Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1898-08-24
A BATTLESHIP'S KITCHEN
THE COOKS GALLEY THOROUGHLY UP
TO DATE INITS APPOINTMENTS.

Usually Presided Over by Jap Cooks
Very Neat and Homelikc and Provide
Jack and His Superiors With Fine Food
Coffee Served During the Baltic.
When the news Of Commodore
Dewey's great victory ut Manila was
sent over the wires it was recorded
that during the entire engagement
Paymaster Martin made and served
coffee to the officers and men. 1t is
difficult to associate kitchen and q
cook with battleship, but every one
of the big fighting monsters with its
terrible guns and turrets and flags has
its kitchen. 1t is called s'galley'
on board ship, and it is one OF the
most important places on board to
both the officers and the men.
Nothing gives an American tar such
a relish for food as the smell ofpowder
and smoke. 1t has become quite
fashion of late to divide battleshi2
up as though it were human, giving
it brains and eyes, q heart and lungs,
but no prominence is given to the
galley OF the man in the galley, who
is quite an important parsonage. The
man in the galley is usually a japan
ese, for almost every one of the big
ships has a Jap cook and staff Of
servants of the same nationality. "'e
boys wait on the officers table, dist,
clean silver, carry messages, and at
tend to minor housekeeping duties in
way that would put the average
housemaid tc a great disadvantage.
It is quite possible that during. q
great batt!o like that of Manila self
centred japanese cook might continue
his work of decorating an entree or
giving an expression to soup, while
the enemy's guns doomed against the
side of his range or copper pans.
While the space that is given to COM
fort on mau-of-war is necessarily
limited, its interior is npa to strike
one as luxurious in comparison with
the stern and frowning exterior of the
great lead coiored monsters. The
galley is as thoroughly up to date in
it's appointments aud cooking arrange
meats as the kitchen of modern resi-
dence.
Tt ere is large hotel range with
splendid ovens, from which each day
tho cook turns out tempting brown
Loses and even pies and cakes, that
must make many Jackie think of
home. There are great copper soup
boilers and coffee boilers in which
tls.se two items of the mcnvare pre-
rared by the gallon. Then there are
copper pots aud pans on shelves in
rows, bright and shining rs those in
the kitchen of our great New York
hotels. There are cupboards, too, in
which the sugar and the spices and
other cooking condiments are kept all
nicely labelled, for there is no slip
shod housekeeping on a man-of-war.
There are other cupboards with sliding
doors and spring locks that whea
opened disclose rows of cutlasscs aud
rifles and great long revolvers in
racks from the door to the ceiling.
The china, silver and glassware
used on our American battleships are
pretty enough to delight woman,
and women as rule are particular
about china. The sailors have ruder
ware, but that used at the c!1lcers'
mess is white and fragile, with a de-
vice of an anchor in gol on each
piece. The glasses, which are fixed
in stationary asks on sideboard in
the wardroom, which, by the way, is
drawing room, sitting room, dining
room, all In one, are Of cut ware and
are orDamented Yithza naval device.
Some ofsthe battleships hare gorgeous
silver services, bnt that ordinarily
used is annp to-date and complete set
of spoons, knives and forks in all the
different sizes. Then there are in
dividual pepper mills in silver, salt
collars, and salvers. ali of which are
kept in shining pcrfe ;tion.
The sailors on board our American
ships live much better than the work
ingman OF land. When in port they
have fresh meats and vegetables, and
when at sea for any length of time the
terrors of the old time regimen of salt
pork and salt beef are mitigated by
supply of canned vegetables which
give variety. Besides this, Uncle Sam
is so generous to his men that the al-
lowance for each is too much, and they
have formed a system of pooling the
supplies which gives each man an
amount of money which he can spend
for extra things for the table.
The officers have their special cook
and, of course. their special foods,
which in port are apt to compare fav-
orably to those offered on the menu of
frstclass hotel. They appoint
caterer and steward from among their
number each month whose duty it is
to look after the welfare of the mess.
The wine mess is contributed to on
shares.
The man in the galley, like the
stokcrs, doesn't get much glory out of
naval warfare, but he is an important
man in his place. Who can tell
whether many glorious victory has
hot resulted from n well-cooked, break
fast or dinner and crushing defeat
followed on an in'digestible pie or q
badly seasoned chop2 Paymaster
Martins coffee must have possessed
the elixir of victory, whether it was
made with an egg, according to rule,
or just thrown together any oil way.
New York Sun.