New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-03-06
RECRUITS FOR THE NAVY,
HOW THE MEN ARE ENLISTED ON THE
RECEIVING SHIP VERMONT.
THEY MUST PASS RIGID EXAMINATIONS As 70
THEIR GENERAL FITNtlSS-TIiE DIFFERENT
RATINGS AND THE DAILY ROUTINE
or THE FUTURE JACK TARs

RATINGS AND THE DAILY ROUTINE
OF THE FUTURE JACK TARs.
Although II is said with truth that Uncle Sam
needs men for his Navy in these days IL u
also true that he does not display airy great en-,
thusiasm just now for enlisting recruits wh1
are absolutely without sea experience. The
great majority of the applicants who have pre-
scented themselves at the Navy Yard in the Ia
week or two have been men who were without
employment and whose aspiration for sea llts
had been fred by the talk since the Maine
disaster Many Of them were accepted, but the
greater number were rejected either on &C.
count of special physical or mental defects o.
because of a general air OF unfitness for the
service Captain Merrill Miller Of the receiv.
inp-ship Vermont said the other day:
I'VE need now seamen and machnsts Of
some experience. Men OF this class no present
themselves are very likely to be taken, pro.
vded there are no particular defects as bar.
riers TO their eligibility. But have enough
for the present Of the raw material Of which
sailors are made. Ianismen as the men Of no
experience are called, are the easiest to get and
Of course the least useful until they have had
considerable training The a has
been at sea even If he has never served On
board modern warship, the better he il fitted to
do well whatever is required of him. He Is not
familiar with the details of his duties. d
course because they involve conditions which
have never confronted him before, but his gen
eral know ledge Of the work 10 be done on ship
board stands him in excellent stead.
Il think one of the best definitions Of seS
manship that | ever heard was that it was
science of makeshft.' The ready seaman must
be able TO devise new means for doing things
when. owing to the circumstances ordinary
methods fail to work. The longer and morS
varied his experience the better he is fitted to do
this"
A CRITICAL EXAMINATION.
The routine through which every recruit nua
go before being finally admitted to serve hb
country on the sea begins in the Navy Yard
here in the recruiting office, the after-berth
deck of the old Vermont The recruiting Officer
looks the applicant over sharply and asks him
the necessary questions regarding his age. ma
tonality qualifications etc. No man who does
rot understand and speak the English Language
can be enlisted. and preference is given TO those
who can read and write Those who are Amer
lean citizens by birth or naturalization. or have
declared their intentions Of becoming citizens
are always desired rather than foreigners. Re
Gently this has been more strongly insisted
upon, and the men who have been enlisted al
the Navy Yard in the last two or three weeks
have been almost without exception American
citizens. Those among them who are Of foreign
birth are mostly "north-countrym '-Norwe.
gians Swedes and Danes.
After the would-be recruit has satisfied The
officer upon the above points, lie is examined -