New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-11-02

couraged desertion, with the implied
REIMBURSEMENT of wages due, was
modern invention.
The men of the sixteenth and seven
teenth centuries were Indifferent 10 pain
and needless risk of death for others ana
for themselves. They were not neces.
sarily brutal to individual sufferers, put
they took II fol granted that disease ana
death were incidental to adventure, ana
they acted as though they thought pre-
caution useless.
The medieval mariner was far from
inadeduately provided with sailing
directions in MS, and later in print.
They were known as "rutters' route
books) in English, and as 'portulane
IN Italian, but far less is known OF the
northern directions than of those OF the
Mediterranean seamen. The nrst
charts are credited to the sea traders
of the Balearic Islands.
In a review Of a book of the scope or
the present one It is possible only 10
dip here and there into its pages and
bring out a bit of curious information.
Englands need Of men to man her
ships, of which we hear so much to-
day. is nothing new The press gang Is
there to prove it. seventeenth-century
Holland manned its merchant marine
largely with Scandinavians. Inc
Portuguese of the great era of eXplora-
tion were good sailors. but decidedly
moor shipbuilders. Naturally, much
space is devoted to this period, both in
the waters of the New World and In
those of India. 1t was the heroic age
of the merchant skipper" He was
navigator and trader, fighter ana
diploruatist, and founder Of factories
and strongholds. In South America
seventeenth-century Spanish Governor
laid up a fortune Of 100000 in fifteen
years by winking at smuggling ana
pocketing his "rake-off." The SHIPS OF
the English East India Company were
not owned by the company In the sense
that the Cunard Line owns lts ships
They were hired for certain number
of VOYAGES, four OF them being con-
sidered TO end a vessels period OF use
fitness. Under favorable circum-
stances voyage was completed In
eighteen months. The builder OF the
discharged Indlaman had the right or
constructing her sucCessor-what be-
came known as the right Of hereditary
bottoms" Commanders and crews had
hereditary" moral rights Of re-engage-
ment. The settlement Of these rights,
when the custom was abolished, cost
the company f3IS,0OO.
As for the pirate, romance notwith-
standing, he was "a snealIing thief and
an arrant coward. | have met no in
stance in which he put up a good fight.
He did not even accumulate treasure.
4 sluttish idleness and freedom to
drink were the real attractions OF the
life" The blacklist blot upon the his
tory Of maritime commerce is the slave
trade.
The CHAPTER on THE Sea Trader In
War Time" is decidedly worth while,
because It deals with necessities, not
with international law DEGREES, block
AIDES, and the like. As for the sailor
man, the last fifty years have seen the
amelloration Of his moral and physical
condition the world over, by legisla-
ton and organized private effort. This
Is not book for those who go down TO
the sea in ships alone. II is most In
teresting reading for the landlubber.
The student OF history will find in It a
wealth Of information not easily aces
sible elsewhere.