The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-06-27

pet CfHcerS berth together IN an aQait-
ment called by courtesy the half
deck" although it seldom resembles in
a remote degree the dingy, fetid hole
that originally bore thar name.
Very digmfied are the petty officers,
gravely conscious of their dignity, and
sternly set upon the due maintenance
Of their rightful status as the backbone
of the ships company. Such a grave
breach of etiquette as an "A. B. enter
ing their quarters, with or without In
vitation, is seldom heard of, and quite
as infreQuent are the occasions when
an officer does So In large ships,
where six or seven apprentices are car
ried, an apartment in a house ON deck
is set apart for their sole occupation,
and the general characteristic of such
an abode is chaos-unless, indeed. there
should be a senior apprentice of sufH-
Gent stability to preserve order, which
there seldom is. These boys houses"
are bad places for a youngster fresh
from school, unless conscientious
Captain or chief mate should happen to
be at the head of affairs and make it
his business to give am eye to the
youngsters proceedings when off duty.
OF course, etiquette may be looked for
in vain here unless it be the etiquette
Of Tagging" in its worse sense.
The mems quarters, always called
| the forecaStle, even when more hu-
name shipowner than usual has rele-
gated the forecastle proper to Its right
! full use as lockers for non-per1shable
stores and housed his men in house
on deck, is always divided longituddn-
| ally IN half The port or mates Watcn
| live on the port side, the starboard or
second mates watch on the starboard
! side. To this rule there is no eXcep-
| ton. And here we have etiquette in
excelsis. Although the barrier be-
| tween the two sides is usually Of the
| flimsiest and often quite imaginary IN
| effect, it is wall Of separation with
gates guarded and barred. The Wis
| itor from one side to the other, what
ever his excuse, approaches humbly
! feeling i'll at ease until made welcome
And from dock to dock it is an unheard-
of thing for any officer save the Cap
| tain to so much as look into the fore
castle. OF course, exceptional circum-
stances do arise, such as a general out
break of recalcitrancy, but the occa-
sion must be abnormal for such
| breach of etiquette to be made. Some
| Captains very wisely make 1t their
duty to go the round Of the ship each
morning seeing that everything IS as II
should be, and these enter the forecas-
| tie as part of their examination. But
| this is quite the exception to the gen
eraa rule, and is always felt to be more
| or less of an infringement of lmmem-
orial right.
In what must be called the social
| life of the forecastle, although it IS
! commonly marked by an utter absence
| of social observances, there are sew
| eral well defined rules of etiquette
| which persist in spite of all other
changes. One must not lock his chest
| at sea. As soon as the last landsman
has left the ship unlock the donkey"
! throw the key ostentatiously into the
| till. and. letting the lid fall, seat your
| self upon it, and light your pipe. 1t is
a Masonic sign of good fellowship,
| known and oread of all men, that you
| are a Sou Spainer'' indeed, at home
again. The first time that the newly
assembled crew sit down gypsy fashion
! to a meal (for tables are seldom sup
| plied) there may be one, usually a boy,
| who fails to remove his cap. Then does
| the nearest mans hand seek the
| "bread barge" for whole biscuit, gen.
! orally of tile like texture and consist
ency. Grasping it by spreading his fin
| gers all over its circumference, THE
mentor brings it down crushingly upon
the covered head of the offender, who
is thus initiated, as it were, to the fact
| that he must "show respect to his
| grub" as the term goes. But often
| when the commons have been excep-
| tionally short or bad an old seaman
| will deliberately put on his cap again
| with the remark, ''Taint with it,
If a man wants to smoke while a
meal is in progress let him go outside,
| unless he desires deliberately to raise
| storm. And when on the first day
of serving out stores a man has been
| induced to undertake the onerous duty
| of dividing to each one his weekly por-
| tion-"whacking out"-grosS indeed
must be his carelessness or unfairness
! before any sufferer will raise a pro-
test. 1t used to be the practice to load
| the boys or ordinary seamen Ca grade
between "a. b. and boy with all the
| mental service of the forecastle, such
as food fetching, washing up utensils,
scrubbing, etc. But a juster and wiser
plan has been borrowed from the navy,
whereby each man takes in rotation a
| week as Cook of the mess" He cooks
| nothing, the s'doctor'' will take care of
that, but he is the servant of his house
| for that week, responsible for it's due
! order and cleanliness. The boys are
usually kept out of the forecastle alto
| gether, and berthed with the petty Off
| GERS, a plan which has with some adj
| vantages grave drawbacks.
One curious old custom deserves pass
| ing notice. Upon a vessels arrival in
ports where it is necessary to anchor
| it is usual to set what is called an
| "anchor watch" the first night All
! hands take part in this for one hour
each, or should do so, but that some
| times there are too few and sometimes
| too many AS soon as the order is
| given to "pick for anchor watch an
old hand draws rude circle on deck,
which he subdivides into as many sec
! tions as there are men. Then one man
retireS while all the rest come forward
and make each man his private mark
| in section When all have contribut-
ed the excluded one (whose mark has
| been made for him by deputy is called
| in and solemnly rubs out mark after
mark, the first to be rubbed out giving
| it's owner the first hours watch, and
so on-Frank T. Bullen. in the Specta-
! tor.
Rather Rough on John.
| Mrs Gabble-That was lovely SER
mon the pastor delivered at your hus-