Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1898-08-11
JACK AND HIS GROG.
SAILORS DEVICES FOR SMUGGLING
LIQUOR ABOARD SHIP.
Ingenious Schemes That Are Invented On
ly to Be Squelched - What It Means
When Jackie Combs His Mustache With
q Marline Spike.

When Jackie Combs His Mustache With
q Marline Spike.
"There is perhaps less drunkenness
among the enlisted men of the United
States navy than among the men for
ward Of any of the worlds big sea fit
outs" +" said naval officer Of experience
to the writer. Drunkenness passed
with the old navy. In the days Of the
old Tuscarora or the Tennessee, as the
sailors put it, it was common enough
thing to see about three-quarters Of a
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 asB6<e after having remained aboard
ship for considerable period are 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 me that they can tell from mans
eyes whether he 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
to get by the examining surgeon and re-
veal their weakness by going on tears
every time they 60 ashore, the navy
gets rid Of them by simply 'beaching'
them-that is. by putting them on the
beach with their bags and hammocks
wherever their ship may happen to be
In a home port. A man cannot be
'beaohed' for any cause in a foreign
country.
''There are, Of course, any number OF
men in the navy, and rattling fine sail
ormen, too, who have natural predi-
lection for drink, and these men the
officers keep an eye on for their own
good. 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 al
arms and the top sergeant Of marines, il
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, fol
the purpose Of ascertaining if he has
any liquor concealed about his clothes
The men have picked up some ingenious
schemes for smuggling liquor in such q
way that the corporal of the guard il
fooled. For example, the men on the
China station buy long eelskins from
the coolies, fill the skins with about
q quart of liquor and wind them around
their necks beneath the collars Of thei1
shirts.
"It took the officers on the China sta
tion a long while to get on to this
scheme. Then the men who felt thai
they surely needed a drink the mex
morning after returning from liberty
discovered the plan Of filing rubber
bag with liquor while ashore and o.
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 tht
outside Of their clothes, then resortet
to the plan Of tying bottles Of liquol
with string on the inner side of theil
legs, beneath their trousers, but any
searching corporal knows all about thi
one nowadays.
"The cox'un Of the steam cutter, VIII,
makes dozens of trips ashore a da,
when the cutter is running boat, ha
to be carefully watched, for he is iabl'
to be tampered with by the men wh'
want liquor pretty badly, and his op
nortunities for getting LIQUOR aboard
are many. Every once In awhile. upo,
the cutter's return to the ship, it /
searched by the officer of the deck. an,
the latter often finds liquor neatl.
slowed among the cutter coal, in tn
cutter bilges or even in the boiler tanks
When this happens. the cox'un of th
cutter is in trouble. He gets big rak
off from the men for his LIQUOR SNUG
!. plino which accounts for the chance
Re will take
"The shin,s nainter has to be watche,
Aoo He is q nettv officer. and he ha
charge Of the ships alcohol, which i
chiefly rsed for the making of shella
To naint the lower decks.
"Some Of the sailors like a dose O
Its