Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-02


"a ner spinning yarns. AS all of
Il them had had fathers, and some
grandfathers and great-grand-
fathers, in the naval service. their stories
ranged from incidents Of life on board the
great floating combination steel fortresses
and machine shops of the present day back
to the time not only of the ''old navy but
to that Of the old. old navy. when sailing
ships. with their wooden walls. carried the
flag of the republic across the troubled
waters of the seven seas and embraced, Of
course, the intermediate time when the
wooden steam frigates-such ships as the
Colorado and Tennessee-made our navy
great and admired.
The subject Of drinking In the navy came
up and one said: What a change there
has been. even in our day. The old soaks
have been cleared out and. forward and aft.
a guarded temperance or strict total absti-
nence is the rule Whether our ancestors
had greater capacity than we have, or
whether it Is the increased strain brought
about by the more complicated lie OF
the present day, forcing US to cut 1t out. L
do not know; but the fact remains that a
modern man-of-war, in our navy at least. is
worthy the benediction of the w. c. 7. U.
IF those old sea dogs Of the past could
see us today what would they think! why,
in my grandfather's time pitcher of
whisky regularly stood on the wardroom
table, as we might have pitcher of Ice
water stand now. Jack had his grog serv-
ed him regularly at government expense
and was always KICKING because IL was HUI
strong enough.
II remember once, when I was a young
ster. of an old retired officer lamenting to
me about the lack of piety or the navy to-
day, consequent upon the apohtion OF nog-
ging and grog.
"!Why,' said he. in my time the cat O.
nine tails lay every Sunday morning along
side the Bible on the capstan, and we piped
to prayers as regularly as we piped 10
grog.
Liberty men were expected to get drunk
ashore and clean out the town.
man staying sober on shore leave in the
old days would have been looked upon as
weak minded by his messmates.
when the frigate Ohio, Commodore
Isaac Hull, COMMUNICATIVE same who
sunk the Guerriere-came sailing into
Port Mahon in the winter OF 1889, the ex-
pertinent was tried of giving the men
shore leave but no money, as Port Mahon
is a small town and the commodore did not
want 1t torn up by the roots by his bull
lies on a jamboree. But no sooner was tue
liberty party ashore than the men began
to sell their clothing and purchase rum
with the proceeds until they were In
highly Intoxicated and naked condition Re
turning aboard ship each reveler was triced
up to a grating and given ATTY lashes. well
laid on, as sort of welcome home.
..Such incidents were SO common as TO pc
thought hardly worthy of passing notice IN
the old DAYS. There was fighting and fog
ging and rum discipline galore in the old
navy.
'The other day ran across diary kept
by an enlisted man on the Ohio during her
Mediterranean cruise in the thirties. Here
is one entry which shows the feelings OF
the men in respect to hogging. James
toward morning a considerable quantity of
LIQUOR He was most probably intoxicated
when discovered. He accused the officer of
the watch and the midshipman of the
watch of being trunk. which highly in
censed these gentlemen. A gun At 10