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Mess Cooking on the Stone, 1967 By Everett Ward Kenneth Dodson wrote Away All Boats in 1954. It is a fictional story of USS Belinda, a troop carrying assault ship, and the island hopping battles of the Pacific from July, 1943, to April, of 1945. It is an exciting and high action page-turner that ends with Belinda being saved by its own boats after two kamikaze hits. There is a crewman on board who has not adopted to the expected qualities of a squared away blue jacket. Gilbert Hubert of Tennessee, a scroungy mess-cook, is permanently assigned the job of running the ship’s garbage grinder. In him is a true example of a work/love relationship. While he is unwashed, goes about barefooted, and wears his greasy dungarees and filthy undershirt with indifference, his scullery workspace is pristine-“Shipshape and Bristol Fashion,” as the saying might go. He is the only person on board who takes pride in the disposal job and runs the garbage grinder with enthusiasm and stubborn determination-a fact that is not overlooked by higher authority. Hubert is trusted with an important task. His work protects the ship from being detected by enemy subs. With Hubert in control, the ship’s garbage is disposed completely, leaving no trace for a submarine to home in on Belinda’s track. His escapades and heroic work saving Belinda’s scullery and his beloved garbage grinder after a kamikaze attack is only part of this great story by Dodson. Gilbert Hubert brings to mind the job of mess cooking on USS Whetstone back in the late sixties. Mess cooking was something that just about everybody in the Navy had to do at some time or the other regardless of rank or privilege. It seemed part of a great Naval tradition. However, something about the assignment to the mess decks engendered some sense of dread and trepidation. It was a job of assisting cooks, food preparation, food serving, equipping, providing, and keeping the mess decks clean; a continuous, repeating regimen regardless of the ship’s status. It went on with relentless purpose-clean, clean, clean; make ready for the ship company’s breakfast, dinner, supper, and mid rats----breakfast, dinner, supper, mid-rats; breakfast, dinner, supper, mid-rats; each day, four times a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The mess cook’s job never ended. Perhaps the reputation of the job exceeded its anticipations. It was one of the assignments that anybody who ever served on Whetstone will never forget. In the final stages of boot camp there was a week of mess cook duty. A contingent was sent from each company to the base galley during what was called “Service Week.” Some of the recruit petty officers and others who were not assigned to mess cooking naively considered themselves lucky, if not above the lowly labor of the mess cook, oblivious to the fact that everybody would serve sooner or later. In reality, the mess cook was not a cook at all. Also called a mess-man, he was more of an assistant who answered the beck and call of the ship’s cooks who led the thankless task of getting the ship’s company fed on time. The Navy officially terms an enlisted cook’s assistant is as a “Jack of the Dust,” though there is no recollection of any such “Jack” being piped on Whetstone. Any dust found around was immediately wiped. It was unacceptable.
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The bottom line of morale is traditionally that of the Commanding Officer. However, it is really the cook who keeps the crew happy. His dictum, good food; on time, makes him one of, if not the most, important person on board. As Napoleon said, “An army runs on its stomach,” so, it is the cook who runs a ship. A ship with an unhappy cook is an unhappy ship. A ship with a poor cook and poor food produces angry stomachs and a subsequently unhappy ship. Good food equals a good cook; a good cook equals high morale, equals a happy ship, equals a happy Captain-equals early liberty, holiday routine, etc., etc., etc. Experience speaks of outstanding cooks in the Navy. There are other cases as well, but there is no need to go there. Speaking in terms of morale, the fact is, it is the cook who will make or break a ship. If there is any doubt just ask one. Go further and ask a crewman about the food on his ship-any ship, any crew. No further inquiry will be needed as to the state of morale. Then, there is the cook’s assistant which brings us back to the working force of the galley, Jacks of the Dust--the culinary Sea Bee, the Man Friday, the denizen of the mess deck, the Gunga Din of the Rolling Stone---i.e. the galley slave, aka, the mess-cook, aka, mess-man---the Atlas who carries the world of the galley on his shoulders and provides to the ship a happy cook. Looking back, those who did their mess cooking in boot camp really turned out to be the lucky ones. They were on land without the education of rolling decks, dogged doors, steep ladders, moving heavily burdened cans “to the port wing wall, aft,” loading mess supplies up (never down) gangways, ladders, through passages, trilling boson’s pipes, early and earlier reveille, constantly working against a tide of hunger, dirty utensils, dishes, and trays. They didn’t have general quarters, sea and anchor details, running short of supplies, bug juice preparation, 500 troops in addition to the regular ship’s company, head to toe berthing, fleet refresher training, and amphibious assaults. Best of all, for those Boot Camp veterans was the duration of one week of service, usually followed by a company picnic or some other prize reward. Looking back, they are smiling at the recruit petty officers and others who skated through boot camp without that week of mess duty which capped off basic training. In the real Navy, at least on USS Whetstone, the duty of mess cooking endured for an eternity of almost twelve weeks. Being a mess man meant long hours, little sleep, working with garbage, cleaning trays, utensils, bringing up dry and wet stores for preparation from the reefers, coolers, and dry stores stowage below, swabbing decks, cleaning tables and all surfaces at least four times a day. Setting down and taking up--everything was repeated four times each day. Decks were swabbed, stripped, waxed and buffed with the regularity of a traffic signal. Anything the cooks needed was just a mess cook away. Coffee was to be made and ready at all times. Beside other stores, five-gallon milk bladders (four white; one chocolate) were carried from the cooler two decks below and readied at each mealtime for the three barreled “cow.” The work was hot, dirty, non-ending, and exhausting. Reveille usually occurred at 0400 and taps did not come until 2200. Early reveille for the crew meant earlier reveille for the mess deck. Just about all special ship movements and training activities required early reveille whether in port, underway in home waters, or during overseas deployment.
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