The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-14

the matter with the bIuejackets' military
look OF slovenliness about them. Each man
wore all his gear according 20 regulations,
but somehow or another all hands looket
seedy, awkward, unframed and unmilitary.
and this despite the fact that the men be-
loDged to what was riRhtfully considered
one OF the crack seasoned crews Of the
whole American navy.
The dislik ed officer got the men ashore and
began to drill them. They fell down in a
body at the simplest orders. Half OF Their,
came to q present arms when the other half
came to order arms.
The officer berated them and tried again.
They did worse than before. The officer
began TO march them. Apparently not ten
men in the party knew the difference be-
tween tours right and left obliuue.
h movements were a bowling farce,
and the foreign naval officers VINO hap
pened to be ashore stood by and made little
effort to cover up their grins. Inc un-
popular deck officer few into a rage and
began to drill the men one by one;
Every man jack went through the indi-
vidual drill, manual and movements. Ike
a royal marine, and when the officer had
drilled about half of them in this way he
resumed giving them orders in a body.
Again they were like a pack Of recruits.
The inextricable jumbles into, which
GUS laughter Of the observing foreign
officers. The disliked officer decided TO
punish the men, and he marched them
five miles into the country over a bad road,
mostly on the double. The men struggled
along like a pack Of pursued sheep, with
no order whatever, and all as solemn as
owls about it.
The officer marched the men back to the
landing after the ten miles had been Gov
cred, and got them on board the ship. Then
he reported to the commanding officer
that IL was the stupidest pack OF bluejaokets
he had ever commanded.
Stupid" inquired the skipper wonder
ingly. You must be dreaming. Those
men you had ashore to-day make one OF
the crack landing party hattalions Of the
American navy. l shall take them ashore
myself tomorrow and find out what's the
matter. You shall accompany me-"
The old man, an extremely popular COM
mander with the bluejackets, did take that
same landing party ashore on the following
day. Every man appeared on deck spick
and span and alert all a-quiver with mettle.
The commanding officer got them ashore
and put them through their manual.
The bluejackets were as one man with
their pieces. The skipper then put them
through the movements, and the clean,
practised, expert fashion with which the
bluejackets performed the evolutions
amazed the foreign officers who had laughed
the day before.
When the party returned to the ship the
disliked officer held a conference with the
old man in his cabin relative to getting a
transfer TO SOV1e OJDeT snip.
When a chief engineer on a man-of-war
OF to-day acquires the dislike OF his men
the black g~ang-they are capable Of making
heavy trouble for him. Aside from the
commanding officer. it might almost I've
said that of all officers attached to a ship
it is most necessary for the chief engineer
TO possess not only the actual good will
but the devotion of the men under him.
The chief engineer is held strictly ac-
countable for the preservation in good
oAnIitsAn nf tho ahin'a mQNhinarv and
boilers. A loose screw may very easily
disable an engine. and IL Is the simplest
thing in life to loosen a screw without any
body being the wiser. One cut rivet is
enough to make a boiler useless, and crown
plates may be let down easily enough.
A crime Of this sort has never been actually
fastened upon an enlisted man In the enei-
neer's department OF an American war
ship, but il il n matter Of common knowledge
in the navy that those chief engineers who
are unpopular with the men under them
have the most trouble with the machinery
and boilers OF their ships. and some Of these
disliked chiefs have TO use a great deal Of
paper and ink in explaining to the depart
ment just why there are so many break
downs in the gear over which they have
control. 1t is quite possible even FOR so
rated a man as n coal HEAVIER to get
his chief engineer tangled up with a court
Of inquiry.
Moreover, it often happens that an I'M
popular chief engineer can't get his men to
make steam. The firemen apparently work
hard enough, but they don't get the revolu-
out Of the ~propellers.
News travels just IS fast from the cahin
to the fo'c'sle as IL does from the fo'c'sle
to the cabin, and when the black gang hear
that their unpopular chief engineer has
been ordered by the skipper TO get the ship
TO such and such a port at such and such a
time they Just catch one mothers eyee and
he ship doesn't get to that port at that
time or anywhere near IL.
IL would make no difference IL the chief
Engineer were to stand watch in the Are
room for twenty-four hours at a stretch.
The steam registers wouldn't take any
Upward leaps on account Of his presence.
The assistant engineers also stand in need
" the good will Of the black gang. On
ships attached to which there have been
.wo engineers one OF them liked and the
other OF them out Of favor with the black
gang, It has frequently been observed tina
he sreed OF the ship during the watches of
he disliked officer has fallen short by whole
Snots Of the speed got put Of the engines
~ his fellow assistant engineer.
And so IL goes. Men on board ship are
lunar as we'll as those on drv land. A
yang OF railroad construction hands will
ay down on an unpopular foreman in tust
ibout the same way that a disaffected gang
y hluejackets will show up an unpopular
,fficer.
But laying down isn't mutiny.