Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1908-04-16
WASHING DAY AFLOA7
When the Sailor Lads In the NAVY
Turn Laundryme;,.
A HARD JOB IN BAD WEATHER
Each Man, With His Feet and Leoa
Bare, Scrubs His Own Clothes and
Gets Thorn Ready For Inspection.
Jimmy Legs and the "Lueky Baq."

| dummy Legs and the Lucky Bag"
Have you ever noticed how clean and
well dressed sailor lad looks when
on shore leave. how white his clothes
look when you board the ship OH Wis.
itins days? But did you ever realize
that he was his own washerman?
With shrill blast of his silver whis-
tile the chief boatswain's mate will
pipe. Scrub and wash clothcs.' ard
every man hurrics to his bucket gets
his soilcd clothes. salt water soap.
draws bucket of briny or fresh WA
ter. as the case may be, and begins his
! washing
He is generally barefooted at this
time, so that he will not wet his shoes
and stockings. He wears his trousers
very bell shaped at the bottom in order
that he may roll them up over the
knee
After scrubbng and rubbing his
clothes until clean he turns them in
side out and with stops proceeds to
get them ready for hanging up. These
stops are short pieces of twine twisted
and with whipped ends, that he uses
In lieu of clothespins They are fas-
tened i'm eyelets placed at the side
seams and bottom of his shirts and the
w;listband of his trousers. He turns
all his washed clothes inside out to
prevent the right side getting soiled
They are then hung on IL line which,
says the Youths Companion, is run
from the bow to the topmast or upper
top OF fighting mast The we'll In
formed man now usually puts his
clothes to soak tile night before in 81
bucket half full of water into which
H. has either sprinlled a handful OF
Soap powder or small piece of salt
water soap. In the morning a little
rubbing and his clothes are clean ,lnd.
hung up while the "landlubber" has
, just begun.
When they have been thoroughly
dried, the chief boatswain again pipes,
Scrub and wash clothes" and every
man rushes for the clotheslille to
claim his own. If he fails to secure
them within Il reasona bic time. the
master at arms, or Jimmy Legs. :"
takes them down. and they go into the
lucky bag" Then the only recourse
the unluclsy owner has is to go to the
mast. or the stick as the court on
board ship is commonly called. and pc
tition the first lutT." or executive oil
Ger. to order them released
AS Il rule. Jimmy Legs who has
charge of the cleanliness of the decks.
always has extra cleaning. painting
and so forth in mind. and the man
whose clothes get into the lucky bag
receives so many hours extra duty as
gentle reminder to he more careful
in the future. His name goes OH jim
my Legs time book. and when there
is amy extra labor to be performed he
is called upon to assist
This is usually the lot of the lands
man. who has not been aboard long
enough to learn the ropes
After they are taken from the line
the stops are taken out and the clothes
rolled in such IL manner that they need
no ironing. These rolls are then tied
at each end with the stops and ar"
slowed away i'm the clothes bag. In
this way all his clothes. both blue and
white. arc kept clean. and when sun.
day morning comes and there is gem
cra inspection Oh the quarter deck he
has no fear of being reprmanded for
having on Il soiled uniform.
The hardest things of IL sailors outfit
to wash are his blanket and hammock.
The hammock forms part of his equip
ment, but belongs to the ship. lie is.
however, required to keep it clean.
His mattress and blanket are dashed
into the hammock and slowed in the
MEETINGS or crates provided for that
purpose
Every day Il couple or more men are
detailed to stow them away and Mt
night TO break them out. 1T is this
handling so much that gets them fear,
fully dirty. especially while II ship Is
coaling. When washing his hammock.
II sailor lays it fiat on the deck and
uses Il wire brush to get 1T clean. With
the assistance of soap and lots of eel
bow grcaSe.'
In visiting Il foreign port and before
the ship has come to anchor it will be
surrounded by 'bumboats." generally
bringing cut washerwomen, who are
usually negrcsscs and who clamor for
any work i'm the laundry line They
do good work and charge very little
| for it. They always show their refer
enccs from the last ship and always
want new one to add to their already
long list
1t is in wet and stormy weather that
the sailor has his own troubles trying
to dry his clothes Round the uptakes
of the smokcstack there is drying
room in which clothes may be hung,
but as they grow yelowish when hung
there often this room is used as little
as possible. In the newer men-of-wa.
there are installed washing and drying
machines which greatly facilitate the
laundry work, making 1t inexcusable
for a sailor to have soiled clothes.
This machine, which dries clothes by
centrifugal motion, does the work rap
idly and WE'LL
These machines. which are being
added to al! the new ships. will in
time do away with all hand work The
old familiar sight of a long line of
clothes strung from bow to masthead
will no longer be seen. and the boat
swain's mate will forget how to pipe,
Scrub and wash clothesv'
Will Richardson was a bust