Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-13
neither useful nor ornamental.


1t now comes to pass that the board
ing house, once so eager to open its hos
pitable doors to Jack when "homeward
bound" and flush of cash, is just as
anxious to close them on him and give
him the key of the street now that he is
outward bound" and hard up. But he
is still of some money value to the land
sharks. In the good old days of 'shang
| haiing'' he was worth far more than he
| is at the present time, but that heroic
method of shipping a crew is luckily OBJ
solete and certain forms of the law must
/ necessarily be complied with.
MANY DESERT ABROAD.
The boarding master. keeps watchful
eye on all vessels taking in cargo for
foreign ports. He knows that they can
not sail away without crews. He goes
aboard and pays his respects to the skip
per. He tells him he can find as smart
a ships company as ever fiocked around
a duff kid and offers him certain
as the price of the privilege of providing
the crew
Some captains resent this as an insult
and order the fellow ashore, but as a
general thing commanders of vessels,
who are none too literally paid, look
upon this "blood money" as it is some
times called, as one of the legitimate
perquisites of their calling, and prompt
ly close on the offer.
The amount charged is generally $5 a
head. The boarding master charges
Jack $40 and deducts it from the cash
advance made to the sailor by the skip
per when the articles are signed. 1t is
the duty of the shipping commissioner
to ask Jack if he has paid or promised
| to pay anything for getting ship. OF
| course he answers no. If he admitted
having been victimized he would not be
allowed to ship and would then be in the
power of the boarding master, who
would in all probability confiscate his
clothing and fire him out into the street
to starVe.
So Jack lies and is shipped joining his
new vessel with but few clothes in his
kit and in debt to the boarding master,
who has been known to hang on to a
sailor for several years, 'reping him in
every time he arrives in New York and
looking upon him as a human chattel
whom he owned body and soul. Many
seaman, to get relief from this bond
age, has deserted in a foreign port, and
sacrificing whatever was due him-gen-
orally precious little-has sought EN-
ployment in some other vessel.
There are exceptions to every rule,
sailors are improvident, shftless and in
temperate. The schoolmaster has made
his way even into the forecastie, and
seamen are not so densely ignorant as
they used to be. Some are so shrewd as
to be proof against all efforts of sea
pirates and land sharks to despoil them.
Some of them have money in the bank,
a chest of clothes, and are in the line of
promotion for officers. These are Ameri-
cans who have adopted a mariners life
for the love of it, and are determined to
become captains. When you consider
what they go through and how small
the compensation is for the perils and
privations encountered, you must in
deed admire their courage and persever-
ance.
The rank and file Of the crews Of
American ships in the foreign trade are
aliens, and their lot is indeed hard.
They go to sea, as has been said, with
but few rags to their backs. They are
forced by stern necessity to resort to the
slop chest, which is filed with high
priced garments of the worst material.
Flannel shirts and trousers manufac-
tured as the sailors say, of bulls wool
and oakum;'' boots with soles as sappy
as brown paper and so on all down the
list.
1t is the policy of the captain to make
his crew as discontented as possible dur
ing the passage out, so that they may
desert when they reach port. The cap
tain then obtains more perquisites by
the shipping of a new crew, while the
shipowner is in pocket to the extent of
the wages due the deserters.
Sailors often suffer at the hands Of
United States consuls abroad, where the
latter act as shipping commissioners.
Various acts of injustice are committed.
consuls almost invariably siding with
the captains and ignoring the. crews.
Little is heard of these wrongful acts,
for sailor is long-suffering being, and
rarely kicks.