Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-13
One Spot That is Not Beloved Of
Sailor Men.
FOR IT'S THERE THEY ARE CONFINED
When They Stray From the Path
of Rectitude.
LOCKED IN DOUBLE IRONS

cruises in both outfits and ask him the
question, Which did you find the worst
or the best. the brig or the guardhouse?'-
this upon the natural presumption, of
course that he had done his little trick in
both-he would in most cases reply emphat-
ically that he would take the guardhouse
every time. Probably he would be justified
In his reply.
There is an absence of joy and a permea-
ton of gloomy monotony in most man-of-
war brigs that is calculated to depress even
the casual student of the Institution. Not
that any unusual cruelties are inflicted, or
that the men doing terms In the brig of an
American warship are in any wise NAL
treated. All the same, bluejackets and
marines are never known in the United
States navy to attempt to get themselves
into the brig for the sake of rest; where
slothful soldiers Of the United States
army quite often make elaborate efforts
to have themselves immured in the guard
house in order to escape duty-especfally
fatigue duty.
almost invariably the most forward COM
partment on the berth deck-that is the
main brig, where the comparatively petty
offenders the drunkS and diSorderlieS. the
fighters, the duty avoiderS and the ruck OF
the bluejackets whom the commanding
officer of the ship disposes of at the mast
melted out to them. Then there indi-
vidual brigs devised for the occupancy of
one man, the dungeons of men-of-war. To
get into one of these a man-of-war's man
must be pretty hard case. must have
committed himself to serious an extent
as to be given a thirty-day dose of solitary
confinement in tiny dark cell. on a bread
and-water diet, and in double or single
irons at that.
In Double Irons.
E,.ap for he man confined in tho main
open brig the double irons are calling
enough. For the unfortunate in the soli-
tary brig they are almost uncomfortable.
Nearly every man who is sentenced to a
term in the main brig has to dou-
bic irons during his period of confinement
The assistant master at arms removes
them from his wrists and ankles only at
the end of his term. On some ships the
brig prisoners are allowed to have their
wrist irons removed while they take their
meals, but not on all 1t is not such sim
pie matter after all to dine in handouts.
The chain of the cuffs has bothersome
habit of becoming twisted with the knife
and fork, and these implements of feeding
have consequently very often to be picked
up from the deck. if new attempt is to be
made to make the meal. Then. there are
Disadvantages connected with the wearing
of the ankle irons Unless a man is
frst-rate ecuilibrist the job of walking
across the deck of the brig with the an
kles securely held in the irons, when the
sea is extremely rough. and the ship is
on her beam ends half the time. is some
thing almost inconceivably difficult.
Sleeping in the brig in double irons-for
they are not removed at nights also a
matter that requires practice. and by the
time the bluejacket marine masters
this thing thoroughly he has got his dis
honorable discharge from the service.
which seems a pity. To revert. it was
said above that the irons are not removed
at night. Well. not very often. But there
are masters-at-arms and masters-at-arms
Some of them of calloused nature hard
ened by much experience. Others-not
many, but some-are of a nature that all
their bitter years at sea could never harden.
These latter-the thing must be Whispered
nave been known to creep into the brig
after pipe down" at night when all lights
hut the standing ones out. and quietly
unlock . the irons on the wrists and ankles
OF the Imprisoned men. Then. before "all
hands in the morning. which is the neigh
borhood of > O'Clock, these tender-hearted
HIsters-at-arms Ito whom. greeting or
vale, as they living or dead lust as
quietly have been known to slip into the
brig and clasp the irons or to see that they
have been clasped. for the men confined
generally perform this office themselves to
keep the Jimmy Legs (master-at-arms)
out of trouble. should there be any p-owI-
ing oiiicer OF the deck or sergeant of the
marine guard.
Keys In Their Pockets.
The keys are in the charge of the eouip-
say that all equipment yeomen, who are
chief petty officers. are not perfectly ard
entirely incorruptible. But-welI. the thing
mas happened. that upon search of twen,y-
three men confined in the. main brig of an
Sihercah man-of-war every man-jack O:
them has been discovered to have a kew 10
ms double irons somewhere about his mt
fern. ms "'ii
There were once. on an American man.
of-war PIG bluejackets confined to tba
is
tLat- Anyhow, the reason they all cot
there was that they declined in q body to
aceePt some stores that the paymaster
wished to serve out TO them They won
tEeir point finally. but the irons that had
efc.asped their wrists and ankles were
really not of much use afterward: for
union and numbers. and this great body of
irnmuree. men found means to make the
ce cubic irons valueless for all time
me meas OF the men confined in In, brio
are served to them by the strikers of tbo
respective messes to which they leionr
1 ne striker of mess is as often as NOT an
apprentice boy. and apprentice bows IN tho
i-dEy are not notorious for willingness or
helpiu!ness- 1t is not until they have
kEocked about the world for few years
AFTER their apprenticeship is oyer-,r her
Knocked about by the world. and Tho '1e,n
Things are not as much alike as they look
tf-at they acquire the generosity ard kind
mess s OF me older biuejackets. who. to use
d phrase OF the shore. are generally pviII;,,
10 DO any old thing for their shion,a1es in
distress All this is a preliminary 70 S,w
my .hat the mess strikers have a perpetual
grievance. carefully nurtured over tb,s
Soo OF carrying the prisoners meals mn
dtrWsra TO them in the brig: they groyi
ABOUT IL: they make faces about it AMI
they quite forget the really enormo,,s -
slolli,y ana even probability that coaeron.s
themselves at any moment of being cast
INTO me brig beside the unfortunaIes fhev
20 unwilingly serve ''iey
An Unlucky Nine.
once, ard not SO very long ago either
py some extraordinary mischance nine
ehief petty officers of United States man.
oi-war were in their ships brig at one and
the same time The mischance was extra
ordinary In this. that the day before their
snip was TO leave the United States for
foreign waters the whole nine of tban,
went ashore; and so insidious were the de-
lights OF the shore. and so oblivious to all
the sea and all the ships thereon did The
delights OF the shore render them that
one and all forgot to come back to the