The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-03-06
JIMMY LEGS ABOARD SHIP.
HE MUST BE EXPERT WITH HIS
FISTS AND SOFT SPOKEN.
Familiar With All Tricks of the
Saflors-Forward of the Maiumast
His Word Il LRw-Rounds Up Lib
erty Breakers in Approved style.

trRtu man, a tfilet petty Object.
and wears the eagle rating badge of a
Legs for his proved quality. He is the
boss of his ship, for'ard Forward OF the
mainmast his word is law at any hour OF
the day or night. law for his fellow chief
petty officers as well as for the new batch
OF just-shipped landsmen. What ne says
goes. Aft, hts word is taken by the skip
per. by the FIRST huff or executive officer.
by all the watch and division oficers.
with no accompanying grain OF salt what
ever. The men UP forward must be han
died. The Legs is there to handle them.
manhandle them II necessary. II he
weakens In this, crawfishes or abates a jot
in his control. he is disrated busted. in
the expressive bluejacket phrase.
The mettle in chief master-at-arms
Is always thoroughly known aft before
he is rated He need not necessarily
be bully. But he must be a natural
boss of men who have frequent fits Of
desire to boss themselves He must
know how TO fight with his hands. for
there could not possibly be a more capa-
BILE lot of rough-and-tu artists than
the sailors In the American navy-the
men the Legs has to go up against in
his business. The Legs Is privileged to
take matters into his own hands up
for'ard when occasion demands. The
officers do not expect him to rush aft
with too frequent reports of misconduct.
II the necessity arises for the Legs to
knock n man level with the deck IL Is the
business of the Legs to know how 10 do
II with science and promptness. He is
not supposed to take thrashing A
thrashed Legs control of the crew Is
gone. and he Is busted out OF hand. But
there have been very few instances of
this sort In the American navy.
The Legs of an American wsr-hip is
always a man who has seen many years
OF service in the navy and passed through
most OF the inferior ratings OF the en-
listed men. He is always a man of
strong character and a man of quiet
speech withal. There are no buckle or
loud-mouthed Lcgses. The chief master
alarms must enforce discipline forward
by his mere presence. not by bawiing
at all hands. The master-at-arms of to-
day Is a man whose blueiacket service
has taught him every trick OF the naval
sailor, every chase of fo'c'sle life. He
cannot be fooled. cajoled or outwitted.
He may be won over in time by diplomatic
shipmates. however All In al he IL
pretty impartial.
Just what a bowling. floating Bedam
the for'ard part OF a man-o war would
be were there no Legs aboard IL would
be difficult to conceive.
The Legs earns his ss5 a month. Hts
days work lasts twenty-four hours. OF
course, he sleeps but his sleep is that OF
watchdog, with one receptive ear per-
petuaily cooked. and one eye always
seeming to shine classify beneath three
quarters closed lid. The craggy naval
day OF the Legs begins at IAN hands!'
In the dawn Of the morning. when the
men turn out TO clean ship. The chief
bo'sun's mate IL nominaliy the boss OF
the clean-ship job, but the Legs is the
real boss. The bo'suns mate sees that
the men scrub their stations TO the final
degree OF polish. but the Legs sees that
hey
Sleepy men are bound to growi.
Thus the seaman who is a born SLOUGH
viii fail TO clean just the inch OF his sta
ton that sdjoins the station OF the seaman
who IL not a born SLOUGH. The latter pro-
tests, and there are some hard words
In the fCl vocabulary Of warships. The
SLOUGH IS back. the officer of the
deck steps into the wardroom for a min
ute and is out OF sight, and biYl the two
seamen are together. The Legs is al
ways there. When he gets through vita
the sleepy GROWERS and he may merely
look at them at a distance OF two yards.
at that. they are willing to resume work.
That's what is called moral sussion ashore.
The legs IL the representative OF the skip
per r. authority, and the scrappers
know IL.
Mess gear for breakfast Is piped. Inc
men rush TO the tables. A blueiacket with
shoes on his feet steps on the foot of
Legs may be way aft on the poop. watch
ing the afterEuard sweepers at their work.
Bu; the Legs Is a man Of instinct. In a
dozen bounds he Is at the scene of the
scrap.
Chuck ~ The Legs" IL the word
th,re. The scrappcrs break away. and
wien the Logs shows up they are seated
side BY side at their mess table, peace
fully taking morning coffee.
There are perhaps a dozen incidents
os this sort every morning on a man-o'-
war. None Of them u ever very serious,
bat al OF them might be very serious were
there no soft-foote5. lren-muscied man.
dubbed the Legs. aboard 20 iufgse white
winged peace ~ his mere presence,
IRE next tob % the Legs Is to attend TO
tho men double ironsd In the arig. He un-
irons them TO give them chance 10
Sttetch ana eat breakfast. He has general.
ly word Of cheer for al % them
IL IL the business q the Legs 20 tour
the ship dozens Of times day. 10 see
what he can see. A very important tour
as 'he ane he makes Just before aparters
ana inspection In The morning. The chip
is then SUPPOSED 70 ~ IN shape for the
aksprersa approval and the meas wear
inv gear is supposed 20 Re al slowed in
aittv haxs II never H. There Il always
10 y, found a shirt hastily thrown here.
SAGE lying hose there, a nsckeFehief and
l.nY ard hanging over a dttty box. THIS
gear tho Less gathers - tmF aftiaily' No
matter 70 wbsEn u belongs. ana thFnsta
/, inso the he'll bag he KEGS Tor that
purpose.
me only way the owners % the gear
NAV get Il back Is by reporting them
selves At the mast. THAI Is 70 the CON-
raHudgnK ofscsr. for ailatotineHs Ia sto~-
ing their gear, which means, generally. a
iorpeng or % liberty privileges. One
man IN twenty. say. does this. The others.
discovering their Losses. make hopeless
EFFORT 10 induce the Legs 70 surrender tire
.w1pee gear to them. The Legs never
Aoes this. we'll he never does I, unless
he has Inadvertently gathered In an ar
tfeie Of seAr belonging 20 a man he par
tiruIarfy likes. EvsFy mcath the cor
tents Of the Legs bag % gear thus ac-
et,raulA,es are sold aboard 81 auction 30
the highest blsler among the hiuejsekrts-
After quarters. the stick. The hrigget
prl-onsrs are brought before the COM
r-a,atnr officer by the chief master-at-
arms Usually the Legs is the complain
ant II fs 10 be said for him that, 10
matter how essential he naay ind Il 20
,sks lighters and other fis0rGeriy char