Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1897-12-02
THE SHlPKEEPE r.



Tho shipk""prr - TIA" CarCtakcr OF
the ship whilC she II IN port. He Is
likely to bo a man who has followed
tho sea, it may no III tho employ of
the house whose vessels he now
looks after He may have sailed be
fore the mast or no may have been
Il mate or perhaps tho master of II
ship. Every firm of large shipown-
ers or shipping merchants has
shipkcepor of its own, who may
have been thus employed by tho
same house for years.
The shipkeepcr goes aboard some
times when the ship arrives iii the
harbor, but usually when she Is first
tied up To the wharf The crew is
discharged the minute the ships
lines are made fast and the captain
goes very soon, it is likely on the
same day. Tho ship may have come
from China voyage or voyage
to some other distant seas and have
been gOno for months and he starts
for home a. soon as no Can-dOwn
east or wherever it may bc--thcro to
remain until the ship is nearly
ready for sea again. Then the ship
keeper il left III charge of the ship.
He is sometimes the sole occupant,
but most owner keep one other per
| son, a man or Il boy, aboard. II the
additional person is II man it is like
ly to DO tho ships carpenter or one
of the crew employed for that pur-
pose. The ShipkcCper lives aboard
OF the ship until she goes to sea
again. He may cook and eat all his
meals aboard, or if there il res
taurant close at hand ashore he
may get his dinners there. He sleeps
aft. He does not sleep III tho cap
tain'S room, but he takes his choice
of the rooms OF the mate and the
second mate, this being tho custom
on the beach.
The shipkeeper is the Waterman
of the ship, and he looks after her
in many ways and sces that no harm
comes to her. He secs that the steve
dOrc's men don't drop blocks on
deck and that no injury of any kind
is done to her inbourd, and he sees
that no harm befalls her from tugs
or lighters or other craft. And he
keeps the ship i'll order. He is more
than likely to he a man who knows
n ship allow and aloft and to take IA
sailors pride in her and a personal
pride i'll the ships of the house that
employs him. There are shipkeep-
ers who arc not oVernice, shipkeep-
ers arc just like other people i'll this
respect; but, as n rule, they keep
their ships i'll perfect order.
The ship is deepin the water when
the shipkceper first steps over the
rail; he secs hel rise rs they take
the cargo out of her, until she is
light and stands, on high tides, with
her side high above tho wharf. The
shipkccper stays aboard for weeks
There may be days or longer peri
DDS when there is nothing doing
aboard of her except what he does
himself, when the ship is silent, but
sooner or later they begin 20 fill hcr
up again, and from that on there is
moro or less life aboard Of her and
alongside.
a week or ten days before the
ships sailing day the captain comes
to town. He visits the owners Of
flee and goes down and secs the
ship. He looks after her stoIe s and
whatever other business he may
have TO attend to. All this time as
the ship fills up she is going down
in the water again. Two or three
days before she sails the Triggers
come aboard and bend her sails.
The crew was discharged the min
ute she tied up the new crew doesn't
go aboard until the last minute be-
fore she sails. 1t may be that the
mate, the executive officer of the
ship, comes aboard late. He must
know whore everything is, and the
shipkeepcr can tell him. Thus it
happens that sometimes the ship
keeper goes down the bay with the
ship and comes off with the pilot,
but oftcner his duty is ended and he
steps ashore us the ship leaves the
wharf. -New York Sun.