The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-04-30
DRILLS OF BLUEJACKETS
SOME DUTIES OF THE MAN-O- VARS
MAN.

Passing the word-Collision-O uarters-
Abandoning ship-Fire Drill-Burying
the Dead.
The first fact mastered by the man
who ships in the navy Is that he must
regard the bo'sun's mate at the gang
way. The bo'sun's mate at the gang
way of a man-o'-war is parsonage of
considerable Importance. He is the
mouthpiece of the officer of the deck
day and night. He may make his
summoning pipe moan or whimper or
screech; but whatever it's tune it is the
foremost business of the bluejacket or
of the marine-of any man forward
to have his ears keyed to the music
and to dance to it wherever aboard he
may be or whatever he may be doing
else while later he is likely to find
himself engaged in lopsided CONVEX
sation with the skipper for his derelic-
ton. 1t makes no difference whether,
when the bo'sun's mate shrills his as
sembling blast and bawls "All hands
to quarters" the bluejacket is potter
ing In the depths of the magazine, or
picking swab strands way forward in
the equipment yeoman's berth deck
storeroom-when the pipe goes, or any
other call of the gangway bo'sun's
| mate or of the ships bugler for all
hands is sounded, it is up to the blue
jacket to scramble for the main deck
| as If in fear of wraiths, if he knows
| the policy of keeping well off the
shoals and the lee shores of trouble
| Ships calls, whether of the pipe or of
the bugle, are as imperative as the
mandates of miners meetings. No
| sane man-o'-war's man disregards
them, awake, and if he is asleep his
trouble is no whit less therefor.
There are many an-of-war drills
that are best sprung on crews in the
middle of the night, for the purpose of
testing their activity, and their ability
| to shake themselves from the thrall-
| dom of sleep in double-quick time.
The old man-o'-war's man, therefore,
always sleeps with half an ear open.
| collision quarters" for example, is
a call that is often sounded in the mid
die of the night on the man of-war at
sea. The man forward who fails,
within the fraction of minute after
that call goes, to scramble out Of his
hammock, loosely lash and stow the
| I. -
for roll-call at his station-the officers
being always on hand at the stations,
| for they get the tip in ADVANCES in
| for a sight of trouble at the mast the
next day. The men probably hurry
more to answer ollision quarters than
to respond to any other all, for the ex-
cellent reason that the chief feature of
| the collision quarters drill is the swift
! closing of all compartment doors, and
the man who finds himself tightly
locked, say, between water-tight doors
in berth deck alleyway is completely
deprived Of the chance even of stray
Cling to his rightful post in the ldrill,
and can make no excuse to his accus-
ing officer. Moreover a man thus
fixed, when collision quarters is sound
ed at sea, really has no means of
knowing whether the drill is actually a
drill on the occasion that catches him
or whether it is bona fide collision.
1t is the same when that rather
startling word of the bosuns mate at
the gangway, "All hands abandon
ship" is howled out in the middle of
the night on the deck of a ship at sea.
Quite aside from the desire to keep
their names off the derelicts' report
book, the men forward on an Ameri-
can man-of-war certainly do answer
quickly to this call. The very old
timers are generally prepared for it
about a minute ahead of the sounding
of the call. The engines are stopped
about a minute before "All hands
abandon ship" is passed The men
who have served the navy for many
years invariably awake out Of the
soundest sleep when the engines stop.
Thus, always minute or so before the
bo'sun's mate let's out his rousing
word for this drill you'll see the older
fat-feet poke their heads over the
gun'ls of their hammocks, listen in
tently for second or so, and then
reach out and kick the hammocks of
the men swinging alongside of them,
with the gruff remark, ''Stand by for a
dump out O. that: ven hear pipe mu-
sic in twenty seconds" This is the
reason why the timers are invaria-
bly, dressed and full of the activity of
wakefulness when the bo'sun's mates
pipe begins to screech.
1t is realistic business enough, this
"All-hands- abandon-ship drill. 1t is
not merely preparation for DESERVING
the ship. but all hands actually do take
to the boats. Two minutes after the
word has been passed every ships
boat has swung from it's davits into
the water, and a minute later every
boat is thoroughly provisioned and
watered. Within four minutes, and
often in much quicker time, every
man of the ships company from the
commanding officer down is occupying
the station in the boat called for by his
ships number, and then the command
"Sheer Off Is given. The boats are
hauled away a couple of hundred feet
from the deserted vessel, and she rides
without a human soul aboard her, Of
ten, when the drill is gone through in
| mid ocean in a sea that the landsman