Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-10
TALES FROM THE NAVY
Best Fed Body of Sailors in the
World.
SALT PORK AND FIERY RUM.
First American Received by the Grand
Turk.
OPINIONS ON SHIP DUELS
What the Challenge Of the British
Ship Bonnie Cheyenne Led
to Ultimately.
Written for The Star.

That's it. replied the officer who Of
ficiated in the capacity referred to. land I
believe that some of the men forward
were growing about their grub today also.
Why, do you know. sir, that we live better
in the navy now-forward and aft-than in
any other navy in the world and better
than we ever did before in our own serv
Ice? Take the case Of the men.
1.-THE ration for each man as fixed by law
of Congress in 1901 provided that he should
have to sustain him on Sunday-a feast
day-one and one-quarter pounds of salt
beef, salt horse. the sailors call 1t, and
salt horse 1t sometimes doubtless was-four-
teen ounces OF bread, one-half pound OF
flour. one-quarter pound of suet and one
half pint of spirits. On Monday he got
pound Of pork instead Of beef and one-half
pint Of peas instead Of -four and suet. Pork
and beef alternated, except on Friday, when
he got no meat at all, but had four ounces
of cheese and two ounces Of butter IN
stead, along with the bread and spirits
which occurred every day-fourteen ounces
Of one and a half-pint of the other.
1.-THE ships bread was generally weevily
and bad, but the spirits, always rum, Of
good quality Sailors in those days would
mutiny IL the rum was bad. And think Of
It! Every day of their lives the sailors
drank, as matter of course, half a. pint
of fiery rum, and on special occasions and
holidays, or when the captain was feeling
good natured, an extra grog was ordered
to be served out-they drank pint of the
modern sailor wodld think of a cup of
coffee. Coffee and tea, by the way, were
unheard-of and undreamed-of luxuries in
those days on board a man-ofwar at
least before the mast, and were right SPAR
ingly used abaft 1t.
Present Day Contrast.
Contrast the ration given above-the
amount of which provided for a whole days
sustenance, mind you-with a days fare
taken at random from the bill Of fare
Of training ship Of these days cruis lg In
foreign waters. I will read:
December 81, at sea-Breakfast: Corned
beef hash, fresh bread, oranges. coffee. Din
ner: Beef pie lima beans, fresh bread, cof-
fee. Supper: Gingerbread, hot biscuits, but
ter and tea And the men are allowed
all they want; and with their coffee and
tea they have sugar and milk.
''On Christmas day 1 see the same ship
had for its bill Of fare, for breakfast, beef
stew, bread and coffee; for dinner, roast
turkey with cranberry sauce, cold ham,
baked sweet potatoes, boiled onions, apple
pie nuts. candy, rasins, bananas and lem
onade; for supper, cold meat, potato salad,
fresh bread and tea.
why, In the days when Farragut and
Porter and those old heroes were young
lieutenants no commodore in the navy
kept such a mess at sea as Is now found
before the mast on board an American
man-of-war. The fare of the officers
was only g. tride better than that of the
men, and have shown you what that was
salt beef, salt pork, hard bread and rum.
Maybe the captain or the commodore had
a pig on board which, when slaughtered,
gave the cabin and the ward room taste Of
fresh pork. and probably he carried along
a few hens so that now and then he might
have an egg for breakfast and now and then
q roast fowl. But these were luxuries
most Of the time it was the same old round
for the captain Of the ship and the captain
Of the top-salt beef. salt pork. hard bread
and rum. The commodore was allowed to
mast hand-that was the only differ
ence."
Grand Turk and American.
SAILORS dwell together like lambs until
the food question is raised" said the navi-
gator; '1et US change the subject. I see
that. after delaying it as long as he could
the Sultan of Turkey has at last received
an American ambassador at his court. Do
you know the first American official ever
received at the sultan's court was a naval
officer = Commodore cambridge - and the
grand Turk received him out of sheer Curl
osity, never having heard of such a people
as the Americans before. much less seen
one Of the strange breed?
THAT was in the early part of the nine
teenth century and cambridge had gone to
Constantinople bearing tribute from the
Bey of Algiers who then accounted him
self our lord and master. cambridge was
then obliged to sail from Algiers flying the
Algerian flag. but after he got to sea he
hauled it down and hoisted the American
ensign. When his ship dropped anchor In
front of Constantinople. Turkish official
gorgeously dressed. came alongside and de-
manded to know what ship it was.
1.-The frigate George Washington, from
the United States was the reply. The Of
fetal went ashore and. after conference
with the authorities. came back and very
politely welcomed cambridge to the Turk
ish capital. but remarked that he had con-
suited many members of the government
and no one Of them had ever heard of such
country as the United States before.
Would the captain be kind enough to state
more clearly where he came from and what
country he represented
cambridge was nonplussed for min
ute but finally explained that he came
from the new world-the one that Column
bus discovered oh. yes, the official had
heard about Columbus and the new world.
He would make report to his government.
THE news spread through Turkish gov
eminent circles that Christopher Columbus
had arrived In port, but the harbor master
said: No, it was not Christopher Columbus
who had arrived, but his friend George
and bunch of flowers to the strange ship
as tokens of peace and welcome and the
next day the sultan summoned cambridge
to his august presence.
cambridge went in state and was re-
ceived with honors by the imperial polyga-
mist who then held down the throne
OF Ottoman. By this time the sultan had
learned that the stranger officer was not
Columbus nor yet that unknown friend of
the discoverer, George Washington. Never
theless he was intensely interested in these
barbarans from beyond the seas and Sain-
bridge spent an hour delivering lecture on
the United States, in which, you may be
sure, he made the eagle scream. But he
must have left out some important facts,
after all, for the sultan Is recorded as hav-
ing remarked:
"'Your flag, like my own, is decorated
with one of the heavenly bodies / con-
slider this a good omen for our future
friendly intercourse. 1t Is most probable
that we have many afflnities in laws, re-
ligion and manners
Battles Under Challenge.
The conversation drifted q few minutes
and then came to anchoron the subject of
ship duels-naval battles fought under chal-
lenge.
Il do not approve of such battles" said
the first lieutenant. They are gallant and
picturesque, and all that, but they are not
war. Let me give you an instance.
In the war of 1912 the corvette Bonnie
Cheyenne, one of the finest ships OF her