Show I SOCIAL LIFE ON A CRUISER fe Our Sweethearts and Wives God Bless Them i THE ETIQUETTE AT MESS NAVAL OFFICERS EPICtHEAK IX THEIR TASTES The Rotation or the Office of St Tar T-ar Slakes Accomplished Chefs of Them All cuid the Most Agreeable Entcrtainer in tIe World A Yarn Siiun 8 Sons Sung and the i hours Quickly Pass Some Noted Aaval Salts Popular on ShipBoard j Ship-Board No Ship Floats Without CKarley Noble a Somewhat Mythical My-thical Personnc nut One Having I Distinct Social Standing Among the Ofllcers and Men Copyright 1896 by S S McClure Ltd The social side of life in the navy centers chiefly around the wardroom xaess Around that table the senior officers sit I Is there that guests a oftenest entertained I is there that the social etiquette of ship life is observed ob-served most strictly Punctilllous and snore or less formal a the social intercourse inter-course of men must be who stand in the relation of superior and subordinate subordi-nate It i recognized that the best discipline dis-cipline on ship board comes through a spirit of genuine courtesy This spirit of courtesy gives a touch of happy in fformality to life in the wardroom and make men who are crowded together on a long cruise endurable to each other oth-er The social side of their life reaches a clma every Saturday night at dinner din-ner when the presiding officer of the mess rises in his place glass in hand and if he is a strict observer of ceremony cere-mony says Gentlemen I pledge you the health of our sweethearts and wives May the wives all be sweethearts and the sweethearts all wives If the presiding officer is fcer a man of ew rd he says but none the less iheartily 1 ieartl Let us drink tc our sweethearts and wIves God bless em WIt this a new social week has begun L be-gun I will end on the next Saturday night whether in port or on the sea with Sweethearts and Wives Meantime Mean-time the wardroom chaff will go on I r rom day to day and the Fourth t ward that part of the table where the younger officers of the mess sit which is at the foot will b the nois i nest night after night and the steward of the mess who sits in the center of the Fourth Warders directly opposite the executive officer of the ship who presides by virtue of his rank will cst a look of concern and helplessness t toward the more dignified end of the table In the hope that his brother of ficers will never elect Mm steward of the mess again No man chosen to that post of duty may refuse to serve tarn he must serve at least two months This rotation in the duty of < steward is what makes naval officers 1 d eplcun < ian i their tastes and skilled i the knowledge of the preparation of choice dishes I is as much a part of their education and a necessary to their accomplishments 2 a knowledge of navigation or of naval strategy I is what makes them probably the most agreeable entertainers in the J world ETIQUETTE AT MESS The wardroom mess is never filled k until dinner time The first meal of L the day by force of circumstances A I most informal sort of affair Breakfast at noon finds only part of the mess f + thee because of the many duties of the officers At dinner all are present with the exception of one or two and frequently these find a way to get down to dinner The Wardroom Country that open space outside the stateroom of tlic wardroom officers is absent in many of the new naval vessels ves-sels sacrificed to the need of economy ill space in modern warships and the wardroom mess is where the officers linger at night after dinner when Ithe daily routine is done to tell their stares star-es listen to the songs and discuss j trifles For be it understood no serious f ser-ious topic is ever iscussed in the wardroom Banter and persiflage rule t there I serious topics were discussed t the wardroom would be at sixes and sevens the whole time Men who are required to dine together would not be able to endure the sight of each other I would be easy for quarrels > to spring up and their existence and results would be detrimental to discipline disci-pline A warship without discipline is like a church without religion Hence the rule never to touch on serious topic f top-ic in wardroom life f There is always some member who saw service in the civil war and when arises and the circumstances occasion arise ad ie crcumstances are just right he can spin a yarn that causes flushes of exileration to spread over the faces of ithe younger set a they wonder whether they will ever have a chance to display valor and their love of country in actual war There is nearly always someone who plays the guitar or banjo or piano well If Ift t rp14 tr t a f I T J j c DID yOU HEIAR THA7T SHOT and alt time every one can sing one tfjalf of them only 3 little bit and the Other fairly well wit one or two good voices t help U dim rest and give zeot t the whole Occasionally when two ships lie in port together one gives a stagsong to the other and then the wardroom of the chorus boat rings with an extra volume of song that makes such a night memorable memor-able Sfngsongs on ithe old Kear sarge were always notable especially I Jthey occurred on the night of the f1 of June the anniversary of the battle when the Xearsarge sunk the z Alabama off the harbor of Cherbourg hat anniversary was always a gala day on the Kearsarge Nand there was never a s arrg other celebra 8 I ¼ J yj Jg 1 < I tion on 1 board when the Kearsarge song the one that told of the memorable mem-orable fight a not sung in wardroom ward-room and steerage between decks and even on deck The rare old spirit of the song sunk with the Kearsarge c Bxmcador reef and the superstitious among the sallormen say that the waves and the ghost of the ship sing it among its bones as they rot on the reef and that not until the new Kear sarge is built and afloat will the spirit of the old song come back to Inspire the sailormen and revive the memories memor-ies of a glorious contest On ship board the social grades are indicated by the sharp lines drawn at mess The captain dine by himself Then comes the wardroom mess where the senior officers dine Then there is the steerage mess where the junior officers cers the cadets ensigns assistant engineers en-gineers and assistant surgeons dine Then there is a separate mess for the lonesome warrant officers those men who belong neither among the officers nor among the crew They are gunner bosn carpenter and sailmaker appointed ap-pointed by warrant and not confirmed by the senate Sometimes each has a separate stateroom but there are nevermore never-more than four on a ship ana in some of the new vessels there are only two for there is little need of a sailmaker or a bosn Then there is i mess of the chief petty officers and finally there are the berth deck messes for the crew where there are ten or a dozen men to a table I the ship is a flagship the admiral dines alone unless he and the captain are of congenial tastes The admirals chief of staff also dines with the admiral ad-miral if it be agreeable to him The chief of staff is supposed to have small choice in the master The social relations rela-tions of the captain to the other officers offi-cers lie chiefly around the captains ita ble He invites the officers to dine with him in rotation until all have been entertained The wardroom always al-ways invites the captain to dine with them on holidays such as the Fourth of July and Christmas There is always room for a guest at the table in every wardroom Any member of the mess has a right to ask a friend to dinner at most anytime any-time and on stated occasions ithe wardroom ward-room as a whole invites guests These dinners are always something of a formality The officers are in their evening dress as are their guests In some of the larger ships there is room for from eight to ten guests The cost of their entertainment is assessed on the wardroom staff When a person is entertained as a guest of a certain officer the expenses fall on the officer who extended the invitation The same rules that obtain in the wardroom hold good in the steerage among the junior officers and in a crude way in the messes of the crew The members of the crew always feel somewhat in touch socially with the officers whenever when-ever day they see the officer of the deck taste their soup and eat a bite of their meait before it is served out to them I makes them feel that the social so-cial distinction between them in the matter of food whatever it may be in the matter of drink is not so great after all Then there is a social duty observed by the wardroom officers as to the matter mat-ter of calls Whenever a new captain aboard each officer is comes abard ech ofcer expected to pay a formal call on him When an admiral arrives or another ship is added to the squadron the duty of paying calls is delegated to a committee commit-tee I every officer were expected to call on every other officer the series I to clean out the soot and insure a better bet-ter draught I is this spirit of fun that has given the name of Jimmylegs to the mas teratarms of the ship and the appellation appel-lation of Sky Pilot to the chaplain The captain is invariably the Old Man to every one on the ship and i is probable that he would not resent overhearing himself called that provided pro-vided it were not too loud and the captain could pretend with good grace that he had become slightly deaf Although Al-though the life of a naval officer is usually a busy one there are always chinks where he can stow away some recreation of which he is very fond He can find some time to read sometime some-time for pleasant games I he desires de-sires to be alone he simply draws the curtain to his room and he is as thoroughly separated from his fellows as i a wall of great height and thickness thick-ness intervened When he is at sea like all sailormen his thoughts are largely of home and port His strict observance of social requirements at such times is seen in its results for whatever else may be said of the average aver-age naval officer he is by instinct and training always a gentleman His Il 1 Wll f I I LET US DRINIC TO OUR SWEETHEARTS AND WIVES GOD BLESS EM < 1 UaU WUUJu uu < Jl ut UUJutUUJut 1 but might interfere with discipline Therefore a committee of three is appointed ap-pointed in each wardroom and this committee with its engraved card representing rep-resenting the officers of the entire the required social duties mess pays reuired dutes I a new ship has arrived this committee com-mittee pays a call on all officers from admiral down The call is returned in the same way a it is tendered There are certain mythical personages on every ship that have a distinct standing stand-ing in the social intercourse of officers offi-cers and men One of these i Charley Char-ley Noble No ship floats without Charley Noble in its crew simply because be-cause no ship exists without a galley stovepip Charley Noble is that stovepipe stove-pipe The relation of wellcooked food to the domestic life on shipboard is so close that the condition of Charley Noble No-ble who often becomes Indisposed is a matter of great concern to everyone on board Charley Ndble ds always discussed seriously and he also comes dangerously near to being a serious topic o conversation for the wardroom mess I is when a new paymasters clerk or other minor official comes onboard on-board and is taking his first cruise that there is unusual solicitude for Charley Noble The new clerk learns that this Noble fellow is tremendously popular but looks in vain to find him On the recent cruise of the Cincinnati down near Key West a pistol shot wash was-h rd one day Soon the paymaster appeared at his office and said to his clerk clerkDid Did you hear that shot Yes I did said the clerk and I was wondering what i could have been beeD beenWell Charley Noble has shot himself him-self commite suicide said the paymaster pay-master Just hurry and make up his accounts and see that everything is charged to him s that we may send the papers to the auditor I is customary cus-tomary in such cases The clerk made a grab for his book of daily entries and began a search for Nobles namE He failed to find it Then he seized his index and just then the paymaster had business in another ipart of the ship Twenty minutes later the clerk hunted up the paymaster and solemnly informed him that he could not find that man Nobles account anywhere any-where and soon the Cincinnati was in a loud guffaw from end to end The cook had fired a pistol In Charley Noble I t I social requirements are the outgrowth of that consideration for others which marks the gentleman everywhere but which is hardest to observe where men are crowded together a they are on a naval vessel FRANKLIN MATTHEWS |