Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-04-16

summoning pipe to moan or whimper or
soreech; but whatever it's tune 1t is the
foremost business Of the bIuejacket or of
The marine-of any man forward-to have
his ears keyed to the music and to dance
to it wherever aboard he may be or what
ever he may be doing-else a while later
he is likely to find himself engaging in a
lopsided conversation with the skipper on
the starboard side of the main stick for
his dereliction. 1t makes no difference
whether. when the bo'sun's mate shrills his
assembling blast and bawls "An hands to
quarters, the bluejacket is pottering in the
depths Of the extreme after magazine or
picking swab strands way forward in the
equipment yeoman's berth deck store room
-when the pipe gees, OF any other call Of
the gangway bosun's mate or of the ships
bugier for all hands is sounded it is I'D to
the bluejacket to scramble for the main
deck as If In fear of wraiths. if he knows
the policy of keeping well off the shoals
and the lee shores of trouble. Ships calls,
whether OF the pipe or of the bugle are as
imperative as the mandates of miners
meetings: No sane man-o-wars man dis
regards them, awake, and If he is asleep his
trouble is no whit less therefor There are
many man-of-war drills that are best
sprung on crews in the middle of the night
Tor the purpose of testing their activity,
an, Ina . tmeir aoii.y TO shake themselves from
Inc thraidom of sleep in double-quick time
me Old man-of-war's man, therefore, al
ways sleeps with half an ear open.
Collision Quarters.
collision quarters" for example is a
call that is often sounded In the middle of
the night on man-of-war at sea. The
man forward who fails, within the fraction
Oh minute after that call goes, to scram-
Die out OF his hammock, loosely lash and
STOW the hammock out of the way and
appear for roll call at his station-the Off
GERS being always on hand at the stations.
Tor they get the tip in adyance-is in for
sight of trouble at the mas. the next day
Inc men probably hurry more to answer
coilslon quarters than to respond to any
oinef CALI Tor the excellent reason that the
chlef feature of the collision Quarters drill
Is the swift closing of all compartment
doors. and the man who finds himself tight
~ locked, say, between water-tiehf doors
IN perth deck alleyway is completely de-
p Pr OF the chance even of struggling to
MS rightful pest in the drill and can make
no excuse to his accusing officer Moreover
a man thus fixed, when collision quarters
Is sounded at sea, really has no means of
A an''' whether the drill is actually a
uLhl On the occasion that catches him or
whether it Is bona fide collision.
II is the same when that rather startling
.em vi me DO sun mate at the gangway,
An hands abandon ship" is howIed out
In the middle of the night on the decl Of
a snip at sea. Quite aside from the desire
10 keep their names Off the derelicts' re-
port DOCK. the men forward on an Ameri-
Ca manor -war certainly do answer quick
y to this call. The very old-timers arc
generally prepared for II about a minnie
anead OF the sounding Of the CALL The en-
glnes are stopped about a minute before
All hands abandon ship is passed. Tn.
men who have served in the navy for many
years invariably awake out of the so,Ind.
est sleep when the engines stop. Thus. a.,
ways minute or so before the bo'sun.s
mate let's out his rousing word for this
fh1
their heads over the gun'ls of their ham
Knocks, listen intently for a second or so
ana then reach out and kick the hammocks
OF the men swinging alongside them, With
the grun remark, stand by for a dunn
out O. that, We louis; ye'll hear pipe music
In twenty seconds This is the reason
why the old-timers are invariably dressed
and full of the activity OF wakefulness
screech.
All Hands Abandon Shin.
It is realistic business enough, this "AI
hands-abandon-shp'' drill. 1t is not merely
preparation for deserving the ship. but all
hands actually do take to the boats. after
provisioning and watering them with sys-
tematic rapidity. Two minutes after the
word has been passed, every ships boat
has swung from fits dav1ts into the water,
and a minute later every boat is thorough
ly provisioned and watered. Within four
AAiAAuSSS, oiu Ohlch IA inuCH QuicheT Time,
every man of the ships company from the
commanding officer down is occupying the
station in the boat called for by his ships
number, and then the command, Sheer
off," Is given. The boats are hauled away a
couple of hundred feet from the deserted
vessel, and she rides without a human
sou aboard her, often, when the drill Is
gone through In mid-ocean, I'm a sea that
the landsman would account terrific. Then
the word, Board is passed, and within
eight minutes at the most all hands are
not only on board again, but every boat