The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-06-15

SeG IOOC III OF uQQer Gle 1OrecdsCle,
where, after lights out, there was only
the dim illumination Of a single stand
ing light, than they would have to
dodge all manner Of missiles, soup
and bully" cans. checking blocks,
mess gear. boots, anything and every
thing throwable that the sailors and
marines, in or out of their hammocks,
first laid their hands upon. On such
occasions the disliked officers had but
one thing to do, and that was to
travel aft as fast as their legs could
carry them. They could make COM
plant to the commanding officer the
next day, but they rarely secured the
punishment of the men. When one
of the fighting admirals Of to-day was
a commander he was regaled one
morning with the tale Of woe of a
snappy young ensign who had been
treated to dose of flying gear under
forecastle on the previous night.
'sDo you know the men?" the COM
mander asked the ensign.
The ensign named few of them.
est serves you blasted good and
right, said the commander, who was
and still is. rough and ready and a
trife profane. ''The men you We
named are the best men I've got on
my ship. I've been shipmates with
some of them ever since my mildly
days, sir, and l never had any trouble
with them. If you had treated them
right they'd have treated you right,
and as an officer on my ship should be
treated. I'D advise you to put in an
application for your transfer, sir
The young ensign, now a senior
lieutenant, tells this story upon him
self, and as he afterwards became one
of the most popular officers in the
navy among the men forward, he evi
dently pro6ted by the lesson.
While such acts as heaving missiles
at disliked officers are not done in the
navy to-day, the blue jackets adopt
other methods Of getting back at
severe or imperious oficers-in times
of peace, that is. For example, they
s'lay down. on the disliked officers.
The amount Of work that a. disaffected
ships company can't do within a
given space of time is simply prodigi-
GUS. In coaling ship, for example,
the men forward seize the opportunity
to make the disliked officer an object
of derision among his brother officers
and to put him in a very embarrassing
predicament before his commanding
officer. They wait until the officer
who has incurred their displeasure
takes the deck and assumes command
Of the work Of coaling. and then they
proceed to give an exhibition of how
frantically gang of sailormen can
work without doing anything. They
shovel away furiously, but, somehow
or other, very little coal seems to find
its way over the side and into the
bunkers. The blue jackets in the
coal lighters pant and perspire under
the strain of labor that looks quite
terrific, but there is lack of headway
in the coaling of the ship. The off,
Ger of the decks disliked by the men
may chafe and mutter deep, dark
things under his breath, but this
doesn' t get the coal into the bunkers.
When he makes his report to the
commanding officer of the amount Of
coal that has been got aboard during
his watch, it is found by comparison
that it is only about one-third the
amount that was hoisted over the side
during the watch of the preceding
officer Of the deck, who happened to
be popular with the men. A matter
Of this sort always sets commanding
officer to thinking; for men who are
old enough to be commanders of men
of-war have learned by experience
that it is as easy as launching a dingy
for naval officer to acquire and hold
the goodwill of enlisted men, and
that the usefulness aboard ship of an
officer who has sacrificed the confidence
and respect of the men is seriously
impaired.
There can hardly be any such thing
as discipline on board man-of-war
when the dissatisfaction of the ship S
company is not directed against any
single officer, but. includes the whole
after part of the ship. About twenty
years ago one of the big wooden ships,
with crew of nearlp 400 men, on a
long cruise in the South Pacific, put
in at the Island of Tahiti. The men
forward were sullen and ugly. Some