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.
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