The Savannah morning news., 1901-07-11
GOOD FOR PORT ROYAL.
TO BE MADE A PRINCIPAL RE-
CRUITING STATION.

Service-Active Recruiting Going
on-HOw Enlistments Are Made.
The Qualifications and the Pay.
Washington, July 10.-Port Royal, S. c.,
is to be made one of the principal re-
cruiting stations for the navy. Secretary
Long has adopted the report of the board
of naval officers recently appointed to ex-
anime various, sites along the Atlantic
coast and to recommend the most desra-
BILE location for the establishment of a
naval rendezvous. The former naval sta
ton at Port Royal is to be transformed
into recruiting station for '1andsmen,
and it is to be conducted on the same lib
eral scale that the recruiting station for
naval apprentices is maintained at New
port, r. 1.
Capt. V. L. Cottman, in charge of the
recruiting bureau of the navy, says the
Secretary has decided that Port Royal
shall be fitted up as a first -class station.
All of the buildings formerly used in con-
rection with the Port Royal dry dock will
be converted into quarters for recruits 1t
is also desirable and necessary that a
number of additional buildings shall be
eleCleu' Negotiations are already pending
by which the government proposes to &C
quire ownership of the entire island on
which the station is located. The addi-
tional space is required to allow ample
accommodations for quarters and at the
same time afford plenty of facilities for
training, exercise and recreation while the
recruits are undergoing preliminary in
! structions. Three hundred apprentice boys
and landsmen are already located at Port
Royal and the training ship Topeka is
there for practice in practical seaman
ship.
Uncle Sam needs about five thousand
competent sailors to man his warships.
This includes the vessels already COM
! pleted and those in the course of con-
struction which are expected to be fin
ished within the next two or three years.
Several of the best battleships are not
IN commission to-day because there is
not a sufficient number of experienced
seamen in the service to man them I'D to
the required complement
"A recruiting party" said Capt. Cott-
man, lis now securing North Carolina.
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and
Alabama for desirable naval material
The former Spanish gunboat Alvarado is
cruising in Southern waters on recruit
ing duty. She will be engaged in this
work until it is time for her to return to
Annapolis, i'm the fall. where she issued
in connection with the training of naval
cadets. We expect to round UP about five
hundred or more first-class men and
boys in this Southern territory and induce
them to enter the navy. The Southern
states showed so much patriotism and
loyalty in furnishing volunteers during
the Spanish war, that we are encouraged
to believe that there are a great many
men and boys in the states named who
would be glad of an opportunity to en-
ter the naval service"
Capt. Cottman is now engaged in the
distribution of literature in the shape of
instructions to recruiting officers of the
navy, also circulars relating to the con-
ditlon and requirements under which men
ana boys may be enlisted In the naval
service. The inducements offered are
greater and more attractive than those
offered to volunteers for army service in
Cuba and the Philippines and under GER
tain conditions, greater opportunities for
advancement and promotion in addition
to the knowledge and experience acquir-
ed by cruising in foreign waters
The idea of entering the navy as a sail
or, before the mast, is not so frightful
as it may have been in years gone by.
when the modern cruiser and battleship
were unknown. and square rugged ships
only were employed in the naval service.
In former years, when a parent was in
fiicted with an incorrigible son, who had
resisted all other ordinary methods of
discipline, the maynard boy was threat
ened with shipment In the navy before
the mast" In those days, an apprentice
boy aboard a man-of-war had a hard
time of 1t, and it is possible that some
of the stories handed down in the naval
history about the use of the cat-o'-nine-
tails, a severe dousing under the ships
brig with irons, on the ankles and wrists.
and other equally severe methods of pun
ishment may not be exaggerated.
There is no room in the United States
warships to-day for incorrigible boys or
lawless characters of any description
Bright, healthy, intelligent, and patriotic
men and boys only are needed aboard
American warships. The accommodations
aboard the modern marine engines OF war
are nearly hundred per cent better and
more comfortable than they were on the
old time wooden frigate or side-wheel
steamer. There is nothing which savors
OF cruelty in the up-to-date methods of
punishment aboard a man-of-war. Instead
OF resorting to obsolete methods OF reduc-
ing the modern Jackie" to subsection. and
10 the Observance OF the naval regulations
more humane and perhaps a more effec-
tive system prevails An American
ly money" especially when in port. either
foreign or domestic. Under the prevailing
system in the navy. sailors are allowed
to draw certain proportion OF their
monthly salary providing their deport- |
ment and efficiency aboard ship is up to |
a required standard. As a penalty for GER
tain violations Of the regulations. and ne |
slips discipline. sailors are deprived OF
joining liberty parties on shore. and also |
from drawing the regulation amount /
OF monthly money for such period /
as the commanding officer may de-
tcrminc Both Of these forms OF punish /
ment bear down hard upon the average
"sea dog" for JACK viii make almost any /
reasonable sacrifice for twenty-four hours !
liberty on shore with n few American gold .
dollars in his monk bar The danger ara .
hardship aboard the modern man-of-War /
are greatly reduced by fhe elimination /
81 sails ana the accompanying rigging By /
ala auOItlLualon u ELram ana ClGCirlclfv