The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-10
ETIQUETTE ON SHIPBOARD
CUSTOWS JVHTCH STILL SURTIVE ON
SAILING SHIPS.

hothe-CustOms OF the borecasto-
Visits from Officers Regarded as In
fringement of Rights.
Nothing is more loudly regretted by
the praisers of old times than the grad
ual disappearance of etiquette under the
stress and burden of these busting
days, and nowhere is the decay Oh ell
Quette more pronounced than at sea-
Romance persists because until machln-
cry can run itself humanity must DO so,
and where men and women 1--we fo-
nance cannot die. But were it not Tor
the royal navy, with it's perfect discl-
pline and unbroken traditions, etiquette
at sea must without doubt perish en-
1irely, and that soon. Such fragments
of it as still survive in the merchant
service are confined to sailing 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 or
a ship over which aoated the national
flag was considered to be always per-
vaded by the presence of the sovereign
and as the Worshipper of whatever rank
removes his hat upon entering 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 custom
IN them has completely died out To
etiquette also belongs the strict observ-N
ance of the rule in all vessels of lacking
''sir" on to every reply to an officer, or
the accepted synonyme for his position
to a tradesman who is a petty officer,
as boss" for baotswain, chips for
carpenter, sails for sailmaker and
s'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 manoeuyre,
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 probably retire to
another part of the vessel at once with
the remark that it was "only one mans
work
In many cases etiquette and discipline
are so closely interviewer that it is hard
to know where one leaves off and the
other begins, but in all such cases OBJ
servance Is strictly enforced as being
one of the few remaining means where
by even a simulacrum of discipline IS
maintained in undermined and over
SPARED sailing ships-such as the repe-
tition of every order given by the hear
err, the careful avoidance of any inter-
ference by one man with another's work
in the presence Of an officer. and the
preservation of each officers righttul at
titude toward those under his charge
and his superiors Thus during the sec
1llar work of the day, work that is apart
fro mhandling the ship. the mate gives
his orders to the boatswain, who sees
them carried out. Serious friction al
ways arises when during any operation
the mate comes between the boatsWaln
and his gang, unless, as sometimes nap
mans the boatswain be hopelessly in
competent.
Tn the private life of the ship every
officers berth is his house, sacred, lnVl-
olable, wherein none may enter without
his invitation And in case of serious
dereliction of duty or disqualification il
becomes his prison $50 to youi
room. sir" is sentence generally equiv
alent 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 mee'
for chat and recreation eXcetp In por'
with the captain ashore. And as 1t i
..aft'' so in it's degree is it 'forrard.| Ii
ror,a sbins the carpenter has a berth tc
1in,salf and a workshop besides, into
which none may enter under pain OF ms
instent wrath-and "Chips" is not
man to be lightly offended. But II
most cases all the petty officers berth to-
.ra+ba,, in an APARTMENT called by court
asv the "half- deck although it seldom
resembles in a remote degree the dingy
fotid hole that originally bore tina
name.
Very dignified are the petty officers
.rraveIv conscious of their dignity ant
sternly set upon the due maintenance o
thei,, rightful status as the backbone o
the ships company Such gray
breach of etiquette as an "A. 3. enter
dnp their quarters, with or without IN
Uitatiou, Is seldom heard OF ana quite d
infreuuent are the occasions when al
officer does so. In large ships, Wher
si,, or seven apprentices are carried, al
orartment in a house on deck is Sc
onart for their sole occupation, and tn
General characteristic of such an abod
r. cbaos-unless, indeed, there should b
q senior apprentice of sufficient stabillt
70 preserve order, which there seldom Is
rbese "boys' houses" are bad places 10
. voungster fresh from school, unless
conscientious captain or chief mat
should happen to be at the head OF al
fairs and make it his business to CIV
~ ave to the youngsters proceeding
rhen off duty. OF course, etlquett
.,,.v he looked for in vain here unless
1,a tbe etiquette of Tagging in it's Wors
sense. III, A.,
The mems quarters, always called tn
forecastle. even when a more human
sbiroyyner than usual has relegated tn
e,o,.ct1e nroper to it's righttul use