The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-11-27

THANKSGIVING DAY
ABOARD OLD GRAF T
Few Yankee Saiiers TO Celebrate
the Day as Ships Run
Now.

The cooks of vessels along the water
front will be preparing Thanksgiving
dinners for the sailors today, but it is
doubtful if many sailors will partake of
them. The "bust me back-halyards"
man, when in port, prefers a restaur-
ant dinner every time to anything that
the cook can prepare aboard ship.
1T can remember the time," said an
old sailor, when Thanksgiving day
used to amount to something on a
Yankee sailer. But those days are
gone. We had Amerfcans-real live
Yanks-aboard ship then. They were
mostly Downeasters. On Thanks
giving day all the men had a ripping
good dinner, got lot of fine tobacco
ffoE, the skipper, and could usually
count on a pint Or two of rum, and if
a little noise came from the fo'cs'le
nothing was said about it as long as
the men on watch were capable of
working the ship. We used to hear
some fine yarns in the dog-hole on that
day. The sailor who had never been
more than a hundred yards away from
his ship would give us glowing ac-
count of how he killed hundred wild
turkeys down in Maine in one day and
when somebody got fresh and asked
= H. - 5o,,
go on deck and scrap it out. The ghost
tales that our grandfathers, used to tell
were told again in such marvellous
ways that the men on the lookout
would frequently, at late hour, be
scared to death. On one ship 1 remem-
Der hearing on Thanksgiving night, a
gale was on too, the bell go once. The
mate came for'ard and wanted to know
what was the matter.
Ten thousand COLLINS on our star
BIRD bow, sir
"There was considerable society
words going for about ten minutes and
then heard that sleepy landlubber
shouting: Mary, be dad, but this is
an early hour at which to wake hard
working Teller like me-
Well, our mate was a good hearted
fellow, and he put another man on the
lookout and took the hard working
fellow aft to give him snatch OF
brandy and brace him up.
"But the funniest Thanksgiving night
ever went through aboard ship was
aboard an American going around the
Horn. We had a cook whom everyone
hated. He was no good, and his cook
ing was worse, SO some one of the lads
went to him and told him that if mince
pies like mother used to make were
not forthcoming on Thanksgiving day
there'd be trouble. The cook was bit
scared and we were a bit sur
prised when, on Thanksgiving morn
we We're served with tmince pies not
the real thing, but pictures of them
that the cook had cut out of some old
magazines that he had found in the
cabin. The boys thought awhile, and
finally went to the galley and captured
the insulter of New England. We
bound the beggar, hand and foot, and
took him down below where we kept
him while the boys went to the galley
to fix up a real mince pie. Dough,
beans turning hifr IF roma torrad cord
baking powder, pepper, and many more
things went into a big dish, and when
they came out of the oven again they
were in the condition of about the best
paving brick / ever saw. Well. we
took this down. and the cook was given
the option of drinking four quarts of
salt water containing one teaspoonful
or soda, or eating two square inches of
our newly made mince pie. The cook
took the pie. We thought it a big Joke.
out the cook got so sick that he
couldn't work and for forty-four DAYS
the crew took turns in cooking Ir
was the worst punishment that man
ever got, for for forty-four days, regu-
iar three times day, mince pies of the
klnd we made for the cook were dished
up 20 everybody, for that was the near
est approach any one of us could come
60 making decent dish of food.
But those happy days have gone nv
Dutchmen now fill all the hunks aboard
ship and-come over the way, strang,
er' and see II we can get a couple o
mugs OF Boston musty ale, III.
But the stranger was gone.
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