The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-03-14
A DAYS ROUTINE );
On Admiral Dcwcy's Flagship
Olympia, on Caritc-Work all the
Time on Wnrships Whether It is

New York Sun: Now is work be-
gins OF Gawd knows when, and is work
Is never through.
It was Jolly" OF whom that was
written; a "bloomin' cosmopolouse"; a
marine. half soldier and half sailor, but
It applied Just as forcefully, at least In
Manila Bay last summer. to any sailor
In the fleet, messenger boy or gold
graded. two-starrcd admiral. A day
on the flagship Olympia spent top
side" left ones head In a whlrI, with
the multIcpllclty OF things going on.
One watch-on-deck In those days was
as much wo:k as four middle watches
In full gale at sea. Work never be-
gan and II never ended, It lust went on
forever. The bugles blew, the watches
shifted. the bo's'n's mate baw!ed down
the berth deck and the bo's'n's whistle
shrlled over fo'cs'le. and mid-watch or
afternoon there was no let up. There
Uls difference at times, but II was
only in degree-a little, too. In kind
that was all.
In theory the navy Is always ready
for wa-: always on war basis. Thai
means that war produces practically no
change in the routine OF life on war
vessel. Practice Is surprisingly close to
theory, but there are two differences;
one is that there Is more work and the
other IS that there Is less. There Is
more work OF general character, more
attention to certain particulars, more
responsibility and care for the officers
and less drill for the men. In a gen.
eral way the ships OF the fleet stick very
closely TO the peace routine, but the
flagship shows how wheels may go when
The impulse Is supplied. d'a
Take Il small section of the forenoon
watch on the Olympia as She lay eff
Cav!te last July. On most warshIps the
Watch-on-Deck IS 4 dignihed gentle
man. who PAGES more or less majestical-
" about with long glass under his
arm and looks extremely wise Yo,
watch him 4 while ard think that II he
only would tell Just little bit OF what
he knows how intensely Interesting It
would be. On the flagship he has the
hunted look OF a newly married man
putting UP his first stovepipe It's 10
Joke. It goes something like this:
\ voice from the after. ,bridg-Steam
~ y
ST.,
another voice from the after bridge
Steam launch approaching the star
BOARD gangway. sir!
officer of the deck Qmpartlally)-
What launch is. 1t?
Both voices tcgether-The Charlestl-
nore's, sir.
There you have starter. The officer
hops 10 the starboard gaagway and
takes 4 sduint at the launch. There Is
an officer IN It who must be met at the
head OF the accommodation ladder
Then he Jumps over to the port gang
way. There is man in that launch
bringing 4 message from some ship. II
he doesn't rate the starhoard side he
can wait till the ssarboard business Is
finished The officer sprints back across
the deck and is checked half way by Il
voice from the after bridge singing
out: '-
Smoke in the Boca Grande. sir
Can you make 1t out?" he shouts as
he runs on to the ganSway. He ar
rives. just in tina to salute an officer OF
cna OF the ships of she feet come ove:.
with I message for the admiral. Then
It's: Messenger tell the flag llenten-
art that
Voice from the after brdg-Steamer
coming in. sir!
Another voice from the after bridge
Steam launch approaching the star
board ga1gwayu sir.
What launch Is it," Then step out In
the starsoard gangway and-"Steam
launch there. shove off and stand by
The admiral's orderly comes up and
tells the watch-on-deck that the ad-
rllral wants to know II he can make
ont that steamer coming In. The boat
at the. port Sangway has been waiting
some Rhine. The flag lieutenant has
come up TO meet the messenger to the
admiral. ard the watch-on-deck noos
across to the Port side 10 see what the
boat wants. shouting as ne goes:
Trim the wind sails: wind on the
port beam"
Somewhere in his syrations abou. the
ship he has 4 chance 70 observe the
fact that the wind sails are not doing
their duty In furnishing fresh air TO the
penned-up chaps below. As he gets TO
the port gangway to deal with that
boat one OF the lookou.s on the after
bridge-thcre are three or four Of them
busy all the t!me-s!ngs ou; about that
stea m launch:
She Is FIXING the German mnn-of-wac
lag. si-"
Great Scott here is the troublesome
German. What does he want now?
Back 10 the stlrboard gangway again.
Every German officer flies a penaant on
his launch, and there Is no telling
what his rank Is. so just on a guess
rs -Four boys to man the side that
The deck officer sings OUT as he rushes
back to the starboa-d Eangway. He
punches the button ms he goes along.
and the marine orderly answers The
boys are coming 20 the ganGway, and
the bo's'n's mate Is there with his whis-
t!e MS the orderly comes up.
'Tall the flag lieutenant German Of
.lcer is coming aboard"
Voice from the after bridge-Steam
lunch at the starboard gangway, s!:,
Another voice from the after bridge
She's japanese maH-ofwar. sir!
What's a japanese man-ot-war? Oh.
that fellow In the Poca Grande. The
afntra! is on the quarterback and the
ch-or-decll must 20 himself to re-
port. No orderly takes thei message
INV. Hurry up this German, then, for
the, admiral may be interested. The
flag lieutenant and the German reach
the deck together The officers salute,
the bo's'n's mate blows n fantastic tune
on his whistle and the young German,
very stiff and straight, with his right
hand at his cap. talks 10 the flag lieu
tenant The watch -on-dcck starts aft
% report to the admiral. and mes
senEe. pops UP the companion way and
says: .rsy
IT'S FIVE minutes OF three bells, sir"
"SGgler." shouts the harassed OFFICER.
sound officers call" and RE climbs
Gown from the superstructure to the
Quar;crdeck with Get your swords on,
get your swords on. get your swords
on" ringing in his ears. He comes
back late for quarters and In hurry,
to find the navigator waiting to relieve
him. There is hardly time to get on
his aWSrf nd buE.Ia N io