The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1897-10-09
UNCLE SANS SAILORS.
they Are the nest seamen II the
World


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 q
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 fioated over them
for the last time, did deed whose re-
c.tal stirs blood like q 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 last resort.
The American navy, as at present
constituted, numbers about q, 900 men,
exclusive of the commissioned officers.
Observation-Disclosures they are called
ARE paid $3.50 month and rations.
They enlist for three years and are at
orce placed under a rigid discipline.
There Is no nonsense about it. After
passing the strictest of physical ex-
aminations-examinations 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 pri.
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
man of him, but he does not amass
money. If he enlists for second term
with Continuous service certificate"
he is classed as an ordinary seaman, and
his pay is increased to $11. so per month.
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 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
diyest himself Of his early training,
and. though In the middle Atlantic, If
given an order will spring instantly to
its 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 a 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 drawer sea-
man than the Englishman, but he is
better seaman. He will execute an or
der while man from the older coun-
try is thinking about it. He will do
a 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 months time he will
have at his fingers ends that which
will take the foreigner q year to learn
partly. The reason for this is appar-
ent. In nine cases out of ten the Brit
ish sailor has been always sailor.
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