Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-11-25
TOUGH BILL OF FARE
MEssEs THAT ARE SERVED ON BOARD
=. A "MEAN SHIP"

a. ~ "MEAN SHtP."
Queer Names the Sailors Civ to the
U~npalatable Food Dog Chowder,
by h Wind Soup, TopsalIant Tea
and Cow Upper.
Some ships are known as mean
ships by sailors on account of the
food that is served to the f%orecastle.
They are chiefly deep water sailing
ships and tramp steamers. OF course
what a sailor shall have to eat is pro-
vided for by law, but the law m
times gets badly mixed up on blue wa
ter. The strange dishes served to sail
ors on mean ships" are no stranger
than the names the sailors give them.
One Of the commonest of mean ship"
dishes is 'by the wind soup" This
delicacy is composed of we'll polished
mutton bones, stale meat trimmings, Il
handful of potato parings and scraps
from the captains table. The mixture
is boiled vigorously for two hours, ut
the end of which time the result Is hot
water Of a light brown color with float
ing islands of grease on it's surface. A
little bareback is added, and there you
have your "by the wind soup"
When a mean ship gets we'll out to
sea, one Of the first dishes to appear is
"dog chowder." 1t is a sort of resur-
rection pudding, made of scraps that
the cook does not dare to serve up as
they are, but which he shreds finely or
pounds in a mortar until all semblance
of their original state is lost. The mass
is well mixed with grease and served
hot.
Grease plays an important part in all
the "mean ship dishes. Another stand
ard item on the bill of fare Of these
ships is "topgallant tea" 1t is served
to the men in the dog watches, and the
recipe for making it is this: Three
times a week weak tea, made from
fresh tea leaves, is served. The leaves
are saved and mixed with the tea
leaves from the captains table. Brown
sugar OF molasses is added, and from
the mixture is made a decoction which
Is served four days in the week and
which the sailors coll "topgallant tea"
"Cow Upper" is a common dish on
all "mean ships" It is made by boil
ing beef bones for six or seven hours
with all the scraps left over from for
mer meals. The broth SO obtained is
well seasoned with salt and served out.
Another dish is jumping jenny" some
times called double belt pie" from
the fact that the sailor has to take in
a couple Of holes in his belt after eat
ing it in order to stay him until the
next meal. It is the result of q weeks
leavings from the cabin table mixed
with six or eight ships biscuits and
half an onion. 1t is not at all a nice
dish, and a sailor with epicurean tastes
always makes a row when the cook
serves it.
On some Of the western ocean"
tramps a dish is served known to the
sailors as "hide stew" and the tough
est old salt that ever was drunk on
shore or mutinous at sea is subdued by
it to a state Of lamblike docility, for it
is sure to double him up with indiges-
ton and make him think of the here
after. It is made from a collection Of
the skins Of everything pigs, pota-
toes, fowl (from the captains table,,
bacon rind and well picked chicken
legs. This is boiled for six hours and
plenty of thick grease added.
The captain of a "mean ship al
ways says, of course, that his men are
well fed and that they only growl and
grumble because they are a bad, Ii n
grateful lot Of abandoned wretches.
In proof Of it he will tell you that he
gives them plum duff twice a week.
The duff he gives them is known to the
sailors as "bowline duff" It Is made
from the s%crapings of pudding cloths
that once held the buildings consumed
in port-when the captain gave his men
real duff, so that they might not know
that they had shipped on a mean
ship" and make a "pierbead jump for
liberty. These scraplngs are made
bulky with biscuit paste and favored
with cloves. Bovine DUFF is the
least unpopular of all the dishes on the
bill Of fare of the "nlean ship" and it's
actual cost is 2 cents for every three
men.-Exchange.