The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-12

FEEDING A WARsHIP's CREW.
How Officers and Men Have Their
Food Cooked and Served.
From the New York Sun.

FROM the New YORK Sun.
The galley of a United States man-or-
war is about the busiest compartment
aboard the ship In dme of peace. The work
of preparing three meals n day, as will APP
pear upon reflection, for from 200 to 600
men is no minor affair; and yet the bust
ness is carried on without hitch and the
meals arc always ready, piping hot, at the
very instant tho bo'sun's mate, consult
ing his steel-cased watch makes his scrape
to the officer of the deck and gets the word
to pipe mess-gear. Visitors aboard our
ships often talk admlringly of the system
that appears to attend the preparation OF
the meals
The food for both the officers and the
men forward is all prepared In the same
galley and cooked on the same range. and
on large ships the galley Is frequently the
scene of the labors of as many as twenty
mess cooks; yet there are only occasional
ly moments of friction In the galley. gen.
orally over the matter OF an alleged seIz.
ure OF an inordinate amount OF range
space; otherwise, the work of getting the
meals of all hands proceeds like clock
work. 1t might be ungallant to suppose
that II would be difficult for twenty wo-
men, each of them with Separate inter-
$3.50 Al AAlG pitdHAH8 Oh distinctly
organized messes, TO get along with one
another with such entire amlcableness
Within the cramped space OF O man-of-
war gailey-and all man-of-war galIeys
are cramped-as do the men with Slowing
pans on their watch arms for rating
badges This would perhaps not be possl-
bic II 1t were not for the diplomacy. and
finally the arbiirament of threatened
clouting, from which there Is no appeal of
the chief ships cook, who is the super.
ht~ndent OF the galley. The boss ship's
COOK doesn't do any cooking himself. and
ne sees to IL that the various mess aoolfs
perform their labors without any auper-
nous man-o-war chawing or treading on
one another's toes. When ecraps arise az
10 the rights of individual mess cooks to
certain portions Of the cooking range. the
ships cook settles the business with a
word often with mere nod, and Il should
Do set down that he Is no whit more mar
IaI 10 the cooks for the officers messes
than TO the mess cooks for the men.
me frst meal OF the day on an Ameri-
can man-of-war is no sooner over and the
gear washed and slowed away than prep
arations begin for the next. II should he
noted that the mess cooks themselves AZ
none of the dishwashIng or siopDine az 40
tafs call the labor of the strikers Every
mess cook has at least one striker whom
he pays out Of his extra salary for do,no
the dishwashine and other sculllon work
ana some of them have three or four
strikers. Most of the cooks on American
men-of-war are shipped as landsmen. but
many of them earn the wages OF cher
petty of1cers. The pay Of a landsman is
only SIG month, but there are cooks
for chief petty officers meeses IN the
navy who receive from the men belonging
to the messes as much as so a month for
their services. The messes may pay their
cooks whatever they choose, but the low
est paid man-of-War mess cook for his
services is SIS month.
The officers mess cooks are mostly jap
anese or Chinese. In the old navy the
officers cooks were nearly all weil-in-
structed negroes, but during the past ten
years the caterers of the officers nesses
have secured the enlistment OF the Orien-
tails for cooks, because of their ecrupu-
lous cleanliness and their conscientious
moss. In addition, all of the officers messes
are provided with stewards, who are On
listed men-usually, too, japanese or
Chtnamen-whoSe business il is to do the
buying ashore, under the direction of the
caterers Of the messes, who are members
of the messes elected each month by their
messmates. The steward of the chief pet
ty officers mess is generally the payrnas-
ter's yeoman himself a member of the
mess and he Is always accused by his
messmates Of making a good thing out
of them. None Of the cooks has any Mill
tary duty to perform worth mentioning,
and few of them put on their mastering
uniforms except to go ashore or TO stand
inspections and musters. The strikers.
however, whom the cooks select at IAN
com, and to whom they pay few dollars
a month for performing the dirty work.
have 70 do all of the regular ships stunts
called for by their ratings i'm addition TO
their scullion work Apprentice boys used
to perform most Of the work Of the
strikers but the officers. recognizing tho
fact that it is to these apprentice lads
that the United States navy must iook fer
its trained enlisted material, are NOWADAYS
frownlng upon the practice.
Mess cooks for the men forward on
American men-of-war are awakened by the
corporal Of the marine guard about an
hour before "ail hands" IL sounded at $50
In the morning. The cooks for the officers
messes rub their eyes and hop out of their