Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1889-12-06
THE FIRST MATES FUN.

the arrest Of the mate of the Rio steame
Finance for cruelty to three or four stow
aways who made their appearance alte
the vessel was well on her voyage ha
recalled wildly al adventure | had whe
a boy of II, and, though I was avery hum
Bile individual myself the particulars q
that adventure stirred the people of
great kingdom.
know the sailor from topmast head [,
kclson, | have sailed in all sorts of crafts
with all sorts of crews, and have serve,
many Captains know that sailors ar,
rough and uncOuth, and that there is al
ways disposition to find fault and tc
magnify evils. Jack would have his growl
no matter how well fed and how Well used
On land there is a certain antagonism be.
tween employer and employed. On ship
board this is intensified, but that is be.
the employer has so much more absolute
power over the employed. 1 frankly admit
| | have never met half dozen sailors. no
matter what sort Of Captain they were
| serving under, who were without com
| plants, but it does not follow that all the
others complained without reason. The
| ship may be comfortable aud ull-handed,
the fare all right, and the Captain q good
man, but the mates can still make the
craft mighty uncomfortable for the men
venture to assert that there are not half
a dozen long voyage sailing crafts leaving
| II, -, -, 4 I 4
growing do not exist, and what is true of
America is true of all other countries. Tho
Dutch, Swedes, Russians, and Lascars
will stand Ovcrwork, poor grub, and the
abuse of officers, and rs much for this rea
son as any other the Yankee sailor has
been driven from the sea and his place fill
ed by these substitutes.
When was IL years old my mother
died, and my father decided to 20 To Aus
tralia was his only child, and he was
by no means burdened with money. lie
was master plumber, and he set out
for Sidney under contract. Three months
after our arrival he married again, and
it was not six week before my stepmother
pushed me into the street. | was under
sized and sickly, but never gave her the
slightest cause for even 4 harsh word She
simply took an aversion to me, and some
how her hatred came to be reflected in my
father. lie saw me thrown ont on the
world with hardly protest. and two days
later, when he met me in the street, he
gave Inc about eight shillngs in money and
advised me To set up as q boOtblack and
newsboy. should probably have follow
ed his suggestions had ] not on that same
day CHANGED to fall in with two or three
lads who were planning to stow them
selves away aboard Of an English brig
called the Charles H. Churchill They
boys who had run away from home or
been thrown over like myself, and tho idea
was that they could do better in England
| was invited to join, and when our plans
had been laid there were four of us of
about the same age. We looked the brig
over, found that we could get aboard, ana
made our arrangements
One night, when the brig was nearly
ready for sea, | stole aboard, carrying with
me about two quarts of water and four
pounds of bread and meat. This was the
share was To furnish | was to be first
aboard slip down the midship hatch, and
the others were to follow at briefintcryals.
A fire on board Il ship Il few hundred feet
sTay collected a.l .lr.,, the crew Of the
-.,i -; a IL Il,
full Of bags, barrels, and boxes, and after
waiting few minutes | made my way
over these toward the bow, and found Il
very comfortable place on lot of dry
hides. | remained awake and alert for
two hours, and then fell asleep without re-
alizing that | was a bit sleepy. 1t was
morning when | awoke, aud a. the sailors
were at work below dared not move or
call out. figured that my companions
were hiding around me, and 80 rested easy
through the day, sleeping most of the
time. At about sundown | felt the ship
in motion, and an hour later the hatches
were closed and was in midnight dark
ness. had matches and Il stub Of candle,
and, after striking match, | moved
around and whistled and called to my
companions. could make my way over
the freight pretty easily in any direction,
and | would not give up that was alone
until had searched for Il full hour. Then
was positive that ! was alone; the others
had either backed out or had been bafled
in their attempt to get aboarl. | was
much upset ut the discovery, and crawled
back to my bed and cried myself to sleep.
1t had been agreed among us boys that
we should keep secreted three days after
sailing. None of US anticipated any trou-
bic when We should make our presence
known. | had no way of computing time,
as it was night all the time in the hold,
but after my bread and water had been us
ed and was hungry and thirsty, | decid
cd that the three days were up. Crawling
to the cover of the hatch, / knocked on it
and shouted, and after little il was open
cd and was helped out. 1t was o'clock
on the morning of the fourth day. The first
word from the Captain was curse, and
his first act was To swing me about the
deck by the hair Then he called for q
rope and beat me until | tainted away,
and while lying unconscious he and the
first mate licked me sew eral times. When
came to | was ordered forward among
the men. They gave me kind words, sat
isfed my hunger and thirst, and hoped
that the worst was over. 1t was not, how
ever. At about noon ] was called aft, and
after the Captain had interrogated me as
to my identity and why had selected his
vessel, he gave me another beating, and
turned me over TO the mate with the
words:
"You can have him now, and l hope
you'll kill him before the week is out"
AYE, sir, leave that to me-" was the re-
ply. "I'll find dozen ways to make hin
wish he'd never been born"
had committed an otiense, but not hinl
deserving such punishment as | received
| for the next three days. | was fogged
kicked, cufied, and maltreated in every
way Captain and mate could think of, and
was more than once rendered insensiblc by
their cruelty. | heard the men cursinl
the officers for their conduct, and on
couraging each other to interfere, but