The Somerset reporter., 1897-09-30
FIGHTS AMONG TARS.
SAILORS OF THE NAVY EVER READY
WITH THEIR FISTS.

Tho Unavoidable Causes OF Frtction-sim-
pie Things Start the QuArreIs, and Then
They Must Bo settIsd-BruIsed Com
batants "Fell Down a Ladder"
The regulation against fighting is per
haps the deadest of all naval regula-
tions. 1t is impossible Of enforcement.
If it were enforced to 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 a necessary evil among men
who wear their country's uniform for
livelihood Officers of experience
blink at 1t. They know the bad con
taminating results of bitterness between
a pair Of bluejackets under the forecas-
tie They have learned that II 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 ii Is broken
by decisive battle between the two men
who have been snarling at each other.
often dwell upon the WEAKNESS which
has overcome them at the sight Of their
fellow yoyagers' countenances toward
the end of passage. This is a feeling
which is aggravated a 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 gen
Grated, and it is for this reason that the
crew of a man of war just returned to
the United States after a three years
cruise i'll foreign waters is generally
such a sour looking lot, even as concerns
the officers aft, who become quite as
sick of each other as do tue men for
ward
Hardly day passes that there Is not
at least one scrap on board most men
of-war, 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 Dayy 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" Il. e.,
the master at arms is not far distant
and neither caring for trick i'll 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, ye men-of-war chaws, and settle
the thing right, " is the general remark
hurled at them by all hands when they
meet i'll mere contests of cuss words
and the sailor who is considered to be
the aggrieyed 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 off
down below i'll one of the firerooms 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 lrnoIu q II oho0t II oftan ipolu1
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 dozen
friends of each man, and even with this
number the space is rather contracted
With 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 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 i'll 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 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-
gine 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 IL
over they jump into their uniforms and
repair to the sick bay to get themselves
patched up with arniea, court plaster,
etc The surgeon knows at a glance
what ails them, but for the sake OF
form he asks chem what the trouble is.
They have bSh fallen down ladder
Both at the same time? No, sir; they
fell down different ladders. THAT $ Gu
rious!' murmurs the surgeon, with q
smile and faraway look i'll his eyes,
scribbling an account of their injuries
in his record. and then he orders thu
apothecary tn dress their wounds -
Washington itar.
Long Wait.
Grandpa, how old are you?"