If There Is Anything That
Irritates Sailors And Makes Them Feel Hardly Used, It Is Being Deprived
Of Their Sabbath.
Not that they would always, or indeed generally,
spend it religiously, but it is their only day of rest.
Then, too,
they are often necessarily deprived of it by storms, and unavoidable
duties of all kinds, that to take it from them when lying quietly
and safely in port, without any urgent reason, bears the more hardly.
The only reason in this case was, that the captain had determined to
have the custom-house officers on board on Monday, and wished to have
his brig in order. Jack is a slave aboard ship; but still he has
many opportunities of thwarting and balking his master. When there
is danger, or necessity, or when he is well used, no one can work
faster than he; but the instant he feels that he is kept at work
for nothing, no sloth could make less headway. He must not refuse
his duty, or be in any way disobedient, but all the work that an
officer gets out of him, he may be welcome to. Every man who has
been three months at sea knows how to "work Tom Cox's traverse" -
"three turns round the long-boat, and a pull at the scuttled-butt."
This morning everything went in this way. "Sogering" was the order
of the day. Send a man below to get a block, and he would capsize
everything before finding it, then not bring it up till an officer
had called him twice, and take as much time to put things in order
again. Marline-spikes were not to be found; knives wanted a prodigious
deal of sharpening, and, generally, three or four were waiting round
the grindstone at a time. When a man got to the mast-head, he would
come slowly down again to get something which he had forgotten;
and after the tackles were got up, six men would pull less than
three who pulled "with a will." When the mate was out of sight,
nothing was done. It was all uphill work; and at eight o'clock,
when we went to breakfast, things were nearly where they were
when we began.
During our short meal, the matter was discussed. One proposed
refusing to work; but that was mutiny, and of course was rejected
at once. I remember, too, that one of the men quoted "Father
Taylor," (as they call the seamen's preacher at Boston,) who told
them that if they were ordered to work on Sunday, they must not
refuse their duty, and the blame would not come upon them. After
breakfast, it leaked out, through the officers, that if we would get
through our work soon, we might have a boat in the afternoon and
go fishing. This bait was well thrown, and took with several who
were fond of fishing; and all began to find that as we had one thing
to do, and were not to be kept at work for the day, the sooner we
did it, the better.
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