THE MAN-OF-WARSMAN
It is by no means an easy task to secure admission to the United States
Navy, and of those who present themselves for enlistment in ordinary
times about one man in a dozen is accepted. Landsmen furnish a great
majority of recruits, and of these more come, it is said, from New York
than any other city in the country. The candidate who presents himself
on board of any one of the receiving ships constantly in commission for
enlistment purposes is first put through a rigid oral examination
designed to prove his mental and moral makeup. If he passes this test
the recruiting officer turns him over to the examining surgeon, by whom
the discovery of the slightest physical defect is counted as sufficient
ground for the candidate's rejection. If, however, he passes the doctor
he is vaccinated and sent back to the recruiting officer, who swears him
in for a three years' cruise, after which he is turned over to the
paymaster's clerk to draw his uniforms and small stores.
A month of preliminary training on the receiving ship follows. Here he
is put through the well-known "setting-up drill," which is designed to
give the full use of the muscles and feet and to develop the agility and
endurance necessary to the performance of ship duty. This exercise is of
daily occurrence while the recruit is in the early stage of his
enlistment and is practiced frequently during the entire period of
service, being part of the drill of every ship's company. The recruit is
also given practice in what is known as "the boat drill," and when
opportunity offers in the manning and manipulation of the guns.
At the end of his first month comes the newly enlisted man's assignment
to a vessel in active cruising service. Here, with a goodly batch of
other landsmen, he is taken in hand by the master-at-arms, gets a
ship's number and a mess kit, learns where to stow his clothing and
hammock, and is part and parcel of the life on a man-of-war.
The recruit's first days on shipboard are apt to put his nerves and
temper to the test, for the old-timers among the ship's company are sure
to let pass no opportunity to bedevil and confound him. Calking mat is
the name given to the piece of matting which the bluejacket spreads upon
the deck when he wants to take a nap and which protects his uniform from
being soiled. He buys it himself, but never a landsman went aboard his
first ship that he was not told to go to the master-at-arms for a
calking mat. Now, the average master-at-arms on a man-of-war is a man
who, having been in the navy for half a lifetime, has ceased to find
amusement in the calking-mat request preferred to him by several
thousand recruits, and as a consequence the reception the newcomer gets
when he approaches Jimmy Legs on this matter is liable to be a badly
mixed affair of boots and language. Again, recruits are often sent to
the officer of the deck to prefer absurd questions or questions on
matters in which they have no concern. When one of these recruits walks
up to the officer of the deck and, after a bow, innocently asks when the
ship is to sail he is in for a speedy if disgraceful scramble forward.
Or on his first day aboard a man-of-war the recruit is often told that
in order to go below to his locker he must first get permission from the
officer of the deck. "To my locker below, sir, may I go, sir?" he is
told to say when he goes to the mast to ask for the desired permission.
If the officer of the deck happens to be in good humor he will turn away
to preserve his dignity by not smiling, but if his temper is on edge the
recruit is in for a lesson in directness of language that will make him
wish he had not thrown over his job ashore. Trials of this sort,
however, soon have an ending. The average recruit quickly masters the
marine ropes, and instances are not uncommon of clever landsmen who have
finished their first three years' cruise as chief petty officers,
drawing from $50 to $75 a month.
Besides the receiving ships regularly devoted to the enlistment of naval
recruits on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts American warships are
constantly shipping men, both in home and foreign ports, to fill gaps in
crews. In this way many peculiar geniuses, men of really remarkable
attainments along certain lines, gain admission into the navy as
enlisted men. At Bangkok a few years ago an American man-of-war shipped
a German as a messroom attendant. He was a fine-looking man of thirty
and had little to say to his mates. One morning at sea soon after the
German's enlistment a knot of officers gathered in the wardroom were
discussing a difficult point in ordnance. The messroom attendant, who
was watching out for the officers' needs, ventured to enter into the
discussion. He did it, however, so quietly and respectfully and at once
showed such perfect knowledge of the topic in hand that the officers
found themselves listening to him with much interest. In five minutes
the German had shown that there was no detail of the armament of the
world's navies with which he was not familiar and that he was a past
master in all matters pertaining to modern great guns. His proficiency
in this respect being reported to the commanding officer, he was made a
chief gunner's mate and was about to be a gunner when his time expired
and he went to Germany, where he was employed by the Krupps as an
ordnance expert. It came out that he had spent his life in the ordnance
branch of the Krupp works and that he had been compelled to leave
Germany suddenly on account of some trouble in which he had become
involved. He had gone to Siam in the hope of getting an opportunity to
rearrange the Siamese fortifications. Failing in this, and discouraged
and penniless, he had shipped in the American navy.
"Once a sailor always a sailor" is not strictly true of men-of-warsmen
of the American navy. Less than one-half of the men who complete one
enlistment ship for a second three years' cruise, but a majority of the
men who put in two cruises settle down to a lifelong continuance in the
service, for when a bluejacket has passed one or two summers in the
latitude of the North Cape and a couple of winters among the West Indies
or in the South Pacific he is pretty sure to acquire a dislike for the
climate of the United States that keeps him in the navy for good and
all. Moreover, after a few years in the navy a bluejacket becomes
possessed of the idea that he is really doing nothing aboard ship to
earn his $16 a month and board.
Herein, however, he unconsciously proves himself a humorist, for the
routine of life on a man-of-war is in reality a hard and laborious one.
Reveille is sounded at daybreak, and the men who have not been on watch
during the night turn out of their hammocks, lash and stow their bedding
and get early coffee and biscuit. Then clothes are scrubbed, decks
washed down and dried and the ship's side and boats cleaned, so that
when the breakfast call is sounded at 7:30 o'clock most of her morning
toilet has been made.
Breakfast over, the men light their pipes and loll at ease until the
uniform of the day is announced, whereupon they array themselves in the
garb prescribed and when the "turn-to" call has been sounded proceed to
their several tasks. The days and even the hours and minutes of
men-of-warsmen are allotted to special duties. Every day they are put
through drill, sometimes with great guns, sometimes with cutlasses,
sometimes with small boats and in many other ways. Moreover, arms and
accoutrements have to be cleaned daily, the ordnance freed from rust and
stain and the brasswork kept polished. While this is going on the bugle
sounds the sick call and all who feel the need of the surgeon's care
repair to the sick bay, after which a list of those unfit for service is
furnished the officer of the deck, so that their duties can be attended
to by their mates.
The morning is still young when the order comes, "Clear up the decks for
inspection." Cleaning rags are put away, hands washed, an extra hitch
given to the trousers, and then the call to quarters is sounded. The
men go to their stations at the various guns, their officers appear and
a swift inspection of their appearance is made, after which the several
divisional officers report to the executive officer. The last named is
armed with a list of those who are legitimately absent and checks off
the absentees reported by the division officers. When this task is
finished the executive reports to the captain, who is standing near and
who then makes a tour of the ship, inspecting battery and crew.
Following inspection comes some of the drills already referred to,
dinner at noon, an hour for its discussion and smoking, and more drills
during the afternoon, ending with the setting-up drill just before the
bugle sounds for supper.
After that meal the men are at liberty to do very much as they please
unless a searchlight or night signal drill happens to be scheduled for
the evening. With 9 o'clock comes taps and the cry of the
master-at-arms, "Turn in your hammocks and keep silence"--an order that
must be obeyed, for on a man-of-war the sleep of the crew when the hour
comes is a sacred thing and not to be disturbed.
The modern battleship is first of all a fighting machine, and that being
the chief purpose for which it is created it is natural that the drill
of "clearing ship for action" is one to which particular attention
should be given. Following it always is a mimic encounter with an
imaginary foe. Not the slightest detail in preparation is ever neglected
and only blood and shrieks and wounds are lacking to make the imaginary
battle as realistic as an actual one would be.
As soon as the cry of the boatswain's mate echoes from the main deck the
bugle sounds the "assembly" on the gun and berth decks and the officers
and men at once hurry to their allotted stations. Quiet is insisted
upon; there is little confusion, and the swirling tide set in motion by
the boatswain's call has no conflicting currents. So far as is possible
each of the squads into which the ship's company is divided is berthed
and messed in that section of the ship in which its duties will lie in
the hour of battle. Thus on a battleship like the Virginia a portion of
the first division improvises as soon as the call is sounded a
breastwork for sharpshooters, using hammocks and awnings.
Meanwhile others of the same division rig collision mats, unship the
railing around the forecastle, lower anchor davits in cradles and carry
below and secure levers and tackles. At the same time other divisions
lower and unship awning stanchions and railing in wake of the guns,
close water-tight compartments, rig in and secure danger booms, unship
ladders and supply fresh water for drinking purposes. Magazines are
opened and lanterns trimmed, battle bucklers are fitted to air ports,
and those detailed to attend speaking tubes in the wake of torpedo tubes
go to their stations and receive and respond to the signals sent out
from the central station. Nor is the surgeon's division less busy at
this critical hour; its members convert the wardroom into a temporary
operating room, remove rugs and curtains and see that the adjoining
staterooms are made ready for the reception of the wounded. There is an
enormous amount of work to be done before a ship can be got in
readiness, but in little more than a half hour after the order is given
the captain hears from his executive officer the report, "Ship is ready
for action, sir." The gun crews, stripped to the waist, with their
knotty muscles standing out in high relief, wait for the order to begin
the fighting; and when it comes the great guns are elevated, depressed,
concentrated and put through all the maneuvers possible in an actual
battle. After this there is a moment's rest, and then, last of all, the
order is given to repel boarders. The enemy is alongside and swarming
over the bulwarks. The men in the tops pour down a murderous fire with
rifles and Maxim and Gatling guns; headed by their officers, the men on
deck, cutlass in one hand and revolver in the other, slash and hew,
shoot and hack until the enemy turn tail and flee as fast as their
imaginary legs can carry them. The ship is saved.
When at sea half of the crew of a man-of-war is always on duty and the
other half taking a rest. The latter court their ease in many ways. Some
stretch out on the hard deck and take a nap, others play checkers, spin
yarns, write letters or read novels. Some are lost in reverie; all of
them look careless and happy and nearly all of them smoke or chew
tobacco. Music often claims a group of them at any hour of the day, and
at night dancing is sometimes indulged in, always with wild delight. A
stranger who strays into the forecastle observes that a few of its
inhabitants wear double-breasted coats and linen collars. These are the
men of rank before the mast and they are known as petty officers. The
master-at-arms, the machinists and the yeoman are among the chief of
these, and other petty officers are the boatswain's mates, gunner's
mates and carpenter's mates. They are, comparatively speaking, high in
rank above the rest of the crew and are treated accordingly by the
latter. They have a mess table by themselves, presided over by the
master-at-arms and adorned by glassware, crockery and napkins. All mess
tables on a ship are large enough for ten or fifteen men to sit at and
one of the company is selected by his mates to act as caterer. Meals are
always well-behaved affairs, particularly at the tables of the petty
officers, for the sense of rank is as keen before the mast as it is
abaft among the commissioned officers. Every officer and man on a ship
is subordinate or superior to somebody else and he cannot forget that
his official relations even with his bosom companions are among the laws
of the land. Nor do the exigencies of confined space interfere with this
sense of rank. A bluejacket may have to dodge around an admiral and give
orders under his nose, but there is still a gulf between them not to be
bridged by any man.
In a visit to the forecastle among all the crowd there the youngest
sailors and the apprentice boys are those that attract one the most.
Their alert, intelligent faces give one a pleasant idea of the coming
American man-of-warsman and attest the efficacy of the method employed
to fit them for their future career. The present naval apprentice system
of the United States has been in force since 1875. The candidate for an
apprenticeship must be from fourteen to eighteen years of age, of robust
frame, intelligent, of sound and healthy constitution and able to read
and write. The boy who is found to be qualified signs an agreement to
serve continuously until he is twenty-one years of age and is sent to
the training station at Coaster's Harbor Island, near Newport, where is
anchored a receiving ship capable of comfortably accommodating 500
apprentices. The boys sleep in hammocks, assist in keeping the ship
clean and in various ways are gradually accustomed to a nautical life.
The daily routine begins at 5:30, when reveille is sounded and all
hammocks are lashed and stowed. After an early breakfast the boys wash
their clothes, scrub decks and bathe, and then for about six hours are
daily occupied with drills and studies, the course of instruction
including gunnery, seamanship and English. The hours after supper until
9 o'clock, when all must be in their hammocks, and Saturday afternoons
are given up to recreation. Many kinds of games are furnished the boys,
and they have also free access to a good library.
Each apprentice on leaving Coaster's Harbor Island spends a year on a
training ship and is then transferred to a regular man-of-war. Here his
education is still continued, and the end of his enlistment generally
finds him thoroughly acquainted with a modern ship and her armament and
fitted to take the billet of a petty officer. Many of the apprentices
who re-enlist are sent to the Washington Navy Yard for a six months'
course of instruction in gunnery, a limited number being afterward
detailed to the Naval War College at Newport for an equal length of time
to be given a practical knowledge of electricity and torpedoes. They
then graduate into the service with the rank and pay of seamen-gunners,
and that the training they have received warrants its cost is proved by
the assertion of experts that American gunners have not their superior
in any navy of the world. The making of an American man-of-warsman is a
process worth while.
[Illustration: A MAN-OF-WARSMAN]
In peaceful times one day is very much like another on an American
man-of-war, but there are four days of special importance in the
calendar of the bluejacket serving thereon. These are general muster
day, general inspection day and Thanksgiving and Christmas days. The
first-named marks the observance of a ceremony of great importance to
the participants--the reading of the articles of war or rules which have
been framed for the government of the navy. Unlike other musters and
routine drills which take place day after day with the utmost
regularity, this function is observed not oftener than once a month. On
most ships the first Sunday of each month is reserved for this purpose,
but it frequently happens that two or three months elapse between one
general muster and the next. Shortly before 10 o'clock in the morning of
the day selected the chief boatswain's mate passes the order through the
ship of "All hands to muster." At once every soul on the vessel except
the sick and, if at sea, half a dozen others who cannot be spared from
the wheel and engine room repairs aft to the quarterdeck, where the
members of the crew range themselves in long ranks on the port side of
the deck, facing the officers, who stand in a line on the starboard
side, where they are placed according to rank, with the senior officer
aft. All the officers are in full dress, with cocked hat and epaulettes
and gold lace on coats and trousers, while the men must appear in their
best, with shoes polished and clothes well brushed.
When the last straggler has taken his place the senior lieutenant,
raising a white-gloved hand to his cocked hat, salutes the captain and
informs him that all his officers and men are "up and aft." After this,
by order of the officer of the deck, silence reigns. At a word from the
commander the senior lieutenant begins to read the articles of war, and
as he does so all heads are uncovered. Simple yet eloquent is this
expression of the faith in which every naval officer must live. "The
commanders of all fleets, squadrons, naval stations and vessels
belonging to the navy," runs the wording of the first article, "are
required to show in themselves a good example of virtue, honor,
patriotism and subordination." The second article earnestly recommends
all officers and seamen in the naval service diligently to attend on
every performance of the worship of Almighty God. Further on is another
article which informs every listener--and every one of the hundreds
assembled is an intent listener--that "the punishment of death or such
other punishment as a court-martial may adjudge may be inflicted on any
person in the naval service who enters into a mutiny or who disobeys the
lawful orders of his superior officer or who strikes the flag to an
enemy or rebel." The same penalty awaits any one who in time of war
deserts or who sleeps upon his watch, or who when in battle "displays
cowardice, negligence or disaffection or keeps out of danger to which he
should expose himself." These offenses are only a few of the many which
all wearers of the uniform are enjoined not to commit. Some of the
others are "profane swearing, falsehood, drunkenness, gambling, fraud,
theft or any other scandalous conduct tending to the destruction of good
morals;" and it also is forbidden to any one to be guilty of cruelty
toward any person subject to his orders. Other parts of the articles
contain similar injunctions to all in the navy to maintain the honor of
the flag and the integrity of their lives.
As a fructifier of patriotism the importance of this ceremony cannot be
easily overestimated. Lukewarmness has no place in its presence, and any
one who witnesses it cannot fail to be impressed by its disclosure of a
faith that one feels sure could remove mountains. In remote lands it is
a rite which borrows added seriousness from its foreign surroundings.
Its words have often echoed against the walls of foreign forts while a
Sabbath calm has brooded over the latter and robbed them of their
threatening aspect, and many a time during its performance American
sailors have been able to look up from their quarter-decks to the
cottages and fields of some other land where a different creed is held
and with just as strong a faith as their own. No one can doubt that
while this ceremony lives the country is stronger and safer than it
would be without it.
The reading of the articles of war consumes a scant quarter hour. When
it is finished the order is given and repeated by the boatswain's mate
for all petty officers to muster in the starboard gangway. They form in
two long ranks. At the end nearest the quarter-deck stands the
master-at-arms and then come yeoman, writers, machinists, the
apothecary, printer, painter, electrician, bandmaster, boatswain's mate,
gunner's mates, quartermasters, oilers, water tenders and ship's
corporals. The paymaster or his clerk starts to muster the crew, calling
out each man's full name, and the latter answers with his rating. When
the petty officers are all mustered they are allowed to leave and go
forward--always being cautioned to keep quiet. Then follows a scene
that reminds one of the early days of the navy--a custom more than a
century old and borrowed originally from the English. It is called
"going around the mast." When each man's name is called he answers with
his rating, removes his cap, walks around the mast to the starboard side
and goes forward. This is kept up until all seamen, ordinary seamen,
landsmen, coal heavers, firemen and bandsmen have passed under the
inspection of the captain, who stands near the mainmast intently
watching and forming an opinion of each man as he passes before him.
When all have gone forward the order is given by the executive officer
to "pipe down," the shrill whistles sound and general muster is over.
General inspection day on a man-of-war usually follows close upon the
termination of a foreign cruise and involves no end of labor on the part
of officers and crew. In the early morning of the day appointed the last
touches are given to the ship's bright metal work, the last rubs to its
great brown guns. The decks are scrubbed and holystoned, so that the
keen eye of the executive officer cannot find a spot. The bluejackets
give a last turn to their hammocks and a last pat to their kits, for not
a thing will escape the scrutiny of the board of inspection and survey.
When the members of that body appear they find waiting for them on the
main deck the whole crew, spick and span, with their kits, long canvas
bags containing their white and blue clothing done up in neat rolls.
While a part of the board examines these to see if any of the men have
failed to roll them properly the other members go below to inspect the
ship. They visit the wardroom, staterooms and forecastle; examine the
water-tight compartments, the boilers, engines, bunkers and magazines
and the wood and metal work, passing over no dark corner in gallery or
pantry in which may lurk dirt or other signs of neglect.
All this, however, is preliminary to the real labors of the day, for
when the members of the board of inspection have again assembled on deck
comes the eagerly expected order, "Clear the ship for action!"
Instantly the long roll is beaten, the boatswain's whistle sounds, and
from the bowels of the ship the members of the crew come tumbling out,
swarming over the deck in what seems the wildest confusion, but is in
reality perfect order. Every man has certain duties and much drilling
has taught him how to perform them in the simplest, readiest and easiest
manner. The whole deck crew is organized into divisions and each
division has its separate and particular work. One division lashes fast
the big anchors and makes them as secure as possible. Another takes care
of the boats. The spare spars are got out and lashed together. The boats
are lashed into a nest, plugs pulled out so that they will fill with
water and float with gunwales awash. The nest is lashed to the spars
that will serve as a drag and a buoy to mark their location, and then
spars and boats are put over the side and left to drift as they will.
While this is going on other divisions are at work with the rail and
awning stanchions. Every thing comes down. The pegs are knocked out of
the davit hinges and the big iron bars are folded over to the deck.
Everything movable that can be put out of the way is stowed in its
proper pace swiftly and silently. The battle gratings are brought out
and fitted over the hatches. Any thing that might be knocked to pieces
by a shell or shot to splinters by small fire is carried below, and when
the work is finished not a superfluous bar or beam, not an extra rod,
box, implement or article of any sort stands on the deck to cumber the
desperate work of the ship in her life and death struggle.
At the same time the powder magazines are opened and the great guns
swing around for action, shot and shell piled up about them. The tops
are manned; every small gun is ready with its crew to hurl a deluge of
missiles of all shapes and sizes; rifles, pistols and cutlasses are
served out to the men, and in the space of time it costs to write these
lines the ship lies at anchor ready to blow an adversary off the face
of the water or to be blown off herself.
With the ship cleared for action, there is drill at the great guns and
execution of the order to repel boarders. After this the ship is again
put in condition and the bugle sounds to quarters. The ship's bell has
struck the alarm for fire. In a trice long lines of hose are laid and
men hurry around with their extinguishers on their backs. The
"smotherers," with their hammocks, are ready for work, axmen are
stationed to cut away woodwork and sentinels are posted prepared to
flood the magazines. There is neither hitch nor break in the drill, and
at its conclusion the men go to their well-earned noonday meal.
After dinner the marines are ordered to land and attack a distant fort.
The boats are lowered away and provisioned for several days. Water,
beef, beans, cartridges, rifles, guns and boxes of tools are stowed away
in them, and then the men pile into them until it seems as if they must
sink under their load. Many colored flags flutter from the mainyard of
the big ship, the launches take the boats in tow and off they start.
They do not go far, however, for soon a signal from the ship
countermands the order to attack and they return and are hauled on
board. Then comes a drill that is looked upon with regretful pride by
the old tars who still love the shapely ships of the past and cannot
overcome their dislike for the modern "teakettles;" it is a sail drill.
The sailors scamper aloft, lay out on the big yards and soon the ship,
with all sails set, is tugging at her anchors. Again the boatswain's
whistle sounds. The executive officer, trumpet in hand, shouts his
orders and the yards gradually come down until the ship is under
close-reefed topsails. Then the sails are furled, the yards squared and
the men wait for the next command. They do not have to wait long. A
luckless man--imaginary, of course--falls overboard. There is another
hurry and scurry, a life buoy is thrown to the drowning man, the cutter
is lowered away and under the powerful strokes of six oars sweeps past
the ship to the rescue. The man is saved and the cutter again hoisted on
board. This ends the work of the day and all hands are piped to supper.
Soon the sunset gun booms, once more the bugle sounds and the great
striped flag at the stern comes down. General inspection day is over.
The crew of an American warship celebrate Thanksgiving day in the good
old-fashioned style, which means that the dinner is made the chief
incident. About this all the interest of the holiday gathers, and the
feast is enjoyed in anticipation, in realization and in reminiscence.
The expense of the extras which supplement the ordinary rations on that
occasion is borne entirely by the men. Ordinarily Jack is a most
improvident creature who sees no reason for worrying himself about what
he is to eat to-morrow so long as he has enough for to-day, but for
Thanksgiving and Christmas he makes unusual effort to save something to
put into the common fund for the occasion. His comrades are generous,
however, and if, as often happens, his pockets are light when the
contributions are being taken up he is not allowed to miss the feast,
but may have his share charged up against him, to be paid at a more
convenient season.
One way in which the men save their money is by commuting their rations.
The amount of food furnished by the government is extremely liberal, so
that the daily ration provided for each sailor is more than he can eat
under ordinary circumstances. The value of a daily ration is put at 30
cents. A common practice is for ten men to draw rations for only seven.
If the mess consists of thirty men the value of the commuted rations
would thus amount to $2.70 a day. This is multiplied by the time pay day
comes around to a considerable sum and is paid back to the men with
their wages. Part of it at a time like Thanksgiving is devoted to buying
the luxuries of the dinner.
The fund kept or raised for this purpose has always been known as the
"slush fund." The term dates back to the early days of the navy when
the men were allowed to save the pork drippings and other grease, odd
ends of rope and all kinds of waste about the ship and sell them to junk
dealers for whatever they could get. "Slush" was the general name given
to the waste stuff and the money which it brought in was the "slush
fund." This disposition of the refuse is now taken out of the mens'
hands, but they still continue to call their dinner fund by its ancient
title.
A Thanksgiving dinner among the men-of-warsmen is a festivity well worth
seeing. Nothing is done by halves, and the messroom decorations and the
table furnishings would do credit to many a more pretentious assembly.
The messrooms are brightly lighted up and their usually bare walls are
gayly draped with American flags. Instead of the every-day enamel cloth
the tables are covered with spotless white linen. If the ship is in port
the celebration can be much more elaborate, because the men are then
able to buy, beg or borrow from their friends on shore any number of
ornamental articles with which to beautify the tables. Vases of flowers
are artistically arranged about, and a great cake with a fanciful
superstructure of icing is a favorite adornment. Enormous turkeys stand
watch at each end of the tables at the beginning of the feast, but they
disappear early in the action and their places are taken later by relays
of mince and pumpkin pies. "Spuds," as all sailors call potatoes, are
plentiful, affording ample proof of Jack's traditional fondness for this
vegetable. Besides tea and coffee the only drink is beer. The men are
allowed to have this not only on special occasions, by the way, but at
any time when they have money to pay for it at the general canteen. At
dinner time on almost any day a few of the men may be seen with open
bottles of beer before their places at the table.
However, after all is said and done, Christmas is the rarest day in the
naval calendar, the celebration in American fashion being never
neglected on a United States man-of-war in port or at sea. The ship is
dressed fore and aft with banners, and in port her decks are piled with
green stuff. In any of the ports in low latitudes, like Callao or
Montevideo, the mass of palms and ferns distributed on Christmas on the
spar deck of a warship gives the vessel a lovely holiday appearance.
Bluejackets always hang up their socks on Christmas eve. Each takes a
new pair out of his ditty bag and strings it to the foot last of his
hammock. Examined in the morning, they are commonly found filled with
fine, dusty coal, lumps of salt-water soap or pieces of broken candle,
but their owners hang them up from year to year, willing to sacrifice a
pair of socks to the perpetuation of the custom. On Christmas day there
are all manner of games on the spar deck. They are for the most part
humorous games and are devised chiefly for the amusement of the men who
through misconduct are not permitted to spend the day ashore. In the
evening there is always some good music in the forecastle or on the
berth deck. On some ships the bluejackets essay the most ambitious airs,
and if the bandmaster takes care to put the singers of the crew on the
right path one of their Christmas night concerts is worth going a long
way to hear.