The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1892-04-28
the SKlppsR's WOES.

many inquiries for it, it has been de-
cided to reprint it in this issue;
Have pity, ye marine and local boards,
Ye little magnates-yea, most mighty
lords
On the poor skipper, for his lot is cast
Where fate unkind pursues him to
the last.
Alas poor man, his is an evil plight,
He's always wrong, he's never in the
Upon him, like u scnpegoat must be
thrown
The faults of others, not to say his
own;
Disaster comes, and tho Twas not his
fault,
"'Tis plain the fellow is not worth his
salt"
Should fogs or currents put his reck-
oning out,
At once they ask, "What was the fool
about9"
His ship is wrecked, or by collision
sunk,
OF course he has to prove he wasn't
drunk;
Ii freights are low, who but himself
to blameY
Jacks duff is spoiled, at once he says
the same
The beef all bone and innocent of fat.
Who but the skipper is to blame for
that2
He shortens sail on some dark, stormy
night,
Jack growls, and vows he did it out
OF spite,
Now he must teach tie carpenter his
trade
Now show the sailmaker how sails are
made;
In time of need he must be midwife,
too,
Or help to kill, as other doctors do.
Should a poor sailor sleep his last
long sleep,
He-parson then-consigns him to
the deep;
And if he has a tear or two to spare,
He acts chief mourner, and bestows
them there.
Well up in cooking, and in skill pro-
found
AZ weighing tea and sugar by the
pound;
Should there be strife or mutiny on
board,
He drops the scales and then takes
up the sword;
And when the strife is over goes his
rounds,
And-surgeon then-binds up the
gaping wounds.
Now an astronomer, he views the
stars,
Measures distance 'twxt the moon
and Mars,
A meteorological we find him now,
Recording calms or wnds-blow high
or low.
OF course he's Euclid at his finger
ends,
Or, what is harder, knows all knots
and bends;
Is cunning, too, at mixing paints and
oils,
Takes everything in hand and moth
ing spoils,
Versed in exchanges-up in bills of
lading,
And now merchant, for his owners
trading;
They praise him high, declare he is n
gem,
The credit his-the cash all goes to
them,
On deck all night amid the pelting
rain,
In wearying calm or dreadful hurri-
cane,
China typhoon, cyclone in Indian
seas,
Afrlc's tornadoes-all mere trifes
these;
Or bright glare at night off New
foundland
Proclaims the dreaded iceberg close
at hand. ~
Such dangers DER, long wished for
rest is sought:
But "Hard-a-starboard!" and then
"Hard-a-port -"
Dsturbs his dreams, and, rushing
from below,
"a light close to, sir, on the weather
bowW
lizard upW bawls one, lizard down p
another cries,
While, half asleep, the wearied skip
per tries
To peer amid the gloom, there to
discern
A steamers light-now half a mile as
tern.
Once more he sleeps; but now his
sleep invade
Dreams of inquiry courts and boards
of trade;
On board steamer now, he scorns
the wind,
But other cares Cypress his anxious
mind =
OF valves and pistons, cylinders and
screws,
He knows, or ought to know, the
names and use
Surface condensers, steam and vacuum
gauges,
OF coal combustion in its various
stages,
OF salt in. boilers and its incrustatiuns,
OF screw propellers and side wheel gy-
rations,
OF things in general-air, and sky,
and SEA-
A walking cyclopedia he must be.
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