The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-28

flame-was this the way he was to live in
future2
A LIFE OF TOLL AND DRUNKENNESS.
"Then began life of toll, hardship and
drunkenness that lasted three years; three
years whose seasons were all alike in that
heated room down IN the bowels Of the big
ship. He sailed from country 20 country;
he heard their names-Italian, French and
! Spanish-but of them all he was nothing.
! The fairer the climes they visited the hotter
was his chamber of torment. When he had
emptied his binders, broken his coal and
filled his furnaces he slept the sleep of ex-
haustion and intoxlcation; for a stoker must
| drink if he lives. Day by day his
intellect weakened, and, strangely enough,
he gained in physical health he was stronger
and better able TO support the fatlgues Of
his daily labor; he seemed hardly TO recog-
nZe any difference between his days when
the ship tossed and groaned. and his nights
when he slept a drunken sleep, disturbed
only by an occ sional nightmare"
! DAUDET OPEN TO CRITICISM.
| So there is the picture IN a French light.
| The writer of this wished to see it through
other glasses, so be went last Friday to a
saloon on West street. near Spring street,
much frequented by the firemen and stokers
| of the big English transatlantic steamers,
and introduced himself to a number of the
| tollers of the sea who sat around table.
They were rough, but cordial. Being in
| port, the color OF their skin was distinctly
visible in large patches on the faces and
| knotted hands. The new conner having
established himself by ordering drinks all
around-every sailorman took beer-re-
| peated Daudet's tale.
| The parlezvoo's wrong when he says the
! fire room is hotter in some chimes than in
others" said short man, who had trem-
| endous girth OF chest. "'T makes no odds
where you are, or in winter or summer, it's
no hotter or no cooler"
Except when you are in the gulf
stream, sir" interrupted one of his friends.
True for you, returned the man with
| the big chest, Except when you're in the
gulf stream off the coast of the states. But
| THAT'S because the water is hotter, some
times 699 to 720. Not to speak disrespectful
| to you, sir, the forenoon is always as hot as
-. You see, parliament has passed
laws orderin' certain ventilation, and the
steamship owners obeys them to the letter q,
| and often goes beyond them, but, bless
your eges, they can't help it, the fire room is
hotter than -. But you get used to it,
like everything else."
JEEM MASON WENT MAD, BUT -.
! Did you ever know fireman or stoker
/ to be set crazy by the heat ?"
! Never, sir. That's all talk"
Except one," objected the same man that
| interrupted before "Jeem Mason, o. Lon
/
Australia and he went clean stark, staring
mad and run up the ladders and overheard
| before you could say Jack Robinson But
| Jeem had been drinking the alcohol out of a
! spirit lamp"
"'Taint so bad as it used to be-" spoke up
another, ION the big English and French
and German steamers and they're all pretty
much alike save the Freedman is allowed
his wine, which l must say is weaker than
water, and the German gets his beer
regular, which | envy him. Each nation
| sticks pretty close to its own people, all the
stokers, you might say on La Touraine are
| French, and on the Elbe are Dutch, and on
the Majestic-naming her because you can
| sec her-are English, or English, Irish or
Welsh, which is, after all, the same thing"
! Not by darned sight," cried big
boned man across the table.
| GOOD GRUBn AND PLENTY OF IT.
Hold your mouth, Terence, till l tell
the gentleman what he wants to know.
! There are twenty-four firemen and twenty
four stokers or coal trimmers, or whatever
| you choose to call EN-, on board any big
steamer, and nowadays we have good hunks
in the fo'castle and there's good grub for us.
What is it, Well I'll tell you For break
fast, beefsteak or Irish stew, porridge three
times a week, bread and butter aud coffee.
For dinner, roast beef, soup, boiled potatoes
and on Sundays and Thursdays duff )"
|
mot forgettin' the black pan which
comes down every night to the watch going
on at O'clock" cried the fellow who had
been constantly breaking in.
| - The black pan, of course" went on the
other. The black PAM you must know,
comes to the stokers from the saloon, and is
| full Of bits of fowl and pastry and such
like. That's what we have TO eat, all told.
OF course it's different with the Frenchmen.
They get no roast beef. cause they don't
| want ir. They get sauces and soups. And
it's different with the Germans. They get
heir stews and such. But all OF US get
'ood grub nowadays"
| & FEW BOTTLES FROM THE SALOON.
"And what do you get to drink on
boards"
What we pay for. Not to speak short,
we can buy Bass ale on board for sixpence
a bottle. But very often, these times, there
come present Of bottle of whisky to the
tiremeu. The young gentlemen ia the
saloon, may be, are betting on the run and
one of 'em says, says he: send that to the
stokers and tell 'em to fire up And we do
fire up, inside and out. Or may be another
steamer comes along and we've got to beat
her to port. Racingl o, no, sir-ths with
a sly leer, while the other men laughed
aloud-"we've just got to beat her, that's
ALL Then comes more Risky and we fire
up again, for the glory Of the bottom that
| StLA Aos 10. AaAilI l'l ul6 w Soy Oub uOu'b
think we drink more than any one else who
follows the sea. II we do drink more, we
need it."
Whats the pays"
"a fireman gets "a month and a stoker
93 month. We sign papers each trip, and
we get port pay in Liverpool aud New
York. You may remember we struck not
so very long ago in Liverpool and raised
Old Nick with the shipo wnels. So they
raised our pay. A fireman and a stoker
work together, four hours on and eight
hours oR-and that's enough. The stoker
wheels the Goals from the bunkers or be-
tween decks or wherever IL is and fires it
down the shute-if Snere's one--to the fire.
man. The fireman shovels in the coal when
it's needed, which is about all the time. At
least once in a watch the fireman puts
the resting bar across the open furnace
door and then rests the 'slashng' bar on il.
Then he 'slashes' the fire with long, heavy
bar. That brings the clinkers' on top and
he rakes 'em out. The stoker plays the
hose on the burning 'cllnkers' and then
wheels 'em away. Meantime the fireman
can 90 to the ventilators ard get a breath
of fresh air. o, it amt 30 hard when you
get used it. As l said afore, four hours
on and eight off. And that's enough"
You men seem to thrive"
"You see, sir. we're used to it. Most o.
the trimmers are hearty young fellows,
between 81 aud % years old. Before they
took to trimming they were working on the
docks. After awhile they'll be firemen,
some o them"
How about the American coastersp'