The Savannah morning news., 1901-07-04
NAYIEs LACK MEN.

Two British war vessels were put into
commission at Portsmouth recently and
1t was necessary to supply them with
crews at that port. Crews could not be
provided by means of draughts upon other
ready undermined. The officers, there
fore, had TO make the most of the situa-
ton and enlist such men as they could
induce 10 enter the service. Manned with
ullage," was the comment of an officer of
important rank whec he saw the ships
crews. "Ullage" in the British merchant
marine is what would be called "culls"
in this country, otherwise those specimens
that have been left as deficient after the
stock has been picked over. The incident
illustrates how hard up England is for
men for her ships. There are plenty of
young fellows within her borders and
those of her colonies, of course, but the
navy is not as attractive to them now
as il was in former days. There was a
time when gentlemen were so eager to
have their sons in the service that they
paid round sums for commissions for
tlltfIs anu III tHOS6 uhyS iHG yOunSSNcIS
always snuffed the salt into their nostrils
with eagerness. The sea was their ideal,
and they were impatient to take up ca
reers upon it.
England is not alone in this matter Of
the falling off in the supply of first-class
sailors for war ships. In continental Eu-
rope the governments have to supply the
vessels often by Consumption; and what
manner of stuff they get by that process
was shown in the fighting of the guns of
the fleets Of Montoio at Manila and Ger
vera at Santiago. The officers were as
gallant as gallantry itself, but the men
were no good They couldn't hit anything,
and on some of the ships they had to be
driven to their posts with pistols by the
officers.
In our own country the young men born
and reared in the tidewater sections,
where they learn of ships and shipping. do
not flock to the navy, Notwithstanding we
have the best ships, the most liberal dis
cipline and the best pay in all the navies.
As a result our recruiting officers have
had to go out into the prairies of Kansas,
Nebraska Illinois and other Western
states, and enlist young men as green as
grass, who do not know a shroud from a
burial robe or a pinnacle from binocular
for service in the navy. And the expert
ence with them has not been very cheer
ing. Many of them get tired after q
month or two. when the novelty of navy
life wears off, and desert. They find that
practically all of the romance. such as
was so delightfully."- set down by Marryat
and Clark Russell, has been knocked out
There is no more poetry of notion Of
the gallant ship with sky-scraping spars
bounding over the billows" Instead there
is floating fort of steel, filled with ma
chinery and coal, rushing through the
waves and filling the atmosphere with
the ratlines 10 the maintop 10 make fasl
the clewiines of a bellying SAIL as they
always do II in books. the novice is put tC
handling coal bags. scrubbing decks OF
polishing brass. II is very unromantis
work. and the lad from the prairies soor
pe6ihS 10 WISH iut SANSh SiaSS III tue place.
of green water. The majority OF tn,
youths are too proud TO prove cutters
hence hang on during the time Of thell
enlistment; but their hearts are not IA
their work. Most of the men who choos,
the navy, forward Of the quarterback, al
a career. are tidewater men. and the mum
Der OF such applying for berths is not al
large as the enlisting officer would like I,
see a.