The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-11-30
THE NAVAL WOMAN.
HE is THE SAILORS MENTOR ON
BOARD A MAN-OF- WAR.

with the Crew-He Is a Petty ohicer
and Is Burdened with Many Response
bilities-His Place In Battle.
When Jack Tar comes back to his ship
after q cruise ashore and finds on the next
morning that he has lost his cap or so torn
his trousers or any of his other garments
that in order to pass the next inspection
he must have new ones, he goes below to
a little Office way down in the hold of tho
ship and through n grated window tells
the nature of his troubles to the yeoman,
who sits at tho desk inside busy with his
account books. If it is "a suit or cap or
shoes that he wants Jack first deposits his
money, and when his measure for what
ever article he wants is found in the rec
ord book Of the crew it is turned over to
him then and there.
With all of his virtues, Jack is an inn
proyidont fellow. and The government
which pays and feeds him, knows b..
weaknesses and essays totHke care of him
First it has him keep himself neat at all
times or else gives him Il c ancc to sample
the ships bread ana water in little cub.
by hole called a cell, and this being an
established regulation the government
furnishes to him the means of keeping
himself neat.
Jack must sew and wash and darn his
clothes when they need it, besides apply
ing soap to himself as often as ne can anc
keeping his shoes always clean and shiny.
That the means might always be at the
sailors command years ago necessity
created a naval storckeeper on board ev-
cry ship, and tradition gave him the name
of yeoman.
1t is to the pay yeoman, who gets his
title merely because his desk is beside
that of the paymaster s clerk, that Jack
goes for clothes, needles, thread soap and
other small articles When his needs are
of a nature not so purely personal-if, for
instance, he is to paint the ship, mend a
piece of rigging or perform any one of the
hundred or more odd jobs necessary to
keep the ship in trim-he goes to the equip
ment yeoman, the keeper of the stores
needed for the ship only, and gets what
he wants. But first he must have an order
for the articles and then must sign a re-
ceipt for them, for the government, though
not stingy, wants to know where every
penny goes and for what it is spent.
The engineers department has a yeoman
also, and to him the engineers, though
they are commissioned officers, have to go
for every article necessary for running the
engines, even to the oil used on bearings
and cranks. This yeoman has his office
next to the engine rooms, and there tho
same form has to be gone through with,
no matter what is wanted. Oils, metal
for repairs, tools and parts of machinery
nre kept in these storerooms, and the en-
| ginecrs yeoman is keeper of them all
The pay yeoman has the duty also Of
dispensing the daily rations to the crew,
in order that the sailors may get neither
| too LITTLE Tho Gallon docs
not have to give receipt for his food, but
all that Jack eats is charged against him,
not to be paid for by him, but as part
/ of his earnings.
In addition to the duty of dispensing
| the many articles used on shipboard tho
| yeoman has to make out all acquisitions
| for them when needed, and woe be unto
| him if he makes mistake and the ship
leaves port short Of a supply in any par
! ticular. He stands as Il sort of Il mentor
| over the sailor, and while there is no rule
| giving him authority over the sailors
morals yet Jack stands in awe of him.
| Many Il time he refrains from some prank
| or other that would end in his having tc
| go to the yeoman and explain why certain
things had happened to him or to his
clothes or to part of the ships outfit
He would have to tell the truth, and he
| huONb lllsit he NOtlltl Dc sbuINly
roundly lectured. If the matter was any
| thing serious, the yeOman would have to
report him to the captain, and then the
sailor would be in trouble. This moral
right of the ycoman comes with the fact
that he is petty officer, and one of Jack :
first lessons, and it is often hard one,
| but always well learned, is to use respect
in his actions toward man with IA rank.
While supplying the saiorman with the
necessaries of life Uncle Sam does not
forget the Injuries, and, though Jack
afloat nowadays does not get his grog, he
has his tobacco if he is of the mind to buy
it and gets it from the window where he
obtains his clothes. He pays IA few cents
pound for it-just enough to pay the
cost of manufacture From the same man
the sailor buys his pipes, too, and all the
odds and ends that he may need.
Each yeoman has number of assistants
to do the manual part of the work. These
are yeomen, too, with one exception, but
are yeomen of the second class, and the
head of each department ranks as chief
yeoman. The one exception among the
assistants is the lowest assistant to the
pay yeoman.
He is bluejacket from the deck and is
called by the man % war; men Jack o. the
Dust, because he handles the stores in
bulk He is in reality the storehouse por-
ter, and for his unsailorike duties gets
extra rations or the equivalent in pay at
the end of each month.
The chief yeoman has the rank and pay
of petty officer and messes with them.
He is usually appointed from among the
landsmen because of some knowledge
which he may possess fitting him for his
place He is first made a second class yeo-
man and attains his rank as chief of his
department by hard work and fitness. He
is not supposed to know any of the duties
of the seaman or to perform them, but
he knows, as does every other naval man,
that when ship goes into battle every
man must go to work, so after IA little
while aboard ship, long before he has be
come chief yeoman, he knows his ship
from stem to stern and can turn his hand
to almost anything.
Only one of the yeomen has a definite
and fixed duty for war times the yeoman
of the engineers. His place is in the mag
azine, and his duty is To unpack powder
and help the marines and sailors send it
up into the turrets. He is assigned to this