From a photograph, copyright, Enrique Muller.

In the top of the fire-control mast.

An officer spotting the fall of shot during target practice.

From a photograph, copyright, Enrique Muller.

A destroyer making

a run

during battle-practice.

board ship besides scrubbing decks. But it is easily understandable that persons not in touch do not realize the diversity of occupations and duties required not only for the upkeep, but for the fighting efficiency, of a man-of-war of the present fashion. A word upon that topic may not be amiss. Take the dreadnought New York, for instance, with nine hundred seamen and seventy marines. To begin with, all that great number of men have to be fed; that requires cooks and bakers, of which there are eighteen besides the officers' mess attendants; and the distribution and serving of the food, and clearing away afterward, with the precise sanitary neatness rigidly required, has to be done by some fifty or more men, called messmen, who take turns at this duty for a month or more at a time, one to each mess of fifteen or twenty. All those men have their stations for battle and exercise, of course; there is not such a person as a non-combatant on board, the complement assigned to each ship being fixed by careful consideration of the stations that have to be filled in battle. Then, apart from the lighting of all the numerous compartments of the ship (two thousand five hundred electric lamps), there are the powerful search-lights to be maintained, and innumerable call-bells and telephones and other electrical instruments connected with the fire control, that is to say, for conveying from different points alow and aloft to every turret and gun and torpedo information as to the distance of the enemy and his apparent speed across the line of fire; also the running of the dynamos and the powerful motors for training the ponderous turrets and guns, and hoisting and ramming home the powder and shell; all that installation requires the constant attention of thirty-three electricians besides those detailed for radio (wireless) watch. The engine-room force, including machinists' mates and water-tenders and oilers and firemen, etc., sums up to two hundred and ninety-four men, who stand their watches while cruising at sea, and are kept busy in port maintaining a reduced number of steaming boilers, running auxiliaries such as distillers and ice-machines and bilge-pumps, repairing and maintaining the vast number of large and small engines of different kinds, running power-boats, VOL. LVI.-53

etc. There are thirty-seven gunner's
mates and turret captains in constant care
and supervision over powder, gun-cotton,
turrets, guns, and torpedoes. The artif-
icer branch comprises the twenty odd car-
penters, ship-fitters, boiler-makers, plumb-
ers, blacksmiths, painters, etc., whose
work may be said to be never "up."
Men on special watch also include the
quartermasters and signalmen, of whom
there are usually at least four on watch
all the time when not at battle sta-
tions; and what with the "wigwag" and
semaphore and flag-signalling, those men
have a busy time. The medical officers
have seven permanent assistants-hospi-
tal steward and hospital apprentices; the
latter is a queer name, but it means
"nurses" really; and the band of sixteen
musicians are in many ships instructed
and detailed as additional surgeon's as-
sistants in battle, to give first aid, and to
carry the wounded to the dressing stations.
The paper work on board is quite con-
siderable, apart from the custody and ac-
counting and issue of stores; twelve "yeo-
men" (writers) have a busy time keeping
up with the demands. There are ten
'masters-at-arms," that is, the police of
the ship, picked from the seamen class,
who are charged with the custody of men
under arrest, the supervision of messes,
and the preservation of order and disci-
pline generally below decks. There are
sentries always on post, at the gangways,
ammunition passages, scuttle-butt (drink-
ing-water), as orderly at the captain's
door, and other posts; and guards of honor
to be paraded when other commanding
officers come on board, and on all occasions
of ceremony. The sentry duty is usually
assigned to the marine detachment, a gal-
lant body of men usually placed on board
the large ships of our navy, and also in the
British and one or two minor navies, ready
for quick transfer to the shore to meet any
military emergency not requiring the full
landing force; their uniform and essen-
tially military character render them well
adapted to sentry duty while they would
be inexpert in general ship work. Sentry
duty, however, is sometimes devolved
upon the seamen for limited periods, in
order to round out the completeness of
their training and service; and this has
been found to have a markedly good effect