Evening star., 1898-10-22
HE'S ALWAYS SICK AT SEA

1T is now nearly 15wenty-seven years
since first went to sea on man-of-war,"
said a well-known atHeer of the United
States navy, land Eve been getting seasick
right along ever since. l not only get vio-
lently and hopelessly seasick every time 1
start off on cruise, after having been on
shore duty for number of years, but | al
ways get more or less seasick every time
the ship to which L am attached weighs
anchor and puts to sea after having been
in port for ten days or so. OF course,
cont get quite sick on these occasions,
in the midst of a cruise, as do when just
starting out on cruise after long shore
duty. but l get sick enough. / don't think
[ eNaggerate when | say that since I've
been in the navy l have been desperately
seasick at least a hundred times, and just
terribly seasick about thousand times
And l am not the only one. l can name
you, offhand, twenty high-ranking officers
of our naval outfit who invariably get sea-
sick when they start off on cruise, and
who never fall afoul of a choppy that
they don't long for some lodge in the will
derness. And, by the way, peculiar thing
connected with the Seasickness of these
officers | speak of is that they are all huge
men. I'm a pretty big man myself. l have
therefore evolved the idea, based upon a
great deal of experience, that big men are
good deal more liable to seasickness than
seasIck at the outset of their cruises, but,
once they get over this initial siege of NAL
Ge-mer, the small men very rarely suffer
from seasickness for the remainder of their
cruises. l don't just know how to account
for this. but simply state it as one of the
results of my observations of seasickness
I've also observed that men with compare
lively hollow or not well-developed chests
are practically immune from SeaSiCkneSS.
l mentioned this to the surgeon of the last
ship to which l was attached, and he told
me that people who are consumptive, or
who have anything whatever the matter
with their lungs, very rarely suffer from
seasckness. He told me the physiological
reason for this, but I've forgotten it.
When you're about to start out on a sea
voyage, and your wise friends who've been
to sea flock around you and tell you what
to do to avoid or throttle seasickness in
its incipiency, you may just smile right in
their teeth. 1t may be rude, but it'll be
justifiable Dye suppose I'd have gone on
suffering from seasckness for more than d
quarter of a century if there really were
any possible way to stave it off? Hardly, l
think. I've tried every scheme-that is, l
used. many years ago, to try them-that
was ever suggested as remedy for sea-
sickness, and not one of them holds
water, us II were. l can remember how 1
used to diet and starve myself before set
ting off on cruise. I'd positively go into
training for the beginning of the SER
vice, and get myself almost into pugilStlc
shape before the day arrived for the
bo'sun's mate to pass the word, Up
anchor! But it was no use. l always got
SICK, just the same. l dropped all that
Wcrk after several years of experimental
ton. My system now is to eat several
huge meals, either ashore or aboard ship,
on the day booked to sail. II were
to sail in thu morning, l partake of a gar
gantuan repast the night before and in
Variably drink a good deal more than l
would under any circumstances ashore
and turn in with all of the planets Ganc-
ing around me at close range. Why do l
do this? Well, simply out of defiance l feel
ard know that m due to get Seasick, any
how, and so l get myself into shape to get
good and sick. When l wake up on the
morning that the ship Is to put to sea, l
feel rather seasick, anyhow, and when We
get outside and into the swell, l accumulate
a specimen of SeaSickneSs such as L be-
h9ve is incapable of being paralleled in the
American or any other navy. AS long IS
you're going to get seasick, and you know
you're going to get seasIck, You might as
we'll get yourself into such shape chat the
thing can get d good solid grapevine,
GraecO-Roman grip on you, and nave the
job done right. For, the sea-sicker you
get, the better you feel when it's all over
| thoI oughly believe this. If you only get
moderately seasick, you'll probably feel
pretty fair once you get up on deck again.
But after you've been prodigiousiy and out
rageously seasick, you simply feel glorious
when you break out of your caDin into the
air-but your appetite, after sucn an old
fashioned siege, is very liable to disgrace