The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-08-22

He's An "Enllstsd rIan's 0fllcer"
and That's the Secret.


when Commodore schley gave or
| ders' to the Brooklyn's officer OF the
1deck at the beginning Of the fight with
ICerveras fleet. tbat the man down sbe-
low In the engine and fire rooms should
! be kept Informed the progress of
| the battle, he did an eminently Schley-
like thing. Schley has the reputation
OF being a generous. big-hearted man
among the bluejackets throughout the
whole American navy--an "enlisted
mans officer" they call him--and he
has earned the reputation from his
MILDLY days. The old-timers tell many
a story illustrative Of Schley's kind
| liness as a ship commander. f
One of these stories reverts to tho
period when Schley was the skipper OF
one OF the cid cruisers on the Msdi-
| terranean station. One beautiful,
balmy Christmas morning Schley ship
| pulled into the harbor OF Villefranche
| The ship had been steadily cruising for
| a couple of weeks, and. OF course, the
men had had no shore liberty. SO,
when the mudhook was dropped In VII
lefranche harbor the gangway bo'sun's
mate, at the order of the officer of the
| deck passed the word that all hands
| forward who were entitled to liberty
could put their names down with the
| ships writer for day ashore. The
| od-conduct men set up q cheer at the
| passing of the word. and they rushed
| to the ships writer's desk TO get their
names down. In all about ESQ OF the blue
| Jackets were entitled to hit the beach,
as the sailors call going ashore on libcr-
| ty. But there were about seventy-five OF
| the bluejackets whose names on the
/ vIAt n L.
| fore, "quarantined;" that is. sentenced
| to remain aboard ship for varying peri
DDS ranging from ten days up to three
! months. The offenses OF the quaran-
| tined men were OF a minor nature. re-
| quiring discipline. none of them having
done anything serious. Some Of the very
best men in the ships company
were, therefore. booked to remain
aboard ship on this sunshiny Christmas
day, while they watched their happy
shipmates. done up in their best mus
| tering clothes depart over the side for
a merry whirl ashore.
The men ready to go on liberty were
! mustered I'm patches on the quarter
| deck and away they went in at-loads
jinglins the American gold In chamois
bags suspended by strings beneath
their mastering shirts. The quarantine
ed men, looking dismal and down in the
mouth stood around in silent parties,
smoking their pipes. and watching the
departure Of their more fortunate ship
| mates. When the last cutter-load Of
liberty-bound men had showed off for
the shore. Commander Schley came out
| Of his cabin door and stepped up the
poop ladder for his morning constitu-
tional He strolled up and down with
his hands behind him. occasionally
glancing in the direction of the depart
ing steam cutter, filled with shore
Il "a al orlr rafc ic Chav
Schley began to size up the disconso-
late-looking groups OF quanantined men
slouching around on the spar deck up
for'ard of the main stick He looked at
them out of the corner OF his eve for
a while and then he stepped down the
ladder and came forward
You boys hop into your mastering
clothes" said Schley, "and when the
steam cutter returns you may go OFF to
the beach and enjoy yourselves. I'll
give orders to the paymaster to let you
all have whatever part OF your withheld
pay you'll need for day ashore"
The happy men set up cheer when
Schley started aft. He wheeled and re-
turned to the main stick.
"And,I say" he put in, as a sort of
afterthought, "come back right this
time, you fellows. Act like American
sailors, and there'll be no need Of quar-
antining you any more. I don't want
man of you to have to be whipped
aboard in a bo'sun's chair when he
comes off to the ship this time"
The men took up the cheer again
where they had left II off. and there
wasn't a man in that quarantined gang
that wasn't marked into the log "clean
and sober" when the liberty party re-
turned aboard late on Christmas night.
American bluejackets put on their hon.
or by kindly commander never break
their parole
In the old navy the bluejackets had a
custom Of asking the skipper to
"whitewash the books" on New Years
morning. Several dozen OF the quaran-
tined men whose names had been in
scribed on the bad conduct lists for tri-
vial offenses. would assemble at the
mast and ask to have an interview
with the commanding officer. When the
skipper made his appearance out of his
cabin and walked forward to the mast
the leader OF the bluejackets would
step out Of the gang and quietly hand
the commander new bucket filled with
whitewash and big whitewash brush
sticking in II. This pantomime meant
that the quarantined men asked the
skipper to "whitewash the books. and
to erase all Of the names off the bad
conduct lists. thereby giving all hands
chance to begin the New Year right
If the skipper took the bucket from the
| HdHus vi the piutJdcket tney would set
up cheer. for they knew that the com
manding officers acceptance OF the
bucket meant that he would accede to
their pantomimic request. But n the
skipper shook his head and declined "a
receive the bucket. the men would qui-
city disperse. always looking cheap
but not making any criticisms
Schley never turned down gang Of
uuarrantined bluejackets who presented
him with New Year gift Of bucket
of whitewash He invariably white
| washed the books" for the men. His
ship was living in the harbor Of Monte
| video one New Year morning. and the
gang with the whitewash bucket was
unusually large. Some of the men In the
gang before the skipper had only been
ouarrantined for three or four days
When the second-class Rinner's mate
handed the bucket to Schley. he took
II. smiling refiectivelv.
'The surgeon" said he. turning TO ex-
| ecutive officer. was talking TO me the
other day about giving the men for-
ward some sort Of tonic while we
cruise in these low Iatitudes. Well. the