The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-19
MEN MUST FOLLOW SHIPS.
AND JACK THE ThRRED ere war
TO sTOKEHOLE JACK.

. tho Change In tho R1eet-A Eten tor =
New Naval Academy Tor Eniisted Men.
From timo TO time, in recent days. the de-
spatches om.Washington have toldrof the do
inRs o. a committee Of naval officers, including
line and staff, who have been striving to rear
range tho regulations governing the personnel
Of the navy In such q manner as to do away
with the clnshfng between the engineer officers
and tho officers Of the line. Tho tono Of these
dispatches has been hopeful, because the exist
ence Of clashing was recognized as an evil In
the service. and all who had tho good OF the SER
vice at heart were at least anxious to find a Just
basis for agreement. Moreover, It has been
told that this basis had been seen, hull down.,
indeed. beyond tho horizon. so to speak,. but
seen, and the committee expected to overhaul
and capture It with n hill which they were
going to introduce In tho present Congress-, and
that bill, once made n law. was to land the basis
securely on the quarterback OF every warship
now flying the American flag.
But when a reporter talked with an old.time
naval officer. one who could ememb the days
when naval CAPTAINS. who feared an enemy not
at all, fairly trombled Mt tho thought of q boiler
explosion aboard their own ships. he said:
w must bide a wee before this wished.
for harmony comes aboard ut the gangway to
stay with us, no matter how anxious the Of
fcers Of line and staff may be for an effcc-
tive rs well rs an honorable adjustment Of
the difficulties. What the landsmen, and cs-
pecially the members Of Congress. cannot appre.
ciate is that the changes In naval ships have
been absolutely revolutionary, while the
changes In the crews have boon wholly of a
makeshift character. Indeed, there are not O
few officers of the navy who fail to appreciate
the need of a revolution in the personnel of
the navy that shall DO as radical as that in
the ships has been.
"0f course, everybody knows in q way the
difference between the old ~friRate, with her
lofty spars. and the low.lying coast defence,
floating steel fort that has no spars at all save
n stick for displaying signals. but not every.
body appreciates the change in the work, and
therefore in the training and even In the pcr.
sonal character, needed in the men manning tho
modern warship.
1T may seem unnecessary to say It, but let
me remind you that in the old days the sailors
worked the ship. That Is to say. there was o
crew Of, say, 400 men all told, and, save for a
very few marines, the surgeons crew, and the
paymaster with his clerk. every man OF them
could and did handle sails and steer the ship.
Tho crew was organized on this basis, and
even marines were sometimes assigned to do
sailors work. A disagreement as to rank or
position among the officers of those days was,
OF course. utterly impossible.
Then came steam. One Secretary of the
Navy was so displeased with the innovation
that he impatiently cried I am steamed to
death when the subject was preached in his
presence. What the old Secretary declared
for himself is surely coming to pass with the
o!d.style line officer. That may sound far!
reaching, but wait and see. When steam was
introduced 1t was as a mere auxiliary force.
The spars were no less lofty nor were the yards
less widespread. The same canvas was used,
and the same sailors were needed to handle II,
But a new class Of men came aboard with the
cngincs-the engineers and the firemen.
They were at once placed where they belonged
in the stokehole. They were useful-very
useful, but they were aux!liaries. The sailors
who could hand. reef. and steer still worked
the ship, and could work it, il they had but a
capful of wind. regardless of the stokohole.
THAT was not all of the Importance of the
seaman, either. For a naval ship existed in
those days for tho one treason only that II
might carry a gun afloat. The sole object of a
naval ship was to fire a shot into an enemy O,
the nation, and Jack was the man to handle
the sidc tackles, shore in or pull out the quoin
under the guns brecch. squint through the
sights. watch the roll, and, at the right mo
mcnt, pull tho lanyard. OF what account were
the men in the stokehole save to furnish a sub
stitute for the gale that sometimes failed tc
fill the sailsl
Then came the civil war. John Ericsson
had furnished the auxiliary power that was
a good substitute for n sail full Of wind-ha(
great need he devised an iron fort that would
not only float on, but could pass over water
even oyer Tha,a and Id. through the storm.est kind Of a
mast or n thread of IA sail about her, unless q
iingst3ff suggest a mast: The day that thi'
most momentous in the history of navies
! Everybody understands that in q way. but how
dashed his hammock, slowed his clothes in hi,
bag. and hosting both on his ample il some
what rounded shoulders. climbed over the raj
and went ashore. leaving his berth to the de
spised gang in the stokeholei Why, you can't
make even the naval officers SEQ that plainly
ly as sails are disappearing from warships.
But the building of the Monitor was no
a another Ai iHnov Hut1"S a nc Col Sl't CHARLES M4Es t. nsff Eliza Ts'
who turned some OF The, river. steamboats, int
the only man to develop the old idea used b,
the ancient galley sailors of tho Mediterranean
Forth, as Pilot Montgomery was at the SOUTH
The rams, though OF the crudest form, workot
well, and d s,rSighttW ~ S.r the r. beak on the shil
forever from the naval fighting machine. Fo
the sailor. AS n sailor. had nothing whatever q
whatever may nave been his skill with the oil,
smooth-bore 32.pounder. 1t was the man II
inc StokenoiS WHO urONe III through the SIDE y
the enemy.
NO has the whole of the story been told
Following the ram came the rifle. and thi
was eventually OF huge Dimensions. It's IL
was denoted by it's weight In tons instead OF il
pounds OF proiectile thrown, as lint OF tn,
old gun was. Guns were made of ion
tons weight. And with these guns came car
riagcs that had as intricate machinery AS tn
old engines that drove the Hartford herself
There were and are hydraulic machine, air
COMPRISING machines. and electric machine
fer pointing and el'vating The guns. and evel
for loading them. Ar electric hoist lifts til
cartridge RON the mag, zinc 20 the level Of tn
guns breach; and a steam hammer thrusts /
home in the chamber.
Now. consider this. Is n training on III
topsail yard with marlInSpihC IN hund l!kol
to better ut a ma; to do this Wort; u al
the training of n mechanic in the otoE, hol
among the cranHS and shafts OF engines
pumps, and dynumoSi Tho question answer
itselt.
And there "a yhn steering of the ship. In IN
old days two !one ropes ran from the whcc
Though sheuycs and fnlr-lcGdcrs to tho tiiici
1t needed II sailor to handle Tho steering yea
then, there IL no dnnbt about that. hit no,
the wheel Is but n throttle valve and steam n
electric machinery connects IL with tn riC
der. What can Jack, with his TAR and mn
linspikr and serving mallct, do with such zen