The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-07-27
RESERVES HOME
New Jersey Sailors Return
From Their Weeks
Cruise at Sea.
THEIR EXCELLENT SHOOTING
Heavy Seas Prevent Target
Practice With the Big
Guns.
THEIR EXCELLENT SHOOTING

The New Jersey Naval Reserves re-
| turned to Hoboken this morning from
their weeks cruise at sea very much dis
| gusted. They were not Disguised with
the u. S. S. Prairie, upon which they
| have lived a week, or with her crew ana
| officers. nor even with the hard work
which they did, but it was the weather
man at Washington who had aroused
| their Indignation, and upon whose de-
voted head was heaped all the new forms
| of naval malediction which they had abb
| sorbed during their weeks mingling with
| the regular crew of the Prairie the
| cause of this was the vile weather which
the Reserves had ever since Saturday,
and which interfered materially with
| their boat drills. great gun practice and
| other interesting parts of the work.
The regular crew of the Prairie-and a
| better set of Uncle Sans jackies never
| trod a deck-blessed the Jerseymen most
devotedly on Sunday. 1t must be remem-
bered that the day begins on a man-o'-
| war al 4:30 o'clock in the morning, when
every person on ship. except certain Off
| GERS and those who come off watch at
four O'clock, must get up and begin the
| days work. Saturday night the boat
SWANS mate passed the word that on
| Sunday morning the regular crew was to
| sleep until seven O'Clock, and that the
| Reserves were to AXE charge of the ship
| and entirely man it during the day. The
regular officers and crew were to do moth
! ing whatever but just idle about and look
| on. They were in no way to interfere
| with the Reserves, and in short were to
| act simply as though they were passen-
| gers. This programme was carried out
to the letter. The regulars kept their
hammocks when reveille was sounded,
and as they wrapped their blankets
| around them and rolled over for another
two hours sleep they breathed a sailor
mans prayer Of thanksgiving for the
institution known as the Naval Reserve.
The amateur sailors from New Jersey
/ discharged their duties during the day in
a manner which won the commendatien
of the regular officers and good will of
the crew.
Sunday was fair enough but as this is
a Christian nation ostensibly at least. all
| drills were suspended and nothing except
absolute necessary work was done.
Toward evening the weather changed.
1 liz WIN CaitlC UP allO lAtC UoAC4 Vi 0Nt
diners Bay. in which the. Prairie was an
chored. was whipped up in a wild
| sea. 1t has been arranged that
to row a race between the commissioned
officers Of the Battalion of the East and
the Battalion of the West, but the rough
weather prevailed, much to the disgust
of the Reserves, who wanted very much
to see how their officers can handle an
oar.
Rain and disagreeable weather con-
tinued Monday and Tuesday and all drills
| on those days were confined to the ship
Since the war with Spain demonstrated
the wisdom of the Governments course in
regard to gunnery, the Navy Department
has redoubled its energies in hat direc-
ton. and the men were kept at sub-cali-
bre practice most of the time. The Jer-
| seymen did some excellent shooting and
hold the record for that practice. Off
GERS and crew all admitted that the sub
calibde shooting of the Jerseymen was the
best Of any of the Reserves which have
yet been aboard the Prairie. This fact
made all the keener the disappointment
the men felt over tn fact that they had
no great gun practice. The Baltimore Re-
serves did the best at this, and all felt
assured from the ~Jerseymen's sub-calibre
work that they would excel the Maryland
ers. Wednesday was set apart for the
great gun drill and the men looked for
| ward to it eagerly.
There was some timid ones among the
| Reserves and these fell victims to the
lively imaginations of the the marines.
These half soldiers-half sailors took espe-
cial delight in depicting to the timid Re-
| serves the awful results of the discharge
of the big six-inch guns. One marine
said the report was so loud that he had
seen it burst ear drums and send the
blood gushing out of the ears. Another
said if you stood on the spar deck above
| the guns at the time of their discharge
| the conclusion would take your hat off,
| While still another declared that owing to
the height at which the Prairie stood out
Of the water, the recoil threw the ship
| completely on her beam and there was
/ great danger of her turning turtle and
carrying all hands to the bottom. Not
withstanding all these horrible and blood
| curdling tales, the Reserves were all will
| mig to take the risk and impatiently wait
ed for Wednesday. Wednesday broke fair
and clear, and preparations were made for
the shooting. The sea targets We're pre-
| pared. Huge six-inch shells and cans of
| smokeless powder were hoisted from the
| magazine and piled around the four big
six-inch guns on the starboard side.
| Anchor was weighed at five o'clock We'd
| nesday morning and the Prairie steamed
out to sea, as it is necessary to get as
far as possible out of the track of vessels
| before you begin to throw six-inch shells
| around promiscuously. But as soon as
Montauk light began to grow dim and in
distinct over the stern. trouble began.
The sur suddenly lodged behind a cloud
and the rain came in torrents. The sea
ran so high that the water dashed into
the open ports on the gun deck in such
quantities that the deck was soon afoat
and 1t was necessary to close the ports
and open matches.
The Prairie, a most accomplished roller,
began to show off and in a few minutes
1t required a veteran to keep the deck.
A curtain Is best drawn over what fol-