The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-03
TIE SAILOR no MONEY MAKER

NJ fRAss y Butbes

~ fHAsN ' nVtttN
Ordinary evefyley truth conIrla me
tg state that, ~ fas ~ tlr iofetHtsi hands
~ n ahlp an e1hoafhef, ann are pUlf
traders, and ~ may etteai that stats
Assht Nv Nm preusv, day ~ thu ohicefa
eAn femsubef the time When oaftai ~
arsW wjhily fich tecauss ~ the pefu,lauioh
sven them " trade on thelf Jwn aocvilHt
and The epac- IN the atiI- set apart Toe
Tho stdwHNs N their pstaonal ventufrs.
Then II th&f salaries wsre small their profits
were afeat especially In the Fast iadian
and Wes, African ports, indeed, many Q
great fortune hes becn founded upon st,ch
suali bcelnninea NJ the carrying of aew.
eaws from hotne 10 lr exchanged Tor fnOts
valuable ~commpditlcs abroad
The eStension ~ mUIern cOmnerue
has put mn end 20 NIL that Captains and
officers nov know full we'll that they caHnOt
buy, mitch lea bartsr for anything, abroad
nearly ~ we'll NJ can those whoae business
II IL TO watch the markets, and ] know
few more hunlliatlng experiences for q
man who haA invested n great portion
Of his small capital upon curiositiea abroad
than 10 find precisely similar goods 90 hls
exhibit ted for sale In certain shop
windows at home for less than he gave
for them, That, however, Ia an expert
ence which few officers are troubled with
to-day, for they have learned their lesson
efleCtually.
Enough OF the officers. who may be
trusted TO take care Of themselves, We
will deal exclusively with the seaman,
the common seama n, as he is somewhat
~contemptuousy termed by those who know
nothing Of his Importance to their we'll
being.
His attachments In ship knowledge vary
from one generation to another; he learns
how TO forget the handling Of sails and
becomes an expert steam or hydraulic
crane driver; but one lesson he apparently
never does or never can learn, which 10
how to be businesslike, inoredulous Of the
specious tales told him by the willy pedlers
who visit ships in the Far East. Here
1t becomes necessary, as usual, to differ
entiate between seamen in sailing vessels
n seamen In steamships.
The former, being naturally so much
longer onltheir voyages and calling at 20
few ports, have much more money to their
credit than the latter, and are also less
able to spend 1t because the steamship
10 much moro frequently than the sailing
vessel goes alongside a wharf, where get
ting ashore is easy.
On n Sunday, for instance, In a harbor
like bombay, the deck Of a calling ship
will be crowded with box wallahs, display
irg their meretricious and valueless wares,
which take the eye Of Jack, and lead him,
all too frequently, to expend a considerable
- IL. l..l 1n-n1l xa oaa In rx,Hhtsh
that he could buy, il he only knew It, far
more cheaply at home. He Is somewhat
hampered, it is true, by the fact that his
captain is usually unwilling to advance
money for this purpose, and OF course
the sailor who has a private store Of money
is a rdrd ris indeed.
Still, a good deal OF buying does take
place, ard it Is the most usual thing to hear
Jack say, upon being demonstrated with
by some slightly wiser shipmate, well,
anyhow, l can always get my money back
for the truck when l get home Poor
Jack it would be interesting to trace the
destination Of thoee rubbishy c,irios, and
to compare what Jack gets for them with
his outlay.
Most Of Jacks purchases abroad, how
ever, must be credited to the bumboat,
the purveyor Of fruit, soft bread, eggs, &c,,
l~uxuries which his stomach longs for after
his long abstinence at sea, and for which
he gets no return in cash. In SOME Ports,
too, he spends money on clothes and for
washing; that Is to say, he runs up bills
which the captain will by and by settle
upon receiving a liberal discount for him
self.
! have known cases where surrepti-
tious bottles Of ~unspeakably vile liquors
have also been purchased by him at ex-
orbitant prices from these visiting mer-
chants and entered as bars OF soap, or a
monkey, or a parrot, which has died or
flow away OPPORTUNITY. ] say l. have
known, for it has usually been my lot to
be tookkeeper, and enter up in the native
vendors ledger the amount each individual
had expended, receiving a small honorarium
in kind for my services.
What, 1t may be asked. does this
sailor buy TO sell again? In what Is he a
merchant on a small scale?
It must be- confessed that he does very
little in that way indeed. For, in the first
place, his opportunities are exceedingly
limited, and, In the next. when he reaches
home where, II anywhere, he may hope to
find a market, he is usually too much excited
to exercise the true commercial spirit, and
80 his carefully guarded purchases are all
too apt to be given away to most unworthy
recipients.
Even II he keeps a clear head and
does try to realize upon his outlay he is
certain to meet with the most astute dealers
in the world, Jews, who throng every sea
port and make their living by trading upon
seamen's folly. And 1t may be taken for
granted that he who buys from Hindus,
Mussulmans, Chinese or Japanese at one
side OF the world and sells to Jews on the
other, making a profit on the transactions,
is q financial genius Of the very highest
order, one who would make a fortune under
any conditions. l need not say that such
paragons Of are seldom found
among sailors.
AS an instance illustrative Of the foregoing
remarks l would like to quote here an
experience Of my own. l was IN able
seaman on board Of an English bark called
the Dartmouth, which carried q cargo of
coal from Cardiff to Hongkong.
In the latter port. although 70 had all
incurred debts to bumboat men, washer
women and tailors, when liberty day came
our just skipper gave us all a months pay
(of course It was overdue) and sent US
ashore. The money was in notes Of the
Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. In high
elee we reached the shore, all Of us having
made up our minds that we would spend
half our capital in curios, mostly to sell
again.
Obviously the first thing to do when we
got ashore was to have a drink. but /, being