The menus mentioned in the report actually originated from the _Leviathan_, and the general instructions at that time were to “live up to the standard required by the sample menu, and to do better, if possible.” This was the slogan of all the general messes in the transport service, and it is a well-known fact that the army as a whole has had nothing but praise for the Navy Commissariat. The _Leviathan_, being the largest carrier of all the transport fleet, naturally placed the supply officer, Paymaster Geo. C. Schafer and his assistants, headed by H. B. Judkins, Ensign, U. S. N. R. F., Pay Corps, on their mettle to make a success of this enormous undertaking, although at that time and even up to the time the first meal was served to the troops, the huge task was hardly realized. During the period of fitting out and on the first trip, there were only five men in the Commissary Department who were known to be familiar with the navy general mess requirements and navy discipline, the rest of the Commissary Department was made up from men taken from all walks of life—lawyers, college men, horseshoers, business men, actors, etc.; only about thirty men having any experience as cooks and bakers, and among these only a comparative few who had any seagoing experience. Even these men were of an unknown quantity until tried out, in the actual experience of cooking and serving food to 10,000 troops and crew, the proportionate number carried the first trip through the war-zone. This was the biggest feeding task ever undertaken in the history of the maritime world. These men came from various sources of recruiting, mostly from the headquarters and commissary schools connected with the Third Naval District, arriving in batches of one to ten almost every day until ready to sail. None of them came fully equipped or uniformed and the first real muster of the Commissary Department was unique in the history of the ship, about three hundred men falling in on B-deck. An attempt was made to drill them into something near the navy standard. At that time it seemed a hopeless task—none seemed to know what was required of them, even to the simple movement of opening ranks for inspection. The inspection was a joke, no one in uniform, and the expression “Coxey’s Army” would describe the general appearance of the men. However, the spirit was there, and in an incredibly short time the men were properly uniformed and at the first crew inspection made a very creditable showing, even in the opinion of the old-timers. Most of these men had the American knack of adaptiveness and soon fitted into the duties required of them; showed such a splendid desire to make good that after the first trip we were able to compare the Commissary Department, and by no means discreditably, with that on the huge British transports, _Olympic_ and _Mauretania_. The system steadily improved, and it is safe to assume that we are unexcelled by any other similar sea-going organization.