The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-14
The NAYY'S CALL TO OLD TARS
RETIRED MAN OF wars MEN VINO
MANN ROUND THE FLAG.

WV AOs Vuoh ~ W1-
announced that the battleships were getting
ready to start for Cuba q stoOldly built
ruddy faced old man walked into the Navy
department. He was Henry Thompson
chief b~Oatswain's mate, retired. .
AT the age Of 90 he had oome to offer hi
services once moro in case Of trouble AZ Q
United States man-o'-war's man. Rolling
pompous old Admirals met him as he shuffied
through the corridors Of the Navy Depart
ment and instantly recognized him and
olapped him on the back and o his
hand n roared greetings at him. His
sea service goes away back Of the days of
the old Ticon', and he had served alongside
some OF those sams white whiskered Admirals
when they were dandiHed middies.
IL took the old chap a couple. OF hours
to get out OF the Navy Department. The
old time officers stationed in the building
in high biiiets were bound to corral MIN in
shadowy corners and buzz him about the
days Of the nown time when, man aft and
man for'ard, they served alongside OF
each other, careless youngsters on far sta
tons, and the world their oyster.
Before going away Thompson was told
that il the descent upon Cuba grew into
a big thing he'd be r~eplanted in his chief
bo's'n's mates billet On one Of the good
battleships for a sure thing, and those who
gave this assurance meant 1t.
This was the second time Thompson
had come to the front after being retired
when work for the navy loomed up. The
nav was short handed when the Spanish
war. broke out. When Thompson heard
Of the shorthandedness he trudged to the
Navy Department and asked for duty. He
got it, and he was on the bridge with Sohley
when the battle Of Santiago was fought.
The Spanish war at an end, Thompson
returned to his Washington home. That
home is on Capitol Hill.
There's a fagpole in tEe little front yard
Of the home. Promptly at 8 o'clock, or eight
bells, every morning ThOmpson's neigh
bors see the old man raising the Stars an
Stripes, while the strains Of The Star
Spangled Banner proceed from q large
photograph placed in ono Of the front
windows. At shutdown the old fiat foot
hauls the Tag down. .''.''
There is something fine about the way
these former navy men for'aId, old, middle
aged and young, com forward and record
themselves as ready for instant servioe
on every occasion when trouble seems
to impend. A great many Of them live in
Washington. and these. Of course are
the first to drop by the Navy Department
to leave their addresses.
Some others who live elsewhere write
to the Department giving their where
abouts and offering TO ship at a minutes
notice. But the average man-o'-war's
man possesses a deep and dark skepticism
as to the fate OF letters addressed to the
Navy Department. So many come right
down to Washington for the sole purpose
Of asking for. service.
1t is a great thing for the navy that these
men do this. They say at the Depart
menC that the navy would have been in q
serious plight for seasoned men in the petty
officers billets at the time OF the Spanish
war had not such a raft Of the former
men for'ard who had quit the service come
% the front and shipped.
In all cases these offers involve sacrifices
on the part of. the men making them, and
in some cases big sacrifices. At, the out
break OF the Spanish war, for example.
former man-o'-war's men came forward
and shipped for the scrap as electricians
who were making salaries up in the thou
= : AZ electricians ashore.
There was a Moe sense Of gratitude in
this, by the way. These chaps were ex-
apprentices who had learned the rudiments
of the ELECTRICIANS, business as seaman
gunners at the expense Of the Government.
Their apprenticeship in the navy over,
they had left the service and followed the
electricians calling 90 successfully that
many OF them had gained high billets in
that line in civil life. When trouble came
the Government they felt as il they
owed a debt to Uncle Sam and 30 they
quit their jobs and gave the navy the bene-
fit Of their services.
Prosperous ex-man-o'-war's men in many
lines freely abandoned first rate Jobs
-on the beach" when the -nnOunoemen
was made that seasoned men were impera-
lively needed 10 man the ships OF war that
were being fitted out. Middle aged men
families are just a. alert in s~lgnifying
their desire for service for'ard IL their SER
vices are needed as former apprentices out
Of the navy only a few months.
A few days before the flying squadron
left Norfolk in thOS Spanish wal o fine, hearty
old peg leg OF the old navy turned up at
the Navy. Department. He had been a
1uartermaster in the service for about a
generation.
He was retired on a pension when his left
Ieg was cut on by being caught in a coil Of
rope while his last ship, one OF the old timers,
was being docked. To ask to be assigned
the flying squadron he came to Washing
ON all the way from a town in Iowa, where
he was living with his daughter and a rich
and living surrounded by every
Imaginable comfort.
He hadn't been in the corridors OF the de-
oartment three minutes before the grizzled
officers who had been shipmAtes with him
the gone can caught sight OF him, and
he reception they gave the old chap was
something prOdigiOus. At one time he was
by four Admirals, six Captains
three Commanders, all OF whom had
,ailed with him and learned many a trick |
rom him many years before.
Why, you old s~coundrel!" cried one OF
he Admirals, as he bore down upon the red
'aced old peg leg. who was standing at at
,ention with his fingers at his hat in salute
md a grin or his salt cracked countenance,
what the
Here e ship, SIR replied the old peg leg
the Admiral grabbed his paw. Il know
hat n O. me sticks" casting an eye down
It his wooden leg, lis carried awaV like. hut