LIFE ON A DREADNOUGHT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 121, 19 June 1909, Page 3

LIFE ON A DREADNOUGHT.

HOW JACK TAR KEEPS HIS SHIP IN TRIM.

Readers afflicted with a desire for an extra minute's "shut eyes" every morning should see the hands turn out in a man-of-war at half-past five on a winter's day! Five .minutes' before the pipe sounds ithe view between decks is blocked by hundreds of grey canvas hammocks, swung in regular rows from tlie low deck' overhead.

Once yon are accustomed to it, a 'hammock is the most comfortable bed imaginable, especially on a rough night, when the ship is rolling heavily. In a bunk you must wedge your feet against one wall and your iback against the other, to prevent yourself being hurled out; but a hammock, pendulum fashion, remains always vertical, and its fortunate occupant feels none of the ship's motion.

Once the pipe has shrilled, there is no I extra "forty winks." In the Navy they j have a way which is short and effective,' if not altogether sweet, and the prospect i of having their haimnocks let down with a run on to the hard deck induces men | to tumble out wiUli alacrity. Five ■ minutes after the "pipe" there is no sign ! of the decks 'having been used as one! great sleeping apartment. To the energetic reader, getting up at half-past five on a cold winter's morn-, ing is no hardship, but I doubt if Ivc ! then proceeds to the roof of his house and svirubs it down. That is where Jack has the disadvantage of him. With their trousers well rolled up, the men kneel in lines facing the bow's, while others play the lire-hoses almost undjr the noses of their comrades. '

As an icy wave swirls up to them, the men attack it manfully with squeegees' —flat strips of rubber 111 wooden frames —scruibbiiig-'brushes, and "bricks." When one Fart of the deck is cleaned the kneeling line retreats, and the hose is played on the spot it has vacated, and so 011, until the ship is clean from stem to stern.

This scrubbing of the decks is a curious sight ill the darkness of a winter's morning. The white glare of arc lamps falls upon the barefooted, white-clad sailors, kneeling in 'the swirling streams, and here and there an officer, or a stalwart figure with a hose, paddling contentedly in the pools. The nois'e is° wellnigh deafening, for Jack makes a noise to keep himself warm, and in the cabins. an inch or two Mow the brushes, sleep is impossible until one becomes' accustomed to the din.

"Clean guns" follows the scrubbing of the decks, and readers who have visited a man-of-war will realise that this is no easy task. In a 12im turret there is sufficient brassfwork to ornament a fashionable hotel, and this lias to be kept up to the "Navy" standard of brightness by some dozen men working for an hour a day. Cleaning material is a sad .stumbling-block, for the Government allowance of one or two bathib'ricks a week, the same number of pots of "greasy paste," and pieces' of cmory-paipor, is.totally inadequate. By 7.45 Jack is ready for breakfa.it, and the 'pipe" for «ooks is met with as near an approach to a cheer as discipline will permit; in other words, a smile running from one good-humored face to another. An hour is allowed for this meal and the subsequent pipe; but the ,"new" hand finds' it something of a scramble, for during that hour Jack has to "clean" for divisions.

Headers who 'have lived fen a month in a bag will sympathise with Jack, who has to live in one all litis life. Certainly the albsence of wardrobes and chests of drawers will be a sad drawback to recruiting When the twenty-first-century lady announces 'her intention of "womaning" Dreadnoughts'. And when it is further announced that the allowance of looking-glass is about six square inches for eighteen men, many fair heads will shake in disgust.

"Divisions" is the naval equivalent for a company parade in a regiment. For purposes of payment and internal economy, a ship's company is' divided into an officer being responsible for each ''hundred" or division. Every morning lie inspect? his division, while the first lieutenant goes round the thus emptied mess deck. He is accompanied by an avaricious A'hip's corpora;!, who pounces upon any article of clothing secreted in the nooks and crannies of the messes, and subsequently sells them back to their rightful owners for a pennyworth of soap. After "divisions" tiho men arc marched on to 'the quarter-deck, where, cap in hand, they listen to the chaplain reading .prayers'. There is a deep reverence in .lack's nature, which comes to light on these occasions, and adds solemnity to a scene the land cannot eqnaJ. The .huge battleship rolls gently in the swell, her masts lowering into tin: ircy overhead against a background of bridge and funnel; all around lies tile u'i.unbroken waste of waters; the deep responses of the sailors mingle with lie pounding elf the engines; while the chaplain reads words of eternal peace, I standing facing tlie muzzles of two huge instruments of war.—"Answers."