Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-07

men are held on the starboard quarter
deck, alongside the mainmast No blue
Jacket or marine ever sees the inside of his
shippers cabin. unless duty takes him
there.
The individual enlisted man with a griev-
ance very often makes dreary hash of 81
when he goes to the mast TO present his
case. 1t is minor matter to drag a
man-o wars skipper out of his comfnrta-
bic cabin. and woe betide the bluejacket
or marine whose tale of woe is not meaty
and capable of substantiation when he re-
lates It, always more or less choppily and
eXcitediy, to the commanding officer thus
'haled to The mast hmself-for the conn
mander of man-o'war Is Obliged to give
the enlisted men a personal hearing when
they demand the same through the off,
GER of the deck
Odds Are Against Him.
The reason an enlisted man on a warship
usually makes a botch Of the job of tell
ing his story of genuine or imagined i'm
position at the mast is that the mast cere-
mony is made to appear an almighty SOL
emn thing when the grouping is all arrang-
ed In the center of the group on the quar-
ter deck is the skipper severe looking dig
nfhed. often ponderous; at his right the
ships executive officer, pOnderous. dgnf-
fed. severe looking al his left the officer
of the deck, toying neutraly with his
sword strap and looking profoundly bored
and behind the three the ships writer
carrying In his arm the book Of conduct
records which is employed oCca Sionallv by
the skipper to crush the complniner If the
latter happens to have one or more had
breaks registered up against his name ON
the record.
This is rather too impressive-Iooking a
court for the bluejacket with n grievances
who hasn't great natural control over him.
seif-gal. perhaps. would Ice the better
woodland it is for this reason that in
nine cases out of ten he goes to pieces
dismally when he begins 10 narratr his
carefully rehearsed tale of woe nj The
stick If his story accuses an officer the
off1cer concerned stands at the side of the
officer of the deck, always cool. calm coll
lected. smiling, and the officers command
OF himself under these circumstances does
not tend to instIl confidence or ,as, of
manner INTO the bosom of the oVerwrnIIebt
enlisted man. Here Ii should be set down
however. that the commanders Of United
states men-o-wa make all possible allow
ance for the natural nervousness of men
forward who seek satisfaction at the mast
in this way. and very carefully weigh the
stories that are thus related To them Per-
maps che OF such stories in five is really
worthy their attention. The other four
are trivial, foolish or quite imaginary The
narrators of this sort receive an impressive
bit of the shippers mind. The man who
Is proved liar at the mast under these
circumstances finds himself in an exceed
ingly unenviable situation directly the lie
is proved against him. He will hear the
clank of irons.
As n Delegation.
Thus much for the individual enlisted man
with his grievance. 1t is when there is dis
gruntlement all over the ship concerning
some one point that a representative dele
cation of enlisted men from ali depart
ments of the vessel is chosen, and spokes-
man selected to present the matter at the
mast to the commanding officer This is
the system that supplanted the round robin
fashion of presenting grievances. Such
delegations are nearly always composed of
half a dozen or SO of chief petty officers.
Chief petty officers an American man.
owar are men endowed with good deal
Of authority-rery much more important
men than the highest grade OF non-Com-
missonad officers in the army. They are
not readily induced to go to the mast with
complaints originated and harped upon by
chronic kickers and asitators, Of whom
there is always certain number all
warships. Ii is only when the crew in gem
eral demands IT. and with reason, that the
chief petty officers will consent to under
take a mission lat the mast.
Usually the chief bCatSwain's mate is
the spokesman of delegations of this sort,
for he is the man whose duties bring him
into closest contact with the greatest num-
Der of men on board the ship. Chief boat
swaif's mates in the United States navy
are not generally gifted with any very
great flow of language or grace of manner,
but they are nearly always thoroughly sea-
SOne3 and Sclf-poSSeSSed old timers, VINO
fear the mast and all the mast implies as
little as they fear the Cathead, ana whose
naval memories very often sweep back to
the days when the commanding officers they
confronted on these missions At the mast
were "mddies" What they have to say at
the mast receives a very considerate hear
ing from the commanding officer, especially
when they are backed up by representative
chief petty officers from all departments Of
the ship. A naval officer with a dispose
ton to be rough with the men directly
under him must exert himself to the ut
1. OF 10
mast by a delegation of chief petty officers
in this way. for commanding officers in the
navy take it for granted that such accusa-
tons are never lightly made 1t is hardly
too much to say that four out of every flve
complaints requests made at the mast
by such delegations of chief petty officers
are decided by shippers in favor of the
men for'ard.
An Interesting Ceremony.
There is a sort OF modification OF
round-robn custom still chung to in the
navy-;he request for a embarrassing OF
the books 1t inaugurated many
Years ago by the men whose misconduct or
delinquency caused their names TO be IN
scrbed on the bad conduct class lists. who
We're therefore not permitted TO go ashore
for months at a time On New Year morn
ing on many of the ships of the United
States navy the men thus quarantined
aboard ship assemble at the mast and re-
quest permission of the officer OF the deck
have DoW-WOW Win the tbuliil'tiuliiS
officer The skipper appears at the mast,
and one of the men. selected by lot for the
Job steps out of the ranks of the del1n-
uuents and hands to the commanding OF
ticer a tin pail filled with freshly maze
whitewash. with new whitewash brush
stuck in it. All commanding officers I'M
derstand the meaning of this funny panto-
mime without a word being spoken. Put
in words it means this
please. sir, Mr.. Commanding offieer
Man, will you be good enough to white
wash the bad conduct books on this first
day of a new year. on condition that we
be good henceforth and forever. time
without end, and let us fellows get OF TINS
blooming old packet and go ashore ana
stretch our legs and have fun with our
selves like the fellows whose names are
not down on the bad conduct booksY
The bland. pantomimic fashion of asking
a big favor en- masse at the hands or the
skipper very often succeeds. If the COM
manding officer accepts the bucket OF
Whitewash at the hands of the man VINO
extends 1t to him the men may generally
know that he intends to accede to their
request: but If he does not accept 1t. ana
tells the man to put it down on the deck,
adding that he will give the matter MS
consideration the men correctly conclude