The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1897-10-01
YANKEE SEAMEN.
Rank Above All Other Nationali-
ties Af1oat.
Some Interesting Information About
Cncle Sans Jolly Jack Tnrs-
The American Navy to
Be Renamed.

Secretary Long intends to reorgan-
ize the personnel of the American navy.
This will meet with the approval of his
countrymen in general and of naval
officers in particular. These gentle
men, by profession and observation, are
best qualified to speak. They are unan-
imously of the opinion that the Amer
lean sailor is the best sailor in the
world. There is no "buncombe" in this.
Their opportunities for comparison
have been unlimited. They state a
judgment maturely formed. Not much
sentiment enters into modern war, but
the nation would like to see none but
Americans on guard if it can be brought
about. The men gathered upon the
upper deck of the Trenton in the great
Samoan storm, listening to the band
play Hail Columbia" and cheering the
Stars and Stripes as it foated over them
| for the last time, did a deed whose re-
cital stirs blood like trumpet's call,
but something of glory and beauty is
| taken from the picture when it is
| learned that one-third of them, were
foreigners. They were brave, whatever
their country, and they knew how to
| die, but we would prefer to know that
| they were all American born. The
chief difficulty to be encountered by
| the secretary and his aids lies in the
fact that it is hard to induce Americans
| to enlist. So many avenues promising
better things are open to active men
in this country that they have turned
to the sea as a last resort.
The American navy, as at present
| constituted, numbers about 25, 900 men,
| exclusive of the commissioned officers.
"landsmen" they are called
are paid $3.50 a month and rations,
They enlist for three years and are at
| once placed under a rigid discipline.
There is no nonsense about it. After
passing the strictest of physical eX-
minations-eXaminati which show
that they are fitted for hard work and
| hard service-they begin the treadmill,
and it is no child's play. The sailor
| cooped between decks is much more
under the eye of his officer than pr-
vate in the ranks, and is compelled
therefore to walk much straighter
line. He lives plainly, is forced to keep
good hours, is not given ''shore leave
any oftener than is good for him, and
consequently improves in health and
morals. This life makes more of a
man of him, but he does not amass
| money. If he enllists for second term
| with continuous service certificate"
he is classed as an ordinary seaman, and
his iS ipnraoS sad fr
The average age of the American
navy man is 81 years, He is enlisted
mostly at New York. Boston, Philadel-
phia, Norfolk and Mare Island, or San
Francisco. 1t is a fact not generally
known that by far the best men come
from the lake region. Physically they
are of superb type. Navigation on the
lakes is peculiar. There is little sea
room. Squalls are quick and storms
violent. These conditions demand fast
| action ON the part of men who brave
the elements on the unsalted seas. The
lake seaman is quick-witted. He is of
ready decision. He is never able to
divest himself of his early training,
and, though in the middle Atlantic, if
given an order will spring instantly to
it's execution.
Formerly the best of our seamen
were obtained from the fishing fleet of
the New England coast. That school
produced sailors whose equals the
world has never seen. 1t no longer
gives them to us, because the school
itself has become almost thing of
the past. The present feet is not one
twentieth of its former size. The men
who manned it in the old days are dead
or retired, and their sons have found
other ways of making living, but in
its time it was a wonder. From this
school came the sailors who astonished
the world in 1912. who showed the bull
dog strain of their ancestry when,
stripped to the waist and blood-bespat-
tered. they stood to the leaping guns
under the eye of Decatur. Even now
boys of IS on the New England coast
will make voyages while asleep that
would deter older men with their
senses about them.
The American, according to the testi
mony of experts. is not braver sea-
man than the Englishman, but he is
UcutcI Scuuluu' ne Will SASSutC III VI
der while man from the older coun
try is thinking about it. He will do
n job of knotting or splicing while the
Britisher is getting his tools. He is
more intelligent and will learn twice as
fast. Because of the climate that has
blessed him and his progenitors and be-
cause of the conditions under which
they and he have lived, he is faster ON
his feet. In q months time he will
have at his fingers ends that which
will take the foreigner year to learn
partly. The reason for this is appar-
ent. In nine cases out of ten the Brit
ish sailor has been always a sailor.
That is all he knows and all he cares
to know. The American recruit may
have been lawyer or a doctor, or q
book agent, used to invading homes and
selling people things for which they
have no earthly use. In spite of this,
he is amenable to discipline. Three
months on shipboard takes the cocki-
ness out of him. The beauty of him
is that he obeys because he under
stands that it is necessary to obey.
1t is estimated that the foreigners in
cur navy can be weeded out in six
yeers. We have the finest cruisers in |
the world, and it is fitting that they
should be manned by the brothers of |
those who built them. Speed the time!
with $50 trained Americans on the |
II