The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-04-04


irons for his remissness.
Immediately upon the dismissal Of
men from quarters (Which ceremony
always takes place on the spar or main
decN the marine and ships buglers
in unison sound drill call. There is a
round of drills to fit all hands, in all
the ships departments, for every day
in the week. Often several different
drills are in progress on the same
deck. All of the men join in the set
ting-up exercises-calisthen of
sort by no means adapted to kinder
gartens. Most of the men come in for
single-stick drill--a rather Anticipated
drill, this, when it is considered how
remote the probability is of modern
men-o'-war getting sufficiently close
together for cutlasses to be of use.
All hands also have to master the use
of the rifle. The navy tactics differ
widely from the army manual on the
handling of the piece. When man
o'-war is tied UP at a navy yard all
hands generally get a daily dose of bat
talon drill in infantry formation
ashore in the yard on the marines pa
background In foreign ports these
battalions are called Landing parties"
The major portion of ships company
makes up landing party, and the men
and officers accompanying them go
ashore in heavy marching order. They
often cover twenty miles day on the
march, these landing parties, in for
eign ports. The other drills aboard
ship are almost too numerous to be
c.1nn foI all 1a ~ NJ
cordage drill, which means the mas
terry Of all knots used on shipboard;
drills on scientific instruments; 'arm
and away" a hurry affair requiring ex-
IRENE alertness in manning the boats;
'repelling boarders," another antigua
ted but exceedingly athletic drill;
abandon ship" when all hands hastily
provision the boats and sheer off in
them, often in midocearl, when the sea
is CLASSY; collision quarters" a light
ming quick closing Of the doors Of the
water-tight compartments; fire
quarters" hustling bit of hose
stretching work; target practice, with
rifles and revolvers, ana drills a-plenty,
besides, too technical to be referred to
here.
The drills Of the morning ordinarily
last for an hour and half, or until
about ten o'clock, when the men are
dismissed to indulge in another much
required smoke. After half an hours
smoking Turn to" Is again sounded
by the bo'sun's mate, and the men put
the finishing touches to their cleaning
work Of the morning, remaining at this
| until KNOCK Off" is sounded at q
quarter of twelve, when they wash up
| for dinner. Mess-gear for dinner is
piped precisely at noon. About five
| minutes before this the men begin to
| form the beer line. The chief master
at-arms, at the mainmast. serves out
| beer (Which the men pay the BUM
boatmen for) at noon mess gear, and
the beer drinkers have to get in line to
! get their bottles. They are not per-
mitted to take the beer at the mess ta-
| bles Qest they secrete 1t and store up
enough for little spree aboard), and
so many Of them bring their dinners in
their hands out to the beer line, and
give the swinging tables the go by.
At one o'clock Turn to" goes again,
and then for three or sometimes four
hours the men forward put in the
heavy work of the day. The chief boz
SUMS mate, like a provost sergeant in
| the army, always knows where to find
work for the bluejackets. There is al
| ways a paymaster's store-room to be
broken out" and restowed; always a
magazine that needs overhauling
| (Which the men forward despise, fol
| the reason that no smoking Is allowed
| aboard ship while a magazine is OPEN
| always ashes to be hauled up on eleva-
tors from the f1re-rooms, anchors to be
Clipped and reprinted, ammunition
boxes to be red-leaded, ships sides te
be scraped and rubbed to a dazzling
whiteness-in brief, the bo'sun's mate
Of a modern man-o' war could fine
some work to do ON the highly pol.
ished surface of small boys taN
agate. He is never at loss, and one
Of the requirements of his rate is thai
he must always be able to find labor
for four times the number Of a ships
company.
When the men finally knock off al
four or five o'clock the only remaining
duty staring them in the face is the
standing of evening quarters abou
shutdown. They have to clear
up spick- and-span for this, which
is about the same sort of roll
call, with the addition of ten minutes
preliminary calisthenics, as the roll
call in the morning. Then mess-geal
for supper is piped, and when the mea
is over all hands shift into the SLOUGH
lest clothes they possess in their dittJ
bags-those of the crew. that is, who
have not earlier in the day put dowr
their names for visits, more or less
tempestuous, ashore-and settle dow1
for an evening of comfort and enjoy
ment aboard The studious men la,
aft to the library, but the library il
never overcrowded with men forward
seeking books. There is always to-
much going on on deck to make read
ing, letter. writing or other sedentar!
pursuits possible, except for the mos
serious men. The bluejackets and ma
rines who possess musical Instrument
break them out of their ditty bags
and all hands among the musician
play different tunes at one and tn
same time in close proximity to eacl
other, the singers-also singing differ
ent ballads, as rule-at no very grea
distance away. The boxers haste eacl
other with the gloves on the mail
|