Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-03-30
LOADING A STEAMER.
HOW COTTON IS PACKED INTO A
TRANSATLANTIC SHIP.

Songs with which the Black scre"men
rs~htened Their Toil-The 'sNosing' Proc
90. which Forces Three Bales Into
suace which Two Would Fill.
n Thomas Fortune writes as follows
from Charleston to the New York sun;
The great world at large, which has It's
own business to attend to and seldom sees
more of an ocean freight steamer than mel
smokestack and masts as she stands as
chained leyiathan at her pier, knows very
little of the capacity of such a ship or the
toll and anxiety which are involved IN
loading her with the precious produc1s
designed for foreign ports.
The loading of steamship is not such
an, easy thing as it would appear TO DO at
first sight. The stevedore contracts to put
as many bales of cotton and as much OF
other substances into the big thing OF iron
within given time, usually ten days, as
she will hold During the time the steam
er is in port she is in the hands of the
steyedore. He is responsible to the shipper
or broker who has the contract for her re-
turn cargo. The captain may dance and
curse and give all the captious orders his
sea dog nature may prompt, but the steve
dores and the screwmen waste very little
time, attention or sympathy on him. Ihey
simpIy let him "shoot himself out, as
they phrase it.
went through the Urania, a Liverpool
tramp here, with Mr.. S. w. Bennett, an
old custom house employee, recently ana
was surprised to find that the small steam
er was under contract to carry 9, 900 bales
of cotton, 800 pounds or whereabouts to
the bale; 8, 900 barrels of turpcntine and
8. 900 tons of cottonseed meal, which is Il
very high grade fertilizer, much used OF
very late years in Europe and America,
instead of phosphates, guano and other
fertilizers
1t was in one of the compartments CT
the iron tramp steamship Urania that
first witnessed the interesting process OF
packing a large bale of cotton into the
very smallest space, much less than an
ordinary bale of cotton would occupy
The process OF "nosing up three bales OF
cotton into the space which two would
ordinarily occupy cannot DO understood
or explained by the uninitiated. There are
five men in each squad, one of whom Is
the foreman, who does nothing but direct
which bale shall be fitted into a giveE
space and tho manner in which it shall be
placed.
The four men throw the heavy bales into
position as easily as if they were straws.
albeit with numerous grunts untranslata-
Bile. 1t is matter of dexterity and not
of strength. The three bales are piled
upon each other edgewise, and then long
notched plank is placed against one of the
iron stanchions resting on the floor or
against layer of cotton, as the case may
be- One end of the screw, which weighs
about 800 pounds, is placed against the
three bales of cotton, and the other in one
of tho notches of the plank, which is
about 2 inches thick. Then the "nosing"
begins. The four men yank the crank OF
the screw, which has a right and left
prong, by O sudden jerk sufficient to dis
arrange the physical organism OF an anna
teur
During this process of "nosing" the
four screwmen become bathed in perspira-
ton and Groom the most outlandish glib
berish. 1t is hardly to be comprehended
by the untutored ear. The swaying of the
black bodies is as regular as If they were
automatons. AS they sway and Groom the
three bales gradually yield to the turning
of tho crank until they are compressed,
fiat side down, into the space which two
bales, impressed would occupy. This
monotonous and tiresome process is repeat
ed hour after hour until the 9, 600 bales
are compressed into the space which 5000
bales would occupy thrown into the ships
hold in the usual way. Usually only one
crew occupies compartment, but in the
Urania found two crews at work, because
of the great width of the ship.
AS the process of "nosing" proceeded
each of the gangs crooned ditty, in which
the big foreman sometimes joined, which
was as intensely diverting as it was non
sensical Ono of tho songs ran in this
wise:
lubes Miss Susan, she lubes me;
Pull erway, pull erway.
She hab gone ter de odder sho';
Pull erway, pull erway.
lubes Miss Susan, she lubes me;
Pull erway, pull erway.
1t is impossible to describe the peculiar
gyrations of the bodies and the weird,
grooming, musical sound of the voices, es-
pecially in the refrain, as this song is
sung, repeated over and over until the
three bales are 'nosed' up and begun
again, when another three bales are placed
in position u be "nosed." But the song
that struck ne most forcibly was the fol-
lowing:
Riley hab baby; de baby hab no head;
Frow um in de fryin pan un call UNI ginger
bread.
Rio Riley, Democrat Riley, obi
Rio, Riley, Oil Rio Riley, OIL
The last line would be drawn out in
long, ringing cadence and die away in
gentle echoing sound. The amount of mu-
sic which the four men managed to ex-
tract from these senseless words would as
tonish Mr.. Dyorak or Mr.. Damrosch.