The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-06-04
rating to that of an ordinary seaman,
APPROVED PUNISHMENT.

The Spanish bluejacket, standing at
attention during the progress of a drill,
may never know when he is to get the
flat, or even the edge, of a sword across
his back, welded by an officer of
somewhat mpulsive" disposition, as
Blanco might describe an officer who
would order the massacre of the in
mates of a hospital maintained by
Cubans. Spanish bluejackets have been
known to be manned for life by such
vistations of wrath on the part of Off
GERS, The regulation and approved
punishments prescribed for the COR
rection" of offenders aboard ship in the
Spanish navy commonly render their
victims incapable OF performing any
sort of labor, either ashore or afloat,
after they have been thoroughly
through the mill.
The stanchiOn punishment is en-
plOyed for the most trivial offences in
the Spanish navy. The bluejacket who
breaks his liberty by. a few hours
knows that he is in for the stanchion
lash when he returns aboard. The
Spanish sailors who deserted their
ships by the score in New York at the
time of the centenary celebration in
1889, were most of them liberty break
ers who, after having got a whiff of
freedom, could not muster up the nerve
to return to their ships to get the stan
chion lash. The man who is twenty
minutes late in returning from his
leave Of absence from a Spanish man
O'-War gets as many Cat-O'- -nine-tail
blows on his bare back, while his
wrists are securely lashed to a stan
chion, as the officer of the deck cares
to have inflicted upon him. 1t all de-
pends upon the state Of the liver of
the officer of the deck. Now, in the
old naVies of the world, when the cat
O'-nine-tails was a recognized institu-
tiOn-and as for the American and
British navies, that was more than
thirty-hVe years agO-the man form
ally sentenced by court martial to
be whipped had at least the COnsola-
tiOn of knowing that he was to be
whipped by a superior in rank. An
old-time bO'sun's mate was ordinarily
delegated to perform the whipping, and
petty officers were not whipped at all.
Not so in the Spanish navy. From the
chief otiicers-whO in our navy are men
Of dignity, experience and character,
as they must be to gain and hold the
confidence and respect of the rest of
the enlisted mcn-down to the newly
shanghaied landsmen, all hands for
ward are whipped and sorely whipped.
Nor is the task of whipping them dele
gated to superiors in rank. 1t is an
actual fact that the apprentice boys
in the Spanish navy are the reCOg-
nized ships whippers. The spectacle
of an understood lad laying the lash
on the naked back of chief petty off,
Ger, from whom the lad is supposed to
derive his sea knowledge, is character
istically Spanish and Abyssinian.
The rule o. thumb" is another COM
mon punishment in the Spanish navy
the suspending of offenders by the two
thumbs, so that their feet barely touch
the ground, from overhead gratings.
The writer once attended a mass on
board Spanish cruiser i'm Chinese
waters, The mass was celebrated on
the birth deck forward. In full view
of all hands who attended the mass
was the ships brig, on the berth deck
up in the eyes of her. Eight men were
suspended by their thumbs from the
grating covering the hatch leading
from the to'glaaant foe sle, and their
| groans We're mingled with the respon-
ses of the men to the words of the chap
lain.
FIENDISH FISH DIET.
Another feature Of the Spanish