Chapter I: Front Matter

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A GUNNER ABOARD THE "YANKEE"

From the Diary of Number Five of the After Port Gun (Russell Doubleday)

The Yarn of the Cruise and Fights of the Naval Reserves in the Spanish-American War

Edited by H. H. LEWIS, Late a S.N.

With Introduction by W. T. SAMPSON, Rear Admiral U.S.

1896

BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA

Honorary President, THE HON. WOODROW WILSON Honorary Vice-President, HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT Honorary Vice-President, COLONEL THEODORE ROOSEVELT President, COLIN B. LIVINGSTONE, Washington, D.C. Vice-President, B.L. DULANEY, Bristol, Tenn. Vice-President, MILTON A. McRAE, Detroit, Mich. Vice-President, DAVID STARR JORDAN, Stanford University, Cal. Vice-President, F.L. SEELY, Asheville, N.C. Vice-President, A. STAMFORD WHITE, Chicago, Ill. Chief Scout, ERNEST THOMPSON SETON, Greenwich, Connecticut National Scout Commissioner, DANIEL CARTER BEARD, Fishing, N.Y.

NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS THE FIFTH AVENUE BUILDING, 200 FIFTH AVENUE TELEPHONE GRAMERCY 540 NEW YORK CITY

FINANCE COMMITTEE John Sherman Hoyt, Chairman George D. Pratt Mortimer L. Schiff H. Rogers Winthrop

GEORGE D. PRATT Treasurer JAMES E. WEST Chief Scout Executive

ADDITIONAL MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD Ernest P. Bicknell Robert Garrett Lee F. Hanmer Jobe Sherman Hoyt Charles C. Jackson Prof. Jeremiah W. Jeeks William D. Murray Dr. Charles P. Nell Frank Presbrey Edgar M. Robinson Mortimer L. Schiff Lorillard Spencer Seth Spreguy Terry

July 31st, 1913.

TO THE PUBLIC:--

In the execution of its purpose to give educational value
and moral worth to the recreational activities of the
boyhood of America, the leaders of the Boy Scout Movement
quickly learned that to effectively carry out its program,
the boy must be influenced not only in his out-of-door life
but also in the diversions of his other leisure moments. It
is at such times that the boy is captured by the tales of
daring enterprises and adventurous good times. What now is
needful is not that his taste should be thwarted but
trained. There should constantly be presented to him the
books the boy likes best, yet always the books that will be
best for the boy. As a natter of fact, however, the boy's
taste is being constantly vitiated and exploited by the
great mass of cheap juvenile literature.

To help anxiously concerned parents and educators to meet
this grave peril, the Library Commission of the Boy Scouts
of America has been organized. EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY is the
result of their labors. All the books chosen have been
approved by them. The Commission is composed of the
following members: George F. Bowerman, Librarian, Public
Library of the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C.;
Harrison W. Graver, Librarian, Carnegie Library of
Pittsburgh, Pa.; Claude G. Leland, Superintendent, Bureau of
Libraries, Board of Education, New York City; Edward F.
Stevens, Librarian, Pratt Institute Free Library, Brooklyn,
New York; together with the Editorial Board of our Movement,
William D. Murray, George D. Pratt and Frank Presbrey, with
Franklin K. Mathiews. Chief Scout Librarian, as Secretary.

In selecting the books, the Commission has chosen only such
as are of interest to boys, the first twenty-five being
either works of fiction or stirring stories of adventurous
experiences. In later lists, books of a more serious sort
will be included. It is hoped that as many as twenty-five
may be added to the Library each year.

Thanks are due the several publishers who have helped to
inaugurate this new department of our work. Without their
co-operation in making available for popular priced editions
some of the best books ever published for boys, the
promotion of EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY would have been
impossible.

We wish, too, to express our heartiest gratitude to the
Library Commission, who, without compensation, have placed
their vast experience and immense resources at the service
of our Movement.

The Commission invites suggestions as to future books to be
included in the Library. Librarians, teachers, parents, and
all others interested in welfare work for boys, can render a
unique service by forwarding to National Headquarters lists
of such books as in their judgment would be suitable for
EVERY BOY'S LIBRARY.

Signed

Chief Scout Executive.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Acknowledgements are due to J. Harper Skillen, Stewart Flagg, George Yardley, W.G. Wood, and E. Howe Stockwell for the use of photographs; and to C.B. Hayward and Allan H. Seaman for the use of notes and diaries.

THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY

RUSSELL DOUBLEDAY

NUMBER FIVE OF THE AFTER PORT GUN OF THE YANKEE

TO THE NAVAL RESERVE ORGANIZATIONS

THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES, WHO HAVE MADE SUCH

AN ENVIABLE RECORD DURING THE SPANISH-AMERICAN

WAR AND BEFORE WHOM SUCH A

GLORIOUS FUTURE

OPENS AUTHOR'S FOREWORD

1898 April 1917

The successors of the crew of the "Yankee" are now "somewhere in the service." The boys of the First Battalion New York Naval Militia were just as eager to get to sea in the service of Uncle Sam to do their part for the great cause, as we were in the Spring of '98.

The old frigate "Granite State" (formerly the New Hampshire), living through three wars, has resounded to the tramp of hundreds of tars in the making. She is the school ship, the home ship of the First Battalion. Down her gangways went most of the "Yankee's" crew and between her massive decks they returned after their job was done.

As I write it seems as if I can hear the shrill whistle of the bo'sn's pipe sounding in all parts of the old wooden ship, then the long drawn call "all hands on deck." The men come tumbling up from below, touching their caps in salute as their heads rise above the hatch coaming. Men standing in battalion formation, by divisions, at attention, each man answers "here" as his name is called. Some of the voices are a little husky as the speaker realizes that war is on and he is about to be called for real service.

And so they are mustered in. The state's sailors become Uncle Sam's man-o'-war's-men. The old "Granite State" is once more emptied of its crew. The decks are silent and the long, low gangways beneath the ancient deck beams are checked with squares of undisturbed yellow-light, as the sun streams through the square gun ports.

The readers of this book can imagine the men on our great gray ships of war going through much the same routine followed by the "Yankee's" crew, for there has been but little change in the work and play of the man-o'-war's-men.

So let us take off our caps and give the men of 1917 three cheers and a tiger. May they shoot straight, and keep fit.

Pipe down.

RUSSELL DOUBLEDAY

April, 1917 Nineteen years ago this month the "Yankee's" crew went to sea.