Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1889-10-19
MATE AND ROUSTABOUT.
HOW FREIGHT 10 HANDLED AT ST.
LOUIS WHARvEs.


Scene at the River Front-A stesm.,.
Crew-QualiicatioDs Of a Mate-.Iss.
MISUNDERSTANDING tho SLOW nm,
Lazy.
Statistics for last years commerce I'm a,
Louis shows the arrival of {, ,se1 boats and o.
barges at, and the departure of e,s2s boat
rrom' this port, and the receipe of s67. .04
tons and the shipment Of 63Y, ,O60 tons n
freight, all exclusive of the immense tonnao
transferred by ferry, and yet the river ha
los. interest," and by many is entirely for
gotten All this is very undeserved fSs
on the river and in the hsrbor has al, ~ r.
attractions still
The time has been when the river FROM,
was lined with steamers. nose IN Tho vhs -
while now they can crowd In so as 70 Ioad
from the side, but the scene now Is none tbe
less active. The wonder Is Just as preat nov
where the great piles of freight are stoyved
away, and there is just as much commotion
. In loading and unloading. People with tender
corns are just as safe in remaining awav
from steamer just in or preparing to leovs
port as they ever were. They are lust as ant
10 have barrel rolled on these same corns
or 70 feel the weight Of a roustabout's No. 12
shoe o' -
large steamers crew is composed of n
captain two mates, two engineers. two
strKers, SIX 1remen, watchman. three
clerks, q steward and ten to twenty assist.
anus ana deck force of twenty to forty. or
these the mate alone has to push and ham.
mer when time is valuable, except ON extra.
ordinary occasions and except in the ouiet
OF his own precincts, where only the boards
OF the boat and those people for whom bis
words are intended will hear them. The first
mate has charge Of the loading and unload.
ing and in the absence Of the captain takes
command of the boat steamer like the
City OF New Orleans, for instance, will carry
l,5OO tons of freight very comfortably. The
mate must load and unload this in a very
short time, as occasion often REQUIRES. hut.
regardless OF the time in which the work
must be done, he must look after any weak
points In the boat and follow all rules laid
down for the even distribution of cargo. II
steamer hos any weak points, they must be
loaded first Otherwise, the mate begins
back aft and loads forward in the center
following this rule in the hold and on deck.
and being careful to keep the weight In the
center. Then he runs out into the wings and
along the sides, always keeping the weight
30 evenly distributed that the steamer will
settle down into the water as nicely as If
under the pressure OF single piece of ma,
chinery at all points. At the same time the
freight Is loaded with due regard to points
Of unloading, so that there will not only not
be any rehandling, but no strain caused by
removing freight from one point and not
from another.
The n1afo bav vc N NJ
be man of some executive ability Even
In an outburst Of passion, he must keep bis
wits about him He is at something of a dis
advantage In not always having the same
force to do his work, and thus in not know
ing his mems capacities, for even day labor.
ers have such things as capacities One man
may lift 300 pounds and another stall at 15O.
but the latter may be so much more active
that he will move more gross weight in half
m hour than the former. This is an object,
and in handling men it is of Importance to
consider 1t. The mate, however, soon esti-
mates his men. At local landings he has
only his regular crew, but in all large ports
he has what is known as shore or hour labor
These do all the loading and unloading. The
deck crew attends only to keeping things in
trim. II the steamer is just in, they are tired
out, and that Is enough for them to do
The roustabout generally seems to have a
happy life, and he possibly has There is no
reason to doubt appearances, except the idea
one not accustomed to it would have in an.
ticipating it In port and off duty he is a
painter generaI1y-that is, he does a great
deal toward making things in his vicinity
lurid, by making Rome howl" When he
sleeps, If he sleeps at all, is often a conun
drum, though he must sleep some place 1t
is however, often ''with a load on" and he
Is fortunate If he turns up foi duty with
hide free Of scratches and bruises. II is not
infrequent that he turns up at the hospital or
the morgue There are, however, good
roustabouts, just as there are bad church
men. The life is not one calculated to make
them good. but that never seems to trouble
them while on duty, and they never seem to
realize that they haven't had good time
and get on shore to warm up and see their
frienda In the average steamboat, no pro
vision Ia made for the rousters sleeping.
They arr expected to curl up on deck or
among the freight, and make the best Of II.
They are also expected, on night runs, te
turn out as promptly as soldiers on duty
when a landing is made Still they laugh
and sing the time away. and "guy" each
other in manner that should be profitable
TO shore people
wealthy passenger looking over the rail
and seeing the colored deck hand leaning on
the capstan, smoking pipe, naturally Won
ders what pleasures the world has for him.
The deckhand turns and looks up, and the
passenger is surprised that his face bears a.
smile as his own, and probably |
more so. The shore laborer is, if anything.
more of curiosity 1t is question II be il
any tougher, because, having more opportu
mites for doing things up brown" the act
Of doing it is not SO much OF a novelty. He
will sleep any place, however, just as the
does and is as free to laugh and
Joke when he has 200-pound box on his
shoulder as when he has nothing but few
surplus drinks. The mate, though, looks out
Tor this, and II he jokes or the laughter in
terferes with or delays the work, or II. to get
IN a good one on another laborer, one of them
tops in his work, he interferea He gen
srally carries a stick. more like club, and
'ometimes like bull prod. and the man who
works slow or soldiers" Is very certain to
ret punch In the ribs. or in some other part
n the BODY. This Is river life In the harbos