Equally Injudicious Would Be Any Interference With The Economy
Of The Ship.
The lodging, food, hours of sleep, etc., are all
matters which, though capable of many changes for the better,
must yet be left to regulate themselves.
And I am confident that
there will be, and that there is now a gradual improvement in all
such particulars. The forecastles of most of our ships are small,
black, and wet holes, which few landsmen would believe held a crew
of ten or twelve men on a voyage of months or years; and often,
indeed in most cases, the provisions are not good enough to make
a meal anything more than a necessary part of a day's duty;(1)
- - - - - - - -
1. I am not sure that I have stated, in the course of my narrative,
the manner in which sailors eat, on board ship. There are neither
tables, knives, forks, nor plates, in a forecastle; but the kid
(a wooden tub, with iron hoops) is placed on the floor and the
crew sit round it, and each man cuts for himself with the common
jack-knife or sheath-knife, that he carries about him. They drink
their tea out of tin pots, holding little less than a quart each.
These particulars are not looked upon as hardships, and, indeed,
may be considered matters of choice. Sailors, in our merchantmen,
furnish their own eating utensils, as they do many of the instruments
which they use in the ship's work, such as knives, palms and needles,
marline-spikes, rubbers, etc. And considering their mode of life
in other respects, the little time they would have for laying and
clearing away a table with its apparatus, and the room it would take
up in a forecastle, as well as the simple character of their meals,
consisting generally of only one piece of meat, - it is certainly
a convenient method, and, as the kid and pans are usually kept
perfectly clean, a neat and simple one. I had supposed these
things to be generally known, until I heard, a few months ago,
a lawyer of repute, who has had a good deal to do with marine
cases, ask a sailor upon the stand whether the crew had "got up
from table" when a certain thing happened.
- - - - - - - -
and on the score of sleep, I fully believe that the lives of
merchant seamen are shortened by the want of it. I do not refer
to those occasions when it is necessarily broken in upon; but,
for months, during fine weather, in many merchantmen, all hands
are kept, throughout the day, and, then, there are eight hours on
deck for one watch each night. Thus it is usually the case that
at the end of a voyage, where there has been the finest weather,
and no disaster, the crew have a wearied and worn-out appearance.
They never sleep longer than four hours at a time, and are seldom
called without being really in need of more rest. There is no one
thing that a sailor thinks more of as a luxury of life on shore,
than a whole night's sleep. Still, all these things must be left
to be gradually modified by circumstances.
Whenever hard cases occur, they should be made known, and masters
and owners should be held answerable, and will, no doubt, in time,
be influenced in their arrangements and discipline by the increased
consideration in which sailors are held by the public.
It is perfectly proper that the men should live in a different
part of the vessel from the officers; and if the forecastle is made
large and comfortable, there is no reason why the crew should not
live there as well as in any other part. In fact, sailors prefer
the forecastle. It is their accustomed place, and in it they are
out of the sight and hearing of their officers.
As to their food and sleep, there are laws, with heavy penalties,
requiring a certain amount of stores to be on board, and safely
stowed; and, for depriving the crew unnecessarily of food or
sleep, the captain is liable at common law, as well as under
the statute before referred to. Farther than this, it would
not be safe to go.
The captain must be the judge when it is necessary to keep his
crew from their sleep; and sometimes a retrenching, not of the
necessaries, but of some of the little niceties of their meals,
as, for instance, duff on Sunday, may be a mode of punishment,
though I think generally an injudicious one.
I could not do justice to this subject without noticing one part
of the discipline of a ship, which has been very much discussed
of late, and has brought out strong expressions of indignation from
many, - I mean the infliction of corporal punishment. Those who have
followed me in my narrative will remember that I was witness to an
act of great cruelty inflicted upon my own shipmates; and indeed
I can sincerely say that the simple mention of the word flogging,
brings up in me feelings which I can hardly control. Yet, when the
proposition is made to abolish it entirely and at once; to prohibit
the captain from ever, under any circumstances, inflicting corporal
punishment; I am obliged to pause, and, I must say, to doubt
exceedingly the expediency of making any positive enactment which
shall have that effect. If the design of those who are writing
on this subject is merely to draw public attention to it, and to
discourage the practice of flogging, and bring it into disrepute,
it is well; and, indeed, whatever may be the end they have in view,
the mere agitation of the question will have that effect, and,
so far, must do good. Yet I should not wish to take the command
of a ship to-morrow, running my chance of a crew, as most masters
must, and know, and have my crew know, that I could not, under any
circumstances, inflict even moderate chastisement.
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