This Day Was Spent Like All Pleasant Sabbaths At Sea.
The decks are
washed down, the rigging coiled up, and everything put in order;
and throughout the day, only
One watch is kept on deck at a time.
The men are all dressed in their best white duck trowsers, and red
or checked shirts, and have nothing to do but to make the necessary
changes in the sails. They employ themselves in reading, talking,
smoking, and mending their clothes. If the weather is pleasant,
they bring their work and their books upon deck, and sit down upon
the forecastle and windlass. This is the only day on which these
privileges are allowed them. When Monday comes, they put on their
tarry trowsers again, and prepare for six days of labor.
To enhance the value of the Sabbath to the crew, they are allowed on
that day a pudding, or, as it is called, a "duff." This is nothing
more than flour boiled with water, and eaten with molasses. It is
very heavy, dark, and clammy, yet it is looked upon as a luxury,
and really forms an agreeable variety with salt beef and pork.
Many a rascally captain has made friends of his crew by allowing
them duff twice a week on the passage home.
On board some vessels this is made a day of instruction and of
religious exercises; but we had a crew of swearers, from the
captain to the smallest boy; and a day of rest, and of something
like quiet, social enjoyment, was all that we could expect.
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