Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-09-25
FIGHTS AMONG TARS.
SAILORS Or THE NAVY EVER READY
WITH THEIR FISTS.

The Unavoidable Causes of Friction-Sim
pie Things Start the Quarrels and The,
They Must Be settled-Bruised Com
batants 'Fei1 Down Ladder"
The regulation against fighting is per
haps the deadest of all naval yegula
lions. 1t is impossible of enforcement
If it were enforced to the letter, prett.
nearly all hands among the men for
ward would be i'll the '.brig" from ont
years end to the other Fighting i
practically necessary evil among mel
who wear their counuy's uniform fol
livelihood Officers of experience
blink at it. They know the bad, con
dominating results of bitterness between
a pair Of blueiackets under the forecas
tie. They have learned that it is better
the thing should be fought out and done
with than that dozens of men should be
drawn into quarrel that testers and
grows unless the head of it is broken
bva decisive battle between the two men
who have been snarling at each other.
People who have made ocean voyages
often dwell upon the WEAKNESS which
has overcome them at the sight of their
fellow voyagerS' countenances toward
the end of passage. This is feeling
which is aggravated 4 thousandfold
amid the uncomfortable surroundings OF
war vessels forecastle. the hundreds
of occupants of which are obliged to be
constantly together for from one to
three years Each man becomes thor
oughly aware of all his mates little
characteristics. and after awhile wheth-
er these characteristics are good or bad,
they jar upon him, if only on account
of their monotony. Thus friction is gem
Grated. and it is for this reason that the
crew of man-of-war just returned to
the United States after three years
cruise in foreign waters is generally
such a sour looking lot, even as concerns
the officers aft who become quito as
sick of each otker as do the men for
ward.
Hardly day passes that there is not
at least one scrap on board most NEIL
of-war, with the promise of heavier
battle to follow A bluejaclet seats
himself Oh another's ditty box, and, on
being roughly ordered by the box's
owner to vacate, he refuses and con-
signs the owner to much less moist
place than Davy Jones locker. The
men come together, two or three blows
are exchanged, and then, as by common
consent, each man draws away, both
feeling that the Jimmy legs ii. e.,
the master at arms is not far distant
and neither caring for trick in the
brig" Having thus become involved
in the minor fstic argument Of the
deck. the two bluejackets are looked to
by the entire ships company to bring
their affair TO a satisfactory conclusion.
The mere exchange of growls between
the two men doesn't go. Pipe down
there, We men-of-war chaws, and settle
the thing right, is the general remark
hurled at them by all hands when they
meet in mere contests Of cuss words,
and the sail0r who is considered to be
the aggrieved man is watched carefully
to see if he makes any preliminary
moves toward arranging regular fight.
He almost always does.
Nearly all the regular fights between
bluejackets aboard ship are pulled OFT
down below in one of the frerOoms or
in an empty bunker. The empty bunker
is preferred on account of its greater
isolation. When a fight is to come off
between two bluejackets below, all
hands know all about it, often includ-
ing the master at arms himself, but
very few of the men, unless they are
intimates of the combatants, expect in
vitations to the fray There is not room
in bunker for more than half a dozen
friends of each man, and even with this
number the space is rather contracted.
With a second each and a referee
agreed upon by both, the men, stripped
naked to the waist go at it. The fights
are not Of the rough and tumble order.
The men fight according to regular
prize ring rules, and their shipmates
are present to see that the rules are
complied with. As many as 80 rounds
are sometimes fought. Ordinarily one
of the men goes under by the time the
tenth round is called. If the men are
unequally matched and one of them is
getting palpably the worst of it, all
hands in the bunker agree that tie
thing should stop, and it does stop. If
the contestants are about Of sort the
fight is carried on to the end, until a
knockout blow is planted by one OF
them or both are too weak to go on.
At the conclusion of the fight the on
lockers quietly depart from the bunker
and ascend to the deck by different en-
CINE room ladders, so as not to attract
the attention Of the officer Of the deck.
Both men generally get pretty thor
oughly mauled and bruised up in these
bunker fights, and when the battle is
over they jump into their uniforms and
repair to the sick bay to get themselves
patched up with arnica, court plaster,
etc. The surgeon knows at glance
what ails them, but for the sake Of
form he asks them what the trouble is.
They have both fallen down a ladder.
Both at the same time: No, sir; they
fell down different ladders. "That's Gu
rious." nUrmurs the surgeon, with a
smile and faraway look in his eyes,
scribbling an account Of their injuries
in his rectcd. and then he orders the
apothecary to dress their wounds
Washington Star.