Page Two 
THE BLUE BONNET 
— : THE BLUE BONNET 
A weekly publication of the ship’s company 
of the U.S.S. Houston, Captain G. N. Barker, 
U.S.N., Commanding and Commander C. A. 
Bailey, U.S.N., Executive Officer. 
Editor: Lieut, (jg) E. A. McDonald. 
Assistant Editor: Ensign J.P.M. Johnston 
Associate Editor: Stefan Sivak, Jr., SKlc 
Associate Editor : W. J. Bannen, Bkr 3c 
Cartoonist : W . C. Ridge 
Circulation: John Boris, Y3c 
Printers: H. E. Dillahunt, CPrtr., S. J. Swi- 
derski, Prtrlc., C. H. Schick, Prtrlc., D. W. 
Owen, Prtr2c., J. T. Rakowski, Prtr3c., E. L. 
Foltz, Prtr3c., R. L. Beckwith, Seale., R. W. 
Surratt, Seale., J. W. Riley, Seale., J. E. 
Elliott, Jr., Sea2c. 
NAVY RELIEF SOCIETY 
The Navy Relief Society is an org- 
anization supported by the personnel 
of the Naval Service for the purpose 
of rendering assistance to dependents 
wife, children, etc. - through loans in 
cases of sickness, hospitalization and 
emergencies over which a man has 
no control. 
It is NOT a loan association for 
general loans - it cannot pay old 
debts — it cannot handle transporta- 
tion, except for short hauls in case 
of “life and death”. 
But for illness of every type, the 
Society through its branch auxiliaries 
makes hundreds of loans annually 
which amount to thousands of dollars. 
Through the reduced rates the Society 
secures at hospitals, alone, it has 
saved Navy Personnel thousands of 
dollars. Large totals are spent 
monthly in the support and care of 
the widows and orphans of men who 
have served in the Navy at some time. 
The larger part of the annual ex- 
penditure is in pensions for this pur- 
pose. 
As a philanthropic organization, 
the Society is “of the Navy, by the 
Navy, and for the Navy”, being orga- 
nized in 1904, with a working capital 
secured from receipts taken in at an 
Army-Navy Football Game. It is 
“for the Navy” in that the benefits 
it affords are for Navy personnel 
exclusively. It is “by the Navy” 
because it depends altogether upon 
the Navy for support and continual 
work. 
In two recent years the Society 
Headquarters paid out $94,143.23 to 
574 families. For the education of 22 
children it expended nearly $5,000. 
During the same period the branch 
auxiliaries gave out over $17,000 to 
aid those in distress. 
SUBMARINE QUALIFICATION 
TEST 
AND THE INSIDE IS LIKE 
WHAT? 
Like nothing you’ve never seen be- 
fore. I mean that it would make one 
of Rube Goldbergs inventions look 
like a safety pin. It is divided into 
a number of compartments, more or 
less, and with a lot of gadgets and 
things that stick in the air overhead 
where it is impossible to keep from 
banging yourself silly when you walk 
around. 
DESCRIBE A DIVE. 
A very peculiar horn blows twice, 
somebody bangs a hatch and a lot 
of guys run around opening some- 
things and closing others and pretty 
soon a guage shows deep enough. 
Then the Captain looks around thru 
a thing called a periscope and through 
which you can look over the goons 
when alongside a dock, without show- 
ing yourself. And after awffiile he 
says D-ZI-it they zigged the wrong 
way. Then you reverse the order of 
events and come up. 
WHY DO ALL SUBMARINE MEN 
HAVE THAT DOGGED LOOK? 
Well those tall boys, most of them 
Texans, which are kinda looped any 
way, they hammer all their brains 
out (if they ever had any) against 
the protuberances on the overhead 
of which I spoke of before. The short 
boys, they get all fog bound and pres- 
sure happy on account of everyone 
knows that all the hot stale air goes 
to the bottom and submarines always 
have plenty of it down in it all the 
time. 
WHAT MAKES THE AIR BAD IN 
A SUBMARINE? 
Well it seems to be a combination 
of galley fumes, battery gasses and 
B. O. 
HOW BAD DOES IT GET? 
So bad that after the engines are 
started after a long dive you have 
to take a suction through the boat 
very carefully on account of the en- 
gines will stall. There have been times 
when the air was so thick that a put- 
ty knife had to be used to free the 
ventilating blowers. After breathing 
this air all day you have to become 
accustomed to fresh air by easy sta- 
ges cause fresh air will make you 
sick to the stomach if the change 
is too rapid. 
(Continued on Page 4) 
FLAGSHIP OF THE WORLD 
(Continued from Page 1) 
1230 Receive 1,000 cases of beer on 
board. Use both cranes if need- 
ed. Make proper tests for qual- 
ity and quantity. 
1245 Send rooting party ashore for 
Deforge who will fight a pistol 
duel with Chick. Tar and feath- 
er the winner. 
1300 Detail working party to throw 
all cleaning gear over the side. 
1400 Receive new 100 proof distil- 
ling plant aboard to replace 
ship’s evaporators. 
1415 Start operation of new distil- 
ling plant. MM Cromwell test 
as to quantity, PhM Rushworth 
test as to quality. 
1430. School call. CGM Weaver to 
give information and instruction 
in latest method of using nitro- 
glycerin. 
1500 Liberty for all hands able to 
walk or crawl to gangway. 
1530 Bring CWT Mullane before 
ship’s tribunal to investigate 
disappearance of keg of rum 
from aging storeroom. 
1600 Strong-arm squad blackjack all 
those lying in ship’s waterways. 
Throw these men over the side. 
1700 Pipe down tables for card play- 
ers. Paymaster pay all hands 
needing cash for poker games. 
1720 Pipe supper. Belay supper due 
to indisposition of cooks and 
poker games. 
1930 Movie call. Do not throw butts 
indiscriminately as Sgt. Bereu- 
ffy was seriously burned during 
last night’s movie. 
2000 Give Officer of the Deck the rub- 
ber hammer test, using black- 
jack as proxy. Follow with test 
on quartermasters. 
2200 All leave requests will be con- 
sidered at this time. 
2300 Muster working party for hold- 
ing up Second National Bank. 
Shipfitter Dotterer instruct men 
in their duties. 
2330 See that distiller is running full 
speed. Darken ship. 
2400 Take off rat guards. Allow the 
ship’s rats to go ashore. 
Liberty for all watch standers. 
THE BLUE BONNET 
Page Thre« 
Missed out completely on the Navy 
Day Issue of the Blue Bonnet so will 
try my best to make up for it this 
time. As I have often been accused of 
copying after the famous Broadway 
commentator, Walter Winehell, I am 
now going to take the liberty of giv- 
ing you a few excerpts from that 
grand gentleman’s column: “Daily 
Chatter from Broadway and Holly- 
wood. ... It is not as he has written, 
but a few of the observations made 
there are really of interest to those 
of us who happen to be in the U.S. 
Navy of today. Also a few things 
that are of immediate interest to us 
as ourselves. Here they are: “The 
reason the silk neckerchief (W.W. 
calls it a 'kerchief’.) is black is that 
it originally was a 'sweat rag’ and 
black hid the dirt. Sailors used to be 
given a ration of watered rum, but 
Congress finally abolished it and sub- 
stituted coffee. The U.S. Navy uses 
more coffee than any other military 
or navy organization in the world. 
The expression “son of a Gun” orig- 
inated in the Navy. Sailors used to be 
permitted to keep their ‘wives’ aboard 
and the term used to refer to chil- 
dren born alongside the guns. A pig 
tattooed on a sailor’s foot is supposed 
to be a charm against drowning. Sail- 
ors usually have an anchor tattooed 
on their arms to bring luck. The 
anchor is the sign of hope, believed 
to insure a safe return from the seas. 
A woman was responsible for the 
selection of “navy blue” as the color 
of the sailors’ uniform. In 1745 King 
George II of England selected blue 
and white as the navy colors because 
he liked the way they looked on the 
Duchess of Bedford, whose riding- 
habit was blue and white. When a 
navy officer attends a White House 
function he may check his wrap but 
not his cocked hat, which he must 
carry around in his hand all evening. 
The three white rows of tape on the 
American sailors’ collar are in com- 
memoration of Lord Nelson’s three 
naval victories. It is also against 
the rule to throw anything over the 
side of a battleship and is severely 
punishable. When the Navy Depart- 
ment gives its specifications for the 
construction of a battleship, they are 
so detailed they even state how many 
stitches to an inch are to be taken in 
sewing the canvas gun-cover (atten- 
tion Henry Nickel, Ship’s Sailmaker). 
We thank you very kindly Walter 
Winehell, and hope you will not take 
us to task for the using of some 
things we have long wondered about 
but never found on definite author- 
ity. It is most likely due to the su- 
perior ability of our Broadway friend 
that he found these interesting facts 
and revealed them to us. Once again, 
Thank You, Mr. Winehell. 
* * * * 
And now to go on with our own re- 
lation of the happenings on the Ram- 
bler Ship: : : : 
Change in the Master at Arms force 
finds C. T. Putnam, MMlc, tending 
the gadgets that make the Ice Mach- 
ines tick, and McCarty of the B Div. 
wearing the badge of authority. We 
take this opportunity to wish the 
two men concerned a lot of luck in 
their new assignments, and hope all 
hands will benefit by it. 
* * * * 
Rumors have reached your repor- 
ter that Dutch Veselka of the Boat 
Deck Gang is seriously pricing the 
cradles in the Woolworth store in 
Orange, Calif. ’Tis also whispered 
that the details may be obtained 
right from a certain beauty in the 
city previously mentioned. 
¥ 
What is this we hear about Ship’s 
Cook Tom Mallette, who, it seems, 
went to call on a lady met on board 
Navy Day. He was met at the pater- 
nal door with a traditional shot-gun 
and no foolin’. That is a situation 
the heavy handed lad was not quite 
ready to cope with and so we found 
him back on board early Sunday A.M. 
That’s really tough Red. . . we’re so-o 
sorry! ! ! 
* * * ♦ 
Little Ocko is glad to offer con- 
gratulations to his friends on recent 
middle-aisle ceremonies. They are Ed- 
ward G. St. Marie, CWT, who faces 
the minister in company with Miss 
Alice Charline Rice of Long Beach. 
Bert Ellstrom, WTlc, and Miss Eula 
Long also are reputed to be license- 
holders (license to wed- Bert says 
it hasn’t happened yet). These are 
both mighty fine fellows and we sure 
hope they will have lots of the best. 
* * * * 
The Contribution Box does not have 
any qualms about whose dope it 
takes. . . that sure is fine, because 
I have a few here I’d never have got- 
ten otherewise. Let’s look them over. 
Ray Kelley, it reads, of the Signal 
Gang, took leave to see the One and 
Only in the Gateway City of the 
Golden Gate. All was well and a good 
time was enjoyed until returning in 
the motor launch he asked, just to be 
sure, what the date was. A good look 
at the leave paper told the lad he 
had returned a day ahead of time. 
Was he burned up? Fitting remark: 
“Is Zat Zoe, Kelly?” (Zoe is the one 
and Only. Ockos note.) 
if; sjc % 
Here is a pretty good one for the 
Engineeers Force: 
Ocko : 
There are a few things the more 
concerned population of the Rambler 
Ship would like to know. 
No. 1 
What has happened to Maurice 
Partridge ? It seems that on the fatal 
day of Oct. 22 or 23 he had a sudden 
urge to do things big. He donned 
his dress blues, went to L.A. and 
didn’t return to the ship till the last 
liberty boat Monday morning. We 
just haven’t the heart to tell you how 
he looked, Ocko. 
Ocko says he wonders if the 
writer of that one means he had the 
look of the lovelorn or if it had some- 
thing to do with some of the gin 
mills to be found in some sections 
of the City of Angels, how about it ? 
No. 2 
Just what has happened to Nelon’s 
Sugar Reports ? It seems that they 
have fallen to a very low mark here 
recently. Since he returned from leave 
we notice they have dropped espec- 
ially. Used to be they came regularly 
from the Gateway City of the West 
Coast. Now he doesn’t get them any- 
more. Ocko, we wonder why. Honest, 
we are worried about our little boys. 
Can’t you do something about this? 
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