The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-08-07
MULLIGANS IN THE NAVY.
THEY ARE POPULAR AND THEY ARE
ABLE TO HOLD THEIR OWN.

A nth OF March Trick Played by Them
Upon u Fellow Disappearance
ofDonoVAn-A MULTI Went Ashore
aud Vowed He'd Never Enlist Again.
W~AsHTNoTos. Aug. Gin the navy. Onward.
they call an Irishman q MulliEan. 1t is q term
Of good nature. 1t is rather n distinction to DO
u MulllGan aboard an American mun-o'-war,
Not that there are few of them. but that they
are popular fore and aft, All the officers like
the Mu!ligans. All tho men forward, not Null
liRans themselves. have got to like the Multi
gans. II they can't bring themselves to like tho
Mulligans. then they've got 20 keep stlll tongues
In their heads about their dislike, anyhow.
There Is not a MulligaD in the American Navy
who can't hold his own with any Of them when
II comes TO n scrap. aud the Mulligans are
handled with u deal OF respect for this reason.
A Mulligan need not necessarily have come to
this country from Ireland. but, II the descend
ant OF Irish people, he must exhibit some OF
the characteristics OF the genuine products OF
the old sod In order to achieve a reputation as u
MulliEan OF the right sort. A majority OF the
MulliRans OF the American Navy belong to the
black gangs Of ships--that is, they are attached
In various capacities to the engineering de-
partments. There are a few Irish deckhands
In the outfit, and some Of them are even chief
petty officers, but ono rarely happens upon a
VI uS-blto Alloh bNuhloh. ~ Vi Lie
deckhands aboard men Lofty war seem too trivial
for the Mulllgan-polishing up a bit of bright
work with n wisp Of waste, swabbing gratings.
and that sort OF thing. The Mulligan takes to
the black gang because he wants to see himself
accomplishing something for his Government
wages. Below. in the grimy gang. he shovcls
coal, or crawls through greasy boilers. or hoists
half-ton buckets Of ashes-Gots heavy action
with his muscles and achieves physical con-
quests over dead weight. Therefore. he feels
that he is earning his pay.
The Mulligan has all kinds OF fun with him
self and with his shipmates aboard men of war.
He has the most fun in picking upon his fellow
IMulligans, and In making them red-headed. to
borrow q phrase Of the beach. For example.
the Mulligans serving on one Of the big cruisers
Yard on the nth of March last had plenty Of
fHn with a Grst-class fireman named Mqdigan--
the OUTFIT for a month or SO, There We're
some things in this country that didn't ex-
aetly suit him. The American Protective
him, He talked about that Organization ali
the time. He dilated upon the awful fate he
the association. 1t was a hobby of Madigan
from thu The day iE, he join4e 3D. his shiP; and he couldn't
the outfit didn't care n rap whether the Ameri-
can, Protective Association made its points
FUN Sui9f in e telling Him MI Mad isSy e q the trem a MdoIs l 2oi ID
the organization was acquiring upon the mu-
nicipal. State and Federal governments in this
country.
On the 18th of March Madlgan's ship took on
q new Chinese mess, attendant. HI was the
Mott street. and he ached TO do things to please
all hands. A lot OF Madigan's tormentors got
t oat bfs 5ut ar9F inT bi the T ThiR9 hnS nd and pointed tinted
eyer to do with the Chinaman's duties, but no
didn't know that. and he was flattered over the
they produced a ditty box-it happened to be-
MISUNDERSTANDING with a pot filed with
change the color Of the ditty box from its dun
brown hue TO that OF the contents OF tho
SSeima5'5B!sstaY' ar 9aS h 'aiTsrtS Of t al h rbihsm ans,
p piSht h shth teou Ehen hf he T Ssd p dGlPs { Inst d1 t4S
box orange the friends OF Madigan instructed
the Chinaman. who had some little skill with
The, four, sides Of the ,I56 f the letters tiers a. a.
T A." The Ghinaman did as he was told. He
dIttI fR Rh1 lettering three Of the sides Of The
H5SrH 1" PA. aG +. X T$S iI sasS aiSsin RRegn q To9iG Ihs
game above from the freroom, whore he, had
dd!!dat aind the Box. al and re Re came cam 1 70 ne 6re ak
friends had scattered away from the Chinaman.
who was industriously doing his "A. 7. A."
When Madigan caught sight Of the box the
to his vocabulary, Of Connemara Gaelic, The
assembled on the, fo'c'sle taking the thing in.
was that the bland-faced Chinaman was q hired
citation, paid to insult man-'o-war,,s men Of the
american Navy IN particular. The %Chinaman
stupor. but he went rlghton withthc "A. P. A"
lettering. He only knocked oil when Madi-
S Sn9o sailed He'd up Ip, to him him gave him one bard Ps9ke
up in his arms IS as AS 3 small ii boy handles Rtsh a fSx tern tern
rier. carried him to the starboard Gangway and
rier relieves himself Of a load of bricks. The
zimmerman couldn't swim. but he had to swim.
scene was funny when he Stood at the heI mast taf
s SsIpr red 5G lbof eomm 11iiggddbIn officer dai accusing the
70 the skipper ana the "G9hh tsnama ia's sSatt iFrsdd
Cantonese; The commanding officer couldn't
make head or tail of what it was all about. Be
Celestial. on his left. and, collared by
the m ma as mad an Irish
qHarterdeck, on his, right. The skipper got It
an wrong at first as to the real culprit. and was
brig. Then the officer Of the deck walked in
and explained the thing properly. producing
and the skipper turned aft to hide his grins,
In honor OF the day Madigan was turned loose,
~ BE- regards al Chinese mess attendants in
tective Association down TO the present time.
tAGo ndao OF years ago the fiiaG?hip Of the Med
take Tim Donayan chic carpenter' mate, along.
Dopayqn had been ashore two days overtime.
b hodr when ne enm az aboard: lust as the mud;
ttired. TOT He wasn't slammed into. the brig
l0r MS nDerty-breaking, but the skipper de-
cided TO reserve a good roast for him when the
Mulligan should get sober enough to attend to
him; Tho anchor anne up, and away the ship
started for a port n hundred miles or so away.
Donavan had gone up forward when he came
aboard. and went to sloep. with his legs stick
ing down one OF the torpedo tubes.
Nobody paid any attention to him in
the excitement Of getting under way. Az
ter the ship was out of tho port OF
Nice ten knots or so one of the shipwrights,
missing his chief. began to go over the ship
with the inquiry, Where's Donavan 2" No.
body, had seen Donayan since he plunked him
sell down, up n the eyes of the ship. with his
ieet hanging down The torpedo tube. A search
commanding officer was notified. An official
search was made for Donavan. and every nook
van was on the list Of the missing. He was
hunted even IN the wardroom, where the ofl-
the inspiration Of the chiRnti he had foundin
Nice. but he wasn't to be found.
"Donnvan went to sleep with his legs hang
ing down one Of the for'ard torpedo tubes" re-
ported the chief muster-at-arm to the COM
~ ~ NJ n flan sn.I .Ia.