The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1898-01-21
A Bit Of !. S. Navy History
Told as a Story.
FIRST TRIP OF The OMAHA
Casks Filled With Light Liquor.
More Than Half the Crew
Laid Out" In the Wet.

Did you ever hear of the drink of
the L. S. S Omaha, or rather the spree
of the Omaha's crew? Well, it's a
stock naval yarn, but a good one, and
with the extra rare merit of being
true"
The speaker was a gentleman who
as an officer had paced the decks of
many American warships in many
waters. He continued:
1T was one of the earlier trips of the
cruiser. The orders were for Rio, after
putting into Madeira for supplies. The
season was pleasant and the $50 off
GERS and men were enjoying the voyage
immensely. AS the Omaha scudded
along, her machinery working beauti-
fully and sea easy as a bay, al felt
satisfied with the service. There would
be a number of warships with acquain-
tances aboard at Rio, and we knew
their officers and crews would welcome
US and admire the Omaha. We had
her neat as a lady dressed for re-
ception
while we were taking on meat and
vegetables in Madeira our captain con-
ceived the idea of saving coal by filling
up the water tanks from shore From
the Island We could stand into trade
wind and would with half luck be able
to make a fine run into Rio.
BY doing no condensing and taking
advantage of all sailing chance it was
calculated to make fuel showing that
would gain few effective credit marks
at Washington.
"A watering party of about fifty, in
charge of petty officers, handled the
casks. They filled themselves with Ma
deira wine, then made a common purse
and bought enough of it to load about
half the casks. The scheme was to
have Madeira on tap til we reached
Rio. As usual, though, Jacky over
reached himself
"On a man-of-war, you know, the
halyards are so laid that all the can
vass can be spread at once. Well, it
was done this time in a fashion that
nearly drove the captain crazy He
was on the bridge and cursed a blue
streak that poisoned the air and pol
luted the sea. He cursed officers and
men, the service and the ship, all coun-
tries and the earth and the universe
First the men talked as they tan
gled the halyards about. For this they
were mildly and then sharply reproved
Next they sang. Then the officers were
compelled to swear drown the voice
of the captain. The men staggered
around and did all sorts of maudlir
things. They fell and rose and fell
again. They tried to fight amongst
themselves. They talked back to the
officers, cursed the non-coms ant
shouted badinage to the captain L
was pronounced case of general GER
tain jag, and no remedy to be suggest
ed. At least $50 of the men were paral-
yzed drunk and those able to stand
still drinking till the supply was GU
Off
1T is blessing there was no wealth
er. Not thing in the way of handling
ship was done after she was once
headed. 1t did rain. It was quite {
down pore, but the helpless drunks
lying on the decks, slept right through
it. From them during the night there
were groans and growls and an occa
sionai attempt at a rally. Severa
times bo's'ns blew their pipes in {
confused, hating way, without know
ing what was wanted.
AT daybreak all hands able assisted
in driving the carousers back to duty
The spree left them stupid, blear-eyed
with aching heads and sore bodies anC
a wondering on what the punishment
was going to be. They had a might!
long day of it after the remainder O.
the wine was run over the sides.
There was no court martial NJ
one was cited or charged or placed il
the brig The task of infiicting punish
ment was too great and the captain hat
10 wink at the 0maha's big drunk.
Bringing liquor aboard ship is tn
chief of minor offenses, yet the Jackie
are at it constantly. l was saw SNUG
ger caught in the act in such a pecu
liar and striking way that even thu
dominic sympathized with him. H
was assisting with supplies. Ever!
article was inspected as usual wheI
handed up. The corporal of marine
stuck his nose into can of milk, fol
lowed it up with his fingers anC
brought out a whiskey bottle labe
that was floating in plain view. TIL,
firewater container was anchored a
the bottom of the can. l call this {
nrettv ennd hard luck story myself