Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-24
Make 1t Mighty Unpleasant.

Make It Mighty Unpleasant.
Blu. disconnected men-owar's men in the
American navy. suffering under what they
deem imposition or a Withholding of their
rights can, and sometimes do, make 1t
mighty unpleasant on board their ship for
the commander thereof and for the Off
GERS directly concerned with or responsible
for their grievances.
Such acts as heaving missiles at disliked
officers are not done in the navy today, but
the blueja ckets have little methods of their
own of getting back at severe or imperious
officers. Laying DOWN is one of their
schemes, and 1t Is an efficacious method.
That is what that crew on the cruiser off
the California coast probably did the other
day. The men of ships company well
know that whole ships company can't be
punished in bunch for not coming up to
a set standard in the performance of work,
and they know how to take advantage of
that knowledge. The amount of work that
a disaffected ships company can't do In a
given space of time is something immense.
In the matter of coaling ship, for example.
they can either make life miserable for the
commanding officer, IL he is the man they
have It in for, by lOafing on their job
through all the watches and dragging the
dirty and unpleasant coaling task through
an interminable length of time, or they can
punish any watch officer for whom they
have got it In by showing him up"
In the latter case, they calmly wait till
the watch Off1cer VINO mas incurred tHeE
displeasure takes the deck and assumes df-
rect command of the work of coaling. and
then they proceed to give an exhibition of
how franticaIiy ships company of naval
sailormen can work without doing any
thing They shovel away furiously, but,
somehow or another, very little coal seems
to find its way over the ships side and into
the bunkers. The bluejackets in the coal
lighters pant and perspire under the strain
OF labor that looks quite terrific, but there
is a monumental lack of Roadway in the
coaling of the ship.
May Chafe and Mutter.
The dishked officer of the deck may chafe
and mutter deep and dark things under his
breath, but this doesn't get coal into the
bunkers When he makes his report to the
old man" of the amount Of coal that has
been got aboard during his watch It is
found by comparison that It is only about
one-third the amount that was hoisted over
the side during the watch of the preceding
officer of the deck, who happened to be
popular with the men. A matter of this
sort always sets commanding offlcer 10
thinking for men who are old enough to be
commanders of American men-o-war have
learned by experience that 1t Is as easy as
launching a dinghey for naval officer TO
acquire and hold the good VIII of enlisted
men and that the usefulness on board of q
ship Of an officer who has sacrificed the
confidence and good viii of the men for ard
is Just as good as gone
And so 1t comes TO pass that nowadays
few officers of-the United States navy fan
to apprehend how well it pays them to
make themselves popular with the men for
ard In the old navy 1t often happened that
officers who hadsearned the ill-will OF the
bluejackets actually feared to go forard
at night after lights out, and there was
reason. Such officers. taking the chance.
would no sooner set foot under the 10 c sic,
where, after lights out. there was only the
Inn Inn air1af n a
than they would have to dodge all manner
of missiles, soup and bully" cans, chock-
ing blocks. mess gear, boots, anything and
every thing throwable that the sailors and
marines in and out of their ham,nocks,
first laid their hands upon. On such an
occasion the officer who was the target had
but one thing to do. and that was 10 scoot
aft as fast as his legs would carry him. He
could make complaint to the commanding
officer the next day If he were foolish, but
he rarely secured the punishment OF any
men for,ard. The throwers couldn't be sin
gled out. Even when it was possible to
pick out the Offenders IL generally happen
ed that the 'old man. declined to punish
them. A famous commander of one of the
old frieates of the "Ticon' days" was ap-
pealed to one morning by a junior lieutsn-
ant who, as officer of the deck the night
before had been treated to dose of flying
gear on a visit to the 70 c'sle.
Who Chucked the Gearp
DO you know the men who chucked the
gear?" inquired the bluff old commander.
Yes" the lieutenant replied, and he
named some of them.
The commander was rough. ready and
profane,
.It serves you id good and right he
ant. "The men you've named are the best
men I've got on my ship. I've been ship
mates with some of them since was q
MILDLY. sir. and have never had any troa-
IL 49, $50. "a