Evening star., 1914-04-19

he declares. are a necessary part of the
naval militia officers duties, and they
must be prepared to give the extra time
Monday nights in addition to the regular
Thursday night drills in order to be-
come efficient and put themselves on
plane with the regular navy officers.
The school was inaugurated last
Monday night, when Commissioned
Chief Gunner Bernard P. Donnelly, Y.
). n, gave the men lecture on
ordnance and gunnery. He traced gun
merry for them from the early ages,
when catapultS were used, to the pres
ent day all powerful guns such as are
staring in the faces of the populace of
Tampico. He illustrated his talk with
diagrams on the blackboard, and fol-
, lowing the meeting several of the Off
GERS declared that in the short time
consumed by Chief Gunner Donnelly in
delivering the lecture they had learn
ed more of this branch of the naval
work than they had during the entire
time they had been in the naval militia
service. The lecturer is much interest
ed in the work of the naval militia
men in this city, and efforts are being
made by Commander Dempf to have
this regular officer continue his lee
lures TO them a some later date.
Tomorrow night arrangements have
been made to have Lieut.. Commander
james {. Eress, L. 5. n. on special
duty a the Navy Department give the
officers talk on the duties of officers
of the deck" Every officer of the bat
talon has been urged to be present at
this lecture. which deals SO much with
the everyday duties of the deck Off
Ger, and it is believed that some valu-
able pointers will be received from
Commander kress on the simplest way
of handling various difficulties that
may comfort the office rof the deck
while he is standing his watches.
| While the officers are having their
school in the wardroom in the armory,
the enlisted men of the third division,
not to be outdone. applied to Ensign
Frank w. Sigourney. their commander,
to arrange for school for them Mon
day nights. This has been done, and
these young men from now every
Monday night will be taken in charge
by the petty officers of the division
and given instruction in naval duties.
Last week they We're given instruction
in the compass and tomorrow night
their subject win be the method of
heaving the lead.
Apparatus for instructinS the young
men in signaling, so that they may per-
form the interesting duty of signal
boys aboard the armored cruiser Ten
| nessee when they go away this summer.
was taken out last week by Ensign
Harold Crawford, who ordered it
| cleaned up. PaSteboard copies of the
signal flags used in the navy are placed
above each other on a board, forming
message, much the same they would
! be tied on the signal halyards on
| ship, and when a signal is set in this
! way the board is turned around for the
men to read. In this way they may
easily become proficient in signaling
Similarity. an appal~>ds has been pre-
! pared for the colored lights, and this
| will be used to teach the young men
| the method of reading the night signals
| of ships by means of electric lamps.
There is much friendly rivalry in the
| third division, and each man tries to
! outdo the other. Their. drills they make
a pleasure to themselves in this way
| Las 9Th ,ab
| field pieces, which for so lon have
! formed ornaments in the drill hall. were
dismantled and taken to the lower floor
| and reassembled. They will be used in
drilling the men, and both guns will
| be taken out by the third division at
! the parade in connection with the un-
| yelling of the Barry statue May 10. The
| third division, in addition to its work
| of cleaning and painting the whale
| boat which has been assigned to it. has
also undertaken the duty of cleaning
up these guns for the parade.
Keen rivalry has developed over the
recruiting campaign which Commander
! Dempf has inaugurated, and it is ex-
| pected that by June 10 every division of
| the battalion will have its fun quota of
sixty men, the minimum prescribed by
| law TO stir up interest, Commander
/ Dempf has deposited 50, to be added to
| the funds of the division which brings
| in the most men before June Is. the
date when enlistments will close for the
annual cruise.
Recruits are coming into the battalion
| rapidly. and the divisions are all grow
ing The third division soon will have
the uniforms for its base ball team. and
also expects soon to put the river
the whaleboat racing crew for the
twenty -five-dollar prize and silk flag
which has been offered.
To obtain funds with which to buy its
athletic equipment, the third division
gave dance in the armory last We'd
nesday night, and although there was
large. crowd a great many were kept
away by the incement weather. The
music was furnished by the United States
Navy Yard Orchestra of which Chief
Musician Philip Meyer is the leader.
One of the mlitamen present at the
dance thought ne had traced the dance
| known as the fishwalk to its origin.
He declared it began in San Francisco
when several sailors who had imbibed
| too freely undertook to dance the old
| time waltz. The result was a wabble, and
the tiShwallS was born to become dance
craze. No one. of course. doubts this
explanation after having seen the dance
and then flashed a mind picture of drunk
en- sailors trying to waltz.
The following named enlisted men OF
he Cd Division of the Naval Bat
TALON have been ordered honorably dis