The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-03-12

MANY who are unfamiliar with the
character of the people In charge OF
our Merchant Marine to learn that
there arc are, comparatively speaking,
very few American born employees In
the Transport Service. l36 Ii the
com plement of this ship and Of this
number only 25 are American born,
the others coming from almost every
Of the globe. The Stewards
Department, with the exception OF the
and assistants, is composed OF
Chinese. The Deck and Engineer De-
partment are made up of Poles. Nor
wegians, Irish. Hungarians, Greeks.
Frenchmen, Germans. Russians, Aus
tralians, japanese, Italians. sraniards,
East Indians, Swedes, Austrians, Por-
tugese, Swiss. Danes, Scotch, English,
Canadians, Ha waiians. and last but
not least, Filipinos. After an exper-
fence of almost four years ut sea, have
found the Norwegians aud Japanese
are TO be desired n seaman In prefer
ence to those of other countries. 1t is
wonderful with what readiness this
mass learns enough OF
the English language to understand
the orders of the officers OF the ship
and to execute the same with unerring
precision. In one sense, therefore.
he ship always makes home port
and there Is no scarcity OF int tiers.
So little has been done by I. aw-
max ers of our country to enc rage
tn. Merchant Marine that, VIII. he
exception of the State of Maine, tn. eo-
pie have taken little or no Interest 10
seafaring. This accounts for the ne
cessity OF employing SO many foreign
err in the service.
The study Of the names OF the EN-
ployees Is not loss interesting than the
of q Chine.e puzzle. Pow
Sol, Sing Fat, Sun Chew, Ling Aha
Hol, Leuug Fei Tsze Is a fair sample
of the pay roll of the Stewards De
partment. Schoon, Scapolet, Oxen
bill, Fritzsche, Togarsh, Osceroe, Wen
nerholm, Klein, Krebs, Oma Kugi,
Sandiro, Matsue, Sato, Kataysma, Lit
tie Jesus Losdno, Is q fair sample OF
the exercise to which the tongue IL
treated at roll call.
Witticisms, spicy repartee, aud the
genuine humor to which one 10 treated
on shipboard by incorrigible Jack
would fill o volume, and have often
thought 1t would be . waste Of time to
undertake the work. As an ilustra-
tion, Schoon, the German bOatswain,
was promoted to the dignified station
of fourth officer. He Immediately
don ned the uniform Of that celebrity
and took his watch on the bridge.
The sailors who had labored directly
under his supervision for almost u year.
and who had during that time cher.
ished many petty grievances against
their hard task master, were d. lig hted
and amused beyond all telling when
they heard OF the "bO-on's" pro,co
ton. 1t so happened that the newly
made fourth officer had business In
the forecastIe after five o'clock one af.
ternoon, o time when the sailors are
Iolling around deck, playing cards,
cracking Jokes, and having n good
time generally. When they saw
Schoon approaching they imnl.dIa ely
lined up, aud, saluiing tue slocky Ger
man q. ne passed, cIied out, "Hoch
,.er Kaiser, Watts Ne aud Got uun "
Some difficulty wa, experienced In
San Francisco while the sumner
was In that port during the month ol
Julu, 1900, In securing the services Of q
CHIEF. Finally, however, one John
Schneider applied with numerous tes
timonials bearing witness to his fitness
for the position. He had in previous
years managed the kitchen at Delmon
icos, was afterwards employed al
Cherrys and had just declined to I'LL
an opening at the Poodle Dog, his doc
tor having advised sea service as cure
for the ills from which he was suffer
ing. He was accordingly given th,
position of chief cOOk in the steward!
department and proved TO be very
worthy fellow. About six months ai
terwards and while the ship Was In
port Of Nagasaki, TO my surprise ht
came to the office for his discharge
MAY l ask you why you ask your dis
charge, Schreiber?" well, l have
been laboriEg under misapprenen
sion. Mr.. Smith, the port steward a
San Francisco told me that my salary
was all inconsiderable sum in compar
lson with the handsome amount d
"tips" that would be given me by the
army officers who were extravaganl
sports and careless about the spending
OF their money. / have now been on
this ship six months and have provid'
ed at various times for army officers a
fine dinners as were ever served on tht
sea. / have waited patiently for tht
sports Mr. Smith spoke about to come
aboard your ship, but I see now 1t Il
useless to wait longer. The magnifi
cent spread that ! prepared for tha
General In Manila Harbor was thu
straw that broke the camel's back
Just before he left the saloon he SEN
for me, and, after complimenting ths
dinner, handed me some money. A
q glance / saw that the amount wa.
two dollars. When I went to the gal
ley and took another look at this ex
travagant gift, to my utter surprise
aud astonishment l saw the none,
was Mex" Army officers are mo-
sports enough for me and l respectful,
request my discharge"
Members Of the Y. NJ. G. A., Army
Chaplains, Exhorts and Ecclesiastics
licensed and unlicensed, are known
among seamen as "Sky Pilots
When they are found to be among
passengers ON sbipboard there Is al
ways y spirit Of unessiness In the fore
castle. This superstition il akin tC
that experienced by the sailors when d
bird known by the name of the "En'
glish Bosom" IL shot aud killed from
shipboard. There is an old Legend
dating back to the earliest days of En-
glish seafaring to the effect that the
"boson" who dies at sea is transformed