The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-28
PARSONS AT SEA.
The Feelings of shippers at Having
Clerical Passengers.

From the Church Gazette.
I have observed that merchant shippers
almost without exception, have a great
dislike to having parsons aboard. Navy
men,owing to their respect for the Queens
regulations, do not care to talk on the sub
ject The commanders of big liners are
also rather shy about discussing the sub
ject / once wished one pleasant voyage.
pleasant voyagev he retorted, savage
ly, That's Likely, amt il, when there are
three parsons shipped, ana one of them
bishop" Here his feelings became too
much for him and he called to the steward
to reht the glasses, / was NOT surprised
TO hear that a cylinder cover blew off IT.
the bay. Sitting in my club one night
skipper came in. shook him by the hand,
and hoped he had had a good voyage.
Voyage" he replied, in heart-rendins
tones, Don't call IL that. I've never has
such dogs time I'm my life, Got two par
sons aboard at Sydney, and another a
King Georges sound, and blame me, IL
two missionaries did not join at Colombol
Sooner than sail with FIVE parsons again
I'll break an arm or leg, and get put
ashore"
But TO see the prejudice in all its glory
one must talk to the masters of ocean
tramps. have known of one case in which
a skipper feigned serious illness, sooner
than take command, when he found that
five missionaries were booked as passeu-
gers, and two of them ladies'. AS 1t hap
pened, the ship had a particularly bad
voyage, and the unluclky missionaries had
more than one very near squeak for their
lives. Once a case was quoted to me as
showing great presence of mind and sea
manship, on the part of the skipper. The
ship had a couple of parsons aboard, and,
as the crew expected, the voyage was dis
astrous. The mistfortunes eliminated in
the decks being swept, and three men
washed overheard one was a parson,
who ought TO have been below. After this
the weather suddenly abated, and the ship
came safe to land 1 remarked that 'he
parson ought to have been under the
matches. "Ah," replied the old seadog
who told me- "Cap'n S. is a good man. He
talked IL over with the mates, and there
seemed nothing else TO be done. So they
got him up on purpose. Better one man
than a whole company, and the parson
ought to have been prepared while IL
warn't in reason that he whole crew
should be-"
l have noticed that II was among the
officers of boats trading to the West Afri-
can coast that the prejudice against par
sonic passengers Is strongest. l was on a
ship down this coast and one night when
chatting with the skipper, he said that his
vessel Lad lever Lad a serious uishap. This
is how he accounted for it, '"rhe ship is a
beauty" he enid, land as soon as she was
launched / foresaw the necessity of her
getting a bad name among parsons and
such like. AS luck would have H. on her
first voyage a missionary shipped. All the
other passengers left at the Canaries. OF
course, we had bad weather, and he had
a bad voyage / mentioned II TO the chief
officer. and he tipped wink to the stew
ard, who, fancy, said a word to the cook
When we put him ashore, he was as thin as
a herring and he made a lot of complaints
and threatened to write to the owners. All
/ said was that 1 hoped he would do his
duty TO the poor heather, as well as l had
done mine to my owners. But he talked
ashore, and he wrote TO his society, and my
ships been avoided like the plague by
parsons ever since, and that how ii is I
have been so lucky"
On the return voyage, however, as 1t
happened, at one port he had TO take on
board a lady missionary whose health had
broken down. Ire weather was very nasty,
indeed. ShIl, the vessel arrived In the
Thames without any serious disaster. odd
ly enough, he was compelled to take out
a couple of parsons the very next voyage,
and the ship got ashore, and became d
total wreck, no lives however, being lost.
shippers rave told ne ,!lst, langs apart.
parsons are not desirable passengers They
interfere so much. One told me that the
wife of one clerical gentleman insisted on
holding little religious conversations with
the stewards and the crew, and giving
them tracts tin they nearly had a mutiny.
At length he found her trying to improve
the moral condition of the steersfnan, hen
he threatened that If he caught her abaft
the funnel again, he would put her in
irons. after which she subsidized. have Of
ten bad ludcrous stories OF parsonic inter-
ference told me. One man gravely remon-
strated with the skipper for working on
Sundays. and wanted him to send all the
men aft for service. The skipper told
him he was quite welcome to hon. the ser
vice, and that the sailors who were not in
their hunks or otherwise engaged might
go. did they ?" / asked. 'u'd liked TO have
seen them" he replied, erimly. II kept
them too laundering busy. The parson wait
ed an hour and half, and as no one
went he gave il up, and ever had tried
again"