New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-09-07
LIFE A TRANSPORT,


Carrying Storage passengers is bad
| enough sir. whether they are Irish, English,
| or Dutch, and l ought to know. for I've
been at it,pretty much all my life, but they
| amt patch on carrying sogers, Tor they re
| the meanest things TO carry | ever had any
| thing to do with. | never was shipmates
with EN- but once, and it amt likely ever
| shall be agin, cause don't expect never to
| go to sea NO more, but that once was enough
| TO sicken me for all time to come. These
| wasn't regular sogers neither, but only vol
| unteers, and may be the regulars would
hvve been better, but these chaps was all
| from the same place, and the mer knOw'd
| the officers and the officers knowd the men.
and they was all happy go-lucky set TO-
| gether, and there wasn't no such thing as
! discipline amongst them.
Twas along in lS47, / Judge, just about
| the close of the Mexican war, that ships
| aboard of craft bound from New York
down to Vera Cruz, in Mexico, and | gifts
| my traps down aboard of her, and she tOws
out and anchors in Buttermllk channel to
| take aboard her troops. The same owners
| what owned her had had two ships char
tered afore that on the same voyage, and
arter they had been properly ballasted and
| had took their water and stores aboard
| they'd been turned over to the government,
| and it had loaded 'em down with ammuni-
| ton and stores, and they had gone 10 sea
| as deep as sand barges. Wen, Of course,
| they thought it would be just the same with
| this ship, and so as she was agoin' to New
| Orleans afterwards for load of cotton
! they just put in enough shingle ballast to
| nicely dunnage the cotton and slows away
| the water atop of this, and sent her off in
| the stream.
The next day off comes the trocps-the
something or other volunteers, don't mind
the name just now, and faint no matter
with provisions for sixty days and about
two hundred boxes of musket cartridges,
and they tells the old man he might go to
sea as soon as possible or Immediately
arter.
Here was go; the old Hooker, ship of
1000 tons. had only about eighty tons of
ballast into her, and about sixty or seventy
casks of water, for the provisions didn't
weigh much anyhow, and here was about
SIX hundred sogers to be carried in the
'twixt decks. She was a mighty stiff ship,
to be sure, or else eighty tons Of ballast
wouldn't have done for her, cotton loaded;
but she was got out with the intention of
carrying a big load of cotton ON light
draft, and so that small amount of ballast
was enough for her. But it wern't enough
for her to go to sea with 600 sogers on deck
and in the twixt decks.
The Old man was in 3 tigho place. He
didn't want to let Che government officers
know that the ship wern't ballasted proper
lyS 'caase the charter party called for her
to be supplied with ballast and water. and
so he concluded to let hes 60 and make the
best of ito
In the morninS arter the troops came on
board all hands was reused out early to
man the windfass. The sogers had turned
out, tooa and they swarmed all over the
ships decks. and crowded up on the fore
castle, so many of them that they was
nuisance. Well the mate he ordered EN-
down. and some of 'em went, but few in
sisted that they had as much right up there
as any body. One of em was little sassy,
aud so the mate gust picked him up and
chucked him down onto the main deck.
Well, he Just Kicked himself ups and says
be 10 the mate:
CHOW juse you come ight Gown hereo and
Eli skin you out in about five minutes
OF cou9se che mate didn't go, out that
II show you what sort of chaps these was.
Hhey'd oil got two months wages afore
they come OF board, somewhere about $l4
apiece, | geckon, and they had no end to
the packs o. cards, and they Just divided
themselves 6nto little groups all over the
deck and wen8 90 playin' poker to try and
wiz each Others piles 1t was as much as
we could dc Go get about and make sail OF
the snip, which we begun to do whenowe
got dowA oft Staten Island, cause the wind
was fresh from about nOr-nOrwest. AS soon
as she gOG the topsails onto her and 1egnn
20 feel the breeze she Just laid down to it
and showed us how tender she was, and we
only set the main t gallan sail, and then
turned to and sent the royalyards down on
deck for shere wasn't q use for ROYALS that
trip. She stepped off like struck dolphin
afOre Che wind, she was so light, and we
soon 4ound ourselves overrunin' the
steamer thao sras d town of us, and we
just hauled in the hawser and let him go
about his business. and away we went,
down Shg8ugd8 she Swash Channel and cut
to seao
These qBa9 something happened Che
night aiore Shat { must tell you about
There was a chap aboard we called Yankee
jim, and me and him had been shipmates
afore in the Roscious with Captain Jack
Eldridge, and the night atore, from one to
two o'clock. me and him had the anchor
watch together. | was a sittin' on the
windlass end asmokin' about halt.past one,
when Jim comes forward and says he to
Inc, Tom, my boy. come aft and III show
you somethin'." Well, l goes aft with him,
and on the gratin at the door of the cabin,
under the brake Of the poop, there was
piled up a heap of things helongin' to the
officers. They had come off altogether in
heap after dark the night a(ore, and had
been left here till the mornin', when each
officer could pich out what belonged to him.
Among the lot Jim pints out to Inc jmi-
john. and Says he:
Tom, I'm curious to Know ahatS in
that there Jug"
I'm curious, too, y says |.
cit might be grog," says heo
cit might, says |.
"If that should he grog,@ says Jim, o'and
the officer what owns it should drink too
much of it. he'd get drunk and indulge in
conduct unbecomin' officer and gentle
man. Now our plain duty in this here
case, says Jim, lis to prevent this by re-
moving the temptation from him.
I'm convenient" says |, for | felt I'M
common dry, having freshened the nip
pretty often afore comm on board.
Well says jim, neither You nor l.
Tom, would be guilty Of stealin' a mans
liquor while he's asleep, but if that there
jug should git for'ard without our touchin'
it, can't see any harm in our drinkin' il
arter it gifts there.
Then Jim takes the handle of the force
pump, stick about the size of a broom
handle. and he reeves that through the ham
die OF the jug, and he took hold of one end
OF the pump hahdleo and took hold of She
othero and We walked Forward and the $iHl-
lohn got there as soon as We didS bUg we
was bots 2e@dy &c swear that weSI aeve9
souctoed re WelSs ese Riraw'a QUE panniO
oa91 fais ana stGwe3 che jug away in q paint
locker chat there Sas 10 the r'ard pars OF
Che sogecsstfs, o;y Sag sil0 abouso $ilS ear I
tims wSs s'21o ssS Shara ssas just 4istle olrcp
10 opese Che eSee ssS 0Hs Selst With; end
Sighs elaIo aP8Jenyac Js esasO qoos we fo1nd 7
sus a9st's Ra95o shas SO belonged 20 Stajos }
s's Sleo isn6 Sim aad aas give him sretb1 fof
bein' o. good Judge OS brandyo He was Zoo |
sea sic5 Che 5ooe part of the first day 20 care
ABOUT greg or anGqbiB else bu9 aong Geo
oemie ew9jBS BE- sent Che steward |
8 6untj9 Cos 2is jimiiohn and |