Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 July 1888 — Breaking in a Cadet. [ARTICLE]

Breaking in a Cadet.

Harper's Magazine. .■ ' : —y ;.'S Within a few days the cadets shake easily into their places, and by going over the mast-head every morning, sending up and down the light spars, and being ordered to get a pull here and a pull there and a long pull altogether everywhere, during the be6t part of their waking hours; they soon aeqmre a nautical air and a fairly good grip upoif the strange surroundings. Two or three days later the Constellation drops down the Annapolis Roads, stands in Chesapeake Bay, and the long looked for cruise* begins. Practical work commences at once, and if the winds be un.favorable, and -they are—usually, the ship beats down the bay in the daytime and anchors at sunset. Here the

new cadet sees the envied senior classmen in charge of the deck, .make and take in sale, tack, wear, boxhaul, and chapel ship; sees him occasionally miss stays and box her off, heave to, get casts of the deep sea lead, shift sails and spars, reef and shake out reefs, and bring the ship to an anchor. All this time he is doing yeoman’s service himself; his hands get horny and hard, his white working-cloths are tarry, and he is so used to “stamping and/going it” that when night comes he is glad to tom in early, and leave the hardships of anchorwatch to those who have enjoyed the triumphs of the quarter-deck. After Hampton Roads are reached, the vessel lies at anchor for a week or more; but this is a busy season, and all day long there are great-gun, company, pistol, or small-arm drills, fire quarters, boats armed and equipped, or that stirring exercise when the crew and cadets are called to “abandon, ship.” This drill is usually executed Without previous warning, exactly as it might be needed in any sudden emergency, as in a collision, or danger of foundering on the high sea; but within a moment after the order rings out, every one is at his station; some lower the boats, others stand sentry over the falls, so no unauthorized or panic-stricken person may enter without orders; the majority pass up provisions and water, cooking utensils, arms, ammunition and nautical instruments; there is heard everywhere the rush of feet, the whimper of boatfalls as the davits creak and complain with the strain and weight of the crews lowering themselves by stopper or halyards; from' every gun-port willing hands pass- stores into the cutters, and when ready, each reports its name and number. In less than five minutes, if the discipline be good, the crew is embarked in cutters, whale-boats, launches, gig, and dingy, all submerged almost to their gunwales and the ship is abandoned-officially.