Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-25
NO TURKEY THAT DAY
Memories ola Thanksgiving on Board
a Man-of-War.
THE GREEK COOKS DID THEIR BEST
But the Results Came Near Start
ing a Riot.
PARROTS FOR THE SKIPPER

'Tve Put in some queer old Thanksgiving
days since 1 first began to this
line o. boats. back in the Sixties" said
old-time chief nachinist Of the United
States navy. who is still in the service,
after thirty and more years of it. I've
Rad some mighty hungry ones. too, when
I've dozed of when On watch down below
in the engine room and dreamed of the
smell of sage and roast turkey fl to set
a man crazy. and then awoke to hit up a
Ness table that had nothing on it but
rancid salt junk and cracker hash. and
not even bite of duff to top off with. 1
think the hungriest Thanksgiving day 1
ever saw, shipma ties, caught when /
was singing fst-oiling, that is to say-on
one of the old .ron-clads on the west coast
In 1879. We were ordered around from
New York to San Francisco, and had
pretty good picking the shore provi-
siCns We got in coaling at the ports all the
way down the east coast. But there's no
rse talking, there's nothing to be got
ashore fit for man-o'wars man to eat
anywhere on the west coast of South or
Central America or Mexico. and that's the
reason that men-o-war'S men so dead
down Oh that cruising station. The meat
you get at those west coast ports is
stringy, tough and rank, the chickens are
all feathers and bones. and the vegetables
are all pulp-no flavor, juice anything
else to en- / could never make out how
the big nobs that live in those ports keep
from starving to death. Mess cooks
American men-o'-war simply won't bother
to go ashore to buy such stuff in those
west coast ports. for they know that the
msn of their messes won't eat it. and pre-
Ter salt horse and ships provisions to it
any time. Oh this cruise I'm telling YOU
about L don't think ship. which was
one Of the big ones, with a crew of over
900 men, bought % cents worth of shore
provisions from the Straits of Magellan to
san Francisco. although We put in at more
tEan dozen ports. The crew. including
the officers-for I'm talking about the old
navy now-lived off ships provisions al
EoSether On the trip up the west coast and
the remnants OF the fruit that we brought
around from the east South American
Coast.
Were Hungry Enough.
All haI DIS, fore and aft. were pretty
hungry by the time We made Callao and
Inc skipper called the chief engineer into
his cabin and told him that if he'd get the
ship into San Francisco by Thanksgiving
day he'd give him a send-off in his quar-
ferly report that would make the Secretary
OF the Navy put en- his specs
Burn all the coal you want to- said he
10 the chief. and squeeze every pound of
steam you know how out of both engines
but in heavens name get this boat into
the harbor of San Francisco by Thanks
giving day, SOS the men can have a feed
or there'A be mutiny up forward. Should
I De surprised If mutiny broke out in the
ward room for the matter of that If Won
don't make it guess the old skipper was
himself as hungry as any of the rest of u.s.
The chief told him that he didn't think
ne could pull Frisco by Thanksgiving but
that he would make a pretty hefty stab at
IT, He passed the word along to the black
gang, and We all worked like thieves down
below. in the deadly tropical Temperature
ard in the Old-time fire rooms that were
hcttern those hinges they tell of: but our
bottom was foul, the machinery wasn't in
Very good shape, and We struck head seas
al the way, and SO the thing simply
couldn't be done.
Best They Could Do.
ION the morning of Thanksgiving day we
pulled into Magdalena bay that makes
dent in Lower California-that was the
best We could get out o the old hookers
compound engines. Magdalena station, at
the head of the bay. Is made up of one
house-the shack Of the Mexican consul
What this Mexican consul lives there for
Is too many for me. for there's not a human
being within 800 miles of there. and the
desoiation of the place is enough 10 make a
decent seafaring man sorry he hadn't
stayed ashore about his business. 1t was
pretty gloomy gang of bluejackets that
sat down to the junk-ladcn mess tables on
that Thanksgiving morning and | guess
the officers aft were just sore. They
had to take theirs cut in junk too Now
when you take a barrel of salt horse across
the line couple of times. as we did our
barrels of junk this cruise il becomes
kind o loud ard noisy. so that when the lid
Is Hfted OH barrel of II all hands to the
windward or anywhere else on the fighting
packet know about it. And when Junk that
gets into this obstreperous state is cooked
the galley is a petty good part of the ship
to get for'ard of. / don't believe a man
aboard touched the junk at breakfast on
that Thanksgiving morning. They threw
their coffee into EN-, and then went up
1arE IL
the gaudy dressing Of the ship in honor of
the day with all kinds of sarcastic grunts
and w5nd --ing when the engines would be
patched up sufficiently to let us out o. that
for we had slipped into Magdalena bay to
get chance TO fix up the air and circu-
lating pumps
big Preparations.
1.-The mess cooks acted bit mysterious
as they went about their work that fore
noon. The whole pack of 'em took one of
the ships cutters as all hands
went and disappeared in the darkness and
when they came back. couple of hours
later. they had lot of stuff in the bot
tom of the cutter. covered over with tar
paulins- Nobody paid much attention when
they hauled the stuff aboard, for nearly all
the mess cooks on this ship were Greeks
shipped on the Mediterranean station; they
weren't much liked by the men, and nobody
bothered about their comings and goings.
BY IL o'clock that forenoon there was a
bunch of smells coming out of the galley
of that ship enough to give a white man
the cholera j never got next to anything
like those smells. land or sea, and I'm get
ting on bit, too. The men UP for'ard
looked at each other when those smells be-
gan to get in their work all over the ship,
and then those of 'em who weren't on
watch on deck took to the fire rooms and
empty bunkers. The smells got aft to the
captains cabin. He came running out to
the quarterback with wry face.
. DO he tl.
Ger of the deck. what is it?'
Junk. 1 guess said the officer Of the
deck. and together they went to the cooks
galley to investigate. The cooks blamed IL
all on the junk. and junk is an institu-
tion in the service the skipper couldn't say
word. but went back to his cabin holding
his nose. The smells went right on get
ting worse all the time, and by the time
mess-gear for dinner was sounded the ship
smelt like whaler.
When all hands sat down at their yari-
Gus messes for dinner they found the Junk
laid out all right. but there were other
dishes There was soup. for instance The
mess strikers brought IL in in the bowls.
holding their noses. The Greek cooks stood
their reSecfiya TnaSs Tables au,o,,,u,