|
In the Model Room and the Rigging Loft the apprentice seaman is taught how to make knots, to splice ropes, to make hitches and bowlines, to coil down gear, and to make himself a handy man about the decks. In the summer time he is taught how to handle boats, both under sail and under oars. During all this time he is given good, plain food, well cooked and served hot and appetizing, three times a day. Long, clean tables stretch from one end of the room to the other. Cooks and mess attendants are busy in the galleys (kitchens), alongside the mess hall, and the shining copper receptacles are filled with soups, meats and vegetables. There is plenty of coffee, hot soup, potatoes, all brought in steaming, with appetizing odors which would appeal to any man, no matter what his manner of life at home. |
||
|
|
||
|
Having been assigned to a battalion, other drills are at once begun. The apprentice seaman is continued in the instruction of the semaphore (signaling with arms), is given the "wig-wag" (signaling with flag), and is taught the use of lights, or rockets, and other night signals. He is given a rifle and aught how to handle it and how to fire it; he is taught the manual of arms and target practice, all under warrant officers and petty officers, and in a way that cannot fail to prove attractive. Many of the movements of the drills are times to the music of well-known marches and two-steps played by the navy band. There are target ranges outdoors and indoors, where the apprentice seamen are taught to shoot at a mark with the Navy rifle and revolver. Their averages in this and all other work are recorded, and if their improvement warrants it they are made apprentice petty officers while at the training station. These appointments carry with them an increase of money and perquisites, $2.50, $2.00, $1.50 and $1.00 being added to their monthly pay in accordance with their class. Apprentice seamen are given short cruises on small practice vessels in Narragansett Bay, Long Island Sound, and nearby waters, where, under a boatswain in command, they are taught to put what they have learned in the barracks to practical use on board ship. These vessels usually anchor every night in the quiet waters and harbors, and the crews are taught the life on ship board in such a practical way that when transferred to the regular service they are already largely prepared for the duties they are to follow, and can in no sense be looked |
||