Courier Democrat., 1916-02-03
CLAIMED The ship
Marc Thought He Was Eligible TO
Command a Cruiser.
AN OLD TIME NAVAL PRANK.
The Shabby Trick That Was Played
Upon Patriotic Greek Boilerm al<er
by Some of Uncle Sans Sailors With
Whom He Had Shipped.

Oh which was serving shipped Il boil
crnakcr while we were on the Medi-
tetrancan station" said retired petty
ofnccr OF the navy. Our former boil
nrmakcrS time expired while we We're
ut. Gibraltar, and rs he WAS not i'll good
physical shape he wasn't re-cnliSted.
but took his discharge and returned To
She United States by mail steamer. So
the ship was shy q boilcrmakcr, Il very
important and necessary petty officer
down below in the engineers depart
snent, and when the ship pulled into
Naples harbor the chief engineer went
ashore to see if he couldn't DIG up Il
boilermakcr
''Ihcre was Il clause in the enlist
ment regulations permitting command
Ing officers to ship necessary men on
foreign stations i'll short handed cmer-
gencies. The chief engineer brought
back to the ship Il Greek named Char
lie Marc The man couldn't speak any
MnGlish to speak of, but he was Il
good man at the boilcrmaking bust
ness, and he was duly shipped aboard
of us for three years. He was Il wild,
hairy looking lot, Marc was, and he
got 4 good deal of a laugh at the
hands of the crow, especially the
younger fellows, from the time he first
came over the side
''Maro thought that there wasn't any
other country on the map except
Greece, and after he got hold of enough
iGnglish to make himself understood he
used to take some of the young appren-
&ice boys up into the eyes of the ship
and tell them, with many gesticula
tions and furious words, of the differ
ent kinds of tar Greece could knock
out Of Turkey
'The ship was around on the Pacific
station when the war broke out be
GWeen Greece and Turkey. When the
news of the outbreak of the war got to
Marc. our boilermaher, he nearly had
I'rart disease and whole lot of other
'r~+dden things from pure excitement
ii's just couldn't hold himself in. he
looked so tickled.
Da Greek man villa BIN. bim. BIN,
da Waurka man was Charlie Maro's
way of putting it. and he didn't see
thaE the Turk had Il ghost of Il show.
All hands forward encouraged him in
the belief They all acquiesced i'll OK
pressing the belief to Marc that Greece
would simply eat Turkey up Then Il
bqSun'S mate who knew how to crack
the most impossible jokes with a face
as solemn and wooden rs an Indians
cODk Charlie in hand and told him some
dltnss. Hc told Marc that the United
states was so much i'll sympathy with
Greece in the struggle with Turkey
tirat the navy department had decided
to turn over all of the ships of the
American navy to Greek commanders.
Here's y chance for you, Marc
he bo'sun's mate told Marc. You just
want to work your edge. Here YOU are
2iready shipped OH this cruiser, and its
dollars to doughnuts that il YOU ask
For che command of this ship in order
20 cake her over TO Greece to mix it up
with the Turks you'll get it hands
:iosYn. Better try it on
That idea impressed Marc IL heap
He asked the ho'sun's mate whom he'd
haye to apply tn to got command of the
.r,!iscr.
Why. II The commanding officer, of
course, was the reply.
; Marc was tremendously important
FOR q day nr so while he let this huge
}dea grow within him, and he bulied
the men detailed to work With linn
,loNn below i!l the boiler room Il GOOD
Veal. Tho !iosuns mate kept wording
him UP 10 it, and !Iis,lly Aaru appeared
on deck GMe morning logged out iii his
very best mastering suit Of bMciuckct
clothes and went up to the officer of
the deck and asked permission to see
the commanding officer at the mast
Hhe officer of the deck was rather sur
priscd to See the man all done up in
his mastering toes when all hands
were at work; but. as he is Obliged to
Io when an enlisted man requests per
mission to see the commanding officer,
'le sent word to the skipper, who soon
emerged from his cabin and appeared
ae the stick
well, my man? said the skipper to
Marc, who stood bolt upright and sa-
1uted with a flourish
Sare,' said Marc to the skipper, 4
hav-a da honor to her-a-by TAXA da
command Ola da ship
"'Hey?' said the commanding officer,
putting his hand to his ear and looking
MS If he hadn't heard Alright
'Da ship repeated Marc Fora da
hayee of-a Ielias-de Greeka navee-I
haya da honor to TAXA da command
"All hands among the enlisted men
we're up on the to'gallant fo'c'sle TAX
: ing Che thing in, and they broke into
roar that you could have heard five
cable lengths distance. Marc heard it
and, suspecting that his confidence had
5been abused. got red and fabbergasted.
he suddenly bolted for the engine
:7.oDn hatch and made his way below,
and IL took three marines to drag him
aft to the sick bay, where the surgeon,
at. che shippers command, gave Marc
Yif3aaIf hours examination as TO his SAN