The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-09-29
FIGHTS AMONG TARS.
SAILORS OF THE NAVY EVER READY
WITH THEIR FISTS.

The regulation against fighting is per-
haps the deadest of all naval regula-
tons. 1t is impossible Of enforcement.
If il were enforced 70 the letter, pretty
nearly all hands among the men for
ward would be in the brig" from one
years end to the other Fighting is
practically necessary evil among men
who wear their country's uniform for
a livelihood. Officers of experience
blink at it, They know the bad, con-
Eliminating results Of bitterness between
q pair Of bluejackets 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
by 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 ut the sight of their
fellow voyagers' countenances toward
the end of passage. This is feeling
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 gen.
Grated, and it is for this reason that the
crew of a man-of-war just returned to
the United States after three years
cruise in foreign waters is generally
such sour looking lot, even as concerns
the officers aft, who become quite as
sick of each other as do the men for
ward.
Hardly day passes that there is not
at least one scrap on board most men,
ofwar, with the promise of heavier
battle to follow. A bluejacket seats
himself ON another's ditty box, and on
being roughly ordered by the box
owner to vacate, he refuses and con-
signs the owner to a 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 fistic 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-w chaws, and settle
| the thing right" is the general remark
hurled at them by al hands when they
( meet in mere contests of cuss words,
/ and the sailor 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 OH
down below in one of the frerooms or
in an empty bunker. The empty bunker
is preferred on account of its greater
isolation. When 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 q second each and 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
J prize ring rules, and their shipmates
are present to see that the rules are
complied with. AS many as so 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 the
thing should stop, and it does stop. If
the contestants are about of sort, the
fight is carried on to the end. until
hlOChOut plOW 10 plahlcu Ny OuS VI
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 ladder.
Both at the same time? No, sir; they
fell down different ladders. "That's Gu.
rious" murmurs the surgeon. with
smile and PARKWAY look in his eyes.
scribbling an account of their injuries
in his record, and then he orders the
apothecary to dress their wounds. -