The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-11-11
SAILORS LIVE
WELL ON BOARD
MERCHANT SHIPS
United States Shipping Board
Safeguards Their interests.
NOT LIKE GOOD OLD DAYS"

MI LINK uUUD UlU UhIC
Inspectors See That Crews on Ameri.
can Commercial Craft Get All the
Comforts That Are Coming to Them
Men Have Dining Saloons, Baths,
Proper Air space and Sanitary Beds
Food 10 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-
diti0ns under which the crews work
aboard the ships OF the new merchant
marine.
Contrasts between living and work
Ing conditions aboard merchant ves-
cells today and 'the good old days. Of
the sail, as regards the crew, are start
ling. and all In favor Of the present.
Jack ID now treated with considera-
tion. and lives better, on the average,
than he would live II working ashore.
As four thousand young men from
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 q personal as
pect. The shipping board Is receiving
frequent inquiries on the subject.
Mothers and sisters and wives-to say
nothing Of sweethearts-want to know
II their sailor boys are getting good
food and proper beds, and they are
not at all backward In asking for spe-
cinc 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
nag Of more than $500 tons. AS COM
forts on smaller ships, as well as on
the larger ones, are regulated by law,
II II safe to that every Amer
lean sailor today is far better off than
sailors have ever been before.
The U. s. shipping board is not con-
1nlng its activities In behalf of mer-
chant crews to legal requirements.
however. Finding that mines, literally
etrewn at random by the Germans in
violation Of the rules of civilized war
fnre. 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 a room.
Forecastle Lamp "Burned Blue"
TO understand how conditions in
general have improved on American
vessels since the old days of the
sQuare riggers, 1t il only necessary for
the average citizen to read Of how the
crew lived on an American ship bound
round Cape Horn In 1886. 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" a clas-
nc among sea narratives, is authority
Tor conditions in 1885.
Dana. author Of the book quoted,
made the passage from California In
1854, on board the ship Alert, which
was considered a smart, well found
vessel. Here Is what he says Of the
living quarters Of the crew while
rounding Cape Horn:
ssThe 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 keep
the Scuttle Tin the deck) closed, SO
that the f~orecastle was nearly air
light. In this little wet, leaky hole
We were all Quartered, In an atmos-
phere 20 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. for
men standing hard watches in Icy
blasts, and hail, was a pot of hot
-, = hard biscnit and a slice Of cold
oa1t beef."
~ to sanitary conditions. they may
~ Judged By this entry In Dana's los
covering the passage Of the Cape
which lasted q mouth:
Mot Z razor. nor . brush, nor 4
lEop ~ water, except rain and spray
ho1 come near ~ all the time for WI
Woeo a allowance Of fresh water ant
W1o would strip and wash himself Ii
Gnlk 1NatoF On deck, IN snow and Ice
Wl4h o thermometer 81 zeroY