to pay wages to the crew at sea.
Each member of the crew receives a small
part of his money on pay day-larger, as
was mentioned, according to his conduct
rank-and thus has the main amount still
coming TO him at the end of the cruise.
Laziness, untidiness or quarrelling win in
duce a mans conduct marks There is not
a great deal of wrangling, but when il
occurs many officers believe it is best dealt
with by allowing the men to 'hght IL out"
In the words of one captain. when l
found two fellows quarrellng, l used to
take them down to the coal-bunkers out
of sight of every one else, and tell them
to settle the matter right there with their
fists OF course that was against all reg
ulations, but as matter of fact 1t work.
ed better than any other way, and the dis
putants generally came out of il perfectly
satisfied" Good conduct medals are
awarded to the men for obedience, sobri-
ETY., industry, courage, neatness and pro-
ficency," and the owners of such trophies
may not be deprived of them thereafter
except by sentence of general court-mar-
tial.
The greatest care is taken of the health
of the crew at sea, and they are not over
worked or exposed unnecessarily to the
heat of the sun, to wet weather or to dis
ease. When cruising off unhealthy To-
caities, such as the west coast of tropi-
cal Africa, the isthmus of Panama the
West Indies and parts of South America,
| shore leave is frequently refused on ac-
count of the danger, to hearth which Il in
! wolves, and natives of those regions are
employed for boat duty between the ship
and the coast In a similar way the men
tai wants of the men are looked after by
| publishing for their benefit all useful and
| proper information concerning the move
ments and destination of the vessel, the
postal arrangements in different places
|
TO interest them. The "schoolmaster, 4"
who is usually the ships writer also, in
structs the young apprentice boys not only
in their duties. but in the principles of
| reading and writing. if they chance to be
deficient in those respects.
The provisions regarding desertlon and
its penalties seem entirely just, and al
most lenient. A man may be absent for
as much as ten days without .eave and
be considered merely "straggler" unless
there is special reason for thinking that
he does not mean to return. After that
time he is proclaimed a deserter, and the
wages due TO him are forfeited to the
United States. The letter "R" marked
against a mans name on the ships books
signifies desertion, and it may not be re-
moved unless the captain finds IL incor-
rect before the end Of the quarter, or I'M
less the navy department discovers that
there was no intention to desert. Any
one who finds himself separated from his
ship from any other cause than capture
by an enemy must report to the nearest
ship, squadron or naval station. Failure
to do this stamps him a deserter, and ne
can put in no claim for wages unless he
can prove that he was unavoidably pre-
vented from so reporting.