The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1918-11-22
SAILORS live
/, WELL ON BOARD
! MERCHANT SHIPS
United States Shipping Board
Safeguards Their Interests.
NOT LIKE GOOD OLD DAYS"

MEN Have Dining saloons, 6atnss
Proper Air Space and Sanitary Beds
Food Is Ample With Same Menu
for OFFICERS and Men.
Recent appointment by the United
States shipping board of inspectors,
attached to It's recruiting service,
whose business is to see that the crews
of American merchant vessels get all
the comforts that are due them, has
served to attract attention to the con-
ditions under which the crews work
aboard the ships Of the new merchant
marine.
Contrasts between living and work.
ing conditions aboard merchant YES
sells today and 1.-THE good old days" Of
the sail, as regards the crew, are start
ling, and all in favor of the present.
Jack Is now treated with considera-
ton, and lives better, on the average,
than he would live If working ashore.
AS four thousand young men fror
factory and farm are now going into
the merchant marine every month
through the shipping boards training
service, public interest in the way the
men live aboard the nations new car
60 ships is taking on personal as
pect. The shipping board is receiving
frequent inquiries on the subject.
Mothers and sisters and wives-to say
nothing of weethearts-want to know
If their sailor boys are getting good
food and proper beds, and they are
not at all backward in asking for spe-
cific information on the subject.
The shipping board Is taking spe-
cial pains to inform the public of con-
ditions on ships under its control
and that means all vessels under the
Tag Of more than $500 tons. AS COM
forts on smaller ships, as well as on
the larger ones, are regulated by law,
1t is safe to assume that every Amer
lean sailor today Is far better off than
sailors have ever been before.
The U. s. shipping board is not con-
fining its activities In behalf of mer-
chant crews to legal requirements,
however. Finding that mines, literally
strewn at random by the Germans In
violation of the rules of civilized war
fare, usually explode under the for
ward part Of the vessel striking them,
the living quarters of crews have been
removed from forward to aft.
Forecastles used as living and sleep
ing quarters for an entire crew hav-
ing been proven sometimes insanitary
when the crew is large, the latest
American ships are being fitted with
staterooms for the men, with not
more than four men to room.
ForecastIe Lamp "Burned Blue"
To understand how conditonsa In
general have improved on American
vessels since the old days Of the
square riggers, it is only necessary for
the average citizen to read Of how the
crew lived on an American ship bound
round Cape Horn In 1885, and con-
trast what he has read with an in
spector's report Of conditions on a
cargo steamer operated under author.
ity Of the shipping board today. Dana's
1.-Two Years Before the Mast" clas-
sic among sea narratives, is authority
for conditions in 1886.
Dana, author of the book quoted
made the passage from California in
1886. on board the ship Alert, which
was considered smart, well found
vessel. Here Is what he says Of the
living quarters Of the crew while
rounding Cape Horn:
"The forecastle was too uncomfort
able to sit up In; and whenever we
were below, we were in our berths
To prevent the rain and sea water
which broke over the bows from wash.
ing down, we were obliged to keer
the scuttle Tin the deck) closed, sc
that the forecastle was nearly air
tight. In this little wet, leaky hole
we were all Quartered, In an atmos
phere so bad that our lamp, which
swung in the middle from the beams
sometimes actually burned blue, with
large circle of foul air about It,"
"The usual meal, day after day, FOL
men standing hard watches In icy
blasts, snow and hail, was pot of ho
tea, a hard biscuit and slice of cole
salt beef"
AS to sanitary conditions. they ma,
be judged by this entry In Dana's lof
covering the passage Of the Cape
which lasted month:
"Not razor, nor a brush, nor
drop of water, except rain and spray
had come near us all the time; for W.
were on allowance of fresh water; an,
who would strip and wash himself Il
salt water on deck, in snow and Ice
with the thermometer at zero?"
Crews Have Walters Of Their Own.
What is the picture Of conditions Of
shipboard today, contrasted with this
Here Is a paragraph from shippinI
board Inspectors report on the livinI
quarters aboard a 5,000-ton carg
steamer built in 1917 by the emergenc |
fleet corporation and engaged in over |
seas traffic:
'eThe crews quarters were aft. The. |
contained ~ pipe berths, each mad
up with good mattress. pillow an
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