The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-08-14
SAILORS PLEASURES.
Hobbies Ridden at Sea With End
less Perseverance,.

On board ship sailors pleasure" is
a we'll understood term with only one
meaning, instead of the general cata-
logue that might have been expected.
1t is the. turning out OF the sea chest
or donkey" the sea name for over
hauling the contents and putting them
back again. 1t is most satisfactory
when chum looks on. to whom you
can tell the history of each article, and
who will refrain, from injudicious COM
ment upon any photographs Of your
lady friends. And, indeed, where a
man has been fairly steady and secre-
tive the old donkey often contains a
most interesting assortment of odds and
| ends, each with matter for chat per-
tanning to it, so that review of these
treasures is quite a pleasant way Of
passing an idle hour.
But, except in rare instances, most
men have some hobby or another which
| they will ride with the utmost energy
and perseverance, no matter what may
be the difficulties in the way. One of
| the chief of these is model making.
With no other tools but a knife and an
awl made out of a broken sail needle
some men will turn out a model
tirely absorbed in their work, they will
sacrifice much needed sleep, white
away in the bright moonlight of the
tropics, and seem to have no other OBJ
ject in life but to turn out a piece of
carving that shall be a credit to their
patient talents The pathos of these
labors often lies in the fact that they
are friendless men who have no one
| - .r;xr tbni, h Arlx 10
one, that is, who will value it for the
giver's sake; and consequently these
long elaborated models may be found
in great numbers in waterside board
| ing houses and public house parlors-
and in worse places. AS to selling
them, 1 doubt if the idea ever enters
their heads. But doubtless the doing
of the work is what his poetry was to
Coleridge-its own exceeding great re-
ward-and the same may be said with
| truth of the many directions in which
the sailors ingenuity and industry
| find a vent.
One particular hobby that I have seen
carried to great lengths is the making
of photograph frames out of an enor
nous number of tiny pieces of wood;
one in particular that / remember con-
tanned over three thousand pieces of
mahogany, pine, deal and ebony, none
of which were quarter of an inch in
thickness and six inches long. There
were openings for eight photographs,
and the whole fabric looked like a
Gothic church front. 1t took the artist
| three months steady application in
watches below and at night to finish
it, and then one night in port he got
drunk, took it from it's shelf in his
bunk, and jumped on it. Another form
of pleasure largely INDUCED in is the
| making of mats. Some men-only a
few, though-will buy a few pounds of
gayly colored carpet thrums from the
| ship chambers and, begging a piece of
| tarpau1in canvas from the sailmaker, or
whoever has the power to grant the
request, will stitch the thrums into the
canvas in carefully designed patterns,
leaving a pile when finished half an
inch deep, the whole forming a most
| handsome and durable hearth rug.
Others, however, who cannot keep
sober long enough while ashore to lay
in a stock of thrums, and yet must
make mats, use homely rope yarns and,
putting the best work into them for the
love of it, produce doormats of va
| riety of patterns and the hardest wear
| ing qualities. Like the models. these
fine pieces of work generally fall into
the hands of unworthy recipients, who
sheer at poor Jacks folly when he has
gone to sea again.
! Some men are never so happy as
when mending clothes or Transforming
one garment into another. 1t is a posi-
tive passion with them. We had a
Swede of Gothenburg on board the
Dartmouth on China voyage who was
a remarkable instance of this. He
! could never resist the temptation to
steal a piece of canvas new or sec
ond hand, although it must be admitted
that he never had much chance to con-
vey the former. But any old piece of
canvas, as long as it would hang to-
gether, he could not let pass him. He
would make it into a garment of some
kind, simple of itself for hot weather,
lined with threadbare cloth or flannel
for cold, yet at the same time he never
lost an opportunity of acquiring good,
serviceable clothing as well.
| But not for wear. Canvas was his
only wear at sea, and his chief of joys
/ to open his chest and gloat over his
accommodating stock of good garments.
They were to him what gold is to a
| miser, and he never seemed weary of
taking them out of his chest, unfolding
them, passing them lovingly through
| his hands and carefully slowing them
away again. He hadn't much clothing
when he came aboard. but when on the
conclusion of our twelve months voy-
age he was discharged in London he
! had a splendid stock. He went to the
Sailors Home, having been paid off
with t2o, and on the second day got
drnnker than usual. While in this con-
dition he demanded f5 from the bank
in the Home where he had lodged his
money. They very properly refused to
give it to him while he was drunk,
which so enraged him that he kicked
up a tremendous row, winding up by
demanding his entire balance. Finding
that reasoning with him did no good,
the officials paid him out He left the
Home at once. and in eight days after
that saw him aboard of an outward
bound ship with just the clothes he
stood upright in and no more.
| Reading, of course, fills a most i'm
portant part among sailors pleasures.
Seamen are omnivorous readers, in
spite of the miserable gloom that usu-
ally characteriZes the fo'csle. When l
was before the mast used to lay in a
stock of candles, so that l might be
able to read in the only apartment l
had to myself my bunk, but it was
not a very safe practice. AS to what
sailors read-well / haven't seen the
contents of a ships library for a long
! time-I mean those boxes of books that
are put on board ship by missions to
sea men and such institutions with the