The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-26
MARINES OF OUR NAVY
NUMEROUS AND VARIED ARE THE
DUTIES ASSIGNED TO THEM.
They Are Sailors and Policemen ON
shipboard and Soldiers When They
Are Ashore other Services.


doesn't it. that a mans a good deal more
of man, and has less scare about him
when he's got eighteen inches of steel arm
or in front of him, than when there's moth
ing between him and eternity but an army
blouse and a blue flannel shirt? That's one
difference between a man-o'-war's man and
marine" said a corporal of Company c,
First Battalion, United States marines,
"but you've got to consider, too, that it
amt all the time that sailor lad can get
behind the steel. and like us he doesn't al
ways want to.
mo sailorman has to know the duties of
a sailor and soldier, too, but what he
does have to know he knows, and the ma
rine isn't peg behind him.
IT you want to know what marine is
I'll tell you this, First, he's got to be
good man all over, and to know that when
he gets an order it's for him to carry it
out, even If it's to make a corpse of him
self without getting a chance to shoot back.
lie Is a sailor afoat and policeman, too,
and When he is ashore he is both of those
and a soldier in the bargain"
AS far as the duties of the two are con-
cerned, the marines comparative estimate
Is correct, but on other lines it is a mooted
question to-day whether or not the marine
should be deprived of at least one of his
duties. The Jack tar and the naval officer
of the line have for half a century consid-
cred him the fifth Wheel of the coach.
We're all brothers in time of war;" said
a sailor, but the cut of marines jib
doesn't come up to our notions, and it won't
until he gets rid of his gun and learns to
tell the difference between a jew's-eye and
a bowline.
In no other branch of the United States
service is there any man who must, in order
to be of any use at all, know how to do we'll
so many different things. Beginning with
being "a good man all over" the marine re-
cruit, if he happens to have seen no sort of
military service BEFORE must begin by
learning the drills and manual of arms He
becomes first an infantryman, expert in
every evolution possible to body of men
on foot, for he has to leave the ship when
there is work to be done ashore, and he
must be able to move with precision under
the most CALLING fire and do it in the short
e eSavsps 0ss nd space OF time The Ak the
with scorn when his blue and scarlet uni
form IS yet new become implements of war
fare in his hands, and that he may fight
long and we'll he is taught to delve and heap
until q breastwork is built.
HARD WORK.
Even then his duties do not end and the
recruit grumbles often and wishes he was
free when he is ordered to get into the drag
ging straps of light artillery piece, light
only in name, and haul it at full tilt down
into the ditch that he has dug and UP on the
other side to the crown OF the intrenchment
No one else comes up to load, aim and fire it
for him, because he attacks with the fleet
and makes way for the army. He is taught
in his drill all that a field artillery man
knows, and no one who wears the blue can
yank howitzer around more skilfully than
a marine, nor Is there one any prouder of it
than he is. He knows how far his gun can
carry, he knows what shot will bite the
deepest and the louder his gun barks the
happier he is.
When he has learned all this, but is still
IN barracks, he congratulates himself that
he is a marine full-hedged, but he has yet to
cilmD the ships side and learn that besides
being able to behave himself he must teach
the Jack tar to be good as well, but not by
moral suasion.. When the salt air gets into
his nostrls and he finds that standing guard
at ganSway or amidships under canvas
aWlng is not such a bad thing after ALL he
IS suddenly, directed to strip and go below
TO obey orders. Down he goes to a coal
bunker, if the ship happens to be coaling in
q hurry, and takes four hours or so at pass
That night he may be put on watch at
the captains cabin, or If any of the tars
happen to, have a shore leave and come
aboard at midnight a bit the worse for bad
whisky, he must arrest them by force Of
arms and stand guard over them until
morning. The interim he spends in telling
to be bad. This is also his moral lesson,
by which. he not only learns the conse-
quences Of evil doing, but eventually be-
comes skilled in administering to the moral
needs of his rival sailor man.
He appreciates the dignity of the place of
prosecutor, which falls to him at the next
then may not be the best for the ears of
moral teachers, but new swear word or
two learned now and then, that will enrich
his vocabulary when his knapsack straps
bite or his feet blister on parade, is but
matter of education and he does not mind.
He is the vindicator of the law, and when
he chances to err it will be no Jack tar
who will look him up, but a fellow-marine
who has, perhaps, himself been intoxicated
soft. The prisoner remembers, learns the
trick and pays the debt when the chance
comes his way.
Another week afloat finds him on guard
at every point in the ship. He knows every
compartment and gangway has watched
the magazines, carried messages to the off,
GERS, saluted the admiral and, by way of
training has even walked in the stoke hole,
but. in spite of his seemingly endless list
or duties, the end is still far away.
TARGET PRACTICE.
When the ship goes, out for target prac-
tice he finds it out. and with a sailor over
him-perhaps one over whom he has stood
guard more than once-he learns to handle
magazines and to work the lifts themselves
He has already been instructed in the work.
ing of the guns, from the heavy turret guns
to the six-pounders, and then comes the
practice with them which renders him cap
able of taking Jacks place and doing the
work that he does just well.
In the days of the old Chesapeake or the
Constitution the marine had to know how
to splice a rope or furl a SAIL but nowadays
he does not need to. The chances are. how
ever, that he could do both If called upon.
He has heard the traditions and legends of
his kind and has looked with no little dread
at the fighting tops, where he knows that
he will have to go sooner or later. He does
not have TO cling to ratline, one minute
almost in the sea, and the next at the very
top of the heavens, but he gets very dizzy
when, for the first time, he feels the ship
sinking away from under him as he looks
down, but he learns that too, and can make
the little guns in the fighting top talk as
loud as. the best of the Jackies.
When he has learned to come down to
deck again at a dignifed pace and to land
safely upon his feet his education is prac-
tically completed, and it has taken him six
months tn He considers the pra r.