The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1898-09-14
JACK AND HIS GRoG.
SAILORS DEVICES FOR SMUGGLING
LIQUOR aEoARD SHIP.


" 20 Be squeIehed = what Ii Means
when Jackie Combs Hts Must.si with
= Marlsne Spike.
There is perhaps less drunkenness
smorg the enlisted men of the United
States navy than among the men for
ward cf any of the worlds big sea fit
cuts. said a naval officer of experience
20 the writer. Drunkenness passed
with the old navy. In the days of the
old Tuscarora or the Tennessee, as the
sailors put il, it was common enough
thing TO see about three-quarters Of q
ships company returning from shore
liberty in such state that they had to
be hoisted over the side in bosun's
chairs to save the trouble Of carrying
them up the gangway. But that sort Of
thing is NO longer endured. Men who
go ashore after having remained aboard
ship for a considerable period sIre ex
pected by the officer Of the deck to re-
turn Just trife exhilarated, but they
never return quite incapable.
"Men who exhibit the slightest indi-
cations Of being addicted to drink are
turned down fatty by the examining
surgeons when they present themselves
for enlistment nowadays The surgeons
tell rie niat they can tell from mans
eyes whether be has ever suffered severe
ly from excessive drinking. no matter
how long the man may have abstained
from drink before seeking enlistment
"If men addicted to drink do happen
10 get by the examining surgeon and re-
veal their weakness by going ON tears
every time they go ashore, the navy
gets rid Of them by simply 'beaching'
them-that is. by putting them on the
beach with their bags and hammccks
wherever their ship may happen to be
in a home port A man cannot be
'beacbed' for any cause in q foreign
country.
"There are, Of course, any number OF
men in the navy, and rattling fine sail
ormen, too, who have a natural predi-
lection for drink, and these men the
officers keep an eye on for their own
coed Sailors are bound to try TO snug
gle liquor aboard ship. If they drink
considerably on their shore liberties,
they know that when they return
aboard they are in for big heads when
they awaken in their hammocks the
next morning, and in trying to safely
bring bit of liquor off TO the ship they
have in mind the taking of "A hair Of
the dog to sort of ease them up when
they turn to at all hands the next
morning
Sometimes they get the liquor safe
ly aboard, but generally they do not
Every enlisted man ON United States
man-of- war, except the chief master ut
arms and the top sergeant Of marines, is
searched at the gangway upon his re-
turn from shore liberty by the gangway
corporal of the marine guard, under the
inspection of the officer of the deck, for
the purpose of ascertaining if he has
any liquor concealed about his clothes
The men have picked up some ingenious
schemes Tor smuggling liquor in such
way that the corporal of the guard is
fooled. For example, the men on the
China station buy long eelskins from
the coolies, fill the skins with about
a quart of liquor and wind them around
their necks beneath the collars Of their
shirts
at took the officers on the China sta
tion q long while TO get on TO this
scheme. Then the men who felt that
they surely needed a drink the next
morning after returning from liberty
discovered the plan of filling rubber
bag with liquor while ashore and Of
slowing the bag next to their waist
bands. The liquor smugglers. who OBJ
served that the searching corporal only
passed his hands up and down on the
outside of their clothes, then resorted
to the plan OF tying bottles Of liquor
with string On the inner side Of their
legs, beneath their trousers, but any
searching corporal knows all about this
one nowadays
The cox 'un of the steam cutter, who
makes dozens of trips ashore a day
when the cutter is running boat. has
to be carefully watched. for he is liable
to be tampered with by the men who
want liquor pretty badly, and his OPP
portunities for getting liquor aboard
are many Every once in awhile, upon
the cutters return to the ship, it is
searched by the officer of the deck, and
the latter often finds liquor neatly
slowed among the cutter coal, in the
cutter bilges or even in the boiler tanks
When this happens. the cox'un Of the
cater is in trouble He gets a big rake
of from the men for his liquor Snug
CLING, which accounts for the chances
he will take
The ships painter has to be watched
too. He is a petty officer, and he has
charge of the ships alcohol, which is
chiefly used for the making of shellac
to paint the lower decks
Some of the sailors like a dose of
alcohol mixed with coffee for 'toning'
and SOLDERING up purposes, and as the
ships painter is occasionally corruptible
End carries the keys of the alcohol tanks
there is quite little drinking of this
mixture on some of the ships where old
timers predominant. The old fat feet
have indeed been known 10 drink the
shellac after it has been prepared for
the sake of tie alcohol in it, and there
is an expression in the navy among the
enlisted men. If you see jackie comb
ing his mustache with a marliDe spike,
yon know what he's been at, that is
very significant.
But for all this, as l say, there is
an exceedingly small percentage Of
drinking men in our navy in compari
son with similar figures for other big
navies The occasional drinkers in our
service. when they return from the
beach bit under the weather, are
merely put in the brig overnight and
permitted TO go to work without pun
ishment the next morning. - Wash
ington Star.
ANNANANA%NANy~NeNNt
: 1893. TENTH
a - n "A