THE DAWN OF BETTER DAYS.
At last I felt as if I was standing on firm ground. Here, a solvent
boarder in this great institution, with thirty-six shillings in my
pocket, of which no one knew but myself, and with the superintendent
pledged to get me a ship, there did seem a prospect that the days of my
waifhood were over and done with. I looked around me at the comfort and
cleanliness of my little room, I thought of the precarious existence I
had been suffering, and I felt very thankful. Outside my door was a row
of big basins, well furnished with soap, jack towels, and abundance of
water. Off went my clothes, and I fairly revelled in a good wash. I had
barely finished when the clangour of a great gong startled me. I rushed
to the railings, and looked over to see a general move of the inmates
from all quarters towards one goal. Instinct informed me that this
strange noise was a summons for dinner; so I hastened to join the
throng, and presently found myself in an immense dining-hall filled with
long tables, at which a steady stream of men were seating themselves. At
one of these tables I took my place, in joyful anticipation of a good
dinner, when suddenly a sharp "Hi!" from the head of the board arrested
my attention. It was the steward in charge, who stood waiting to serve
out the food. He had spied a stranger. As soon as he caught my eye, he
said, "What flat are you on?" Now the barges in Liverpool are known as
"flats," and, jumping at the conclusion that I was suspected of being a
bargee-boy, I replied with much heat, "I'm not on any flat; I've just
left a two-thousand-ton ship!" Surely never did a more feeble
unintentional joke meet with a warmer reception. My neighbours roared
with delight, and, as the words were repeated from table to table, very
soon the whole vast chamber reverberated with merriment. Utterly
bewildered, I sat speechless, until it was explained to me that the
galleries in the Home were called "flats" too. They were lettered for
convenience of distinction, and the steward's query was in order to
assure himself that I occupied a room on the flat under his charge, as,
otherwise, I had no right at his table. That little matter was soon
cleared up, and feasting began. Never in my life had I sat at such a
board. Every one ate like giants, and mountains of food vanished, washed
down by huge cans of ale, served out liberally by the attendants. I am
ashamed to remember how I ate; but the blissful thought that this sort
of thing would be a regular incident of each day heightened my
enjoyment. The meal over, diners wandered forth again in very different
style to their entrance of half an hour before. Hardly knowing whither I
went, I sauntered along one of the galleries, when suddenly the words,
"To the Library," caught my eye. No longer undecided, I hurried in the
direction indicated, and found a really fine room, most comfortably
furnished, with roaring fires and an enormous number of books. There
were only three people in it; indeed, it was never well patronized. I
found a volume of Captain Cook's Travels, coiled myself up in a big
armchair, and passed at once into another world. Thenceforth, during my
stay, that peaceful chamber was my home. Except for a little exercise,
sleep, and meals, I scarcely left it, and, long ago though it is, I can
vividly remember how entirely happy I was. Occasionally I heard, through
the mighty void that separated me from the outer world, a ringing shout
of, "Where's that shipwrecked boy? Anybody seen that shipwrecked boy?"
as the huge doorkeeper, standing in the centre of the quadrangle below,
bellowed for me. The said shipwrecked urchin was far too comfortable to
desire any change in his present circumstances, and, it must be
confessed, did nothing to assist the authorities in their efforts to get
him a ship. To tell the truth, whenever I must needs go out, I used to
watch my opportunity and evade the officials downstairs. I had tasted
the sweets of life and was loth to return to the bitter.
During my seclusion in the library, however, I made the acquaintance of
several officers of ships, through whose kindness I obtained quite a
respectable lot of clothes, so that I was able to reserve my precious
little hoard to purchase sea-stock with when the inevitable day came.
But, in the meantime, I saw as little of Liverpool as I possibly could.
Apart from my love of the library and its contents, the town was
hateful to me. Its streets seemed to scowl at me, and every turning
reminded me of misery. But one day, as I was darting across the
quadrangle on my return from some errand, a long arm shot out from
behind a pillar and grabbed me. Panting with my run, I looked up and saw
the form of the doorkeeper towering over me. "Why, where ha' you been
stowed away all this time, you young rascal?" he said. "Here have I ben
shoutin' myself hoarse after you, an' never a sight of yer could I get.
Come along!" And with that he marched me off to the shipping-office in
the same building, and handed me over to one of the clerks, who
immediately brought me before a jolly-looking captain who was just
engaging his crew. What he said I don't remember; but, in a few minutes,
I had signed articles as boy at twenty-five shillings per month on board
the _Western Belle_ of Greenock, bound to Bombay, and sailing two days
after, at eight in the morning, from the Alfred Dock, Seacombe. I
received a month's advance like the rest, half of which I had to pay for
a week's board, as I had been three weeks in the Home. But with my
well-kept little hoard I had sufficient to buy my oilskins, bed,
hookpot, pannikin and plate, soap, matches, knife, etc., so that I was
better off, in those respects, than I had ever been before.
Early on the morning of the appointed day, in company with several
others of the crew who had been lodging at the Home, I was escorted
across the Mersey by the official belonging to the institution, whose
business it was to see us safe on board. Like all my companions, I had
not the slightest idea what sort of a craft I was going in, except that
she was a ship of 1225 tons register. This, however, is one of the most
common experiences of the sailor. Of late years it has become more the
practice for men to cruise round and choose a ship, handing their
discharges to the mate as a sort of guarantee that they will be shipped
when she signs articles. But, even now, thousands of men take a leap in
the dark, often finding themselves in for a most unpleasant experience,
which a little forethought on their part would have saved them. When
forethought is a characteristic of the sailor, his lot will rapidly
amend. That, however, is almost too much to hope for.
We soon arrived at our ship's side, finding her to be an old
American-built soft-wood ship, fairly comfortable looking, and with a
house on deck for the crew instead of the villainous den beneath the
top-gallant-forecastle, far in the fore-part of the ship, which is the
lair of seamen in most English ships. I was told off to the petty
officers' quarters, or "half deck," a fair-sized apartment in the after
part of the forward deck-house, with bunks for eight, and separated from
the men's berth by the galley and carpenter's shop. There was no time to
take stock. She was moving, all hands being on board, and, for a wonder,
not so drunk as usual. She was rapidly warped down to the dock gates,
where one of the powerful tugs, for which Liverpool has long been justly
famous, awaited her--the _Constitution_. The hawser was passed and
secured, the ropes which held us to the pier cast off, and away we went
down the river at a great rate--our voyage was begun. Much to the
discomfiture of our fellows a large ship, the _Stornoway_, came rushing
past us, bound into dock, having just finished the long round we were
beginning. The sight of a "homeward bounder" is always a depressing one
for Jack who is just starting again. And it is usually made harder for
him by the jocular remarks of the fortunate crew, who shout of "bright
pots and pannikins and clean donkey's breakfasts" (straw beds), usually
throwing some of their rusty tinware overboard, at the same time, to
give point to their unkind remarks.
There was little time though for thought, despondent or otherwise. We
were rapidly nearing the bar, upon which the rising wind was making a
heavy sea get up, and our jibboom had to be rigged out. What this means
is, I am afraid, impossible to make clear to a landsman. The amount of
work involved in getting the long, heavy spar into position, with all
its jungle of standing rigging, which looks to the uninstructed eye a
hopeless mass of entanglement, is enormous. When, too, it has to be done
as the ship is dragged relentlessly through a heavy head sea, as was now
the case, the difficulty and danger is certainly doubled. Yet it must be
done, and that speedily, for none of the upper spars on all three masts
are secure until what seamen call the "head gear" is set up, to say
nothing of the urgent necessity which may, at any moment, arise of
setting the head sails, as the jibs are termed collectively. So rapidly
did the sea rise, and so powerful was the tug, that before long heavy
masses of water began to come on board, and several ugly lumps came over
the forecastle head, half drowning the unfortunate men, who, in poor
physical condition, were toiling at the head gear. Some of them were, of
course, compelled to work right over the bows, where, as she plunged
along, the boiling foam now and then surged right over their heads.
Under these circumstances some disaster was inevitable. It came.
Suddenly I saw the boatswain leap from the forecastle-deck aft, a
distance of some twenty feet, yelling, while in the air, "Man
overboard!" There was hardly a minute's delay before the tug stopped,
and everybody gave a sigh of relief to see that the unfortunate man had
caught one of the life-buoys thrown to him. He placed his hands upon the
edge of the buoyant ring, which rose edgeways and fell over his head,
making him perfectly safe. But he was so eager that he got his arms
through, and, with both hands on the buoy, tried to raise himself
higher. Unfortunately he succeeded, and immediately overbalanced, his
head going down while his legs hung over the sides of the ring. Burdened
as he was with oilskins, sea-boots, and much thick clothing underneath,
it was impossible for him to regain his position, and when the boat from
the tug picked him up he was quite dead. Steaming back alongside of us
the skipper of the tug reported the sad fact, suggesting that he might
as well take the body back to Liverpool when he had finished towing us.
This was of course agreed to, and the towage resumed. But no sooner had
the news of our shipmate's death reached us, than there was a rush to
the forecastle by our crew, to divide the dead man's belongings--a piece
of barbarism quite uncommon among seamen. They made such a clean sweep
of everything, that when the captain sent to have the deceased seaman's
effects brought aft, all that was produced would hardly have filled a
large handkerchief, although he had brought two great bags and a bundle
on board with him. So passed from among us poor Peter Hill, a steady
middle-aged seaman, leaving a widow and two children to mourn their
loss, and exist as best they could without the meagre half pay he had
left them.
After this calamity the speed of the tug was reduced until the jibboom
was rigged and the anchors secured. Then the impatient tug-skipper tried
to make up for lost time. Green seas rolled over the bows as the bluff
old ship was towed through the ugly, advancing waves at a rate quite
beyond anything she could have done unaided. She strained and groaned as
if in pain, while the severity of her treatment was attested by a long
spell at the pumps, the quantity of water she had in her giving rise to
many ominous mutterings among the crew. At last the Tuskar was reached,
the topsails and lower staysails were set, and the tug let go of us,
much to our relief, as the motion at once became easier. Then came the
muster and picking for watches, when the grim fact became apparent that
we were grievously undermanned. There were but twelve A.B.'s and one
ordinary seaman forward, four tradesmen, _i.e._ bo'sun, carpenter,
sailmaker, and painter, with three boys in the half-deck, steward and
cook. Aft were the captain and two officers. Under any circumstances
this would have been a very small crew for a ship of her size; but, to
make matters worse, she was what sailors call "parish rigged," meaning
that all her gear was of the cheapest--common rope, that with a little
usage grew swollen and clumsy, often requiring the strength of one man
to pull the slack of it through the wretched "Armstrong patent" blocks,
and not a purchase of any kind to assist labour except two capstans.
Already we had gotten a taste of her quality in setting the scanty sail
she now carried; what would it be, later on, when all sail came to be
made, we could easily anticipate. The crew were, as usual, a mixed lot.
There was an elderly Yankee bo'sun's mate answering to the name of Nat,
who, in spite of his fifty years, was one of the best men on board; a
smart little Yorkshireman, very tidy and quiet; and two
Liverpool-Irishmen--dirty, slovenly, and obscene always--Flanagan and
Mahoney. They, I learned afterwards, had come home a fortnight before
from the East Indies with a fairly good pay-day, which they had never
seen a copper of, having lain in one continuous state of drunkenness in
a cellar, from the evening of their arrival, until the vampires who
supplied them with liquor had somehow obtained a claim upon all their
wages. Then, when the money was drawn, the two miserable fools were
flung into the gutter, sans everything but the filthy rags on their
backs. A jovial darky from Mauritius, with a face whose native ugliness
was heightened by an extraordinary marking from smallpox, kept all
hands alive with his incessant fun. He signed as Jean Baptiste, which
sacred appellation was immediately anglicized to Johnny the Baptist, nor
did he ever get called anything else. There was also a Frenchman from
St. Nazaire, who, though his English was hardly intelligible, had sailed
in our country's ships so long that he had lost all desire for anything
French. He was also a fine seaman, but the wrong side of forty. A
taciturn Dane, tall and thin, but a good man as far as his strength
went, was also of our company; and a brawny, hairy Nova Scotiaman, John
Bradley, able enough, but by no means willing to exert his great
strength. Lastly, of those whom I can remember, came Peter Burn and
Julius Caesar. When the first-named signed in Liverpool, he looked like a
hale old sea-dog about fifty, worth half a dozen young, unseasoned men.
Unfortunately for us, he had come out of the experienced hands of Paddy
Finn, a well-known boarding-master renowned as a "faker-up" of worn-out
and 'long-shore sailors. Rumour had it, too, that he had recently
married a young woman, who had eloped with several years' savings,
leaving him without any prospect but the workhouse, until Paddy Finn
took him in hand for the sake of his month's advance. Be that as it may,
it was almost impossible for any one to recognise in the decrepit,
palsied old wreck that crawled aft to muster, and answered to the name
of Peter Burn, the bluff, hearty old seaman that had signed on so boldly
two or three days before. Julius Caesar was a long, cadaverous lad,
willing and good-natured, hailing from Vermont, but so weak and
inexperienced that you could hardly feel him on a rope. The other three
men have entirely faded from my memory.
Of the petty officers with whom I lived, it only needs just now that I
note them as all Scotch, belonging, like the skipper and mate, to the
shores of the Firth of Forth, with the exception of the painter. He was
a Yarmouth man, really an A.B., but, in consequence of his great ability
in decorating, mixing paints, etc., given five shillings a month extra,
with a bunk in the half-deck. There was no sea-sobriquet for him, like
"Bo'sun," "Chips," "Sails," or "Doctor," so he was called by his
rightful surname, "Barber." The cook, or "doctor," was a grimy little
Maltese, not quite such a living libel on cookery as usual, but dirty
beyond belief. I said there were three boys in the half-deck, but that
statement needs qualifying. The eldest of the trio was as good a man as
any on board the ship, and deserves much more than passing notice. He
had been, like myself, a London Arab, although never homeless; for his
mother, who earned a scanty living by selling water-cresses, always
managed to keep a corner for him in her one room up a Shoreditch court.
But Bill was far too manly to be a burden to his mother a day longer
than he could help, so, after trying many ways of earning an honest
crust, he finally managed to get taken on board the _Warspite_
training-ship, whence he was apprenticed in the _Western Belle_ for four
years. He was now in his third year of service, a sturdy, reliable young
fellow of eighteen, not very brilliant, perhaps, but a first-class
seaman: a credit to himself and to his training. The other boy, besides
myself, was a keen urchin about my own age, on his first voyage, of
respectable parentage, and with a good outfit. Whatever his previous
experience had been I don't remember; I think he came straight from
school. Anyhow, he was artful enough to early earn the title of "a young
sailor, but a d---d old soldier," which concise character sums up all
that a seaman can say as to a person's ability in doing as little as
possible. Captain Smith, our chief, was a jolly, easy-going Scotchman of
about sixty, always good-tempered, and disinclined to worry about
anything. He had his wife and daughter with him, the latter a plain
young lady of about twenty-two. Both of them shared the skipper's good
qualities, and the ship was certainly more comfortable for their
presence. Mr. Edny, the chief mate, was a splendid specimen of manhood,
a Scotchman about thirty-five years of age, with coal-black hair and
eyes. He was the most hirsute individual I have ever seen, a shaggy
black mane, longer and thicker than any Newfoundland dog's, waving all
over his chest and back. Mr. Cottam, the second mate, was a
square-built, undersized man from the Midlands, the bane of my
existence, but a prime seaman who loved work for its own sake.