The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1900-11-15
A "Strika' On Ship-B0aTl
By George III. CO0mer.

better crew than had the ship An
dromache, during voyage that ]
once made in her. The greater part
of her hands were young men with
high and just appreciatlons IN the
business they had adopted. Our boat
steerers were fine. capable fellows,
and as to our three mates, they were
men who went about their duties in
sturdy, sensible manner, without
abusing those under them.
But there was one serious draw
back to our content. Our captain, be-
sides being a harsh man, was so eN-
tremely close-fsted as to begrudge
US every mouthful of provision that
we consumed. Interested In the YES
sci as a part owner, he appeared to
think that we were really doing MN
an injury by eating at all; so that
whenever new barrel OF beet was
broken out" as the term Is, we were
sure TO hear a violent outburst from
him about our wastefulncss.
Nevertheless, in the earlier part of
the voyage we Jared tolerably well in
spite of his fault-inding. While he
confined himself to mere worCs, we
could put down the salt junk in
silence, and feel equal to 2O-mIle pull
at the oars or II hours task at
cutting in" However weary We
might be, it was "A great satisfaction
to reflect that good solid meal OF
beef and bread awaited us Il, the end
of our work.
But at length there came a change.
We were cruising in the South Allan
tic. away down by Tristan de Acunha,
| when the ''old man. as we called him,
introduced reform" in our manner
of living, putting us on an allowance
of one pound of beef and bone per
| day for each man. with but short
supply of bread.
A pound of clear beef, with fair
quantity Of bread, might have suf-
| feed; but the beef and bone were
weighed out together, and it often
| happened that there was as much
| bone as meat.
Whales were abundant, but some
| what wild, and we had many long
chase for nothing, although toIerably
successful upon the whole. Whenever
| a whale was killed, if the ship hap
| pened to be to the leeward, he must
| be towed to her by long and tedious
rowing; and then came the cutting,
| the BOOSTING and all the incidental
work of the occasion.
The shipkeeper and the boat steer
ers had the same fare as the foremost
hands, and were equally as discon-
! tented. The condition of things had
become intolerable, and we deter
mined upon revolution 1t should
be a ''peaccrble revolution" but eff
fective and complete.
mo more whaling on empty stom-
achs," we said; ''let the fulfilled ones
CATCH the whales
1t was settled that the shipkeeper
should be our spokesman to the cap
tain, presenting our ultimatum as to
what we would and would not do
No positive mutiny should be set on
| foot, no criminal act committed; but
either we must have a full allowance
of provisions or the ship must be
headed for home-otherwise we would
refuse duty.
Having decided upon our course of
action. we marched aft in a body to
the quarter deck, the shipkeeper car
rying our last kid" of beef, which
contained bone almost as large as a
quadrant and nearly of the same
shape.
Capt Winthrop" said the old tar
respectfully, the crew ask me to
| speak for EN-, and ! have brought aft
| their allowance to show you what sort
of fare they have. You see this big
bone, sir, and can Judge for yourself
how much meat will BE- left when the
weight Of this is taken out. | speak
for the beat steerers and myself. as
well as for the for'ard hands. What
we want is full allowance of meat
| and bread, sir, ard we can't work
without it,"
He put the kid" down on the deck
and held up the huge beef bone, with
its thin covering Of meat and gristle
Il don't care what you want"
roared the captain, sayagely. I'm
not going to have you running to me
with every bone you happen to find
in piece of beef, Go forward--all
of you-and don't let me hear any
more of your grumblng. I'm cap
tain of this ship. and ! shall feed you
as | think best!"
"WeIl, sir" replied the shipkeepcr
in decided tone, then we ask YOU
to head the ship for homc-our whal.
ing is up"
"Ah!" calculated the captain, "your
whaling is up, is it? Mutiny, YOU ras-
Gals! mutiny, eh?"
mo, sir, there is no mutiny We
will go to work the moment you agree
to feed us as we ought to be fed, but
not before, except so far as to take
the ship home"
You're "A fine lot Of mutineers, !
must say!" cried the commander
and as for you, shipkeeper, I've a
good mind to put you in ironsl Re
fuse duty, do you? I'll SEQ whether