Griggs courier., 1893-10-06
JACK rAR's pull LIFE
Tho Monotonous Routine OF Q Sailors Day
While 1T Sea.

The Monetonous Routine Of . sailor's Day
While 1t Sea.
"Way-ay-ay-ay there, you sleepers!
Eight bells! Rise and sinner 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
hve, 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 worl.
OF the day, plenty of water being used,
and those with brooms scrubbing the
deck as they go from the poop to the
fo'c's'lc 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
such q shape that when it is let 90 it
should run without getting any kinks
IN it, which in some cases might have
rather disastrous consequences.
Meanwhile at seven bells (half-pasA
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 preyi.
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,
rs dinner hour. At twelve o'clock he
is on deck again till four o'clock. Tho
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.
oned 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 a good time
generally. This is the time when Jack
is seen at his best, when his spirits arc
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 6 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 q fair specimen of the mo.
notony of the sailors life at sea. Ex-
cept for the changing of the weather
occasionally ana 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 sameness that is mo-
notonous in the extreme.
Ton1x &c
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-
tions of sailor are, about Us 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 flour made into bread, one.
half pint peas made iEt3 soup, three
times week; one 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 kent
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 notrequire men with a knowl.
edge of seamanship in all its ramifica-
tions, are making them die away, be-
cause, it is said, that steamboats, are
fast taking the place of sailing ships
But factr do not bear out this view. as
the increase in the number 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 infinitesimali in comparison
with that of the steamer.-N. Y. World.
A Tree That Shelters Over Five Hundred
Men.
There is a tree at Tule, state Of
Oaxaca, Mexico, which rivals in the ex.