Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-10-25
ABOARD A CATTLE STEAMER
Transatlantic Voyage With Time
Ashore Open to Adventurous Spirits.

Transatlantic Voyage With Time
Ashore open to Adventurous Spirits.
OF course the problem Of getting a
| barrel Of fun out Of a pint measure Of
| vacation money varies with the indi-
| vidual I'm going to tell you how
solved it-and, seeing that there are
easily 100000 young men in the coun-
try fixed just as was, the chances are
that somebody will get few tips out
of this that may be useful.
was a sophomore, working my way
| in part through college. That is to
say, was 20, healthy, rugged enough
for all practical purposes, and with
sufficient knockabout experience to
make me confident that anybody who
hustles can eat. Summer had come
and here was college closed for three
months vacation. had time, health.
nerve and 500 in money. Then, why
not go abroad?
began asking myself this in earnest
just after row with the head waiter.
was waiting on table at the Harvard
Summer School at the time and the
head waiter was theologue who did
MT know how to boss the job After
standing him for week told him my
troubles and beat him to his best re-
tort by throwing up the job quick On
the way to the college bureau Of self
help I bought a Boston paper, Topped
1t over to the help-wanted page, and
then I gave up all idea Of hunting an
other job, for the first ad I came to
was one calling for hands to chaperone
boat load Of cattle to Liverpool If
| was ever to go abroad this looked like
| the time.
| Down went to the shipping agents
, Office, which was located ON Atlantic
avenue, Boston. The agent supplied
flremen for small passenger steamboats,,
sailors. stewards and so on, but the
bulk Of his business consisted Of sign
| ing men for the transatlantic cattle
steamers. They charged me IS for CIV
ing me the job, the commission COM
ing out of my wages. What these
amounted to don't remember exactly,
but they were just about enough to
settle for commissions, tips and like
expenses that you've got to allow for
If you want to get across comfortably.
There are several lines which are in
the cattle-carrying trade. One sails
from Boston, one or two from New
York and one from Portland. I went
over on the line out Of Portland, the
shipping agent paying my fare up
there
When I got to the wharf the cattle
were already being taken aboard. A
steep chute, with row Of cleats nail
ed across the gangway, led from the
/ cattle cars to the hold Of big iron
tea-kettle sort Of ship, and the beasts
were being prodded along the decline
as fast as they would go. They set up
a great bawling when once they were
in the chutes, but the gangway was too
narrow for them to turn around in,
and once they started on the down
grade the pressure Of the steers from
behind kept them moving
The consignment Of "stiffs," as they
call the green men, Of whom was one,
were turned over to the chief cattle
boss, and he handed us on to his assist
ant. We were stationed tween decks,
which is the lowest level of all, where
cattle are carried. Our job was to meet
the cattle as they came down the chute
and to prod them right and left into
runaways back Of their stalls. Then
we followed them up, driving them into
the stalls themselves, which were situ-
ated in pens holding six or eight steers
each. After that we hurried around
to the gangway, which ran through the
center Of the ships deck, in front Of
the stalls, caught the steers by a rope
which hung from the neck Of each Of
them, threaded the rope through hole
in the head board, and knotted 1t on
the outside. That anchored the brute
till the end Of the voyage.
When the steers were all made fast
|
faced by a double row of tethered cat
tle the tails Of which pointed to the
sides Of the ship. All watering and
| feeding were done from this center
gangway-a convenient arrangement,
| inasmuch as you could tend to the cat
tie on each side of the ship without
moving, but a mighty uncomfortable
position, too, II the cattle should take
to hooking from both sides Of the gang
way at once.
AS soon as your cattle have been Sc
cured, and the vessel has cast of,
you'd better begin tipping. First Of all,
you want to hand the chief boss dol
lar, 80 he'll station you with the cattle
on the main deck You see, every cat
| tie boat has three decks-the hurricane
| or top deck, where the captains cabin,
the cooks galley and the officers bridge
| are; then the main or cabin deck, and
| finally the tween decks. The cattle
| are carried on the two lowest decks.
Now, the tween decks Is all closed in,
and it gets pretty smelly before the
trip Is over, while the main deck Is
partly open, and so is more pleasant to
work on. But in order to get yourself
placed there you'd better present the
chief boss with a slight token of es-
TEEN.
The forecastle, which Is located in
the bow of the ship, is divided into two
portions, one for the cattle men and
one for the crew. Your half is cubby-
hole, in form like right-angled tri-
angle, with a flfteen-foot base and
thirty-foot perpendicular filled solid
full of little hunks, built for men with
folding feet who can breathe without
air. The cattle men who are supposed
to pack into this box number from thir-
ty to thirty-five.
Also, the place Is quite smelly, the
mattresses are made Of gunnysacking
filled with straw, which is changed ev-
cry two trips at the Liverpool-not at
the Portland-end, and the bedding Is
washed only once on a trip-again ut