to Sandy Hook and the yacht races with Governor Chamberlain on board.
The sou’wester rose into a gale. Seas broke high over the weather rail
to fly across the engine room skylight. The officers on the bridge and
the quartermaster on watch were soon soaked to the skin in spite of
oilskins and pea coats. It was a fierce night and the brave little ship
had a nervy tussle with the gale. At 3 o’clock in the morning the
Elfrida put into Huntington Bay and dropped anchor, finding that five
large steamers were there riding out the night, among them the Tremont
of the Joy Line, and the Shinnecock. Stormbound sailing craft were also
in the bay.
Soon after the hook went down it was found to be dragging, then the ship
was taken farther inshore and both starboard and port anchors were let
drop, with a good length of cable.
Later a distress sign was sighted on a yacht out in the open water. A
volunteer boat crew pulled out and found the vessel to be the schooner
Rosina, from New Haven, owned by an amateur who had a sailing master,
three women and a cook on board. The owner seasick, the sailing master
called the cook for a moment to the wheel, while he stepped down into
the cabin for a chart. The cook lost his head and, while in the wind,
the schooner’s main-topmast snapped and her fore-topsail carried away.
The rescuing boat crew found the women hysterical and with life
preservers adjusted. The men from the Elfrida cleared away the wreckage.
Early in the fall the division entertained members of H Company, Naval
Brigade, M. V. M., of Springfield, at Camp Parker with an old-time shore
clambake. The camp had become increasingly popular and for a number of
years nearly every Saturday or Sunday afternoon in midsummer attracted
division men to the place, and in “whites” the boys kept busy making
things snug in the galley or policing the grounds or taking a spin in a
pulling boat below.
November 18 brought an extraordinary spectacle—a book bee. At our bell
in the first watch, Librarian Palmer and Jack-o’-the-Shelf McDonald
broke out their accessioning system and the smoking lamp was lighted.
The books given made a startling list. Tolstoy’s “Resurrection” was
found sandwiched between “Alice in Wonderland” and a volume of
Lighthouse Reports. General Miles, Kipling, Morgan Robertson and
Roosevelt were popular authors. This is history, not romance. An
entertainment followed the book bee. Clog dancing on the foc’s’le head,
nautical songs, selections on cordage and dead eyes by a banjo quintet
and a sword dance by Coxswain Watson made up the backbone of the
evening. It was seven bells when the rejoicing ceased and the
merrymakers heaved out of the armory, all on soundings and under easy
canvas, except the supposed contributor of “Resurrection,” who scudded
away under a double-reefed fore-topsail.
The indoor meet of the next February sustained the division’s
reputation. By this time the annual mid-winter tourney had become known
all over Connecticut. The referees in the series have included such
gentlemen as President Luther of Trinity College and Former
Lieutenant-Governor Lake.
A month later the division was entertained by H Company of Springfield
in the Highland Hotel in that city, where the company was observing its
eleventh anniversary.
In June (June 19, 1904) the Elfrida came over Saybrook Bar with
Lieutenant Lyman Root in command. She was navigated up the river by
members of the division and came to anchor opposite the foot of Ferry
Street. Three days later, a brilliant reception was given on board her
to Governor Chamberlain. She was dressed fore and aft and from water’s
edge to water’s edge. In the illumination 248 Japanese lanterns were
included. Many military officers were present in full dress uniform.
The following morning the division paraded to the foot of Ferry Street,
embarking and escorting the governor and Former Governor Morgan G.
Bulkeley, an honorary member of the division, to East Haddam, there to
attend the dedication of a monument to Major-General Joseph Spencer of
Revolutionary War fame.
Three days later a hard-working and loyal graduate of the division,
Ensign William G. Hinckley, assistant engineer, received his commission
as lieutenant and chief engineer. Efficient, loyal and popular, Mr.
Hinckley received numerous congratulations of his well-earned promotion.
The range of the division’s energy is proved when it is chronicled that
July 27, the clubhouse committee carried out a moonlight sail down the
river. It was considerately promulgated in the committee’s circular:
“State exact number of ladies you intend bringing. Chaperons will be in
attendance.”
❦
COURSE NINE
❦
THE HARTFORD
[Illustration:
FURLING SAIL ON THE U. S. S. HARTFORD
]
The yearly cruise of 1904 was on Farragut langsyne flagship, the
Hartford, relic of the battle of Mobile Bay. It was as interesting as
any which the division has ever taken, barring, perhaps, that on the
Panther. When station billets were issued even the old hands volleyed
questions at their running mates of the regular crew. Here is the start
of a typical station billet:
Form No. 10.—Bur. Navigation.
Watch No. 126 U. S. S. Hartford.
Name, Rate, Cox.
Div. 2d. Gun, No. 8, 5–inch.
Armed boat, 3d cutter. Running boat, 3d cutter. Abandon ship,
3d cutter.
Fire quarters, close ports, No. 8 5–inch gun.
That was easy enough, even for a rooky. But what do you know about this?
EVOLUTION.
Loosing sail.
Furling sail.
Up and down topgallant and royal yards.
Up and down topgallant masts.
Making sail and getting underway.
Tacking and wearing.
Reef topsails.
Shorten sail and come to anchor.
STATIONS AND DUTIES.
Loose topgallant sail.
Furl topgallant sail.
Topmast crosstrees to rig upper topgallant yardarm, etc.
Topmast crosstrees, reeve and unreeve mast rope, fid and
unfid, etc.
Loose topgallant sail, then on deck to halliards.
Overhaul foresheet and shorten in, man maintop bowlines,
main and fore tacks.
Man topsail bunt lines, then halliards.
Let go topgallant halliards, man topsail clew lines, veer
and stopper cables.
It was a novelty to nearly all of the division, bringing back the old
days of heave and haul. The regulars were husky men with legs like
barrels and arms like blacksmiths’, nearly every one raw material for a
football player or anchor of a tug-of-war team. Bosn’s mates were
weather-beaten salts with faces like teakwood, seamed by the suns and
snows of the seven seas, tanned tar-mequicks with chests like hair
mattresses. One barnacle in the port watch had a voice as rasping as a
nutmeg grater. You might have imagined that he was born in Lat. 2,
North, Long. 2, West, and that he learned to creep on the lee side of
the foc’s’le. When he shrilled out a pipe with a chaser like the growl
of distant thunder a nippous rooky from the Tenth Ward asked in blank
amazement:
“What in heaven did that fellow say?”
“One man from each part of the ship coal the first steamer,” was the
reply.
Some of the best boat work which the division has ever done was
performed on this cruise. This is true not only in the line of
oarsmanship, but also in the securing of boats for sea and for port.
The duty took the division up Sound to Huntington Bay, then east to
Gardiner’s Bay, thence over to New London and finally back to New Haven
harbor. The men had a welcome convenience in the line of large lockers.
They took much interest in the apprentices, frolicsome little fellows
then from the training station who had school each morning at a mess
table on the starboard side of the gun deck near a frowning five-inch
gun with its glittering brass and its oiled steel.
The boys were poring over their books and papers in very much the same
way that lads in the seventh and eighth grades in the Second North or
the West Middle schools are poring (perhaps more so), over arithmetic.
In the instruction of the class the chaplain was using some of the books
which citizens of Hartford gave to the ship’s library in 1899 at the
suggestion of Admiral Bunce.
Most important among the events of the early part of the ensuing drill
season was the election of Lieutenant Lyman Root to be navigator of the
battalion to succeed Lieutenant Robert E. L. Hutchinson, promoted to be
lieutenant-commander and in turn succeeding Lieutenant-Commander Frank
S. Cornwell, promoted to be commander of the battalion, _vice_ Commander
Averill, retired. In his capacity as chief of the division, Mr. Root had
shown exceptional versatility, having been successful in the social and
athletic lines, as well as in drill and discipline. At the next drill
evening he took formal farewell of the division which he had so long and
so ably and so considerately commanded, giving generously of his best
energy and most faithful loyalty. He had taken the helm when the command
was little better than a wreck, had nursed it back to health and
prosperity and made it the finest military company in all Hartford. In
fair weather and foul weather, in joy and sorrow, on soundings and off
soundings, his steadying hand had been at the wheel and had time and
again brought the division safe into port. Strong and clear purpose,
affection for the command and for salt water,—these were our chief’s
dominant traits. The ability to read character was another quality. But
of these three characteristics his affection for the division stood ever
foremost.
[Illustration:
LIEUTENANT HOWARD J. BLOOMER
]
Captain Howard J. Bloomer came over from the infantry to act as next
lieutenant of the division, not the least of the prerogatives being the
privilege of presiding as toastmaster at the yearly banquet. On the menu
card was a huitrain re-rigged from Coxswain John Kendrick Bangs so as to
read:
Oh, Navy Plug, Ottoman, Alonzo,
Puritan Boy, Especial, H. Clay,
Invincible, Rosedale, Alphonso,
Soby’s Best, German Lovers, El Rey,
Elegantes, Re-ina, Selectos,
Oh, Two-For, Madura, Grandé,
Shoe Pegs, Oscuro, Perfectos—
You drive all my sorrows away.
A floral bell nearly as large as the foretop was lifted and revealed an
elegant silver loving cup presented to Mr. Root as testimony to their
high esteem. A little later followed the elevation of Mr. Root to the
rank of lieutenant-commander of the battalion.
❦
COURSE TEN
❦
THE COLUMBIA
Sail drill was the feature of the cruise on the Hartford in 1904 and in
the following year drill in small boats was the feature. On the training
ship the boats usually hung outside the rail, but on the cruiser the
boats were frequently kept inside the rail. With the ship’s four funnels
and her multitudinous skylights and deckhouses her superstructure was
unsuitable for “setting up.”
A series of tug-of-war pulls enlivened the trip. The New Haven division
won from Bridgeport and Hartford from New Haven. Thus it was for the
Hartford team to pull the ship’s team. This contest came and to the
astonishment of all, the Hartford men won. And so it was that when the
division returned half of the lads were hoarse.
Bugler L. Wayne Adams was in high feather during the trip. He had
memorized the calls and sounded them accurately. By virtue of his high
office he was excused from previous service as messman; for much of the
cruise he was a man of elegant leisure. On his return to Wethersfield,
residents of Jordan Lane and the Nail Keg Club at Hanmer’s grocery heard
many a fine yarn, spun in Wayne’s best style.
The old rifle range in the South Meadow was discontinued, owing to the
increased range and power of the rifles just introduced into the
Connecticut National Guard. In consequence the division’s fall target
practice was conducted over the range in South Manchester. Acting as a
marker, Landsman Hill was hit by a deflected bullet, which was found
later in his shoe. Hill was taken to the Hartford Hospital.
Following the indoor meet, given successfully, of course, the division
began to prepare to celebrate its tenth anniversary. The banquet was
held in the Hartford Club. In the blue uniform the men of the division
attending mustered for entry into the dining room, to the strains of a
march. A dismounted signal gun of old-time size from the Dauntless
rested at the center of the head table, flanked by two silver cups,
trophies won by athletic teams from the division. Knife bayonets of the
new kind rested on the cups. Two stacks of rifles afforded resting-place
for the division’s colors.
The menu cards contained the following:
“_Such a deal of skimble, skamble stuff
As puts me from my faith._”
HENRY IV.
“_A page where men
May read strange matters._”
MACBETH.
X Home Port Routine X
Call All Hands
[Illustration]
Heave Anchor to Short Stay Serve Grog Stand by for a Blow
Up and Down
Port Marine Growth Bleached Starboard
Hot Suds Served Forward on Turtle Deck
Bony Walks the Plank to the Wake
Dutch Sea Apples Sliced Irish Torpedoes
Cascarets
“Damn the Torpedoes! Go Ahead”
Sea Cow off Madeira
Spud Chippies Burnside Bullets
[Sidenote: Bumboat Along Side, Sir]
Lyman Root Punch
Fruit Scouse
Vesuvius Ice “Up all——”
Pass to Leeward
Roquefort and Club
Black Jack
[Illustration]
“Divine in hookas, glorious in pipe.
When tipped in amber, mellow, rich, and ripe
Like other charmers, wooing the caress
Most dazzlingly when daring In full dress,
Yet thy true lovers more admire by far
Thy naked beauties—Give me a cigar!”
Boatswain’s Mate BYRON, “The Island,” II.
Two hours were passed “Off Yarnland.” Governor Roberts brought the
division men to their feet when he told them that he intended to order
out the battalion when the presentation took place of the silver service
voted by the General Assembly for the new battleship Connecticut.
Senator Bulkeley told the familiar and always stirring story of Admiral
Bunce’s splendid work in taking a monitor around Cape Horn.
[Illustration:
LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER ROBERT D. CHAPIN
]
In the early spring Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Robert D. Chapin succeeded
to the command of the division. In the nine years he had been in the
division he had ascended the ladder, round by round, as seaman,
coxswain, gunner’s mate, second and first class, and boatswain’s mate,
first class. He had served on about every brand of standing committee
which the organization had utilized. Later he was appointed naval aide
with the rank of lieutenant-commander.
Again in the early summer a racing crew was essayed, with Boatswain’s
Mate Hogan in charge of the training, the course extending from an
imaginary line off the old pumping station below Riverside Park to a
point off the East Hartford bank about a quarter of a mile above the
railroad bridge. Training was punctuated by swims and dives from a
spring plank in the meadow bank a short distance from the bridge.
❦
COURSE ELEVEN
❦
THE MINNEAPOLIS
Mr. Chapin’s cruise was on the Minneapolis, sister ship to the Columbia,
and it started on August 25, 1906, from New Haven harbor. The ship
steamed down the Sound and by Race Rock Light and anchored off Block
Island in the evening with the port anchor, in seventeen fathoms, sixty
fathoms of chain out. A protected cruiser, the Minneapolis did not rate
a band, but she carried one till the Dolphin came along and commandeered
the musicians. The next day the ship steamed out to sea for a hundred
miles and then after a diversity of courses came to anchor in Menemsha
Bight. Target practice, while the Minneapolis was steaming at a rate of
ten knots, made one afternoon’s work. In it the division’s team struck
hard times, but in the signal contest later the division redeemed
itself, Quartermaster Palmer being an easy first among the signal force
of the battalion in the Ardois branch and Quartermaster Ferris making an
especially fine showing with the semaphore work. The division has for
several years been strong in the signal branch.
When Governor Woodruff chose a naval aide it was Mr. Chapin who was
selected for that high honor, and when the next commanding officer of
the Second was nominated, Dr. Beach moved up to a lieutenant’s stripes.
Beginning in the ranks Dr. Beach went upon the staff as assistant
surgeon and then back to the Second as ensign.
For a number of years the division had combined with other commands in
the Elm Street Armory to attend an annual military service in a Hartford
church, but in the following December it decided to attend a separate or
sailors’ service, and the church of the Rev. Dr. Main was selected. It
is a question why this was chosen, but a legend has it that the choice
was on account of the nautical hint in the pastor’s name and that in the
denomination, the Baptist. In a sermon on intelligent patriotism Dr.
Main interspersed a number of sailorlike yarns to illustrate several
points. He told the story about Nelson’s disregard of Parker’s signal at
the battle of Copenhagen; and that of John Paul Jones’s answer in the
fight with the Serapis.
[Illustration:
LIEUTENANT CARROLL C. BEACH
]
One of the most loyal and faithful members the division ever included
had enlisted a short time before in the United States Navy, Seaman John
J. A. Connor, and was now on the battleship Connecticut on the always
memorable trip around the world, bombarding friends with welcome post
cards.
The eleventh anniversary banquet was enjoyed in the Hotel Garde in
conjunction with Admiral Bunce Section, Navy League of the United
States. Admiral Caspar F. Goodrich told about his personal interest in
the Naval Militia, an adjunct necessary to the Navy, as he declared, and
Corporation Counsel Arthur L. Shipman talked as an attorney to the
gathering, telling about the influence of the navy in Guam and Samoa,
where the Navy was still administering the government.
❦
COURSE TWELVE
❦
AGAIN THE PRAIRIE
Space has been economized for the chronicling of the next cruise, a trip
on our old friend the Prairie to Hampton Roads. For several seasons the
naval militiamen had prospered with running mates from the regulars, but
for a reason to be made evident in the next sentence the pair-off system
was not pursued this time. The Prairie had a skeleton crew of 145 and
the battalion numbered about fifty above those figures. The start for
the run down the coast was made by way of Montauk Point, rounding which
the Prairie put her helm over for the first long leg on a course of S.
58 degrees W. Early in the evening the wind began rising and old hands
watched the rookies for symptoms of internal disturbance. The journey
down was a welcome innovation and the passing of Five-Fathom Bank
Lightship and of Winter Quarter Lightship were events. When the Cape
Charles Lightship came abeam the Prairie went on various courses until
she dropped anchor off the Chamberlin Hotel at Old Point Comfort. During
a part of the run soundings were made by the Thompson sounding machine,
a method that had been studied in former cruises, but with less interest
than on this. The Jamestown ter-centenary was in progress that summer
and liberty to an unusual extent was allowed to the battalion. One
afternoon about fifty members of the division visited the Connecticut
building at the exposition. Most of them signed their names in the
register, Boatswain’s Mate Perkins at first directing the writing class
and, when he tired, another petty officer relieving him. It was with joy
nearly equal to signing the pay roll that the sailors affixed their
signatures. Manager Curtis greeted the men with a graceful courtesy
rivalled only by Commissioner Barber’s graceful urbanity. Maps of the
exposition grounds were served out. By using these and keeping the lead
going and working their jaw tackle, the men made shift to reach proper
destinations.
[Illustration:
LIEUTENANT (JUNIOR GRADE) CHARLES L. HOGAN
]
The same afternoon the men gravitated to a military carnival on the
parade. An impression prevailed in the division that the division’s
tug-of-war team could have outpulled the team which won in the carnival.
In years gone by cruise clubs had been launched, for instance the
Ham-Bone Club at Fort Wright and the Fore-Top on the Hartford. In
Jamestown the Kimona Club was organized with Lieutenant Hinckley at its
head. It consisted of a president, a vice-president, a secretary and a
chancellor of the exchequer, with an understudy for each.
On another afternoon Commissioner Barber made his return call. He
witnessed hammock and dunnage bag inspection, a “ceremony” which our men
loved as cordially as the devil loves holy water. He saw, also,
Underwood typewriters in the paymaster’s office and rejoiced at the use
of a Hartford product.
In the fall information came that the Elfrida was to leave Connecticut
waters and that the unarmored gunboat Machias was to take her place as
the battalion’s practice ship. The new ship was built in Bath, Me., in
1892. She is of steel, has two masts. Her length is 204 feet, her beam
32 feet, her mean draft 12 feet, her displacement 1,777 tons, her net
tonnage 398, her speed 15½ knots and her horse power 1,484. She has
accommodations for nine officers and about 132 men, or about six times
as many men as the Elfrida could sleep.
A Christmas tree in the division parlor brought joy to all hands and
astonishment to not a few. It was accompanied by an innocuous punch of
pink tea caliber, followed by Mother Carey sandwiches, saltpeter and
frozen rating badges (Neapolitan ice cream). Skylights were closed, all
glims were doused and current was turned on for small electric lamps in
a hemlock, which had been decorated with marlinspikes, rope yarns, and
cornucopias. Lieutenant (Junior Grade) James A. Evans, rigged gaily as
Santa Claus, served out gifts from the break of the quarter deck,
assisted by Boatswain’s Mates Perkins and Wyllie and Gunner’s Mate
Dickerman. Mr. Hinckley received a miniature Tillie Hadley. Mr. Hogan
was presented with a milk wagon. To Seaman Barnes was given a rake.
Gunner’s Mate Dickerman, who held the championship of the fleet at the
deck game of bowling, was helped to a children’s set of tenpins.
Quartermaster Palmer, impressario of the Banzai orchestra, drew an
accordion. A village character in the company received an allowance of
jaw tackle. A certain apprentice seaman was the recipient of a “hammock
ladder,” which dates back to the berth deck of Father Noah’s Ark.
March 17, 1908, an order was issued from the adjutant-general’s office
marking the passing of the “battalion.” The official title of the force
was changed to Naval Militia, Connecticut National Guard. Ratings were
officially prescribed, those of the first class in the division being
the following: Master-at-arms, boatswain’s mate, gunner’s mate,
machinist’s mate and water-tender.
May 21 the Tillie Hadley was taken to Saybrook and exchanged for the
First Division’s steam cutter. Later the Tillie went to the New York
Navy Yard. The departure of the old steam whaleboat marked the passing
of one of the company’s time-honored institutions. The boat’s successor
is variously known as the Hallie Tidley and the Merry Widow.
The observance of a division memorial day began this year, actives and
veterans assembling at noon, May 30th, for a service, and parading in
the afternoon as part of the escort to the Grand Army of the Republic.
In midsummer a movement came to reorganize the Veteran Association. A
meeting was held July 24th and the project advanced at a second meeting
held a week later, when the matter of participating in the approaching
dedication of Hartford Bridge was discussed. Former Ensign Fred E.
Bosworth was chief oiler of the machinery.
❦
COURSE THIRTEEN
❦
AND AGAIN THE PRAIRIE
Once more it was on the Prairie that the company cruised. It was the
fourth time, once to Bar Harbor, once to Penobscot Bay, and once to
Hampton Roads. So often has the ship been the company’s floating home,
that long-service members are more familiar with her than with any other
ship in the Navy, unless it be the Machias.
With the company were men from naval militia in New York City and
Brooklyn, congenial companions, with more of naval wardrobe than the
Second Division showed. The cruise was mostly in the Sound. The ship was
engaged in squadron maneuvers.