The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-08-01
JACK ASHORE.
Naval Reserves Back From
a Weeks Practice on the
U. s. s. Prairie.
EAST JERSEY WIN DISTINCTION
Regular Sailors at First
Regarded Reserves as
Passengers.
EAST JERSEY WINS DISTINCTION

Passengers.
from their cruise on the auxiliary cruiser
Prairie last Wednesday, says the New
ark Sunday Call" each with a good coat
of tan and with a supply of valuable ex-
p~erience stored away for future use in
case there should ever be another war
and Uncle Sam should want them. There
were about $50 Jerseymen on the ship,
fully two-thirds Of whom were from the
Battalion of the West, which is composed
of young men from Camden, Haddonfield,
Trenton and near by places. About
| twenty-five men went from Newark. The
Jersey City division had more men than
! Newark, while the Hoboken division was
the least well represented. None Of the
| officers of the Newark division was on
the cruise. In fact, there were but four
of the Battalion OF the East's officers
there. Messrs. irving, McLaip, Vreeland
and Soper.
While the trip was a success in some
| ways, it was in a measure Disappointing
to the young sailormen, especially to the
men from this end Of the State. The
| Western Battalion had very few of them
| had any experience at sea before. During
| the war with Spain the Western men,
| some of them, were on the R~esolute. but
| scarce a h~alf-dozen of these We're on the
| Prairie. AS the Western men greatly out
| numbered those from the Eastern Bat
talon, the regular crew of the Pralrie
naturally sized up the whole confin-
| gent as inexperienced, n were very
much disposed to have fun with them IN
a good natured way. In less than Two
| days, however, the line between the TWO
battalions (the experienced and the mex
| perienced) was clearly drawn, and the
| Prairie's company knew well which were
| Eastern and which Western men. Inc
| following incident will Illustrate
The regular sailors on the Prairie were
| very prolific with yarns of all sorts OF I'M
| possible things, and they never lost a
| chance to spin them on the unsuspeeting
Westerners. Several said they fought
with Dewey, but zone of the boys from
| hereabouts took them seriously. Many Oh
| the Westerners were SO manifestiy IN
| used to a ship that they made the most
Imaginable mistakes, and one could NOT
blame the jackies for making fun OF them
| one day a Jackie said to a Westerner:-
say, what ship was you on before
this?'
II warn't on no ship before
sOh. yes. you must nave been; ] can
| always tell a sailor when I see him..
eNope.v was the response, Il warn't
| on no ship before this"
swell, you must ave been IN the
| army
The sailor from West Jersey shifted I'M
| easily, but steadily stuck to the truth
he had not served Uncle Sam in any ca
| pacity on sea or land before.
ssThen 1 know hat you are; I'll bet |
| can tell. You're a steerer."
The reserve man looked puzzled and
| anxious. he felt in his bones something
was coming.
81 mean,'' went on the pitiless jackie,
that when you're at home you steer the
two handles of a plow."
The reserve men left Portsmouth on the
| morning OF Wednesday, July 10, and went
on board the Prairie at the foot of Fiji
tenth street, Hoboken, bright and early,
| and in the afternoon sailed down the bay
| and out through the Narrows, straight
| out to sea and to the northeast, along the
Long Island coast, until about 3 o'clock
on Thursday night Vineyard Haven was
| reached. On Friday the Prairie followed
| the Coiumbia-Defende race until the af-
ternoon and then put for Gardner's Bay.
| The greater part of the week was put in
| there, n the time was taken up with
| the ordinary ship duties and with instruc-
ton with the gun 1t happened most
| unfortunately that, on account of the
| rains tina came and went with discourage
| ing frequency, no great gun practice could
be had. Sub-calibre practice, however,
was INDUCED in. and at this the Jersey
! men proved themselves fairly proficient.
/ Indeed, the jackies said the boys did bet
| ter than any of the reserves from the
other States; but then a jackie is a great
ssjollier." although the fellows certainly
| did decidedly well. Sub-calibre practice
| consists of sighting and firing a rifle
| shoulder piece lashed to the side of the
/ great gun. The range is modified to suit
the greatly reduced calibre and the tar
get is proportionately smaller. For in
| stance, if the range of the great gun was
| 200 yards, the range of the rifle was 800.
The targets were flags rugged IN gaspipe
| fye-eighths of an inch or Whereabouts in
! diameter, LIE IdES DSliS dbtuS SiShtCch
inches square. There were three targets.
In one flag twenty-six bullet holes were
found and in another eighteen, while one
gaspipe had four bullet marks and an
other had been hit by three or four bull
let's so close together that the pipe had
bent over at right angles to the float.
| The floats were Clipped in an places
by bullets. hi reserve men of the States
below Jersey, all of whom ave been on
the Prairie this summer, have had the
use Of the great guns, but none of them
hit the targets. The Jerseymen had no
| chance to use the great guns, but from
| the showing made at sub-calibre prac-
| tice, it is practically certain that one, If
not two, Of the three great gun targets
would have been demolished.
Considerable time was taken up in gum
merry instruction. This consisted in some
of the reserve men under the direction of
a petty officer and a number of jackies,
working at d u until thereserve men
! could handle a breech block and take 1t
| apart and name the several pieces. Each
man had to do this. The great gums on
the Prairie are six-inch, and they have
the Fletcher block. the newest in the SER
vice, The Eastern men knew this block