Our Fresh
Provisions Were, Of Course, Gone, And The Captain Had Stopped Our Rice,
So That We Had Nothing But Salt Beef And Salt Pork Throughout The Week,
With The Exception Of A Very Small Duff On Sunday.
This added to the
discontent; and a thousand little things, daily and almost hourly
occurring, which no one who
Has not himself been on a long and tedious
voyage can conceive of or properly appreciate, - little wars and rumors
of wars, - reports of things said in the cabin, - misunderstanding of
words and looks, - apparent abuses, - brought us into a state in which
everything seemed to go wrong. Every encroachment upon the time
allowed for rest, appeared unnecessary. Every shifting of the
studding-sails was only to "haze"(1) the crew.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1. Haze is a word of frequent use on board ship, and never,
I believe, used elsewhere. It is very expressive to a sailor,
and means to punish by hard work. Let an officer once say,
"I'll haze you," and your fate is fixed. You will be
"worked up," if you are not a better man than he is.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In this midst of this state of things, my messmate S - - - and myself
petitioned the captain for leave to shift our berths from the steerage,
where we had previously lived, into the forecastle. This, to our delight,
was granted, and we turned in to bunk and mess with the crew forward.
We now began to feel like sailors, which we never fully did when we were
in the steerage.
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