The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-09-27
JACK TAR's DULL LIFE.


"Way-ay-ay-ay there, you sleepers.
Eight bells. Rise and shine" With
some such yell as this is Jack aroused
from slumber when his watch has to
go on deck. The hour is four o'clock
IN the morning, and he Immediately
tumbles out of his bunk, and within
fifteen minutes from the time he was
called he IS on deck keeping his watch,
hoping for five o'clock to come when
he will take his deck-pot to the gallery
and get cup of warm coffee.
Ordinarily there is never any work
done on board ship before half past
i've, excepting, of course, such as is
necessary for trimming sail. At half
past five the order is given to wash
down." The men take brooms and
buckets along. two men go to the
pump. and then begins the first work
OF the day, plenty of water being used,
and those with brooms scrubbing the
deck as they go from the poop to the
foc's'le head. The scrubbing is done
with thoroughness that would shame
the best housewives.
By seven o'clock the deck has been
washed down, after which various
ropes that have been put out of the
way during the operation are coiled
down clear for any emergency, for one
OF the most important things on ship
board is that every rope should be in
sucha shape that when it is let go it
should run without getting any kinks
IN 1T, which in some cases might have
rather disastrous consequences.
Meanwhile at seven bells (half-past
seven) the watch below had been called
to get breakfast. Jacks breakfast,
even in the best of ships, is far from
elaborate. 1t generally consists of
coffee without milk, "hard tack" and
scraps of meat left over from the previ-
GUS days dinner.
Jack is now off duty till noon. After
he has had his breakfast he generally
has some little odds and ends of things
to do for himself, and they keep him
busy until about ten o'clock, when he
turns in and sleeps till half-past eleven,
his dinner hour At twelve o'clock he
is on deck again till four o'clock. The
four hours time from four to eight in
the afternoon is divided into two
watches, known as dog Watches"
though the dog watch is always reck-
oncd as the watch from. six to eight.
When all the men are together they
go in for their skylarking, music and
dancing, and for having good time
generally. This is the time when Jack
is seen at his best, when his spirits are
at the highest, when he is congenial
and has not a word to say against any
body. not even against the cook, who
may have spoiled the dinner that day.
The object of this division is to make
an even number of watches to the
twenty-four hours, so that there will
be daily change; for example, the
watch that goes below one day at noon
will the next day come on deck at that
hour. At half-past five he has supper
and at he is on duty once more. At
eight he goes below to sleep till mid
night, when he has again to be on duty
till four o'clock.
This is fair specimen Of the mo-
notony of the sailors life at sea- Ex-
cept for the changing of the weather
occasionally and for slight difference
in the work that has to be done, one
day is exactly like another, with the
same faces around, the same outlook
on the broad ocean, the same food-in
all things with a sameness that is mo-
notonous in the extreme.
Jack is nothing if not a grumbler, a
reputation he has had in all ages
Chronic complaining about everything
and everybody seems to be his one
great amusement. OF course there is
always some ground for this. Take, for
instance, the question of food. The ra-
tons of a sailor are about as follows:
One pound of hard biscuit, one and one
half pounds of salt beef, one and one
quarter pounds salt pork, one-quarter
ounce Of coffee, 'one-eighth ounce of tea
and three quarts of water daily; one
half pound -four made into bread, one
half pint peas made into soup, three
times week: half pint of rice and
twelve ounces of sugar weekly. In
many ships the odd quarter pound of
pork and half pound of beef are kept
back, and instead Jack gets one pound
of butter weekly. At dinner each day
the meat is served, and the meat used
for other meals is what is left over from
dinner.
1t is thought that the old-time sailor
is thing of the past; that steamboats,,
which do not require men with knowl-
edge of seamanship in all its ramifca-
tons. are making them die away, be-
cause. it is said, that steam boats are
fast taking the place of sailing ships
But facts do not bear out this view. as
the increase in the mum Der of sailing
ships is as high proportionately as the
increase in steamships. Further. with
the exception of few of the larger
liners. which do an almost exclusively
passenger trade. the sailing ship is TO-
day making more money than the
steamer, and this simply because her
expenses are infinitesimal in comparison
with that of the steamer.-N. \. World.
A Tree That shelters Over Five Hundred
Men.
There is a tree at Tule, state OF
Oaxaca, Mexico, which rivals in the ex-
tent of ground covered by its branches