The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-28

wash, shakes his head and perhaps scoVls
before returning to his cabin, the fiatfcot
I understand that the job hasn't WORKED,
and .ney crawl of and hide somewhere ~
escape the badgering OF their mates, VITO
being already on the first class list them
selves. haven't joined In the enterpri-"
In the old days the eloquent bucket of white
wash was successful In its effect upon lie
blum old navy shippers in nine cases our =
ten. but the men fell into the habit OF oVcr-
working the scheme.
But there have been instances in whluh
warship commanders who have been too
unyielding to reasonable requests of thu!
crews during the holidays have found
themselves In sorry mcsses. There was A
notorious buckle skipper in the old navy,
man Of actual ferociiy in his dealings With
his crews. who had a grievous exprrl"i -
with his 800 men forward one Christmas
season.
The ship had been on long cruise among
the Pacific islands. The Gilberts, tie
Carolincs, the Aarquesas, the Fills aud
other islands were visited by the ship.
but the men forward received only tie
quarterly liberty required by the naval
regulations. An, ugly spirit grew up
among them, and gun gear Logan To lie
missed by officers Of gun divisions
v hen the tars Of the old navy began to
throw gun gear over the side. even tie
most severe shippers used to take warn
ing But this one didn't, He couldn't
the missing gear over the rail and he
couldn't accuse all hands. but he treated
them with additional severity, despit" the
plain warnings Of his officers.
The ship struck across the Pacific for
Callao. Peru. with as sulkv crew of en-
lifted men az ever slouched about a man
of -war The ship pulled into Calao harlo or
and anchored in an inShore position on
the day lefore Christmas.
The men forward decided that they
w., nj hnr H' In Inilan I'll .v
did not try to work the whitewash bucket
dodge New Years hadn't arrived, and
they were too angry for anything Of {, at
character, anyhow. The round ROBIN
hadn't passed oft at that time, and this
ships company got up a very plain one On
a large sheet Of paper. Tho round robin
read this way.
I'VE requess, liberty, watch and watch,
in this port
All hand. forward signed il, or made
their marks. The buckle skipper worked
hirIself into a rage when he read the round
robin. Then he summoned all hands Ia
quarters, harangucd the men and scorched
them for their impotence. He told them
that there was going to he no lilIeTtv.
At midnight. or before, on that Christmas
eve there were not enough blue jackets
or marines left on board that American
man-of-war to spread mess gear. or the
900 men forward about $50 had gone over
the side, some Of q em in shore boats,
while manv had sent their clothes over in
the crowded boats and made the swim for
il. The marine guard hadn't interfered
to stop them. because the marines. being
Just as sulky over their treatment as the
bluejackets, nearly all went on the Callao
bench themselves.
The skipper sto-med when he was in.
formed of the situation in the middle Of the
night, and the next morning he went of
to the beach in his cutter to round his men
up. But there were few of them in Callao.
They had all zone uD TO Lima 10 have look
at the Cathedral-some Of them, indeed, TO
attend mass on the the day Of obligation
Of their faith.
They all came back from Lima within
day or 40. but they did not return TO the
ship. They remained In Cal!ao. taking
things easy. Their Officers. the skipper
himself. appeared in Callao to endeavor to
herd them on board the ship. The men said
never a word-but remained on shore.
Not a man Of the whole crowd drank a
drop Of liquor while on that queer liberty.
They all behaved themselves perfectly.
walking around and taking in the sights.
and making no reply to the orders or, at
the end, to the appeals Of the officers
On the tenth day of their stay ashore,
they all returned to the ship in time to keep
their names from going on the books As
deserters. They turned to and went TO
work with will.
A whole ships company cannot be put
In irons II the ship is to be worked. The
skipper didn't want TO do that anyway
The Callao business had taught him some
thing.
No commander Of the American Navy
ever executed a more sudden bout ship"
in his treatment OF his crew than this
one did. When the ship went out OF COM
mission half a year later there wasn't a
finer or more contented crew in the American
Navy, and 1t was all brought about by a
Christmas round robin Of ten words.