Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-01-25

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dOWu hNO AhhA-
In utes before 10
M O'Clock. Our
.1 watch was ut
work on them.
The carpenter
N3~ was called as
4 ~ usual, and after
the usual bungling and fishing in the
well for the broken valves, they were
put In order again. II was then nearly
1 a m. Meanwhile all the able seamen
In Our watch had at eight bells walked
below. The watch newly come on deck
refused to pump the ship clear, alleging
it was the business of the others. The
watch below were hidden TO come on deck
and perform their neglected duty. They
refused. This was mutiny. The four
mates got their pistols, entered the fore
castle and stormed. ordered and threat
ened. It was Of no avail The fifteen
able seamen who refused constituted the
main strength and effectiveness Of that
watch. They were threatened with be-
Ing put in irons. Thes preferred irons
to pumping out of their turn. They were
put in irons, fifteen stout men, by four
mates, who then returned and reported
proceedings to the captain. The men re.
maincd shackled until the next morn
ing. II was then discovered that II was
impossible to work the ship without their
aid. Or course they couldn't handle the
vessel In irons.
The Wizard rated over 5000 tons, and
many frigate Of her size would have
been deemed poorly off with less than
one hundred men for handling the ship
alone. We rarely secured the lower sails
properly in heavy weather, from the mere
lack Of physical strength to handle them.
$50 Capt. S. pored sadly at his break
fast through his gold bowed spectacles,
and when the meal was over issued
orders for the release of the fifteen men
in irons. In this little affair the boys and
ordinary seamen belonging to the mutt.
nous watch took no part. They were
strictly neutral and waited TO see which
aldo would win. felt rather unpleasant
and alarmed. Though not full Aedged
mutiny and a conversion OF peaceful
merchantmen into q pirate, it did look
at one time as II the initiatory steps to
such end were being taken.
| One of the great aims of existence at
sea is that OF keeping the decks clean.
The scrubbing, swishing and swashing
Is performed by each watch on alternate
mornings, and commences at daylight.
1t was the one ordeal which I regarded
with horror and contempt. You are
called up at in the morning, when the
sleep of growing youth is soundest.
The maniacal wretch of the other watch,
who does the calling, does it with the
glee and screech of fiend. He will
not stop his "All h-a-a-ndsl" until he
hears some responsive echo from the
sleepers. He is noisy and joyous be.
cause it is 30 near the time he can turn
in. And these four hours of sleep ut sea
are such luxuries as may rarely be real
lied on shore. But the mates watch is
calling US. screeching, bowling, thump
ing on the forecastle door, and making
himself extremely pleasant.
We are called and ON deck, and STUN
bling about maybe with one boot half
on, and more asleep than awake and
more dead than alive. We are in the
warm, enervating latitude Of the tropics,
Wtth ONCi icidAtu tttt bltdli-
ing heat. Perhaps there is light wind
aft. We are carrying studding sails
Studding sails are beautiful to look at
from distance. But when once you
have sailed in ship carrying them from
the royals down and know something Of
the labor Of rigging them out all ON one
side, fore, main and mizzen masts, and
then, II the breeze alters couple Of
points, taking the starboard sails all down
and rigging out the larboard. or perhaps
on both sides--and this on a Sunday af-
ternoon, when there are no jobs and
you've been expecting plenty Of leisure
to eat your duff and molasses; or If
you have ever helped carry those
heavy yards about tho deck when
the ship was rolling violently in heavy
ground swell, and every time she brought
up, sails, blocks and everything nova
BILE was bringing up also with a series of
pistol like reports; or if you have ever
laid out on royal yard trying to pass
heavy rope through the "jewel block"
at the extreme end thereof, while the
mast and yard were oscillating to and
fro with you through the air in rapid
Sly recurring series of gigantic arcs caused
by the lazy swell, in the trough of which
your ship is rolling-and at the end of
each roll you find yourself holding on
for dear life, lest at the termination of
each oscillation you be shot like AN ar,
row into the sea from your insecure
perch-wby in all these cases the beauty
and picturesqueness of ship under
studding sails viii be tempered by some
sober realities.
II Is $50 or Q o'clock. The morning
light has come. The cry Of "Turn tor
y heard. That Is, "turn to" to wash
down decks, an operation which will tax
the already exhausted resources Of an
empty stomach until breakfast time at 8
O'Clock. The mates have their fragrant
"cabin coffee" and biscuit served them
on the brass capstan aft; we can smell
he aroma, but nothing warm can get
Into our stomachs for over two long
hours Of work. The basic idea In this
regular washing down decks at sea seems
TO be that OF keeping men busy for the
sake Of keeping them busy. The top Of
every deck plank must be scrubbed with
care and scrutiny befitting the labors
Of diamond polisher on his gems. while
the under side may be dripping with
fouiness, as II sometimes is. had the
post OF honor In scrubbing the quarter
eeck- That was the drawing Of water
y . canvas bucket from the mizzen
ehAAns 10 wash over that deck. The
ssmaining Eve boys would push
veArDy about with their brooms,
hand brushes. squads and squilgees, su.