The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-05-22
THE HEAD STEWARDS FIGURES.


What II Takes to Satisfy the Appetites
Of Ocean stsamss,ip Passengers
There came in over that gangplank
last year" said the steward OF one OF the
popular big transatlantic steamships tho
other day, 1850 sheep. 2.474 oxen. !, 800
lambs, 1880 ducks, 1900 turkeys. 2.000
geese and a good many hundred calves,
quail, chicken and grouse"
What did you do with them-throw
them overboardl"
ATE EN-" was the reply. my Ian.
guage is a little fgurative perhaps, but
come and look at my books and be con-
WINGED. tell you people who go down
to the sea in ships, or those OF them at
least who travel by the big transatlantic
liners. accept with complacency and as
matter OF course the refnements, con-
veniences and Injuries found on board
from day to day. and fail to grasp, in
most cases, the extent OF the advance
which has been made in the last twenty
FIVE years in catering to their wants az
well as overlook the intricate machinery
which is required to be constantly and
quietly in motion for the maintenance OF
order and regularity. They have little
idea of the vastness and variety Of the
stores necessary for the ship herself and
her crew. and also. of that more varied
and quite as astonishingIy big supply OF
fish, flesh. fowl. vegetables. fruit and
liquor, now considered indispensable for
the crowd of passengers the good ship
carries, whose Unsuitable sea appetites are
at once the tourists joy and the stew
ards despair.
That sad procession OF slaughtered
animals / pictured to you. did not really
come aboard in the flesh-that is to say
i mean-alive, nor all at once. but we
consumed here over 1000, 900 pounds Of
meat in the last twelve months, which
represents. as you will see by looking at
these columns. the number OF carcasses !
mentioned. Meat is the chief item. Of
course but man does not live by meat
alone. and last year our passengers ate
ton of mustard, three-quarters Of ton
of pepper 1914 bottles Of pickles, about
500 tons of -four, about 900 tons Of pota-
toes, more than $4,000 loaves of bread
and twenty tons of biscuits.
These are the necessaries Of life, now
for the luxuries-they make pretty
good showing, too Look here: 5000
Jars jams Of all kinds, a dozen tons Of
marmaIade-the bitter taste Of marina
Iadc is never SO we'll appreciated as on
recovery from seasickness-twcnty tons
raisins, currapts, figs, dates, ETC.; thou
sands Of crates of grapes, peaches. ap-
pies, oranges, bananas and other fresh
fruits. That's pretty good list of solids,
isn't it7 Everybody eats, of course,
while everybody DOESN'T drink or smoke,
yet the drinkers keep up their end Of the
balance sheet fairly we'll See this:
I'm one year they drank IL, 900 quarts
of champagne, the same of claret and
other light wines, l15. 900 bottles min
eral waters. $4,000 bottles of spirits, aud
the humping total OF half a million bot
ties Of ale. beer and porter. While all
this is going down, $4,000 cigars and
so, 900 cigarettes are going up, besides
what the gentlemen bring with them.
We also consume about $4,000 pounds OF
chewing tobacco. of which the crew and
the Storage use the greater part. Then
here is $1,000 pounds tea, and $4,000
pounds coffee. with no end Of condensed
milk and almost 100000 pounds of sugar
to sweeten it. Fresh fish in shoals, sar
dimes in banks, and more than three
quarters of a million of eggs, cooked in
every conceivable style, round the list out
in a satisfactory manner and give YOU
some idea of the duties and responsible
ties of the head steward Of ship like
this. New York Tribune