In Addition To This,
It Was Holystoned Every Saturday Morning.
In the after part of
the ship was a handsome cabin, a dining-room, and a trade-room,
fitted
Out with shelves and furnished with all sorts of goods.
Between these and the forecastle was the "between-decks," as high
as the gun deck of a frigate; being six feet and a half, under the
beams. These between-decks were holystoned regularly, and kept in
the most perfect order; the carpenter's bench and tools being in
one part, the sailmaker's in another, and boatswain's locker,
with the spare rigging, in a third. A part of the crew slept
here, in hammocks swung fore and aft from the beams, and triced up
every morning. The sides of the between-decks were clapboarded,
the knees and stanchions of iron, and the latter made to unship.
The crew said she was as tight as a drum, and a fine sea boat,
her only fault being, that of most fast ships, - that she was wet,
forward. When she was going, as she sometimes would, eight or
nine knots on a wind, there would not be a dry spot forward of
the gangway. The men told great stories of her sailing, and had
great confidence in her as a "lucky ship." She was seven years
old, and had always been in the Canton trade, and never had met
with an accident of any consequence, and had never made a passage
that was not shorter than the average. The third mate, a young
man of about eighteen years of age, nephew of one of the owners,
had been in the ship from a small boy, and "believed in the ship;"
and the chief mate thought more of her than he would of a wife and
family.
The ship lay about a week longer in port, when, having discharged
her cargo and taken in ballast, she prepared to get under weigh.
I now made my application to the captain to go on board. He told
me that I could go home in the ship when she sailed (which I knew
before); and, finding that I wished to be on board while she was on
the coast, said he had no objection, if I could find one of my own
age to exchange with me, for the time. This, I easily accomplished,
for they were glad to change the scene by a few months on shore,
and, moreover, escape the winter and the south-easters; and I went
on board the next day, with my chest and hammock, and found myself
once more afloat.
CHAPTER XXIII
NEW SHIP AND SHIPMATES - MY WATCHMATE
Tuesday, Sept. 8th. This was my first day's duty on board the
ship; and though a sailor's life is a sailor's life wherever it
may be, yet I found everything very different here from the customs
of the brig Pilgrim. After all hands were called, at day-break,
three minutes and a half were allowed for every man to dress and
come on deck, and if any were longer than that, they were sure
to be overhauled by the mate, who was always on deck, and making
himself heard all over the ship. The head-pump was then rigged,
and the decks washed down by the second and third mates; the chief
mate walking the quarter-deck and keeping a general supervision,
but not deigning to touch a bucket or a brush. Inside and out,
fore and aft, upper deck and between decks, steerage and forecastle,
rail, bulwarks, and water-ways, were washed, scrubbed and scraped
with brooms and canvas, and the decks were wet and sanded all
over, and then holystoned. The holystone is a large, soft stone,
smooth on the bottom, with long ropes attached to each end, by which
the crew keep it sliding fore and aft, over the wet, sanded decks.
Smaller hand-stones, which the sailors call "prayer-books," are used
to scrub in among the crevices and narrow places, where the large
holystone will not go. An hour or two, we were kept at this work,
when the head-pump was manned, and all the sand washed off the
decks and sides. Then came swabs and squilgees; and after the
decks were dry, each one went to his particular morning job.
There were five boats belonging to the ship, - launch, pinnace,
jolly-boat, larboard quarter-boat, and gig, - each of which had a
coxswain, who had charge of it, and was answerable for the order
and cleanness of it. The rest of the cleaning was divided among
the crew; one having the brass and composition work about the capstan;
another the bell, which was of brass, and kept as bright as a
gilt button; a third, the harness-cask; another, the man-rope
stanchions; others, the steps of the forecastle and hatchways,
which were hauled up and holystoned. Each of these jobs must
be finished before breakfast; and, in the meantime, the rest
of the crew filled the scuttle-butt, and the cook scraped his
kids (wooden tubs out of which the sailors eat) and polished the
hoops, and placed them before the galley, to await inspection.
When the decks were dry, the lord paramount made his appearance
on the quarter-deck, and took a few turns, when eight bells
were struck, and all hands went to breakfast. Half an hour
was allowed for breakfast, when all hands were called again;
the kids, pots, bread-bags, etc., stowed away; and, this morning,
preparations were made for getting under weigh. We paid out on the
chain by which we swung; hove in on the other; catted the anchor;
and hove short on the first. This work was done in shorter time
than was usual on board the brig; for though everything was more
than twice as large and heavy, the cat-block being as much as a
man could lift, and the chain as large as three of the Pilgrim's,
yet there was a plenty of room to move about in, more discipline
and system, more men, and more good will.
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