A CHANGE OF NATIONALITY.
Much as I longed for my liberty, the certain sense of a home afforded by
the ship was so comforting that I was in considerable dread of the time
when, as I supposed, I should be paid off and sent adrift like the rest
of the crew. Therefore it was with joy that I received the welcome news
from the mate that I might remain and work by the ship, and that my
wages would be fourteen shillings a week, out of which I was to keep
myself. The future, which had begun to worry me greatly with its
possibilities of misfortune, owing to my still insignificant size, now
took a decidedly roseate hue. My arch-enemy (as I considered him), the
second mate, became quite amiable, even condescending to inform me that
the plenteous kicks and cuffs he had bestowed upon me had all been
prompted by a sincere desire for my best interests, and that, before I
was much older, I should thank him heartily for his rigorous treatment.
In this latter prophecy he was grossly in error, for I have never been
able to find any excuse for the brutality of a man to the helpless who
chance to be in his power, whether human or brute.
Pay-day came and I received my account of wages, finding that I was
entitled to nine golden sovereigns. At the appointed hour I made my way
up the East India Dock-road to Green's Home, where I foregathered with
most of my shipmates, who were dogged by villainous-looking men as
closely as if they were criminals out for an airing. While waiting, they
made frequent visits to the public-house at the back of the office,
which fairly hummed with the accumulated rascality of the neighbourhood.
But for the danger of actions for libel, I would tell some pretty little
stories of what I have seen in some of the highly respectable (see
evidence before the Licensing Committees) liquor-shops in "sailor town."
But I must refrain, comforting myself with the knowledge that such tales
have already been better told elsewhere. When at last my turn came, and
I received that little pile of gold--more money than I had ever seen at
one time before--I was almost afraid of being the possessor of so much
wealth. And knowing well, as I did, the risk I ran if any one got an
inkling of my riches, did not lessen my fears. I did not think of the
Post Office, strange to say; but, in a few minutes, formed a resolution
to lay all my money out in a stock of clothes--which, indeed, I was
urgently in need of--and depend upon my weekly earnings from the ship to
keep me. The thought of losing my employment never seems to have dawned
upon me. Full of my project, I started for Aldgate; but brought up
sharply at the Baths before I had gone a hundred yards. A nice warm
bath--what a luxury! In I went and enjoyed myself immensely. In about
half an hour I was out again and walking briskly westward, when I
stopped to make some trifling purchase--to find my money gone, purse and
all. On the instant I turned and rushed back to the Baths, flew past the
doorkeeper, and up the corridor towards the bath I had recently left.
The door stood wide open, and there was my purse on the seat, with the
money intact. I grabbed it and drew a long breath, the first, it seemed
to me, since I missed it. Going out, I met an angry man at the door, who
was anxious to know what I thought I was up to, and so on. A shilling
assuaged all his curiosity and lit up his lowering face with sudden
smiles. Clutching my purse, I made all the haste I could to Messrs.
Moses and Sons, arriving there with a sigh of thankfulness. I didn't
feel capable of owning so much money, much less taking care of it. A
gorgeously attired individual strode forward with an ironical air of
courtesy as I entered, and, bowing low, wished to know my pleasure. Ah!
if I was going to spend all my money, here was at least a chance to
taste the sweets of that power which its possession brings. With all the
hauteur I could assume, I said, as I swelled my four feet of stature in
opposition to the shopwalker's majestic presence, "I want an outfit,
something plain and substantial; say about nine or ten pounds." And as I
spoke I secretly emptied my purse in my pocket, and drawing out a few
sovereigns nonchalantly, I passed them through my fingers and dropped
them into another pocket. Out of the corner of my eye I watched my
gentleman's face. All his sarcastic attitude vanished, and for the time
he was my obsequious, humble servant. But oh! how shamelessly he made me
pay for his attendance. Even after this lapse of years I blush to think
how I was taken in--the shoddy rags which I received for my gold, and
the swelling pride with which I ordered them to be sent down to _my_
ship. When I left the huge shop I felt quite an important personage,
although I had but five shillings left out of my year's wages. Still,
such as they were, I had a complete stock of clothing, including a chest
and bedding, oilskins and sea-boots; in fact, such an outfit as I had
never owned before. When I returned on board I informed Bill of my
purchases. He applauded my resolution, but blamed me for not keeping a
little money in case of an emergency--he always did himself, he said.
For a fortnight, however, I found no reason to regret my precipitate
action. Then, on a Saturday afternoon, came the stunning intelligence
that, as there was no more work to be done, I was no longer wanted.
Fortunately I had saved enough out of my weekly wage to pay for a week's
board; so I immediately made my way to my old boarding-house in the West
India Dock-road, and was received with open arms. I paid my twelve
shillings down manfully, telling the master that I wanted a ship as soon
as possible. After finding out by cross-examination that I had been paid
off with nine pounds, he was much less cordial. In fact, he grumbled a
good deal; but finally promised to do his best to get me a ship at once.
Fortunately (as I thought at the time), before the week was out, I got a
berth on board a large American ship--the _Pharos_ of Boston, which was
lying in the South-West India Dock, loading general cargo for Melbourne.
As she was only about half full, I begged permission to come and work on
board for my food, so that I should not get into debt at the
boarding-house. The mate, who engaged me, readily granted my request; in
fact, he seemed to take no interest in the matter. So I took up my
quarters on board, becoming great friends immediately with the amiable
old mulatto steward, who, besides being a most valuable servant, was a
deeply religious man according to his lights.
And now my lines were cast in truly pleasant places. I had heard of the
good times enjoyed by boys in American ships--such floating hells for
their crews as a rule--and my experiences at present fully bore out the
truth of my information. But I very soon saw that all was not right on
board. The mate was utterly neglectful of the cargo, spending most of
his time tippling in his berth with all sorts of visitors. The second
mate, a stalwart youth of twenty, busied himself constantly with the
rigging, studiously avoiding any encroachment upon the mate's province
of attending to the shipment of the cargo. The captain rarely appeared.
He was a very old man, with an awful scowl, and, although bearing
himself erect, and smart-looking, was evidently long past the efficient
performance of his duties. The only other members of the crew on board
were the carpenter, a Finn of about sixty years of age, and the cook, a
garrulous Dane, who spent most of his time yarning at the galley door
with a huge knife in one hand as if it were his sceptre. A good deal of
drinking went on about that galley, and often at knock-off time the
stevedores had much ado to get ashore, so drunk were they. At last the
mate left--how or why I do not know--and from thenceforward no pretence
was made of tallying in the cargo at all. Not until three days before
she was advertised to sail did we get another mate, a prim little man,
who had been long master of English ships, and looked like a fish out of
water on board the _Pharos_.
Shipping day came, and, leaving the second mate, steward, and carpenter
(who were on the original articles) on board, the rest of us went down
to a shop in Ratcliff Highway to "sign on." It was a Jew tailor's, of
all places in the world, and never shall I forget my astonishment at the
sight it presented. When we got there the shop was full of as motley a
crowd of scallawags as one could collect anywhere. Apparently they were
shipping in some other American ship, from the scraps of conversation I
heard. Presently one of the fellows asked a question of the
sturdy-looking Israelite behind the counter. Looking up from his book,
that worthy said fiercely, "Get out!" The man hesitated, and muttered
some reply. With a howl like an enraged tiger the tailor snatched up a
pair of shears and sprang over the counter after him. There was a
regular scuffle among the crowd for a few seconds, as the thoroughly
scared candidate rushed for the door, just succeeding in making his
escape as the vengeful Jew reached the pavement. In another second the
tailor was back at his book as if nothing had happened. But I noticed
that nobody asked any more questions, except one man, whom I took to be
the captain of the ship signing on. After some little confusion the
first crowd took their departure, and another assortment took their
places, ready to sign in the _Pharos_. The whole proceedings were an
utter farce, though with a semblance of legality; but what surprised me
most of all was that each man received, whether he wanted it or not, two
months' advance in the form of a promissory note, payable at this shop
three days after the ship left Gravesend. Only three out of the whole
crowd signed their names, the rest modestly made their mark, and the
tailor wrote down such fantastic designations as his fancy suggested.
Then one of his assistants marshalled us all together like a flock of
sheep, and convoyed us to the office of the American Consul-General in
the city, where, in wholesale fashion, we were made citizens of the
United States of America. The ceremony was no sooner over than we were
told to go, but sharply reminded of the hour of sailing. Our guide
mysteriously disappeared, leaving us to find our way back to sailor-town
as best we could.
To my surprise and gratification I found myself shipped as an ordinary
seaman, at thirty shillings per month, three pounds of which I already
held in the form of a "promise to pay." I immediately hastened to my
boarding-house to get the said paper converted into money, but, as I
didn't owe him anything, the master refused to touch it, and further
favoured me with his opinion that I shouldn't find anybody who would
give me more than ten shillings for it. Somewhat alarmed at this, I
hurried to various places where they professed to discount seamen's
advance notes, finding to my amazement, that he had spoken the truth.
Then I suddenly remembered an old acquaintance with whom I had become
friendly, and who, being a tradesman, might be able to change my note.
Off to him I hurried, finding him both able and willing; so I got my
three pounds in full. But I afterwards learnt that the highest amount
any of the sailors had been able to get for their notes of six pounds
had been two pounds ten shillings, and of this a goodly portion had to
be taken out in clothes. And this I was told was because of the
uncertainty attaching to the payment of these notes when they were
presented. Under such conditions there was little room for wonder that
cases of disappearance of the men who had obtained these advance notes
were frequent. It was no unusual thing for half of a crew to be missing
when a vessel sailed, when, of course, those who had given anything for
the notes lost their money beyond hope of recovery.
Although it seems premature to say so, I feel bound to add that the
friend who cashed my note received his money, when it was due, without
question. Seven of the men who signed on with me did not turn up on
sailing-day, so that we left the dock shorthanded to that extent. We
anchored at Gravesend, however, and a scratch lot of "hard cases" were
found to make up our complement. For three days we lay at the Red Buoy
below Gravesend, while I wondered mightily at such delay, foreign
altogether to my notions of the despatch of Australian packets. But
finally a huge lighter painted a brilliant red came alongside, and
immediately the order was issued for all fire or light of any kind to be
extinguished, as we were going to ship gunpowder. As soon as the
officers were satisfied that there was no danger from a stray spark to
be apprehended, the transhipment began, and soon fifty tons of
explosives were transferred to the square of our main hatch, in cases
and kegs, from which a good deal of loose powder was leaking. The
stowing completed, the hatch was securely battened down for sea, the
lighter left, and the order was given to man the windlass. Hitherto I
had been agreeably surprised to see how quietly the work went on,
altogether a different state of affairs to what I had expected on board
a Yankee ship. But the reason was not far to seek. Vicious as the
captain looked, he was utterly helpless to inaugurate a reign of terror
on board, for he had no truculent set of officers to back him. The mate
was a quiet, elderly man, looking as unlike a seaman as possible, and
certainly was not the man to develop into a bully. The second mate was
too young, although as smart a man as ever stepped, to tackle the whole
crew single-handed, even had he felt disposed; and, of course, the
ancient carpenter counted for nothing. Half the crew were exceedingly
hard citizens, who looked as if all the ways of "Western Ocean
blood-boats" were familiar to them; the other half were Norwegians and
Swedes, who were unable to speak English, and ready to endure any kind
of brutality, at whoever's hands it might be presented. Poor wretches!
had they but known it, they were fortunate, for the worst that befell
them was being treated as boys by the hard-bitten members of the crew,
and made to wait on them hand and foot. On deck their lives were easy
enough and the food was really good.
In order to save the skipper trouble, I suppose, we had a Channel pilot
on board to take the ship as far as Portland. He, poor man, was sadly
out of his element with the skipper, whom he early described, to the
half-dozen passengers we carried, as an unmitigated hog. Still there was
no open breach between them until we arrived off the Wight. Then when
the pilot altered the course (we had been coming down in mid-channel),
too close in with the land, the old man walked up to the helmsman and
sternly ordered him to resume the course he had been steering, right
down the centre of the Channel. Of course there was an explosion. The
pilot protested in no measured terms against his behaviour, saying that,
as his contract was performed, he was anxious to be put ashore. The
captain, however, treated him with cool insolence, assuring him that he
wasn't going one mile out of his way to land him, and the utmost he
would do would be to put him on board any homeward-bounder we might pass
near enough. This nearly drove the pilot frantic. We could hear him all
over the ship. But, for all the impression he made upon the venerable
Yankee, he might as well have saved his breath. Then there was trouble
with the passengers. They had been led to believe that they would be
sumptuously fed and waited upon, the charterers in London having painted
in glowing colours the comforts sure to be met with in so large a ship
for seven passengers. Now, however, they found that even the cooking of
their food was a privilege for which they must fee the cook, the steward
was forbidden to wait upon them, and they were entirely thrown upon
their own resources. When they complained to the captain he calmly told
them that their difficulties were no concern of his; he had quite
sufficient annoyance in seeing them occupying his saloon, which he could
assure them was intended for the reception of a very different class of
people to them. Happily they were all fairly well used to roughing it,
and so they sensibly set about making the best of their very bad
bargain, and thenceforward ignored the scowling skipper altogether. The
unfortunate pilot was kept on board five days, and finally put on board
a homeward-bound Mediterranean steamer that we spoke half-way across the
Bay. As he went over the side he hurled his opinion of the skipper back
at him, his voice rising higher and higher, until he was no longer
audible, to the huge delight of passengers and crew alike.