The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-10
Bad Fame of Yankee Ships.

Bad Fame Of Yankee Ships.
Morgan Robertson. the writer of sea
tales. in a letter recently published,
vouching for the correctness of some Of
the pictures presented in a story of ex-
perience at sea, made this declaration:
If the laws now on our statute-book
were enforced a large majority OF Ameri-
can captains and mates would be sent TO
the penitentiary. and not few to the
gallows or electric chair; If required 70
pass an examination in their profession,
such as England requires OF second
mates, few could obtain a certificate, and
no master Of a deep-water American ship
would dare go TO sea with full crew OF
American sailors"
This seemed very strong statement,
but inquiries made in New York by a
newspaper lead to the conclusion that the
reputation of American ships among sail
ors of ali nationahties is so bad that
men cannot be found to ship willingly
with an American captain at the ordi-
nary rate OF wages. ''Why?" said a
sailor of thirty years record. Because
there's no law for ard-it's all aft" 1t
is established in sailors minds that the
officers have the law in their own hands:
that, indeed. there is no protection for
man against them. Consequently, it is
a difficult thing to man an American
ship well; and it is impossible, it Is said,
to do IL with able-bodied Americans. II
it were not for the boarding masters,
who, so strong is their position under the
law, have, at all times, many men IN
their power, American ships could not be
manned at all II the conditions remained
normal.
The American ships invaribly leave
port, retired mate said, with
scrub crews" scrub crew is a
crew Of incompetent men In which every
man counts one" whether he has ever
been to sea before or not. Sometimes the
captains themselves have never before
been to sea; they have TO take 2 nurse
Thoroughly competent mate) along to
navigate the vessel. The boarding house
masters and crimps can supply a
scrub" crew at almost any time; it is
composed OF men who have TO go to
sea-quick' and of young square-heads.
as the green German and Dutch sailors
stranded in this city are called. There
seems always to be a supply Of young
square-heads," who come over in vessels
of their native land and desert upon ar
rival. A crew of such has this advant-
age, it was pointed out: The men can be
'called out of their names and beaten
about the deck without much complains
ing. But even though the boarding
master is tand-and-glove with him, the
American captain always has hard time
10 fill out his complement and sometimes
men have to be shang-haied aboard
Instances of fragrant cruelty on Ameri-
can ships in recent years are as follows:
On March o. 1897, the T. F. Cakes ar
rived from Hong Kong with her whole
crew sick of the scurvy. Six men had
died of the disease on the voyage. Pro-
visions had run short; but the captain
would not put into any port Several
were near his route) to get more. He
was acquitted of the charge of Withhold
ing nourishment, because malice, ha-
tired. or revenge" could not be proven.
as the law required. Captain De Winter
of the NJ. P. Grace, was arrested in San
Francisco in 1896. changed with beating
a seaman in the face with pistol while
the latter was in irons; he was convicted,
recommended to mercy, and fined 800. IN
1896. one Orr, mate of the John McDon-
aid, was charged with Gripping two sea-
men for life; he was convicted and sent
to prison for forty days. In 1896 the first
mate of the Benjamin Sewall was con-
victed of cruelty resulting IN the suicide
of the man whom he abused. sailor
who has a suit for damages now pend
ing, charges a mate with having struck
him in the face again and again when
his (the sailor's) hands were frozen.
1--WE were off Cape Sable in a north
west gale, in February last" said this
sailor THE boarding-master had taken
all my advance money when he put me
aboard, but I don't know whether
owed it to him or not; SOL had no mits
or sea- boots. The captain wouldn't give
me anything out of the slop-chest, though
the law requires him TO. Well, in the
gale, what with working at the pumps
Nhe ship was unsea worthy, and going
aloft. I got my feet and hands frozen.
When my watch was OFF I went In the
forecastle. 1 couldn't feel my feet or
hands at all The mate comes In and
says, .AlI-hands on deck I says, My
hands are frozen Then he came at me
and pounded me in the face TIL I fell
down. He went out, but came back and
hit me again. He had some one carry
me down from the deck. though, after
I went up, for I couldn't ~get down N.Y.
self You can see l wasn't soldering;
look at my hands, The ends Of the fin
gers on both hands were missing. They
aloft. without the sailor knowing Il.
Another sailor said: "A couple of years
ago. when we were three months out on
a voyage of five months to China, the
mate got picking on a shipmate Of mine.
Finally he said he'd do him up. One day.
when the mans trick at the wheel was
done. and he was walking down the main
deck-it was right al the carpenter shop,
I remember-the mate struck him from
behind Down went the man in the
scupper There hadn't been word spo-
ken. The mate jumped on him. took a
behaving pin off the rail. and beat him
over the head When the man came
to ard got to the forecastle, his face
was a sight to see Il was like raw beef
The man refused duty when he was or
dered out half an hour later: then the
mate reported him TO the captain and
had him put IN irons. and In irons ne
Law for three mortal weeks. That story
never came out: but there vas more than
one aboard that thought the mate would
he NJ for rnanslaughter. He would have
said. though. that my shipmate had mu-
tinted"
The sailors who loaf about South
street. New York. say that there is Moth
tns ike an "old Ime-iuicer" 20 sail on,
for good treatment and comfort A lime
f,.icer" is a British ship; she goes by that
name all oyer the world because. long
NO the British captains would give moth
ING but nne-iuice for the scurvy. 6onlas
Roberts az New York. agent for the Sea
mans Union. who has been a sailor. OF
and on. for thirty wears, SAYS: sailors
ike the British ships 50 well that lots
q them go 70 England % ship on them