Arizona republican., 1899-02-09
THE YANKEE TAR OF 'S8.
He Has Every Quality That Makes .
 Sailor Who Has No Superior.

Sailor Who Has No Superior.
 The achievements Of the United States navy during the Spanish-Amer , jean war are less remarkable when one
 becomes acquainted with the super personnel which manned the guns and
 fed the fires during the brief but bril- lant strife. At the beginning Cf the war several foreign critics predicted
 Ishortcominss. if not disaster. owing u
 the alleged lack Of discipline, mon
 Crcl crew" etc. which prevailed on I0ur ships of war These critics have
 been crushed by the performance of
 our blue-iackets, who are today fully
 the equals in all things, and the su- periors ip many, of the men who cap
 tured tW Serapis, humbled the Bal
 bary pirates, and in 1912 mad9 th }
 American nation the only succ essful connection that Britain has ever had ,upOn the seas. For coolness, inteHi- Igence, devotion to duty, and utter dis regard of personal danger, the Yankee tar of '9S leaves nothing to be de-
 sired. Indeed, under the test Of war he has revealed qualities which as tOnished even his own officers, who
 had known him only under the mo
 nOtOnOus conditions of Ieace. Thee
 was no shrinking in the Sranish
 
 told to do 9 thing they could be relied | upon absolutely to do it.
 1 I have seen cases of emergency. coal l ing, where every man on board, petty
 officers. men who had just come of
 watch, men on sick list even, turned t0 with a will at this usually hated task, and rushed the coal into the bunkers with a speed hardly conceivable Rchccring when the last bucket wa +I,o .,
 blockade off Santiago there were double lOokOUts placed Cn deck. thus doubling the work but even then there were dozens of voluntary lOCkOUts day and night, straining their eyes at the entrance to the harbOr, longing for sight of the enemy's ships Cmerg ng.
 This eagerness to get at the enemy Wa a universal and marked characters ic
 of the men. Once. when 1 Wa5 sen17 away from my ship on distant service
 with an armed boats crew Of sven men, right i'll the heart of the en emy s country, the pleadings Of those Wh wished to share the danger by go nk with ne were really touching. Ore big, sun burnt fellow ac- -u3liy went when I told him he could nOtgO. The only way I could still the clamOr Of volunteers was by announcing th5 [ only the regular beats crew srO1ld go. When, after sixteen hours of hard ship. we returned without being at tackled, the disgust of the men was amusing. Them Dag0e5 ain't got I o enterprise" was tie remark made Ly my cOckswain, which met with ha2r5y approval from all. Once, during 1h } aHie night chased 77sFlf f6et we supp 5sed was a hostile boat. larger than ours. | While in pursuit, the men at the Ca-8 fairly lifted my boat out of the water. Men never rOwed harder. When we found the strange craft innocent. and | started to pull back, the murmur.ng5 1 of disappointment vergod upon pcsi- tive Indignation. One morning, early ! in June the New Orleans was ordered | to close in to shell some new gun en- placements east of the Morro. The po- sitiOn she took was in excellent range | Of both the Nora and Socapa batter- | ies. Under her stern was the little l Gloucester, with orders not to fire, hec heaviest guns being Cnly 6-pCundsrs. The Gloucester's men did not alto gether like this, but they quietly went | about their allotted tasks as if nothin were taking place. They scrubbed | their clothes, washed the decks, ard | cleaned up bright work, while shells from the shore batteries were fying all about them, with as much nonchalance as if lying Deaceably in New York harbor. Occasionally when a shell would Pass particularly close, one would hear such jocuIar comments as Low Ball." "Once more for the drinks That's a '96 model, Dago."
 While the marines were holding their position ~Guantan2mC, there were almost daily encounters between the war ships in the bay ard the enc my's forces on shore On enc vessel the gun shield of her staTh3ard fore castle gun was cracked, and had to b9 removed, leaving the men behtn1 1t completely exposed. This annCye1 the crew of the corresponding gun On the port side, whose shield was intac.. They wanted it removed at once All sorts Of pretexts were brought u9, such as it's spelling their aim etc, but the ordinance and divisional off ceTs did not see their way to comply with the request One fine morning the shield was found missing. It was found joined to the damaged one from the starboard gun, both being neatly and firmly secured an;dships, forming all improvised barbette around the boxes of spare ammunition always kept on deck for sudden emergencies. It is hardly necessary to say that the officer in charge of the division never made any inquiries, never made any report of the episode, never even re- ,erred to the matter before the men or he port gun. I must say that my em5- ions are stirred even now when 1 re- call the sight of the men as my ship would go into action. Every man at his post, no excitement ether than a poorly expressed eagerness for the CT der to commence firing; all cCol, all listening for the slightest word Cf eau ton or command. When the firing was at it's height it was just the ssme -coolness. perfect oblivion to danger. Sights were adjusted promptly and as needed, aim a1efully rec tifed, the firing done with deadly de- liberation, yet with rapidity. With such men behind the guns, and with such guns and ships, no navy nee1 cause us fear with equal numbers. And when song and story want sub
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