ON THE DECKS OF “OLD IRONSIDES.” By Rear Admiral Elliot Snow, (C.C.) U. S. Navy (Retired), and Lieutenant Commander H. Allen Gosnell, U. S. Naval Reserve. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1932. $5.00.
Reviewed by Commander T. L. Gatch U. S. Navy
In evaluating the factors that go to make the United States Navy a good navy, great weight must be given to such books as this; for if there were not such books to stir the blood of American boys, what sort of midshipmen would we get at the Naval Academy? If “Old Ironsides” could be finally moored at Annapolis, and candidates for midshipmen taken down to see her, one by one, and the response of each determined by some means, we should have a better entrance examination than all the problems in geometry that were ever thought of. The eye that failed to “dance to see” that frigate should not be misapplied to looking over the ocean.
This book presents a straightforward history of the Constitution, richly embellished with copious extracts from diaries and other contemporary accounts of the ship. The effect on the reader is pleasing; for while too much of the style of writing of a century ago might possibly grow rather cloying to one of this more prosaic generation, the interspersion in this book removes that objection. Also, this happy arrangement brings into the book a personal touch that is too often lacking in histories. When the chaplain of the Constitution tells us in the pages of his diary how very sick seamen would expostulate with the surgeon that they were perfectly well, the failure of their contention being loss of grog, one must needs be stony hearted not to sympathize.
After the War of 1812 the Constitution did no fighting; and yet the sixty-odd years of active service the grand old ship put in were most interesting. The latter half of this book is taken up with these years, and to a man who loves the sea is fully as interesting as the chapters covering her more heroic exploits. The night the ship weathered Bishop’s Rock by about the thickness of a thrum mat she was in more danger than she ever had been from the Guerrière. Here is unfolded a tale of seamanship to make the blood tingle. And then again, on her last foreign cruise in 1878, after beating into an easterly gale in the Chops of the Channel for days, the young officer of the deck one night, disobeying orders, shook out two reefs and drove the old ship through to Falmouth. The captain was so tickled in the morning that the disobeyed orders were not mentioned.
Here is an old gem of a story that we cannot forego repeating: On her last run back across the Atlantic the Constitution was commanded by a captain who was often troubled with nightmares. Consequently there was a standing order that if, when the midshipman of the watch entered the cabin each hour to read the barometer, he heard the captain snoring, the latter was to be wakened. One night Midshipman Brown had to discharge this duty. The awakened captain asked what the weather was, and on being told that it was rotten, said: “Mr. Brown, you will find the decanter on the sideboard.” Of course Brown spread word of this most unusual occurrence in the steerage the following morning. That night Midshipman Jones had the midwatch. Going to read the barometer, everything quiet as a church, he had an inspiration and knocked on the captain’s door. “What is it?” “This is Mr. Jones, sir. You were snoring and I woke you.” “Oh! I wasn’t asleep, Mr. Jones, but the decanter is on the sideboard.” Jones did not tarry for a drink.
To all those who desire an inkling of the meaning of the phrase “The ship that was a Navy,” we most heartily recommend this book.
OVER AND ABOVE THE CALL OF DUTY. Wilmington, Delaware: E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. $0.10.
This booklet of nearly fifty pages devotes each page to some inspiring achievement of the Navy, the Marine Corps, or the Army. These brief accounts of incidents of valor or heroism are each supplemented by a pen-and-ink sketch. The material is all taken from a series of advertisements published by the du Pont Company. Institute readers are, of course, well familiar with the fact that the original du Pont powder mills were established on the banks of the Brandywine near Wilmington in 1802. This pamphlet reminds the reader of the important connection that du Pont powder has had with the combat history of the various services. It explains that while in 1802 nearly all du Pont powder was for military purposes, today 98 per cent of its explosives is used in industry. All in all, it is an interesting leaflet, of an inspirational character.
YALE IN THE CIVIL WAR By Ellsworth Eliot, Jr. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1932. $5.00.
Reviewed by Professor Carroll S. Alden
The “Roll of Honor” and the “Roll of Service,” which occupy the latter and larger part of the volume, like well executed memorials in stone or bronze, if not read entire are at least to be looked upon with reverence. Earlier chapters, “College Life in the Fifties” and “Yale’s Answer to the Call to Arms,” are, however, of chief interest and tempt one to make an appraisal of the college youth of three-quarters of a century ago. Individuals still stand out superbly, but the mass were not of heroic mold.
In the fifties and the sixties the college course followed English traditions with the emphasis placed upon the classics, mathematics, and philosophy. Daily chapel (required) coming at six o’clock in the morning even in the dead of winter must have been a test that proved of what stuff students were made. Football was a game the faculty did not approve, but could not fully suppress. Playing it on the college grounds, as the regulations gave warning, constituted an offense subject to a fine of fifty cents. A famous game in which freshmen engaged sophomores, juniors joining in on the side of freshmen and seniors on the side of sophomores, ended in a free-for-all fight. Whereupon the faculty sought to forbid it absolutely. Boating was popular and in 1859 the first Harvard-Yale boat race was rowed. Since no statement is given as to its outcome, the presumption is that this was a Yale defeat. Public questions apparently did not interest the students of that day. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the Lincoln-Douglas debates were far removed both geographically and spiritually; even John Brown’s raid did not disturb the academic quiet.
Then came the firing on Fort Sumter. Southern students immediately withdrew from Yale and a small number of Northern sympathizers that believed in state rights promptly went South and volunteered. Of the ninety-seven that graduated in 1861, forty-six saw military service. College life for most under-graduates, however, continued without interruption. There was no great outburst of patriotism, and “the majority, either lukewarm or indifferent, remained merely spectators throughout the entire conflict.” Of the war classes, that of 1861 sent the largest number into the service and that of 1864 sent the smallest. After the appalling losses of the Wilderness Campaign, student patriotism was at a low ebb, and the custom of admiring classmates to present volunteers with swords on their departure fell into abeyance. Out of a total of 540 graduates in the classes of 1861-65, Academic Department (Yale College), 138 or 25.56 per cent served in the Union or Confederate service, and of 335 non-graduates, 102 or 30.45 per cent. This, the author remarks, “was in sharp contrast to that observed during the recent World War when practically the entire student body endeavored to volunteer.”
Are the youth of our day then superior to those of two generations ago? It is certain that students and faculties are much more alive to national problems. Courses in government and contemporary history, reading of newspapers and magazines, and public lectures of a high order all serve to stimulate interest and thought. In appraising the youth of 1862, however, no one would deny that the national spirit of that period was altogether stronger than it had been fifty years earlier, that is in 1812 (the time of the second war with England, when in Connecticut and other Eastern states it was at a conspicuously low level). And there is a fair basis for asserting that the youth of the present generation, though they exhibit quite enough faults for criticism, have progressed indeed as far again—at least, those of us who are educators would like to believe this.
BLIND OR INSTRUMENT FLYING? By Howard C. Stark. The author. Newark, New Jersey: 1931. $1.00.
(See photograph page 1273.)
Reviewed by Lieutenant (J. G.) Howard B. Raster, U. S. Naval Reserve
This thirty-page booklet is of great interest and value to every one connected with the operation of aircraft. It is of equal interest to many who are not directly connected with such operations, since it gives information about a problem of which every one is aware, but about which even some pilots are confused.
Etymologically the term “blind flying” means the piloting of an airplane under such conditions that neither reference marks outside of the plane, nor instruments within are visible. “Instrument flying” should be applied to the procedure of keeping a plane level and on a desired course by means of instruments when reference marks outside of the plane are not visible. Unfortunately there is little agreement among those interested in the subject, and “blind flying” often refers to what is defined above as instrument flying.
Blind flying is impossible. The pilot cannot distinguish between gravity and other accelerations and before long the plane is in a spin. Instrument flying is not only possible but is a practical procedure which is frequently used on certain transport lines. Present instruments are both sufficient and satisfactory when their proper use is understood. A source of danger, however, lies in the lack of proper training of the pilot.
The reviewer recently discussed instrument flying individually with four transport pilots who had had some training or experience in that kind of flying. One was quite satisfied with a method of his own which involved holding one of the usual controls fixed. Another was quite certain that instruments were so unreliable that only the master mind of a pilot could decide when to believe them, and the mental strain was such that such flying could be continued for only a short time. The other two had no definite system. Their idea was to keep certain instruments at certain readings by watching all at once. When presented with a sketch of an instrument board indicating a short turn combined with a skid, each upon being asked how to recover stated a procedure which he later had to admit would have put him into a vertical bank, dangerously close to a spin. This is probably a fair cross section of the knowledge of pilots who are not required to use instrument flying in their daily work, yet any pilot feels capable of filling any flying position.
It seems strange that in the present supposedly enlightened and scientific age matters of education can be so far behind that until the appearance of this pamphlet, the average pilot had to learn instrument flying from hangar gossip or by experiment. Many articles on instrument flying are available, but they nearly always consist of a brief explanation of the instruments, a discussion of how confused the pilot can become, a few hair-raising experiences, vague statements to the effect that the pilot must watch many things at once—all interesting general information, but of no value to the pilot who wishes to know what to do.
Mr. Stark’s pamphlet presents the entire subject in a very simple manner. All unnecessary theory is omitted. If the pilot can remember steps 1, 2, and 3, and will perform them in this order he can fly by instruments. The author points out how the same steps taken in another order can put the plane into a tail spin. Practice is, of course, the most important element, but practice of a wrong procedure under a hooded cockpit in good weather may be of little value later. If no definite plan is followed the time is wasted and a false impression is created regarding the instruments, an impression which will probably be spread far and wide. With a workable procedure known in advance the practice becomes a relatively simple matter of learning not to overcontrol.
If we accept Newton’s laws of motion and believe in the ordinary principles of dynamics which govern other engineering problems, then we must agree that Stark’s procedure is correct, and that it is the only correct method of orienting a plane by means of present instruments. But the pamphlet is not written from theory alone; it is based on much practical experience in instrument flying by the author on transport lines in both North and South America. He has since had considerable experience in instruction of other pilots.
The employment of both turn indicator and artificial horizon types of blind flying instruments is discussed, together with many practical ideas on their adjustment and their relative advantages.
The pertinent remark is made that “the majority of army and navy pilots, who are now flying commercially, were not trained to fly blind by instruments during their period in the service.”
If every pilot, whether army, navy, commercial, or student would become familiar with the contents of this booklet the result would be a considerable decrease in prevalent misinformation and a marked increase in the safety of aircraft in bad weather.