Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1907-03-08
CUSTOMS N ROYAL NAVY
From Fork in the Beam
Junior Middies Flee
QUAINT RULES OBEYED
Ships Kept Clean With the Help of
the Scran Bag-Fines OF Inches of
Soap-Fun Among tho Officers
Prccedencc-The Quarterback .
Sacred Place.

In the British navy. TO say that a
thing is a custom of the service is TO
say that it must be done that way
and no other
IL Is nowhere laid down. for in
stance that the senior officer shall
always enter boat last and leave II
first; but the expression on certain
Captains face might have led one to
believe that one OF the laws of the
Modes and Persians had been bro
ken when, on taking the newly Joined
chaplain ashore with him on one oc-
caslon, he said, Now. then. padre,
jump In" and the reverend gentle
man politely replied After you,
sir"
This custom Is one of the oldest In
the service, says the Grand Maya
zine. 1t doubtless dates from before
the days of Drake, II not, indeed,
from those OF Noah himself
The gunroom mess consists Of the
sub-lieutenants. all other commits
stoned officers of equivalent rank and
all midshipmen and cadets. Midship-
men are divided into two lots,
Senior" and Junior" The former
are over eighteen years of age and
are allowed many privileges, such as
smoking and so on, denied to the
juniors.
AS specimen of the customs
which remind the Juniors that they
ere still in bondage, the one known
rs, Fork In the Beam" is worth no.
tice. 1t may be sprung upon its VIC
tins at any time during or after
dinner.
When the president of the mess
sticks table fork into one of the
beams overhead 1t is signal for all
juniors to clear out of the mess as
fast as legs, arms or anything else
can carry them. The last out receives
several good whacks with a dirk
scabbard on the most convenient part
of his body as he disappears through
the door. The scramble that results
would disturb the equilibrium Of
most older and more sedate diners
than those usually found in gum
room.
One of the most important and
best known institutions In the SER
vice is the scran bag. 1t is well
known that the allowance OF paint
and materials for keeping a ship
clean. as laid down by the British
Admiralty, is quite inadequate for
that purpose. Ny Lords are much
more generous nowadays than they
used to be, but the First Lieutenant
or Commander has still to put his
hand In his pocket IL he wishes his
ship to look really smart.
The small supply of these necessi-
ties which the Admiralty provides
for cleaning brasswork, etc, as aug
mented from the taking of the scran
bag. A ship must be spick and span
and tidy as any housewife could
wish to see her home.
Nothing must be out of place, and
nothing must be left lying about;
but sailors like other mortals, are
only human, and. consequently,
leave articles of clothing and per-
sonal property in places where they
ought not TO. This is an offence for
which they are liable to disciplinary
punishment; but a brilliant, though
unknown, officer many years ago de-
vised a scheme by which all the arti-
Giles thus found are promptly seized
BY the ships police and placed in
tho scran bag.
There they remain until the next
Thursday afternoon, which is the
time set aside for men to make and
mend clothes. The bag is then open
ed by the master-at-arms, and the
owners may redeem their lost prop
erty by paying fine of an inch OF
yellow soap for each article.
The price of this soap is a penny
an inch, and the fine Is usually paid
In cash, not in kind. Should a man
have something confiscated without
which he cannot manage to get on
till the next Thursday he can re-
deem It at once by paying double.
Not even officers are exempt from
these penalties.
Most men at some time in their
life have known the unpleasantness
consequent on discovering that they
were walking about without a neck
tie. 1t somehow seems to be an arti-
Gle Of apparel that is most easily
overlooked when dressing in a hurry.
In the navy II one officer meets an
other going into the mess without q
tie he may claim the usual drink
should the offender get into the mess
without previously discovering HIS
mistake the penalty may be exacted
by all present
When an Admiral or Captain
comes on board ship he is piped
over the side; that is to say, as the
boat comes alongside a boatswain'f
mate gives forth a shrill crescaado
pipe and repeats 1t as.the officer steps
on to the quarter deck, every one
present saluting at the same time
The origin OF this is to be found IN
the privilege which all officers of q
certain rank enjoyed many years age
OF being hoisted on board in chair
slung from the main yard of the old
three deckers. The sacredness of the
quarter deck is well known TO all;
no person IN his Majesty's navy gcel
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