In the streets in the vicinity of the water, there are many buildings
used as "Sailors' Boarding-houses." One would suppose that poor Jack
needed a snug resting-place after his long and stormy voyages, but it is
about the last thing he finds in New York. The houses for his
accommodation are low, vile places. They are located in the filthiest
sections of the city, and are never clean. Jack, however, is used to
hard fare. He has spent six months, or it may be two years, in the damp
and cheerless forecastle, and he will not grumble at the aspect of the
only quarters available to him on shore. He has crowded with twenty men
and boys into a space much smaller than the chamber assigned him, and he
does not object to having half a dozen room mates. The bed is a wretched
cot, but it is better than a bunk or a hammock, and Jack is not so used
to cleanliness as to make him very fastidious.
The boarding-house has a flashy air. There are bright curtains at the
windows, and the entire front is usually painted some gaudy color, and is
adorned with a sign, with the name of the establishment in gilt letters.
"The Sailor's Retreat," "Our House," "The Sailor's Welcome Home," "The
Jolly Tar," and "The Flowing Sea Inn" are favorite names with these
places. The entrance is generally low and narrow, and conducts the
visitor to the main room, which is often the bar, of the house. This is
a small, low-pitched apartment. The floor is sanded, and the ceiling is
lined with tissue paper pendants cut in various designs. The mantelpiece
is adorned with various seamen's trophies and curiosities from foreign
lands, the majority of which have been stolen from the poor fellows, who
brought them home for a different purpose. The bar is adorned with a
multitude of bottles, decanters, and glasses, and the liquors give no
indication to the eye of their deadly properties. A person accustomed to
cross the ocean in the luxurious cabin of a Cunarder, would not find the
place very attractive, but to Jack, who has never known anything better
than the forecastle, it has many attractions, and he falls an easy victim
to it.
The landlords of these places are simply the meanest of thieves and
bullies. They charge a uniform price of about seven dollars per week,
for which they give a mean bed in a dirty room occupied by five or six
other persons, and three indifferent meals a day. They do not, however,
reap their profits from their legitimate business. Their principal
earnings are gained by their crimes.
They keep their runners in the harbor on the watch for ships coming in
from long voyages. These board the vessels as soon as they reach the
bay, and at once begin to extol the merits of their several
establishments. They are adepts at their art, and before the vessel has
cast anchor at her berth, they have secured one or more men apiece for
their houses. They never leave them after this, but "stick to them"
until they receive their wages, after which they conduct them to the
boarding-house, and turn them over to the landlord. If the sailor is
unwilling to promise to become a guest at the boarding-house, the runner
has but little trouble in inducing him to "drop in and look at it." The
great object is to get him within its doors. The first sense of freedom
from the confinements of the ship is very grateful to Jack, and puts him
in a good humor with himself and everybody else. This renders him the
easier a victim.
When he has been brought within the portals of the boarding-house, the
next step is to induce him to drink. Sailors are very tough, but even
they cannot stand up against the effects of the poisonous liquors sold
here. If the landlord is not able to induce the new-comer to drink, the
"Jackal," or the porter, is called in. Jack never suspects the porter of
any design upon him, but believes that the landlord is his only enemy,
and the "Jackal" is usually successful. If it is found necessary to make
quick work of the case, the liquor is drugged; but, as a general rule, it
is poisonous enough to stupefy even a strong man in a very short while.
When the victim is fairly helpless, he is conducted to his room. There
may be other "boarders" in this apartment, but they are generally too
drunk to notice what is going on. The doors are utterly without
fastenings, and are oiled to prevent them from creaking. When all is
quiet, and the victim is plunged in a heavy slumber, the "Jackal" creeps
up the stairs, enters the room, and robs the poor fellow of whatever
money or valuables he may have on his person. In the morning, when the
sailor awakens, sick and disheartened, he discovers his loss. The
landlord is full of sympathy for him, and is indignant that such an
outrage should have been perpetrated beneath his roof. He has the house
searched, and, if the sailor cannot be made drunk again, goes through the
farce of causing the arrest of a "stool-pigeon," who is of course
discharged for lack of evidence against him. Usually, however, the
sailor is made drunk, and is gotten to sea again on a long voyage as soon
as possible.
The various methods of forcing a sailor to sea are called "Shanghaiing."
The practice is resorted to by landlords, to enable them to complete the
crews which they have contracted to furnish to vessels. The owners and
masters of these vessels are fully aware of the infamous manner in which
men are procured for them, but say they must either connive at it, or let
their vessels go to sea shorthanded. In "Shanghaiing" a sober man,
resort is had to false promises. He is induced to go on board of a
vessel, "to see how he likes her." He is then detained by force until
the ship has left port. His true name is not entered on the list
presented at the Custom House on the day before sailing, but he is passed
under a fictitious name. When the wretches who carry on this business
are very much pressed for men, they do not hesitate to waylay sailors,
knock them senseless, and convey them on board vessels in this condition.
They are not particular as to the qualifications of the men they ship as
"able-bodied and thorough seamen." They sometimes abduct men who have
never trod the deck of a ship before. During the war the notorious
Thomas Hadden, of 374 Water street, induced a poor tailor to go on board
of a ship by telling him that the crew wanted their clothes mended, and
assured him that the "job" would give him employment for several days,
and amply repay him for his trouble. The tailor, upon going on board,
was at once set to work in the forecastle on a lot of dilapidated
jackets, and Mr. Hadden at once went ashore. Immediately the cables were
cast off, and the ship was towed out into the stream by a tug which had
been held in readiness. The unsuspecting tailor continued his work,
never noticing the motion of the ship, and it was not until she had
crossed the bar, and gotten to sea, that he was aroused by the rough
voice of the mate, commanding him to go to his duty on deck. Then, to
his horror, he found that he was on his way to Canton. He returned,
after a voyage of two years, and at once took measures to bring Hadden to
justice. The wretch escaped, however, and was not seen again in Water
street for three years. Mr. Hadden is now serving out a term of ten
years imprisonment in the New Jersey Penitentiary, for grand larceny.
Usually, however, "Shanghaiing" is practised upon drunken sailors only.
They are made drunk, as has been stated, immediately after the discovery
of the loss of their wages, and are kept so until an opportunity presents
itself for sending them to sea. Thus they are gotten rid of, care being
taken to ship them only on voyages of two and three years duration. The
landlords receive a premium on the men furnished by them. They also make
out fictitious claims against the poor fellows, and pocket the three
months' wages advanced by the owners or masters of the vessels on which
the unfortunates are shipped.
[Picture: NEW YORK SEAMEN'S EXCHANGE BUILDING.]
Thus the sailor is plundered, made drunk, prevented from enjoying any
other society on shore but that of thieves and the lowest prostitutes.
It frequently happens that the poor fellow never receives the benefit of
a single penny of his earnings, and never spends more than a week or ten
days ashore between his voyages. Efforts have been made by conscientious
ship-owners to put a stop to the outrages of the landlords, but each one
has failed. The wretches have banded together, and have prevented
sailors from shipping, and in the end the ship-owners have been compelled
to abandon the sailor to the mercy of his tyrants. Only a law of
Congress, regulating sailors' boarding houses, according to the system
now in use in England, will remedy the evil. Efforts are now being made
to secure the passage, during the present session of Congress, of a bill,
entitled the "Shipping Commissioners' Bill," which has received the
sanction of the shipping merchants of New York, and which will
effectually remedy the evils we have described.
The merchants of the city have also organized a "Seamen's Exchange," the
objects of which are thus set forth by the Association:
"The objects of this Association shall be the moral, mental, and social
improvement of seamen, to elevate their character and efficiency as a
class, and to protect them from impositions and abuses at home and
abroad.
"To build up such an organization of respectable seamen as will command
the respect of the community, enable ship-owners to protect themselves
from the imposition of worthless and disorderly characters claiming to be
seamen, but disgracing the name, and secure for their vessels reliable
and efficient crews; while at the same time the seaman will be enabled to
select good ships and good officers, and thus secure good treatment."
They propose to attain these objects by the adoption of the following
measures:
"To provide an exchange, reading-room, library, and savings-bank which
shall be open to all seamen on the payment of a small annual
subscription. To issue certificates of membership, and of character and
capacity. To assert and maintain perfect liberty in the selection of
boarding-houses, shipping-offices, and voyages. To refuse to pay or to
receive 'bonus-money' for ships, or 'blood-money' for men, by which
custom both shipowners and seamen are sufferers. To supply vessels with
crews without the intervention of any shipping-master should it become
necessary. To discourage the system of advanced wages as the source of
many evils and but few benefits. To keep a record of the name, age,
character, and capacity, so far as can be ascertained, of every member of
this Association; also, of the vessels in port, their class, owners or
agents, and the voyages on which they are bound. To establish means by
which seamen can receive afternoon and evening lessons in the common
English branches and navigation. To encourage and assist every sailor in
his efforts to improve his character and to save his hard-earned money
for the benefit of himself and his family, and on all suitable occasions
to give him such advice and information as his circumstances may seem to
require."
Our engraving presents a view of the building now in course of erection
by the Association.