Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-05
HOW SAILORS SLEEP

Naval officers and navy men IN general
are having a lot Of fun over that news
paragraph which was sent all over the
country a short time ago to thu effect that
the Navy Department has II In contempla-
ton to substitute pajamas for night
shirts' for the use Of the enlisted men in
the United States navy.
The nub Of their fun Is the night-shirt end
Of the story. Except for Joke. no enlisted
man in the navy ever did. and 1t Is virtually
10O-to-1 proposition that no enlisted man
in the navy ever will. wear such highly
domestic and home-like garment as night
shirt The bluejackets sleep in their under
clothing. The fatfoot in our navy who
would break a night shirt out Of his ditty-
bag or locker and put 1t on before sliding
into his hammock would become the laugh
ing stock of his whole ships company. and,
In the due course of time, when word OF
the thing got around among the fleets, OF
the whole navy, from Tangiers to Tahiti.
The night shirt, in the first place, isn't q
garment that Is adapted to the purposes OF
men who have to hop into and out Of the
swinging sleeping bags that are called ham,
mocks. 1t Is no SLOUGH of job to grab a.
hold of pair of hammock hooks and pull
yourself about five feet from the deck of a
ship into one Of these swaying and closely
hung hammocks, and many's the 1ubber
black and blue spots for weeks after the
beginning Of his first cruise aboard a maR-
o'-war owing to the difficulties in the way
Of turning in" neatly and cleverly for the
novice.
And climbing into a ships hammock Is q
stunt that would be enormously complicat-
ed. IL not virtually impossible, even for the
old-time, deep-water, heavy-weather man,
with the night shirt to hamper the free and
unconf1ned movements of the legs.
In the second place. the bluoajckets have
got to be ready. when they turn into their
hammOcks, to stand for all sorts of ships
calls and alarms during their sleeping hours
fire quarters, all hands to quarters, all
hands abandon ship. arm and away, repel
boarders, clear ship for action, and a score
OF other games that are being constantly
sprung upon them. day and night, by ex-
ceedingly conscientious executive officers,
diverting spectacle a>ship's company. say
of three hundred or mora fatfeet, would
make of 1t II. the call to fire quarters sud-
denly sounding in the middle Of the night.
they hoped out Of their hammocks and
then had to proceed to shed their night
shirts before jumping into their uniforms
in order to report in proper uniform rig at
their fire stations! Then. again. il would
be something highly hilarious to see an old
shell-back OF thirty years service, a man
who had been up and down in the world in
men-o'-war ever since the days Of his ap-
premiership. crawling out of his hammock
fed that 1t was time for him to prepare to
stand watch, allow or aloftl The very sug-
gestion Of such a thing would make q
sailorman attached to Uncle Sans line OF
packets shake to the center Of his midriff
with laughter.
Nor is there the slightest probability that
the bluejackets of the United States navy
will ever wear pajamas, either. Even II
the pajamas are dished out to tho fiatfeet
by the paymaster's jack-o'-the adjust. that
won't make the sailors wear the things. The
paJamas would have to be DOTTED by all
hands at a sudden ca1l to quarters in the
middle of the night. or when the regular
watches were turned out OF the swing
ing bags, and when a man-o'-wars man
gets piped out of his hammock he hasn't
got any time to slide out of cuto little
suit Of paJamas. roll them up and stow
them in ditty bag or locker. By the time
he got through with such an operation as
that he would unQuestionably be yanked to
the mast by the master-at-arms and hot
footed into the ships brig or punished, at
any rate. with extra duty. for dilatoriness.
The tackieS turn into their hammocxs in
their government-straight navy blue TN
derwear, and when they're prodded out Of
their hammocks, on sudden ships calls or
on sudden calls to watch. all they've got to
do is to slip on their bell-bottoms and their
shoes-an operation requiring about .orty
secondhand there they arel Nightshrts
or pajamas for the sinewy. slam bang salt
water rangers OF Uncle Samuers fleet OF
frigatesf Ask them!