BRITISH JACK TARS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144085, 2 May 1913, Page 8

BRITISH JACK TARS.

A representative of the New York > World -visited the British cruiser Natal I-(which convoyed the remains of .the late American Ambassador across the Atlantic), and was impressed with the remarkable similarity that exists between the British and American ships and personnel.

He says:—A visitor’s first impression of the British cruiser Natal, lying in tho .Hudson off Ninety-sixth street, is that she is very different from an American man-of-war of about the same type and class. After walking about her decks for an hour, watching her men at work, peering into their living quarters, going up on the bridge and down into her engine-room, it is seen that she is amazingly like an American man-of-war. ,

Tho uniforms of the officers and men are, in the samp way, just different enough to emphasise the likeness. Tho officer of the deck wears a double-breast-ed roofer coat instead of the close-but-toned blouse of our service, but ho carries a spy-glass under his arm as he strolls around the deck; and ho bustles about and calls “Messenger!" or “Boat-, kwafn’s Mute I”. in a. -voice that no American officer could hope to imitate, blit, in the tamo sharp, clear, assured tone of command that you hear OU any ship, with the Stars ami Stripes at tho tail-rail. ’ The British bluejacket wears a Hal !ml that looks small and “dinky’’ to eyes accustomed to the generous width of brim.of a Yankee “gob's'"headgear; and his collar is sky-blue instead of being apiece with tho rest of tho outfit, and the man inside,: though he is apt to bo a bit smaller ami blockirr built than niir own long-legged seamen, still looks a near relative. WhofTyou get closer to the Britisher and hoar him speak you think t bf The difference, once more .in the Cockney tones: but though the voice and the phrasing may be different, they talkphrasing , may ho different, they: are talking about the, same things. Up on the flying 'bridge— I “Monkey Island’’ they call it on tho Natal—’the likeness is ail hut complete. Give an American .office half a day, to memorise the different , signal codes,, fifteen minutes to familiarise himself wjth the slightly different positions and shapes of the engine-room telegraphs and the speaking tubes, ami ho could take a watch, on the Natal, .and in a day or so feel as perfectly at home as on Ihe bridge of tho Connecticut. By the'same token, one, of tho young officers pacing the quarterdeck of the Natal could be put in charge of the bridge of any ship in the Atlantic Fleet with no fear of disaster.

On the other hand, them was certain ly something un-American in thy way in which, the men of the. Natal jumped the instant the officer of the deck called out an order, with a quick, unhesitating obedience that few American sailors know how to give.' And it was a deligbf, to see’ how promptly, when spoken to by an officer, those British bluejackets saluted and sprang to attention. There was none of the shifting from one foot to the other, folding of minds behind the hack, and- gazing' at large over the landscape .to which the American sailorraan seems prone when talking to his superiors. Those Britishers had been trained, and they had not rorgotten it, to stand straight and square, hands at sides, and look at officer squarely in the eye ns they spoke to him. , . And in tho British Navy, if the Natal is a sample, they have steam launch coxswains who know how to handle their boats and also how to bring them alongside. Tho tide, in the North River is about as trying a thing to a coxswain when handling a small boat ns anything in' the world. When the Atlantic.'fleet was in tho river it was an every-day occurrence .to see steamer i coxswains, making three tries at coming along-' side, and not always succeeding' then. And Uncle Sam paid for a . goodly amount of paint scraped and jumped off steamers and sailing launches in cifoi t-' to come up to floats, at shore,, landings). King, fleorgc has'no. such item in his expense account. A British boat apparently is easier to handle alongside thaa ai\ American,.or possibly it is because they take more pains. The World representative saw only one material difference between the respective navies, and that .was the serving out of grog bn hoard the Natal—a ceremony that, is unknown in .the American navy. V: ...