New-York tribune. [volume], February 20, 1910, Page 5, Image 19

About New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924

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[Me waters OFF guaxtaxamo bay, cuba, is STRICT AM) STRENUOUS, BUT has ITS JOLLY SIDE also
1 1** o**0 ** • - : .
... % • c l yeste-dav.
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I"" . P MINNESOTA.
■ - Ort^-hs^s «r,d Captain Sims in centra**
rsi^Y-VUHK I'All.l TKIIiUiNU, Ml SIOAI, I l.lilU AIO -'" '''!«».
The nautical phrase for passing the tea is
"Up "' the Ceylon." while cranberry sauce goes
under the pseudonym* of "red lead" and
Worcestershire sauce is commonly termed
"nitric acid."
Coffee and tea. with th. trimmings ready
mixed, are contained in large hanging copper
pots, and every sailor has all he wants of
either. There is also liberality in supplying
"seconds,*' or second helpings of food to those
who want them.
The independent messes, in which a group of
bluejackets used to take their ration money,
add to it and boy their own food, have been
done away with. Their necessity has been
obviated, it is stated, because Uncle Sam has
waked up to his duty of feeding i is charges
properly. To be sure there are plenty of sep
arate messes above the bluejacket class. There
is the chief petty officers' mess, the junior
officers' or midshipmen's mess, the warrant of
ficers" mess, the wardroom mess for tine officer}:
from ensign up to lieutenant commander, and
the captain's mess. Etiquette prescribes that
there should be only one person in the captain's
mess: that is, the "old man eats by himself,
and he has a pretty lonely time of it. An
admiral also eats alone. If there were any way
of making him more alone than a captain it
would be done in the interests of etiquette and
discipline.
The numerousness of officers* messes has its
advantages. For on* thins, each mess has to
have a separate piano player, and the music
rolls can be profitably exchanged with messes
not more than one rank above or below. Then
each mess has its separate waiters and chefs,
who are negroes, Filipinos, Chinese, French.
Malays. Hindus, Arabs, and maybe some of the
lost tribes of Israel, and th< minting ot these
types gives a pleasant cosmopolitan aspect to
warship life, it is also interesting to observe
the different kinds of ways in which the cooks
and waiters pray when danger is imminent.
All th. men of the fleet, however, possess or
quickly acquire cosmopolitanism. That trip
around the world, among it- numerous other
effects, gave a varied and picturesque vocabu
lary to the men behind the guns It was like
going to college. As one horny-handed tar re
marked:
"Begorra, i lamed how to shwear in eight
!angwidt;es."-
The Hawaiian greeting of "Aloha,"' the Maori
expression of "Haeremai" and Tenakoe"
f "That's you"), the Japanese "Banzai" and the
Chinese "Chin-chin" ar< heard aboard ship
along with native American dialect.
A secretary of the naval branch of the Young
Men's Christian Association, Georg< a. Reeder,
is with th. fleet to look after the moral inter
ests of Jack Tar. supply him with magazines.
Bibles and daily prayer booklets, get him to
take a mail course in elementary subjects and
remind him that his home port in New York is
the splendid association building near the navy
yard. The circulars of the mail course hav< th.
enticing heading. "Look Ahead! Make Your
Port!" and a picture of a natty young sailor
peering over the bridge of a ship. There is no
doubt that the men of the Beet think well of
the association and its comforts, including that
paradisical "brig/ 1 where those that have fallen
from the grace of sobriety are piped down to
air mattresses, and there is nothing to mar re
pentance except the act of a fellow sinner who
sticks a pin in the inflated rubber. l'n< le Sam
has no air mattresses in bis brig.
LOADING A 7-INCH GUN ON THE CONNECTICUT.
When it is fired men stand on tiptoe, with open mouths.
(Copyright bj Enrtqu* Mnller.)
GUNNER ASLEEP BESIDE HIS BELOVED WEAPON
The big guns are mcknamso a- 'Susan- or "B.H" or
ICopjrisJit .;■ i-: ig '■ M.. Irr )
Th. exertions ■• target pr..'ti<» bring with
them th« need to wash clothes me;, frequently,
and th. comman< Stand by to scrub ; wash
1 ! " l!i> s r- . . . - a ]] transmitted 1 ■ t• • - ap
tain to the "flrsi fl 01 executive ofl • er, by
the "first luff" t< th< officei ol th< deck, bj the
officer of th. deck ;. th< b< s'n's mat* on watch
and by tlu mat< t<- th< men it beard mon often
at this time than usual. It men- thai th. ship's
clothesline, which is strung ■■• ;■ dizzj >,'ight to
the military mast, is ;<• tx lowered Ea I .la. kis
his own laundryman, scrubbing his 1 lothes in an
individual bucket at morning and night if h<
wishes and folding tht dried garments ii su n
a mannei as to get an iron.*: effect.
"Cheese it! Here comes Jimmy-legs," is a
word |.;,>^i along rather fre< lentb ;r. t!.< tar-
P'-t season, i: means That th< chiel master
at • •.rmv who jg the main polici officer aboard
ship, is heaving in sighi and ready to catch
violators of the anti-cigarett< ri:< in z',< viein
itj of th> magazines. The average sailor of •..
''"' iei c extremely young, being in the earl}
twenties, is addicted to cigarettes rathei ti.an
the plug of his forefathers, and sometimes takes
bi.u" chances foi th< sak< of ;. smok<
Rear Admiral Schroeder is putting :\k men
through all kinds of drills besides th< gui prac
tice aboard ship and the tactical evolutions
of the fleet. Parties ar< sent ashon to es
h camp iitn: work at smal an and arti -
lerj practice. Ther< is .. L-ompulsorj sw mming
lass for all who cant swin ..1 .. ■ ; :-. . !: t
week 3,500 men took swimming instructions.
The shore manoeuvres inc-lud< \\... scaling,
battalion drills and othei features .• militarj
worn wnk-h ;. naval landing part} might be
( onliinird <m ci^htii p.ii;.'
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