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.
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