Evening star., 1900-08-17
LAND LcBBERs AT SEA.
Naval officer Tells of His Experience
With the Militia.

With the Militia.
Fr.ns the New YORK Times.
.'Speaking of naval rnilitiamen," remarked
& wsIL-known naval officer the other day,
reminds me of the fun the officers and
rneu Of the regular service had only few
years ago with the members Of this now
trained and useful branch of the national
def-..se. The seasoned auxiliary sailors Of
to-day We're then taking their very first
Lessons in the business Of the sea, and the
irciGents accruing during a practice cruise
OF = naval battalion on a regular nan-of-
war furnished material to make a 'regu-
lar smile even To this day.
i suppose the miIitiamen themselves, IN
thr light Of present experience, must re-
Le11L-r with great deal OF mirth at their
owl expense some OF their dOings when
tn. were rank -laHfsmen. l was attached
10 rl~ san Francisco when she took the
Bosom Naval Militia on weeks cruise
In I~cr--the first they ever made. We
traH-t.T-ed the greater part Of our regular
Grew 20 the receiving ship in order to make
r0om for the newcomers. leaving only the
petty officers and a small company Of able
sesigsH besides the engineers force on
board
well II was a Noah's ark Of a cruise
W had. although the amateurs did their
very best Many of the members were
W titHy young men Of leisure and there
wsr- many professional men Of high stand
!rZ. They came on board, however, pre-
lSfftL 10 EOlEH II with a vengeance and
10 live exactly The life Of a sailor. Now, d
sailor !u the navy lives pretty much as a
man en- shore in the same walk Of life He
eats from c-ean tableware, sleeps under q
plentiful supply o. bedding. and even has
H,tIe luxIIrtes other men. But these tars
remembered the sailors OF fifty years ago
6uG each tar came aboard with but one
small Tin dish, a tin cup and a formidable
clasp knife. All their food was dumped into
the tin plate, and the amateur salt helped
himself with his fingers, while the regular
nar-o'-warsmen at nearby tables dined
IL state. with knives, forks, cups Saucers
and. in fact, all the comforts of home.
The newcomers had the regulation can
Vas htmInocks, but. thinking that the regu-
lat-pn sailOrman scorned the use of mat
tT@SS or covering. brought none, and almost
froze during the cool, gusty nights at sea.
They stood watches manfulIy. as near
ly Ike seamen as possible, but some OF the
breaks made in miscaliing names. &c.
almost doubled US UP. but We did not dare
srl-Ile openly. For instance. a lookout at
the masthead is there for spying out lights,
passing craft, and reporting his observa-
lions hy singing out to the officer of the
deck on the bridge below. The usual cry
Is Light no! or Sal hor as the case may
be l he reply Is query from the officer:
Where away To this the lookout replies:
Three points OF the starbOard bow A
point for'ard Of the port BEAM Dead
ahead etc.
My frs; watch on the bridge was from
pm. 10 midnight. and the lookout sent
aloft to the masthead was a well-known
Boston dentist As soon he got aloft
he startled me by singing out Justify, Two
ships ho. and three light hos. sirT Where
away ! shouted back as soon as i could
master myself.
One light Is nearly behind u.s. SIR he
yelled The other two are In close proxim-
tty over toward what / should think was
in the direction OF Boston One. l suspect,
u the rising moon VIII tell you about the
ship no later
But the funniest Incident occurred at
he Atrt5a 90
old salts left board was a grizzIed old
sailmaker's mate named Aleck Foley, who
had an inherent detestation of anything
amateurtsh. When the student tars tum-
bled aboard. looking mighty clean and slick
and innocent in their new uniforms, and
eager for their first cruise on q real man.
o-war. old Aleck was disgusted on gem
eral principles. and crawled. gopher-like.
down into his little sail room below on the
berth deck.
When the forward berth deck had be-