The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1891-01-23
JACK TAR AT . r
Just What . Sailor Has to DO Each Day
ON Shtt. BOARD.

on ShIp:Doard.
Tho mate Of q squarc-rigged NOR
chairman thus described tho life Of an
ablc-bodicd seaman on o long voyage
to o New York Times reporter. A
sailor may be said to begin his days
work with tho morning watch" at four
o'clock, when .he. must turn out of his
narrow bunk in tho ~s'fo'castlc" and tum-
bic up on deck prepared to scrub and
wash down decks, which arc always
moro OF less badly stained with salt
water and iron rust. Plenty OF water
for cleaning purposes Is always near at
hand, and with the aid of buckets and
ordinary brooms. brushes or '%'squcgees'
Jack usually succeeds in making things
tolerably clean.
but II the ship il coming into port and
tho captain wishes tho decks to look
particularly white, Jack so down
on his hands and knees and scour tho
decks with all the vigor Of q %charwoman
with certain articles called holy
stones" Now, holystoncs arc not treas
urcd fragments of some classical shrine,
but communicating piecesof sandstone
about the size of u brick. and it
Is not too much to say that poetry
abandons tho nautical mind when
tho holystoning process becomes ncces-
sary. Tho operation is always long and
laborious, and the only respite Jack has
from this oiious task is in polishing tar
nishcd brasswork or being ordered aloft
to attend to some troublesome sail or
bit Of running gear. Consequently, by
eight o'clock, when he is relieved by tho
forenoon watch he has had sufficient
exercise to get up an appetite for break
fast such as is rarely cqualed or sur
passed by any thing human.
This mcal, year in and out, consists of
o liberal supply of a hot, black, bower
distraction, and swcctencd, if at all,
with molasscs. Then, there is q ships
bread, porridgc, or ''burgoo," and q
species of hash called '~'lobscourse,"
which nobody hut a hungry sailor was
evcr known to successfully digest.
Jack, however, is providcntially no cpl
cure, but u g%astronomic genius who dis
patches every thing to satisfy an organic
craving with goat;ike facility and relish.
lie then fits his pipe, spins yarns, OF
returns to his unan. b.os;al bunk for a
nap, while his sh:pma,es, the forenoon
watch" arc busy making things snug on
deck and aloft. Indeed, it would be
difficult to say what tho forenoon
watch" will not find to do, for much de-
ponds upon tho state of the weather.
But yards must be constantly trimmed,
according to the direction of tho wind,
sails fur!cd and ru%nning-gear looked
after, and, in addition to a %scan.an's
regular duties of setting and shortening
sail, there is always plenty OF sail
mending, rope-sp.ic:ng, spar-scraping,
oiiing, vanishing and painting to do, to
say nothing of n dirty work of. tarring
tho standing rigging and ropes occa-
sionaily. Then every man must take
his turn or ''trick" at the wheel, which
is always a monotonous and extremely
dangerous duty in bad weather..
Well, at 1880 tho moi who composed
the ''morning watch" are called to a
dinner of hot pea soup, boiled pork and
o pancrul piece oI mcat tnau no argu-
ment will ever convince Jack is any
thing but army mule OF horse which has
died a natural death. "Salt horse is,
therefore, the name bestowed by. him on
this tough-pickled substance, and he
thinks himself lucky whom it is followed
by plumduf or s'stickjaw pudding"
This sumptuous rcpast is then washed
down with copious %draughts of coffee,
and after filling and smoking tho inev-
liable Pipe once moro Jack feels invig-
Grated and happy, and goes on deck as
ono of tho afternoon watch" which re-
lieves tho forenoon watch at twelve.
The afternoon watch" We will sup
pose, for brcvity's sake, is employed on
deck with duties of tho same nature as
engaged tho forenoon watch" and at
four O'Clock this watch is again changed.
So you SEQ that, generally speaking, tho
mon have. four hours on duty and four
hours off. But if this took place with
undertaking regularity, it is evident
that n set of men would always be on
duty during the best part of tho night
an arrangement that would be manifest
~ unfair. In order. therefore, that one
watch should not have b long nights
duty thcre are what we sailors call tho
dog Watches" These watches are tho
hours between four o'clock in the after
noon and eight O'Clock in the evening.
Tho afternoon watch accordingly go
below at four o'clock and and como on
0CSh ~ oAAs WuSu VuCy uuSc tWO uOuFS
dog watch. At eight o'clock they go be-
low again. and thus by means Of these
dog watches the crew of a ship get al
tcrnate nights of duty on deck.
Jack lives on a floating house of bust
ness, which is continually carrying him
into unexpected labors. However, in
moderate weather every thing is usual
ly made snug aloft between. six and
eight o'clock in tho evening, whom
jacks work is finished for the day. He
may then smoke his pipe and sing his
favorite song or ''shanty'' to his hearts
content. But if during tho next few
hours or in the course of tho night tho
barometer goes down and the weather
looks ominous of a gale to windward, he
has to turn out of his snug corner in
the forccastle at q moments notice
when he hears the boatswain shout:
"All hands shorten sail!" Now, this is
n of the worst features OF Jacks life,
for nine chances out of ten it is blowing
great guns when he gropcs his way up
j, on deck and crawls up tho %shrouds, and
you can form no idea of the peri!ous
, momentum of q vessels pitch until you
have been on her upper yards or jib-
boom trying to reef or furl sails in q
heavy sea.
, A Collection of Clovers.
James L. Pcnnypacker, of Philadel-
y phia, has o curious collection of clovers
7 from different States. Tho clovcrs arc