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Show NAUTICAL :- :- -: -: NOVELTIES The following "Nautical Novelties" are furnished by the U. S. Navy Recruiting Re-cruiting Station at Salt Lake City: The custom of sideboys and "piping "pip-ing the side" originated from the necessity, in the old days, of having to hoist the captain out of his boat and over the nettings by means of a yard and stay, if the weather was rough. The boatswain used his pipe to give the signal for the men, or sideboys, pulling on the line. In present pres-ent days, the sideboys are a form of courtesy to officials making official calls and the number of sideboys depends de-pends on the rank of the official. The president of the United States receives re-ceives 8 sideboys when coming over the gangway, a minister resident receives re-ceives 6 sideboys, and a captain 4 sideboys. The Aurora Borealis or northern lights, is a display of light in the upper up-per regions of the atmosphere seen in the direction of the north magnetic pole; its counterpart is the Aurora Australis or southern light, seen in I Australia or elsewhere, in tlie direc- tion of the south magnetic pole. The port or left side of a ship was formerly called "larboard" side but lias been superseded by "port" because be-cause of confusion with "starboard." The normal aviation equipment of a heavy cruiser of the Louisville type is four planes of the 03U1 type. These are dual purpose planes, namely name-ly scouting and spotting. The scouts are catapulted first and search for the enemy. When and if contact is made, the position of the enemy is sent by the plane by radio to the ship. When an engagement is imminent, the spotting spot-ting planes are catapulted and circle over the enemy ships to spot gun fire. The equipment of a plane consists of two qualified pilots, one fixed machine ma-chine gun operated from the rear cockpit, and a radio for two-way com- j munication. In addition, bomb racks j are carried to release bombs in a dive bombing attack. j In the days of wooden ships, oak was used exclusively in the construe- j tion of the hull because of its strength and because of its resistance to dis- j integrating effects of sea water. Oak is unsuitable for use in iron and steel ships because it contains acid which attacks the metal. The oak causes the metal to rust, which in turn rots the oak. Tlie New York City police force numbers 18,610 men, which is more than the strength of the marine corps. The weight of a shell used in a naval gun is approximately in pounds one-half the cube of the inside diameter dia-meter of the gun barrel. For example, a 16-inch shell will weigh about one-half one-half of the 16 cubed, or 2,048 pounds. The custom of saluting originated in the days of knighthood. As knights entered the jousting arena they raised the visor of their helmets to identify Ihemselves as an honorable knight The salute of today is always given by the junior to the senior and is returned re-turned by the senior. |