UNCLE SAM'S PACKING.
When the family of a citizen in private life makes up its mind to a long
journey to foreign shores, great is the confusion, and multitudinous the
errands and minor purchases for the trip; trunks, half-packed, block the
sitting-room and hall-ways; Polly flies up-stairs and down distractedly,
Molly spends hours uncounted (but not uncharged-for) at the
dressmaker's, Dick burns midnight oil over guide-books and itineraries,
and even paterfamilias feels the restlessness and turmoil of the times,
and declaims against extravagance as the final packing discloses the
calls that are to be made upon his bank account.
If a vacation trip for a single family is productive of such a month of
busy preparation, what must be the commotion on a war-ship starting for
the Far East, with a crew of one or two hundred men and only a week
allowed for packing!
The officers and enlisted men of the _Osprey_ had their hands full in
the days that followed the banquet.
In ordinary times it takes one hundred skilled men a full week to stow
away provisions, supplies, ammunition, coal, and the thousand and one
minor articles that are needed on board one of the larger war-ships. The
ship's crew lend a hand, but they operate only under the direction of
the staff of trained stevedores which is kept on duty at the Navy Yard.
Everything must be put away "snug and shipshape"; and goods are "stowed
snug" where they occupy the least possible space, for every inch counts
in the narrow limits of a ship. Then, too, they must be so stevedored
that they will keep their original positions during the rolling and
pitching of the vessel in a seaway.
More than this is required. There must be perfect order with the
greatest degree of safety attainable. Inflammable or explosive
substances must not be stowed together, and the arrangement must be such
that any article needed can be reached on the instant. Emergencies often
arise in which the safety of the ship itself is dependent on having
needed appliances or material in the hands of certain officers without a
moment's delay. It may be nothing more than a case of oil, or it may be
the duplicate of some broken rod, bolt, or plate of the delicate
mechanism of the great propelling engine or of the dynamo, which is the
very life centre of the modern war-ship.
Paterfamilias, grumbling at the shopping memorandum of his wife and
daughters on the eve of their Mediterranean vacation trip, would gasp at
the list which Uncle Sam must fill, for a long cruise of one of his
naval vessels. Here is a single order sent to one wholesale house on the
_Osprey's_ account, that week in June: Loaf sugar, brown sugar, powdered
sugar, fair molasses, Ceylon tea, Hyson tea, Java coffee, Rio coffee,
smoked ham, American rice, breakfast bacon, lambs' tongues, pigs' feet,
corned beef, corned pork, leaf lard, dried peas, dried beans, coffee
extract, chiccory, chocolate, Swiss cheese, English cheese, New York
dairy cheese, canned tomatoes, canned peaches, canned onions, canned
asparagus, canned peas, canned corn, canned beets, olives and olive oil,
sauces and catsups, oatmeal and flour, limes and lemons, fruit jellies,
condensed meats, beef extracts, Jamaica ginger, mustard and spices,
cigars and tobacco, corn-meal and hominy, sago and tapioca, crackers and
biscuits, lime juice, fresh and limed eggs, baking powder, canned
cherries, canned plums, canned pears, canned rhubarb, dried apples,
canned salmon, canned oysters, canned clams, sardines, canned lobster,
canned mackerel, canned codfish, kippered herring, Yarmouth bloaters,
canned ox tongues, canned tripe, canned mutton, canned chicken, canned
turkey, canned soups, condensed milk, canned pickles, vinegar, salt,
pepper, canned mushrooms, macaroni, vermicelli, laundry soap, toilet
soap, sapolio, starch and blue, insect powder, candles, safety matches,
stationery, rope and twine, smoking pipes, tubs and washboards, chloride
of lime, ammonia, alcohol and paints, shoe blacking, sewing machines.
From this partial list an idea may be formed of the extent and variety
of the supplies that go to a modern war-ship. The clothing, medical and
mechanical departments of the _Osprey's_ outfit are not included, and
each in itself would make a long roll. Of course the delicacies
mentioned above are for the officers' use alone. When in port or on a
short cruise the sailors get fresh meat, bread, fruit, vegetables and
milk. On a long voyage their staple is "salt horse, hard tack, and
boot-leg," which, being translated, is corned beef or pork, with
crackers and black coffee. They receive frequently, too, oatmeal and
rice, hot rolls and tea.
It will be noted that the important items of ice and fresh water do not
appear in the list of supplies. Neither is taken aboard from the
outside. The ship condenses fresh water pumped in from the sea by
ingenious machinery contrived for the purpose, and the supply is
limitless. From this fresh water ice is manufactured in any quantity
desired, and no properly appointed modern war-ship is now without its
ice-plant. It is for the manufacture of ice that ammonia is so largely
shipped.
In the general disposition of the stores and supplies the articles
likely to be needed for immediate use are usually stored forward under
the berth deck. Such stores as cloth and made-up wearing apparel go in
the lower hold, and there are also nearly all the magazines, guncotton,
and torpedo-heads, if the ship carries them.
The coal bunkers on the _Osprey_ were located between the engines and
boilers and the hull of the vessel, at a point a little abaft of
midship. Thus the coal afforded protection to the machinery from
projectiles aimed at the most vital part of the ship. Such inflammable
liquids as oil and alcohol are never stowed below.
Allusion has been made to the "life centre" of the vessel. This has been
well described as the throbbing heart of every war-ship in the navy; the
wires radiating from it like veins and arteries through which flow the
life and intelligence which direct the movements of ship and crew.
Innumerable electric lamps light the cabins, engine-rooms, magazines,
conning towers and decks, while a finger's pressure on a knob, or the
turn of a tiny handle, throws a flood of radiance streaming out into
the black night, disclosing the enemy and rendering futile his attack or
escape as the case may be. Other wires operate telegraph, telephone, and
signal from the bridge, or move compartment doors, massive guns, and, on
a battle-ship the huge turrets themselves.
With a ship elaborately wired one chance shot of the enemy may thus
prove fatal. If a shell should happen to force its terrible way into the
dynamo room and explode there, the guns would cease firing, every light
would be extinguished, every officer cut off from rapid communication
with his men; and the delay consequent on this derangement would give
the enemy, quivering with light and life, time to pour her tons of steel
projectiles into the helpless, groping victim until she foundered.
At the end of the sixth day, the _Osprey_ was ready for sea. Her men,
her stores, supplies, coal and ammunition were on board, well stowed.
Rexdale drew a long breath of relief, and Paymaster Ross another, as the
last account was filed that night. The commander wrote a long letter to
his wife, Hallie, before retiring. She was visiting friends in the West,
and he had no opportunity to see her before starting on what was
doubtless to be a cruise to the other side of the world. This is a part
of a naval officer's life. "Detached," from this place to that, from one
ship, or one duty, to another, says the brief naval report. The officer
receives his written orders, and if his heart aches a little, under his
blue uniform, no one knows it but the one who receives the good-bye
letter, hurriedly sent by the despatch-boat or the orderly; and he is
ready for the new post.
Paymaster Ross, meanwhile, is busy with half a hundred lists and
receipts and accounts. He it is who knows accurately the pay of every
man on board. Look over his shoulder and read in his "Register" of
current date the salaries that our National Uncle pays to his nephews
for naval services:
-----------------------------+------------+-----------
RANK. |ON SEA DUTY.| ON SHORE.
-----------------------------+------------+-----------
Admiral (George Dewey) | $13,500 | $13,500
Rear Admirals: | |
First Nine | 7,500 | 6,375
Second Nine | 5,500 | 4,675
Chiefs of Bureaus | ...... | 5,500
Captains | 3,500 | 2,975
Commanders | 3,000 | 2,550
Lieutenant-Commanders | 2,500 | 2,125
Lieutenants | 1,800 | 1,530
Lieutenants, Junior Grade | 1,500 | 1,500
Ensigns | 1,400 | 1,190
-----------------------------+------------+-----------
It is to be remembered that, in addition to the amounts given in this
table, all the officers mentioned (below the grade of rear-admiral) are
entitled by the present laws to "ten per cent. upon the full yearly pay
of their grades for each and every period of five years' service, as
increase for length of service, or 'longevity pay.'" Still, thirty-five
hundred dollars, even with that additional "longevity pay," does not
seem a very large salary for the commander of a battle-ship at sea and
perhaps under fire from day to day!
Warrant officers, namely boatswains, gunners, carpenters, sailmakers,
pharmacists and warrant machinists are paid (for sea duty) from $1200 a
year for the first three years after date of appointment, to $1800 after
twelve years' service.
Chief petty officers, including Chief Master-at-arms, Chief Boatswain's
Mate, Chief Gunner's Mate, Chief Yeoman, Hospital Steward, Bandmaster,
and a few others, draw pay ranging from $50 to $70 a month. The pay of
first-class petty officers, of whom there are about twenty varieties, is
from $36 to $65 a month; that of second-class petty officers a trifle
less; and that of third-class petty officers $30 a month.
First-class seamen receive $24, seamen gunners $26, and firemen $35.
Second-class or "ordinary" seamen draw $19 a month, and third-class
seamen, including apprentices and landsmen, have to be content with $16.
Oto and Oshima, as regular cabin stewards, were paid $50 a month; and
the wages for this sort of service on a war-ship run from that sum down
to the pay of the mess attendants, which is the same as that of
apprentice seamen.
Just as Dave Rexdale finished his letter to Hallie the orderly entered
and announced Fred Larkin, who had been unexpectedly detained in
Washington.
"I've been making inquiries, Dave," said the reporter, when the marine
had retired, "and I can't see any reason for your sudden orders. A
number of our ships are to rendezvous at Kiel next week, to take part in
a naval review. It may be that you are bound to German waters. If so,
give my respects to the Kaiser!"
Rexdale shook his head. "I don't believe Kiel is our port of
destination, Fred," he said. "There'd hardly be time for us to get over
there before the end of the review, even if we made a regular '_Oregon_'
voyage of it. I'm afraid it's a longer cruise than that. Who knows what
is going on at St. Petersburg or in Tokio?"
"Right you are," acquiesced Larkin. "I shouldn't be surprised to receive
orders myself, any day, to start for Japan or Korea. Of course I should
go by way of San Francisco. If there's to be any lively unpleasantness
over there, the _Bulletin_ wants a front seat, sure!"
"Well, I hope we shall meet there, old fellow," laughed the commander,
"though the United States will of course have nothing to do with the
scrap. Still, it's as well to have a few of Uncle Sam's war-ships on
that station or near by--say at Cavite."
"If war breaks out between Russia and Japan," said Larkin, rising, after
a little more conversation of this sort, "the big European Powers may be
involved any day, with China as an uncertain force just behind the
scenes. You know France is bound to take a hand if two nations attack
Russia, and England has the same agreement with Japan. China will do
lots of mischief, if she doesn't play in her own back yard."
At daylight the _Osprey_ cast off her moorings, and dropping down the
quiet Potomac, started on her long voyage.