Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-01-11
I'LL.

V68 tiencc for hunt
ELR ing for things.
N At home two minutes is
VE about tho limit of time
uk spent In looking for mis-
laid poker, and then mar
'pa!' or aunt is called
on TO turn to and do this disagreeable
work. Tho second mate once ordered
mo TO find certain iron hook, where
with 10 draw the pump boxes, and when,
after n short search. | returned and
asked him where IL might be, | was hor.
riiicd by the expression OF astonished in
dignation spreading over his face, as he
yelled: Great Scott, he expects me to
help him find it!' / saw the point and
all it involved, and never SO wounded an
officers dignity again. II Is n sailors.
and especially boys. business on ship
board to find whatever lie is ordered to-
We soon learned on the Wizard how
well we had lived at home. Our sea
fare of hard tack and salt junk taught
us how To appreciate nt their true value
the broiled steaks, hot cakes and but.
tered toast of home tables. The quart of
very common molasses served out to- us
weekly soon became luxury, and when
the steward occasionally brought us "be-
navlins" (the nautical term for the broken
fragments from the cabin table,. we re-
garded 1t as very luxurious living, though
month previous we should have deemed
such food fit only for the swill tub
In about two weeks we had settled
down into the routine of life at sea.
Sailors are apt TO term theirs dogs
I .
life, and in some respects AN unpleasant
one-like many others ON land. But 1t
was not dogs life." There was plenty
toes ard we rclishcd our "lobscouse,'
har t4, /. y Junk, beans, Goldfish, po-
tatocs aad days and Thursday's--
duff.
The hours of labor were not exhaust
ing. 1t was watch and watch, -four
hours off and four hours on" Many
| New York retail grocers clerk, who
turns TO at in the morning and never
leaves off until II at night, would revel
on such regulation OF time and labor.
So would many a sewing girl. We had
| plenty of time for sleep. If called up at
every alternate morning, aud Obliged
10 stand watch until 8 a. m., we could
''turn in ut that hour after breakfast
and sleep till noon. Apart from the
alternate watches the work OF Jobs" oc
cupied about six hours per day. True,
there was ut times some heavy work,
but it was only occasional. Sailor work
is not heavy as compared with the in.
cessant tagging, wearing, never ending
character of some occupations on shore
Skill, agility and quickness are in greater
demand than mere brute strength
Lobscouse is a preparation Of hard
bread, first soaked and then stewed with
shredded salt beef. IL looks somewhat
like rations for a delicate bear when
served out by the painful But it is very
good. Salt beef is wonderfully i'm
proved by streaks of fat through it.
These serve tho forcmast hands in place
of butter. know of no better relish
than good pilot bread-and sliced salt
junk, with plenty of clean white fat
On shore that quart of boiling hot liquid,
sweetened with molasses and called tea,
would have been pitched into the gutter.
At sea, after an afternoons work, it was
good. With similar content and resig-
nation not to say happiness, we drank
in the morning the hot quart of black
fluid similarly sweetcned and called cof.
fee. II was not real coffee. | don't
know what it was. cared not TO know.
OF course We grumbed at it. But we
drank it. 1t WAS "iiliiuS. ali s,a1fI
better than the cold, brackish water, i'm
pregnated thickly with iron rust, n gal
Ion of which was served out daily. For
the fresh water was kept below in an
iron tank, and, as the deck leaked, a
small portion of the Atlantic had some
how gained admission TO il and slightly
salted it, 1t resembed chocolate to the
eye, but not to the palate.
On the fourth day out the Wizard was
found to have four feet of water in her
hold. The ship was pumped dry in
about four hours, when she proceeded to
ill up again. The captain seemed man
of many minds for the next two or three
days. First the ship was put back for
New York. This course was altered and
her bows pointed for Africa. Then the
foremast hands became worried. and,
going aft one morning in body, asked
| Capt. S. what he meant to do aud
where he meant to go, because they had
shipped for San Francisco and they did
not intend going anywhere else. Tho
captain answered that his own safety
and that of the vessel were rs dear to
him as their lives were 10 them. ant.
that he intended doing the best for the
general good. This answer was not very
satisfactory to the crew, who went
g,umbling back to their quarters. Ulti.
mately it turned out that we were to
take the leak with us to San Francisco.
At the rate the water was running in
1t was Judged that the bone, muscle and
sinews of the crew could manage to keep
1t down. So we pumped all tho way
round Cape Horn. We pumped during
our respective watches every two hours.
In good weather and on an even keel it
took half an hour to ''suck the pumps"
| IL the vessel was heeled to larboard or
starboard it took much longer. In very
rough weather we pumped all the time
that could be spared from other duties
There were two pumps at the foot of the
mainmast worked by levers, and these
were furnished with "bell ropes" to pull
on. Half the watch worked at each
lever, aud these were located exactly
where on stormy nights the Wild waves
were in the habit of finging over the
bulwarks a hogshead or two of water TO
drench us and wash ms off our feet.