The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-06-27
SEA ETIQUETTE.
Customs Which Still Survive on
Sailing Ships.

Nothing is more loudly regretted by
the praisers of old times than the
gradual disappearance of etiquette un-
der the stress and burden of these
busting days, and nowhere is the de-
cay of etiquette more pronounced than
at sea. Romance persists because I'M
til machinery can run itself humanity
must do SO. and where men and wo-
men live romance cannot die. But were
it not for the royal navy, with it's per-
feet discipline and unbroken traditions,
etiquette at sea must without doubt
perish entirely, and that soon. Such
fragments of it as still survive in the
merchant service are confined to sail
ing ships, those beautiful visions that
are slowly disappearing one by one
from off the face of the deep.
Take, for instance, the beautiful GUS
tom so full of meaning of "saluting the
deck" The poop or raised afterdeck of
a ship over which floated the national
flag was considered to be always per-
vaded by the presence Of the sovereign,
and as the worshiper of whatever rank
removes his hat upon entering a church
so from the Admiral to the powder
monkey every member of the ships
company as he set foot upon the poop
"saluted the deck"-the invisible pres
ence. AS the division between men-of-
war and merchantmen widened so the
practice weakened in the latter, and
only now survives in the rigidly en-
forced practice of every person below
the rank of Captain or mate coming up
on to the poop by the lee side. And
among the officers the practice is also
observed according to rank, for with
the Captain on deck the chief mate
takes the lee side. But since in steam
ers there is often no lee side, the Gus
tom in them has completely died out.
To etiquette also belongs the strict OBJ
Servance Of the rule in all vessels of
lacking sir on to every reply to an
officer, or the accepted synonym for
his position to a tradesman who is a
petty officer, as "bosS' for boatswain,
Chips for carpenter sails for sail
maker and doctor for cook A woful
breach of etiquette is committed by the
Captain, who, coming on deck while
one of his mates is carrying out some
maneuver, takes upon himself to give
orders direct to the men. 1t is seldom
resented by junior officers for obvious
reasons, but the chief mate would prob
ably retire to another part of the YES
sci at once with the remark that it was
''only one mans work.
In many cases etiquette and disci-
pline are so closely interviewer that it
is hard to know where one leaves off
and the other begins, but in all such
cases observance is strictly enforced as
being one of the few remaining means
whereby even a simulacrum of disci-
pine is maintained in undermined
and oversparred sailing ships-such as
the repetition of every order given by
the nearer, the careful avoidance of
any interference by one man with an
others work in the presence Of an Off
Ger, and the preservation of each Off
GERS rightful attitude toward those UNI
der his charge and his superiors. Thus
during the secular work of the day.
work that is apart from handling the
ship, the mate gives his orders to the
boatswain who sees them carried out
Serious friction always arises when
during any operation the mate comes
between the boatswain and his gang.
unless, as sometimes happens, the
boatswain be hopelessly incompetent
In the private life of the ship every
officers berth is his house, sacred, in
violable, wf1erein none may enter with
out his invitation. And in case of Sc
rious dereliction of duty or disqualified
ton it becomes his prison. 60 to your
room, SIR is a sentence generally
equivalent to professional ruin, since
young officers future lies in the hollow
of his commanders hand. The saloon
is free to officers only at meal times.
not a common parlor wherein they may
meet for chat and recreation, except
in port with the Captain ashore. And
as it is aft so in its degree is it for
rard." In some ships the carpenter
has berth to himself and u work