The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-05-11


wages. A firemans monthly pay is
about s35, a quarter-master gets about
| the same, according to his class, and
a seaman s26 so it can easily be COM
puted how much he increases his sal
ary. Many of these men have been
been known to leave a vessel at the
| end Of a three years cruise with from
81, 500 to $1,S00 clear money. one quar-
| termaster was paid off from the cruiser
San Francisco a few years ago with
| $4,000 representing clear saving of
| 81 900 per year.
THE CROESUS OF THE SHIP.
The Croeeus of the crew, however,
| Is the ships barber. This was
one time a regular rating in the SER
vice, but was abolished, and now the
Office is usually held by lands
| man." The holder of this valuable pri-
Vilege is excused from nearly all duty,
| and is allowed some little unused quar-
| Ter about the deck, where he can set
| up a couple Of chairs. In a crew of
500 men he is sure to have couple of
| hundred customers. His rates are 3j
cents per month for two shaves
| week and a hair cut once n month.
|
| by the paymaster and taken from the
account of the customer The barber
| Is kept pretty busy. of course, but he
| Keeps an assistant, paying him about
| 50 a month. There is also about 50 per
| month received from each customer
| among the officers, so that a barber
| on the average man-ofswar receives
| from $75 to 800 per month to be added
| Of II fs 60
| to say that few, if any, BARRIERS in
| civil life receive such pay.
| Another lucrative business which is
sometimes, but not always, added to
that Of the tailor is capmaking. As in
the case of clothing served out by
! the government, the roady-made caps
are but poor affairs, indeed, in the eyes
Of the well-trimmed sailor, and nearly
all the caps, especially those intended
| to be worn on shore leave, are made by
the makers of caps on board. These
men will make a cap, including the fam
ciful embroiderng about the top and
band, for 81 80, and can easily complete
one or, at a pinch, two in a day. This
work simply requires a special skill in
| embroidering, and is taken up by men
in various ratings. a popular cap
| maker adds Sl5 to $50 per month to his
| regular pay.
Then there is the lanyard knitter.
| His work requires a special gift, and
| he gives more value for the money
! than any other member of the "shee-
| nying' fraternity. He will weave a
| lanyard containing fifteen or twenty
| strands of thread for 81, a work that
costs him several days of spare time.
| But the representative of this ancient
and honorable craft is usually a plod-
ding, saving fellow, and can add sew
eral dollars per month to his pay.
OF course there is on every vessel
| one or more "tattooing artist" and as
| the fashion of dermatological adorn-
| ment is not extinct by any means on
| board ship the tattOoing man earns
| many an honest dollar
| The carpenters mates, or ship
wrights, as they are officially known,
| receive from $25 to $35 per month.
| Many of these men add $40 or $l5 to
| their monthly salaries by making ditty
| boxes, which are small boxes in which
| the sailor keeps his trinkets of vari-
| GUS kinds.
| Somewhere about the vessel can be
| found in the long afternoons and even
! ings the maker and mender of shoes,
| and there is always a good business
| for one or more Shops" as the COR
ner in which the shoemaker sits is
| termed.
THE HAMMOCK SCRUBBERS.
| To the thrifty souls who have no par
| ticular trade to rely upon, a dozen diff
| ferent avenues are opened for earning
| extra money. one profitable business
| for man of energy and muscle is the
| scrubbing of hammOcis. once a month
| regularly every canvas hammock in
| the vessel must be washed Two hours
| of a certain day are given over to this
| vast work Every available inch of the
| decks are flooded. and in this time
| every man is expected to scrub his
| hammock. 1t happens that at that
| time many men are on duty and are
| compelled to hire their work done.
| There are besides many of the chief
| petty officers who hire the work done.
| The invariable price paid for scrub
| bing a hammock is ST. and there are
| always a dozen or more quick, active
| fellows ready to undertake this work.
| These men can and do scrub from fif-
| teen TO twenty extra hammocks on
| every washing day, and thereby earn
as many dollars in two hours. During
| long trips at sea and in outlandish
| foreign ports these same men and
| others not so strong embark in a gem
eral laundry business, and a man who
| is fairly proficient in this work need
never have an Improbable spare hour.
The officers cooks during the sea
trips do land Office business in cakes
and pies, which they dispose of at an
| outrageous price to the apprentices and
| to many of the men.
| The steward and others who have
| charge of the stQeTooms traffic in
| cigarettes, tobacco, jellies, jams, pickles
| and fancy canned goods, on which they
| make enormous profits. There are
| many other strictly legitimate ways of
| adding to ones income aboard a man.
| of-War which are taken advantage of,
| The man who tries can easily leave the
| service at the end Of three years with
$1,000, and hundreds go out with twice
| that much.
| There are many other ways of max
| ing money, and some of them not so
| straightforward as those enumerated.
MOTHER GOOSE AWHEEL.
! Little Miss Muffet
| Concluded to bluff it.
| So i'm blOOmerS she left her ahOda,