I Have Seen Oakum Stuff Placed About In
Different Parts Of The Ship, So That The Sailors Might Not Be
Idle In The Snatches Between The Frequent Squalls Upon Crossing
The Equator.
Some officers have been so driven to find work for
the crew in a ship ready for sea, that they have set them to
pounding the anchors (often done) and scraping the chain cables.
The "Philadelphia Catechism" is,
"Six days shalt thou labor and do all thou art able,
And on the seventh - holystone the decks and scrape the cable."
This kind of work, of course, is not kept up off Cape Horn,
Cape of Good Hope, and in extreme north and south latitudes;
but I have seen the decks washed down and scrubbed, when the
water would have frozen if it had been fresh; and all hands
kept at work upon the rigging, when we had on our pea-jackets,
and our hands so numb that we could hardly hold our marline-spikes.
I have here gone out of my narrative course in order that any who
read this may form as correct an idea of a sailor's life and duty
as possible. I have done it in this place because, for some time,
our life was nothing but the unvarying repetition of these duties,
which can be better described together. Before leaving this
description, however, I would state, in order to show landsmen how
little they know of the nature of a ship, that a ship-carpenter
is kept in constant employ during good weather on board vessels
which are in, what is called, perfect sea order.
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