The Opelousas courier., 1905-08-05
TRAINING FOR HI NAVY
ISLAND BOYS THAT UNCLE SAM
is WATCHING.

A Combination of Jackie and School,
boy to Be Found on Lake Maxim
kuckee at Culver, Ind.
Something of the soldiers training
has been welded into mahy schools.
Not so with the sailors. There are
miniature West POINTS in almost every
state, but schools modelled after An
napolis are not SO easy to find. Were
you to look for such a school in the
most likely place, on the Atlantic or
Pacific seaboard, you would seek it in
vain. AS a matter OF fact. the only
spot at present where you will find the
combination Of Jackie and schoolboy
is OF an island lake in a western state,
On Lake MaXinkuckee, at Culver, Ind.
Nor is even this an all-year-round at
fair, but a summer school that con.
tents itself with a brief eight weeks
session, in which man-of-war cutters
play a more prominent part than class
rooms, and in which the hardening Of
muscles and the getting of a healthy
coat of tan take. precedence over even
such things as Latin and Greek.
But, despite it's b%riefness, 1t Is a ses-
sion which amply justifies itself by
the wealth of refreshment it affords
the tired schoolboy. 1t cornmends it.
self also to Uncle Sam by reason OF
the interest in the navy it arouses
among the western youth, and because
the training they receive should make
of them good material for officers of
the naval militia. In fact, the navy
department has sent out to this little
western lake an equipment of man-of-
war cutters similar to those used in
Annapolis, and has lent Hotchkiss
guns and other expensive equipment.
1t is not In keeping with the hustling
spirit CT today that a boy even in sum-
mer time should spend three long
months without aim or purpose, and
so summer camps and other forms of
organized vacations have come into ex-
istence. But it is doubtful if any of
these make such a strong appeal to
a boys natural tastes or give him
more wholesome refreshment a brown
er skin, Or harder muscles than this
naval course.
Certainly boys could not enter into a
thing with keener zsst and more
enthusiasm than is put into the nan
ming of oars and halvards by the cad
cts of Culver summer naval school.
Even an old man-o-war's man would
not d%isapproye Of the seamanly way
in which they get up masts and make
sail, or of the precision with which
they handle their oars, and of the long,
steady stroke with which they make
the big cutters fairly jump through
the water.
Under any conditions a boy loves to
row and sail, but possibly the secret
of the extra enthusiasm of the Culver
lads lies in the appeal that a real man.
o'-war cutter makes to the love of
romance inherent in every boy; for
are not these cutters the landing
boats and messengers of the navy?
Were they not used in cutting the ca
BILE at Cardenas and in landing troops
in Cuba, and, in fact, would not the
history of u navy be incomplete
without them?
The nautical appearance of the cut
tiers, with their spotless and shining
brasswork, and of their c%anvas.c1ad
crews, also lend interest to the work.
And, besides, q cutter drill under oars
or sail is a far different thing from
plain rowing or sailing. Under oars
a -pennant flies in the bow, and the
United States colors from the stern.
The masts are unstepped, and with
sails neatly made up, are laid along
the running board. One cadet perched
in the coxswain's box handles the til |
lers and gives the orders to the ten
cadets at the oars. When he com
mands Toss" the ten oars must
spring skyward as one; when he COM
mands let fall" they must strike
the gunwale with a single thud. And
these oars are no lightspoon-blade,
sculls, but are fourteen feet of heavy
ash, veritable telegraph poles. Doubt
less were you to try to toss one, with
out knowing the knack Of it, 1t would
play seesaw with you over the gun
vale. When the individual crews have
learned how to give way together, and
to back water port and give way star
board; in other words, to handle their
quickly in response to com
mands, the cutters are drilled togeth-
err. Various combinations of gaily col
ored signal flags are displayed at the
mast of the instructors launch, and
in response to these the cutters
into various formations, just
as the ships of a squadron would do on
from the flagship.
All Of this is interesting enough; but
the rae under oars, a feature
Of almost every drill, no cadet ever re-
members that handling a ~fourteen-foot
par is anything like work. Each young
ster bends to his oar as if his life de-
upon his cutter being first,
urges them on to greater effort;
yet with all this exertion the victori-
men of the crew never fail to have
wind left at the finish to an
their triumph with a lusty
cheer.
For the drill under sail, oars are
iossed and boated, and at the COM
mand of up masts!" each cadet
to his place, the masts are
Thisked from the thwarts and step
Jed, topmasts raised, shrouds made
asst and sheets hauled fiat aft, and In
Ia -