Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-08-28
In TIE FORECASTLE.
A Deep.Water Sailors Description
OF thu Food He Had
<salt Harse!7 soft Tommy" ~DnR"
and Hard Tack-,-iao the Buys
e'sow'aa y Batting h.
..s "Cabsn 6rxib.n
New York Tribune,1

New York Tribune.]
You want to know how we fellows live in
the fo'cas'le, do youn said an old weather.
beaten Jack tar iii answer to query Of a
Tribune reporter. well, we have a con.
founded mar tfme Of il taking it by and
large. Take man, tor example, that ships
for deep-water voyage. He gets, say
s!8 OF $40 month. The fo'cas'le is gener.
ally crowded. to death;epd Amt fit for dog to
i've in aS it's bean ITS chock,a-block full
of rats and cooaast. .,achss, with small Of
silge-watcr, when we ara in warm htituies,
chat would turn the stomach OF anything but
a sl,eil-back. When we first lsave port the
grub is pretty fair. The salt horse, or salt
bsI you si1ore-going folks call it, is cox para
lively fresh; the weevils and worms hn nven'i
had chance ut the hard tack, and tho water
tastes something like water. Once in awhile
we have soft tommy or soft bread. Its
after we've been to sea for month or six
'Tee!:s that we catch it. Why, I've seen
neat that bad, that the doctor as we cali
cook aboard-ship, had to take it out OF
-. 'harness-cask, in which 1t is kept OF deck,
With tongs We got to like it that way after
awhile.
'lt's fun to see some of those coasting SAIL
RS got hold Of piece OF hard tack that's
doubled the Horn TWO or three times I've
seen 'en take liecs and break it on tue
edge of D. sea-chest with q 1narline spike or
\ Delaying pin and carefully pick out tbs
weev's. Lori bless you, we don't take such
trouble after we'vo fairly taken to growing
barnacle5 on our backs. We just soften it a
don't know how that il, but they amt half
so bad when YOU get used to 'en. You
know, when we are in port, the e>tanks
are cleaned ols and whitewashcd. After the
water has stood in them for three or four
weeks, and we get Into hot weather, it has
the taste Of q mixture of whitewash and
iron-Pust, and to say It's fat is TO put it
mildly. You can guess what nice drinking
it makes
"Shore-going folks would think that that
sort of grub would 60 pretty hard, but we
get 70 use to it that We won't have anything
else. The nearest ever came to being in a
n1utiny was aboard u tsa- clipper from New
York TO Shanghai. The salt-junk gave ous
and the 'old mau' fed betole-t,e-mast hands
on timed 1pents. The boys liked it frst-rate
Tor day or two, hut then they began to
growl and sent man aft The old man said
the men forward were living on 'cabin grub,
and wantel to know what aiie1 'em. We'll,
you zee, sir said the man, there amt no
chaw in the meat you send forward When
the boys fol1nd out that that was all they
could get, they made the best Of it. Why,
there's more chaw in that salt beef than
there is IN a piees Of, India rubber. I've
can1veti on 1'icce for whole watch,
and it was as good when went bs
low as it was when went on
deck. Thursday is generally duff day
aboard ship. Duff is first class when you
get used to it. It is made OF -four, aud
water, and salt. If the doctor is in L good
humor, he puts in some raisins Then it is
boiled generally in the coppers along with
tho meat, and it IS served to the men with a
'tos' of 'nigger-heel mo'asses.
1.-THE grub ain't served rs we'll es it is in a
6rst-class eating-saloon ashore. Ii is gener-
ally: brought into the fo'cas'le by one Of tbs
boys in kids A kid is little wooden tub
The meat is in big hunks, and the men chop
it of with their sheath-knives. There amt
any ceremony. Every man makes dive
tor the kid, and the strongest and quickest
man gets the best piece of meat The boy
generally. gets what is left if he clint
smart enough to hook a piece before he gets
to the fo'cas'le, which lie generally is. I've
seen young fellows that come to sea for fun.
They had better study the cid saying,
The boy that goes to sea for fun had better
60 TO Davy Jones for pastime,' for tell you
it's true evorY time