The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1908-05-07
GENERAL MUSTER ON A WARSHIP.
Graphic Description of Naval Cere-
mOny.


As one becomes accustomed to
the naval routine there are some
ceremonies that he skips as a mat
ter OF course and some that he
does. One of the latter is the
! general muster of the officers and
crew on a Sunday morning once
month. Quarters are sounded as
usual and then comes the inspect
ors Of the ship and the men in
their stations, while the band IS
playing lively airs. When this is
over the entire ships company not
engaged in actual duty in running
the ship is summoned aft. The
officers and their divisions come
to the quarter deck, and each off
Ger reports his division up and
aft to the executive officer. The
latter then orders the ships roll
to be called. The paymaster steps
out from the group of officers with
the roll. On the Louisiana he
calls:
"Richard Wainwright"
Captain Wainwright responds:
Captain, United States Navy"
"E. w. Eberle"
Lieutenant Commander, Unit
ed States Navy" the executive
officers responds.
&C. 7. JEWELL"
Lieutenant Commander, Unit
ed States Navy" says the naviga-
tor, and so on down the roll Of
officers the paymaster proceeds,
each man saluting as he answers
to his name. Then the paymas-
ter retires and the pay clerk steps
mp and takes up the call. He
reads the names of the members of
the crew. As each man hears his
name called he answers with his
designation on the roll. John
Jones will answer Coal passer,
United States Navy" and VIII
liam Smith will declare that he is
an ordinary seaman, and so on.
AS each man answers to his.name
he drops out of the ranks, pro-
ceeds aft and walks by the captain,
hat in hand. When the name of
man on duty somewhere in the
ship, in the engine rooms or the
bridge or elsewhere, is called, the
ships writer, who stands beside
the executive officer, says:
"On duty, sir. :"
The absentee is marked "ac-
counted for" Men in the sick
bay are accounted for in the same
way. 1t requires almost an hour
to go through the nearly 1000
names, and when it is all over the
paymaster reports to the executive
officer that all are present or &C
counted for and that fact is duly
communicated to the captain. By
that time the deck is clear of the
men and only the officers remain,
and these are dismissed. 1t is a
pretty ceremony and originated, it
IS said, from the fact that before a
complete assembly of officers and
crew was made from time to time
and the roll called there used to
be padded rolls in the navy, and
the captain and paymaster shared
the sWag. You see, graft was
known in the old days, as in the
modern ones; but it must be added
that the navy put stop to the
form of padded pay rolls decades
and decades ago and make the
work effective by providing a most
impressive ceremony.
It's fire thing to see a fine
crew individually and size up each
man. When the President was on
the Louisiana it is said that he
took the keenest interest in the
personal appearance of every man
on the quarterback in answer to
the call of his name and showed
his satisfaction over the appear
anCe of the men as he stood be-
side the captain and watched each
one of the husky lads pass BY
New York Sun.
protortiou Aoa;ust nee n, RI