The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-26

lions read those gnoHne narratives i'll tn
: newspapers about wholesale assertions
from American men-o'-war in European
ports. they have a laugh. remarked a
veteran chief petty officer of the United
States Navy. who is now on duty at the
: Brooklyn yard. ave knew, for example,
= that those yen-hok warns about the desertion
Of over hundred biuejackets from the
ships Of the European squadron at Kiel were
subject to about O5 per cent. discount
! Our memo wars men don't jump ship
to any extent in European ports. The
aliens who ship in our sea service rarely
desert when they find themselves in ports
of their native land.
Most of our nayys ship-jumpers are
native Americans. and when they go over
the side in foreign waters it's nearly always
the Oriental and tropical countries that
ret them. Tn not speaking now OF the
= slathers OF lubbers who jump ship In home
: ports when they're first called upon TO help
coal ship, but the seasoned chaps who take
y French leave on the foreign stations.
1The Groom Of the tropical palms gets a
good many of them To sailorman there
sonnet hing whole lot seductive and in
Vitihg about the swaying palms, anyhow
I've felt the queer effect OF them myself,
many a time, and know how IL is.
a flatfoot who's been banging up and
down the world in all sorts OF weat hers for
good many years gets to gazing at the
palms and listening TO the dreamy music
I, Of the trades sneaking through their tufts
and branches" and IL he hasn't go, much
spine, and doesn't take a good grab on HIM
s a1p G,1-ls xy.vNTr x.,tl lac.
palms and muttering to himself. This for
mine And when he gets that far it's
about j to that he'll jump ship.
Most Of the American men-o'-war's
men who jump ship in tropical countries
become sodden and go to the bad in romp,
and wind up as beachcombers. They
find life so easy that they're able to duck
Cny such thing as work altogether and then
they've got nothing else 70 do but TO absorb
Ill of the native booze that they can get
hold of and blink through rummy siestas
until the finish. "'
p THE finish for this class OF fellows is
generally one out of two-they pipe out
and get tucked away underneath those
palms to whose invitation they have lis
tened. or they find Themselves on the beach
eagerly scanning the horizon for the ar
rival of the next American man % war,
to give themselves up as deserters Those
who try to give themselves up are generally
chased They're not wanted. No sailor
man. who has put in few years lolling
around a tropical country or island is ever
any good again az "A man wars man.
'"The beachcombers who get the sheer
off word when they try to surrender have
only one thing 10 do, then. unless they make
up their minds TO listen to the whispering
al the palms for The remainder of their
lives. They've got 20 ship out on nec-
chairman
Lots of them do this. b. the time such
a chap has been msrlire-spiked around the
Horn by bucko mate the dreamiaess Of
the tropics or Of the East has been partially
whanged out Of him and by the windup
Of Ire cruise he's fairly good sailorman
again. ii-tic has ever heen any good.
"BG', even nj that the lotos land Of the
always afternoon is forever calling 20 him
across the deep. I never yet knew man
Of these attitudes to be happy away from
The tropics after spending few years down
near the line The palms get into mans
blood, end no mistake. I've even seen
happy beaohconrhers.
Then. there's the other class of ship
jumpers in tropical and Oriental countries
fellows with some pride and get-Ip about
them. who fight their natural inclination
finally, beachcombers. and make some-
thing Of themselves. Deserters from
the American Navy OF this sort are scattered
all over the world.
Most of them do we'll, and some &C
rumulaie money They often become
tut oIoa mn IN shs in ypl,oh fhat-
make their jumps. Others take to the
sampan, or shore boat. business.
II saw one Of them in Nagasaki year
or SO ago. He was a steam-cutter coI'n
for good many years. One day saw him
pull the Admiral off 10 the flagship In his
sampan. The Admiral had been the
skipper of the ship from which the sampan
man had jumped years before.
THE Admiral recognized the former
steam cutter cox'n the instant he clapped
Admiral with a sense of hpmor. The
cox'n grinned back at the Admiral. They
grinned at each other while the ex-cox il
pulled away for the flagship. Finally. the
admiral couldn't stand it any longer
d" Damn il ALL jim he broke out, how
would YOU like TO have an .0ld-time drunk
on the Bowery| and then the Admiral
added. as precautionary measure, OF
fco,lrse you understand. jim. that I'm only
addressing you moffically, and that I
have no cognizance Whatever OF you
officially .,.....
-. Aye, aye, sir; that's all taut. replied
1.-THE ex-cox'n. and I'm glad to see you
with them stripes on your sleeve, sir, and
that you're lookin' 40 fine. Whatever be-
come O. that panther kitten gives you
down at La Libertad. sir?
- t+ltGrew up. kittenishly enough. but one
day il suddenly remembered the jungle
that you stole It from, and clawed about
b, half the hide off my face replied the Ad-
=. ,yiral. and the chat Of the old times con-
= tinued until the sampan was nearing the
hagship's gangway. when the Admiral and
the ex-co1'n suddenly stiffened by a mutual
impulse and ceased fire; both knew that
ID would never do for an Admiral to be
aeen conversing amcablv with a sampan
man known 10 be a ,deserter from the
United States Navy ,..
Mine or ten years ago met at Papeete
capital ofthe French colony Of Tahiti
an old-tin1er who had been u ho'sun'S mate
in our out III when was a pup apprentice
He had jumped at Papeete, and had been
there ever since
TT was twenty years since I'd seen him
hut III swear that he didn't look day
older than when he gave me my first lesson
IN splicing. He was in the cocoa fibre
coohineal and conch shipping trade, had
been making money ever since he'd
answered to the beckoning Of the palms
and had more put away when met up with
him than he'd ever know how or where &c
spend. Of. ...
o. He took me to his bungalow several
times. He had a half-Frenoh, half-Poly-