The Savannah morning news., 1901-08-19
TARs GO IN MOURNING.
Veterans Regret That Old Warship
Vermont Is to BE Burned.

vermont Is to BE Burned.
From the New York Mail and Ex-
press.
Young jackies and old men-of-war's
men of the Brooklyn navy yard will
soon give up their home, the big three
stored receivingship Vermont. and
swing their hammoeks with mingled
JOY and sorrow in bther quarters.
The old clipper, which spread her
sails with the best OF them in 1861, will
soon pass away in smoke, because the
government has ordered the torch APP
piled to her well-seasoned hull On ac
count of old age her barnacled and
s-grown planks have been found
to be the breeding places of disease
germs.
The ships company and the young
tars will be quartered aboard the
Columbia until permanent barracks can
be built.
To the grizzled old seamen who have
seen twenty-five and thirty years in the
active service, and possibly five years
on the peaceful Vermont, as instructors
of the young, the last cruise of the "old
guard will be a sad one. Moored to
the Cob dock by heavy chains, the
pride of the early frigate navy has been
familiar object for years. Shorn of
all masts, the hull is capped with
good-sized three-storied house, and
along her gun decks, instead of the
glazing cannon, are swung the ham,
mock and the clothes kit. Through
storm and sunshine her ships company
has been content to live between her
towering sides, where a gentle swell
rolling in from the East river reminded
them that, although out of the active
service, they were not yet out of COM
mission and classed with the land
crab.''
An old seaman spurns the idea of
barracks for young tars. He loves the
old Vermont, unsanitary as she is, and
says: "She may be full of worms and
other reptiles for all l know, but l don't
believe she's responsible for all the
sickness these young chaps have
aboard. We old cobs, who are here for
years, don't get sick. Half of the kids
who come here have not had the dis
eases of childhood. They go around
here with mumps, lie down and catch
measles, and look at a chicken only
to come down with the chicken-pox.
The old ship may aggravate the case,
but she doesn't start it rolling"
There are now about 500 prospective
sailors abroad the Vermont They eat,
sleep, and work abroad the ships, but
en- ashore and on other craft. During
the SpanishAmerican war, when ev-
cry town and hamet sent it's soldiers
or sailor to the front, 1900 men were
housed and fed aboard the Vermont.
The men are only transient guests"
the rolls showing a different list of
names each week No candidate for ma
val honors is aboard the ship long
enough to really fall in love with her
| as a home.
The older men are the ones who do
the grieving. They have every comfort
| between her decks, and do not like
| to be rudely jostled and piled on
shore. The vesesl is splendidly equipped
| with electric lights, running water, and
steam heat, and along her great gun
| decks freedom is enjoyed which, the
| old men say, can never permeate the
| barracks.
The spar deck of the Vermont is at
present reception room, gymnasi UNI,
concert hall, and a general lounging
room for the boys. These young bloods
say that they would not miss the ship
II the government would throw in a
gymnasium with their barracks.
There have been many animated
| scenes aboard the ship when the spar
deck has been opened to visiting
| friends. One end has been arranged
with all the paraphernalia of a we'll
appointed stage, and the boys in white
and blue" are star vaudeville per-
formers. When such show or a con-
cert is on the boards Of the good ship
Vermont all the available space on
deck is given up to visitors. The nim-
bic sailor lads perch on the angle
frames above the heads of the spec
tators. The performances of some of
the boys who find it necessary to
change their seats between the acts
are not unlike those often seen
among "Darwin's ancestors" at the
Zoo.
Wrestling matches and dances, too,
are forms of entertainment for which
the old spar deck is found we'll fitted.
With a slight shift and some wood,
hard scrubbing the old spar deck is
whitened and smoothed into a dance
floor. A dance aboard ship" is a great
function in the social whirl of the
young sailors life.
These are some Of the pleasant mem
cries for the boys of the service"
when all that is left of the good old
ship Vermont will be fire. blackened
timbers in the boneyard of the navy.