With Us, The Chorus Seemed
Almost To Raise The Decks Of The Ship, And Might Be Heard At
A Great Distance, Ashore.
A song is as necessary to sailors
as the drum and fife to a soldier.
They can't pull in time,
or pull with a will, without it. Many a time, when a thing
goes heavy, with one fellow yo-ho-ing, a lively song, like "Heave,
to the girls!" "Nancy oh!" "Jack Cross-tree," etc., has put life
and strength into every arm. We often found a great difference in
the effect of the different songs in driving in the hides. Two or
three songs would be tried, one after the other; with no effect; - not
an inch could be got upon the tackles - when a new song, struck up,
seemed to hit the humor of the moment, and drove the tackles "two
blocks" at once. "Heave round hearty!" "Captain gone ashore!" and
the like, might do for common pulls, but in an emergency, when we
wanted a heavy, "raise-the-dead" pull, which should start the beams
of the ship, there was nothing like "Time for us to go!" "Round
the corner," or "Hurrah! hurrah! my hearty bullies!"
This was the most lively part of our work. A little boating and
beach work in the morning; then twenty or thirty men down in a
close hold, where we were obliged to sit down and slide about,
passing hides, and rowsing about the great steeves, tackles,
and dogs, singing out at the falls, and seeing the ship filling up
every day. The work was as hard as it could well be. There was
not a moment's cessation from Monday morning till Saturday night,
when we were generally beaten out, and glad to have a full night's
rest, a wash and shift of clothes, and a quiet Sunday. During all
this time, - which would have startled Dr. Graham - we lived upon
almost nothing but fresh beef; fried beefsteaks, three times a
day, - morning, noon, and night. At morning and night we had a
quart of tea to each man; and an allowance of about a pound of
hard bread a day; but our chief article of food was the beef.
A mess, consisting of six men, had a large wooden kid piled up
with beefsteaks, cut thick, and fried in fat, with the grease
poured over them. Round this we sat, attacking it with our
jack-knives and teeth, and with the appetite of young lions,
and sent back an empty kid to the galley. This was done three
times a day. How many pounds each man ate in a day, I will not
attempt to compute. A whole bullock (we ate liver and all) lasted
us but four days. Such devouring of flesh, I will venture to say,
was seldom known before. What one man ate in a day, over a hearty
man's allowance, would make a Russian's heart leap into his mouth.
Indeed, during all the time we were upon the coast, our principal
food was fresh beef, and every man had perfect health; but this
was a time of especial devouring; and what we should have done
without meat, I cannot tell.
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