At The Same Time, As I Have Stated,
There Was Not A Man On Board Who Would Not Have Pitched
The rum
to the dogs, (I have heard them say so, a dozen times) for a
pot of coffee or
Chocolate; or even for our common beverage -
"water bewitched, and tea begrudged," as it was.(1)
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1. The proportions of the ingredients of the tea that was made for
us (and ours, as I have before stated, was a favorable specimen of
American merchantmen) were, a pint of tea, and a pint and a half
of molasses, to about three gallons of water.
These are all boiled down together in the "coppers," and before
serving it out, the mess is stirred up with a stick, so as to give
each man his fair share of sweetening and tea-leaves. The tea
for the cabin is, of course, made in the usual way, in a tea-pot,
and drank with sugar.
- - - - - - - -
The temperance reform is the best thing that ever was undertaken
for the sailor; but when the grog is taken from him, he ought to
have something in its place. As it is now, in most vessels, it is a
mere saving to the owners; and this accounts for the sudden increase
of temperance ships, which surprised even the best friends of the
cause. If every merchant, when he struck grog from the list of
the expenses of his ship, had been obliged to substitute as much
coffee, or chocolate, as would give each man a pot-full when he
came off the topsail yard, on a stormy night; - I fear Jack might
have gone to ruin on the old road.(2) But this is not doubling
- - - - - - - -
(2) I do not wish these remarks, so far as they relate to the
saving of expense in the outfit, to be applied to the owners
of our ship, for she was supplied with an abundance of stores,
of the best kind that are given to seamen;, though the dispensing
of them is necessarily left to the captain, Indeed, so high was
the reputation of "the employ" among men and officers, for the
character and outfit of their vessels, and for their liberality
in conducting their voyages, that when it was known that they had
a ship fitting out for a long voyage, and that hands were to be
shipped at a certain time, - a half hour before the time, as one of
the crew told me, numbers of sailors were steering down the wharf,
hopping over the barrels, like flocks of sheep.
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Cape Horn.
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