Learning the Ropes.
As they came on board the receiving-ship they were all drawn up in a line,
the roll was called, and they were divided off into messes. The mess to
which Frank and his cousin belonged was called "Number Twenty-five." As
they were about to be dismissed, the officer who had called the roll said
to Archie:
"You will be cook of this mess."
"Sir?" said Archie, in surprise.
"You will be cook of this mess," repeated the officer, in a louder tone.
"But what is the matter with you? Are you hard of hearing?"
"No, sir; but I can't cook."
"Never mind; you can try. You may go below, lads."
The men did as they were ordered, and our heroes seated themselves on one
of the broadside guns, and Archie said:
"I'm in a nice fix, ain't I? I don't know any more about cooking than a
hog does about gunpowder."
"I will assist you all I can," said Frank; "but I wonder what we shall
have for dinner? I hope it will be something good, for I'm as hungry as a
bear."
At this moment the whistle of the boatswain's mate sounded through the
ship, and that personage passed them and called out, in a low voice:
"Mess cook Number Twenty-five!"
"He means me, don't he?" inquired Archie, turning to his cousin.
"I don't know, I'm sure. Ask him."
"Mess cook Number Twenty-five," again shouted the mate.
"Here I am," said Archie.
"Well, you ought to be somewhere else," said the mate, sharply. "Why don't
you go and draw your rations?"
"I don't know where I should go," answered Archie.
"Then fly around and find out;" and the mate turned on his heel and
walked away.
"Now, that's provoking," exclaimed Archie. "Why couldn't he tell a fellow
where to go? I'll tell that officer that I didn't ship for a cook; I
shipped to fight. I wish I was at home again."
But regrets were worse than useless, and Archie began to look around to
find some one who could tell him where to go to draw his rations. At
length he met one of the men who belonged to his mess, whose name was
Simpson, who told him that he must go to the paymaster's store-room, and
offered to show him the way; and, as he saw that Archie was entirely
unacquainted with life on shipboard, Simpson told him to come to him
whenever he wanted any advice.
As Archie entered the store-room, the paymaster's steward, a boy about his
own age, who was serving out the provisions, after inquiring the number of
his mess, said:
"It's lucky that you came in just as you did, for I have sent the
master-at-arms after you. If you don't attend to your business better than
this, I shall have you put on the black-list for a week or two."
Now, Archie had never been accustomed to being "ordered about by any boy
of his size," as he afterward remarked, and he felt very much like making
an angry reply. But he knew it would only get him into trouble, and,
choking down his wrath, he answered:
"If any one will tell me what my duty is, I shall be glad to do it."
"You haven't been in the navy a great while, have you?" inquired the
steward, with a laugh.
"No; this is my first attempt at learning to be a sailor."
"Well, all I have got to say," continued the steward, "is, that you will
soon be sorry that you ever made the attempt."
"I am sorry now," said Archie; "and if I ever get home again, you'll never
catch me in another scrape like this. I don't like the idea of having
everybody order me around, and talk to me as though I was a dog."
"No reflections," said the steward sharply. "Better keep a civil tongue in
your head. But now to business. In the first place, here are your dishes,"
and he handed Archie a number of tin pots and plates, a large pan, and a
mess-kettle.
"What shall I do with these?" asked Archie.
"Why, eat out of them, to be sure," answered the steward; "what else would
you do with them? I shall hold you responsible for them," he continued;
"and if any of them are lost, they will be charged to your account. Now go
and put them away in your mess-chest, which you will find on the
berth-deck, and then come back, and I will give you your rations."
Archie accordingly picked up his dishes, and started--he knew not whither,
for he had no idea to which part of the vessel he should go in order to
find the berth-deck. But he had often boasted that he would have no
difficulty in getting along in the world while he had a tongue in his
head; so he made inquiries of the first man he met, who told him to go up
to the captain, who was always ready to send the executive officer to show
landlubbers over the ship. If there was any joke in this, Archie was too
angry to notice it, and he was about to make a suitable rejoinder, when a
voice close behind him said:
"Now, shipmate, what's the use of being so hard on the boy?"
Archie turned, and found Simpson at his side.
"The youngster hain't been to sea as long as you and I have," continued
the latter. "If we were ashore, he would stand a better chance of gettin'
along than you nor me."
"Then, shiver his tim'ers, why didn't he stay ashore, where he belongs?"
asked the man, gruffly.
"Oh, he's got the right stuff in him, and will soon learn the ropes,"
answered Simpson. "Come, now, my little marlinspike," he continued,
turning to Archie, "follow in my wake, and I'll show you where our
mess-chest is;" and the kind-hearted sailor led the way to the berth-deck,
and showed Archie the mess-chest, which had "No. 25" painted on it. Archie
put all his dishes into it, with the exception of the mess-kettle and two
plates, which, according to Simpson's directions, he took back to the
store-room, to put his rations in. The steward then gave him a large piece
of salt beef, some coffee, sugar, butter, and sea-biscuit.
"Is this all we have to eat?" inquired Archie, as he picked up his rations
and followed Simpson back to his mess-chest.
"All!" repeated Simpson; "yes, my hearty, and you may thank your lucky
stars that you have got even this. You'll have to live on worse grub nor
this afore your year is out. But I see you don't like the berth of cook,
so I'll take it off your hands. Give me the key of the chist."
Archie accordingly handed it over, and then went in search of his cousin,
whom he found perched upon a coil of rope, engaged in writing a letter.
"Well," exclaimed the latter, as Archie came up, "how do you get along?"
"I don't get along at all," said Archie; "I tell you, we've got ourselves
in a fix. What do you suppose we are going to have for dinner?"
"I don't know," answered Frank. "Well, we will have a chunk of salt beef,
coffee without any milk, butter strong enough to go alone, and crackers so
hard that you couldn't break them with an ax. I tell you, the navy is
played out."
"Well, it can't be helped," said his cousin. "We are in for it. But we'll
soon get accustomed to the food; we are seeing the worst of our year now."
"I certainly hope so," said Archie; "but I know I can stand it if any one
else can; and when I fairly get started, I won't ask favors of any one."
Frank made no reply, but went on with his letter, and Archie leaned on one
of the guns and gazed listlessly into the water. At length they were
interrupted by the boatswain's whistle, blown three times in succession,
long and loud.
"What's the matter now, I wonder," said Frank, as the sailors commenced
running about the ship in all directions.
"I know," answered Archie, as he saw Simpson dive into the cook's galley
and reappear bearing the mess-kettle, filled with steaming coffee, in one
hand, and a large pan, containing the salt beef, in the other--"dinner is
ready."
The cousins walked aft to their mess-chest, and found the berth-deck
filled with men, who were sitting around the chests, brandishing their
sheath-knives over plates fall of salt beef and "hard-tack."
Coming directly from home, where they had been accustomed to luxurious
living, our young sailors thought they could not relish this hard fare
but, as they had eaten no breakfast, they were very hungry, and the food
tasted much better than they had expected.
When dinner was ended, Simpson began to gather up the dishes belonging to
his mess, preparatory in washing them. Frank and Archie offered their
assistance, and Simpson directed the former to take the mess-kettle and go
up to the galley after some hot water. When he was returning, he saw a man
stealing around the deck, holding something behind him that looked very
much like a bundle of rope, and keeping a close watch on every one he met.
Frank did not know what to make of this, and stepping up to the
boatswain's mate, he inquired:
"What is that man doing with that bundle of rope behind him?"
"That ain't a bundle of rope, you landlubber," replied the mate; "that's a
swab."
"Well, what is he doing with it?"
"The best way for you to learn would be for you to spill some of that
water you have got in your kettle on the deck."
Frank, without stopping to think, tipped up his kettle, and turned out
some of the water; and the man, who had been watching his every movement,
sprang toward him and threw down the swab, exclaiming, "I've caught you,
my hearty; now you may log this bit of rope for awhile."
"What do you mean?" inquired Frank, amid a roar of laughter from every
sailor who had witnessed the performance. "What does he mean?" repeated
the mate; "why, he means that you have got to wipe up that water you have
spilt on deck, and carry that swab until you can catch some one else doing
the same thing."
For the benefit of the uninitiated, we will make an explanation. It often
happens on shipboard, especially receiving-ships, that the men become very
careless; and in carrying water, paint, or grease about the ship,
frequently spill some of it on deck. While this state of things continues,
it is impossible to keep a ship clean, and, in order to break up this
habit, the culprits are obliged to wipe up whatever they have spilled, and
then carry a swab about the deck until they can detect some one else
equally unfortunate. This is not a pleasant task; for, as soon as this
rule is put in force, the men become very careful, and the luckless
offender is sometimes obliged to walk the decks the entire day before he
can detect any one in the act of violating it.
Frank, of course, did not understand this, and the mate had got him into
the scrape for the purpose of getting the man who first had the swab, who
was a particular friend of his, out of his unpleasant position.
"Come, youngster, drop that mess-kettle and pick up that swab," commanded
the mate.
Frank knew he had no alternative; so he set his mess-kettle on deck out of
the way, and picking up the swab, walked aft to the place where he had
left Simpson.
"Hullo, there," exclaimed the latter, as Frank approached, "what's the
matter with you?"
Frank related the whole circumstance, and Simpson could scarcely restrain
his indignation.
"That bo'son's mate ought to be mast-headed for a whole week," he
exclaimed. "But I'll square yards with him some day. I'm sorry you have
got into this scrape, but it can't be helped. I've seen many a good
fellow, in my time, in the same fix. Now you must walk around the ship,
and if you see any one spill the least drop of water, or any thing else,
on deck, rush up and give him the swab. There are a good many landlubbers
on board, who don't know the rules, and you won't have any trouble in
catching them. Always be careful to keep the swab behind you, out of
sight."
Frank was a good deal mortified at being the victim of this novel mode of
punishment; but he consoled himself with the thought that he would soon
learn his duty, and be enabled to avoid all such scrapes. He walked about
the vessel for an hour, trailing the swab along the deck behind him; but
it seemed as though every one was particularly careful.
Meanwhile Archie, who had learned the particulars of the case from
Simpson, was acting as a sort of scout, hoping to be of some assistance to
his cousin. But he looked and waited in vain for some one to violate the
rule, and finally he resolved to make use of a little strategy in
releasing Frank.
Discovering a man coming out of the galley with a pail of water, Archie
walked rapidly down the deck, and jostled him with sufficient force to
empty half the contents of his pail on the deck. Archie did not, of
course, stop to apologize, but hurried on, and before the man could look
up to see who had caused the mischief, he had disappeared Frank, who had
been watching his cousin's motions, immediately stepped up and dropped the
swab before the man, and walked away, laughing in his sleeve, when he
thought how cleverly his release had been accomplished.
When the hour of bedtime arrived, the boys were instructed how to get into
their hammocks, and laughed at for tumbling out on the opposite side. But,
after a few attempts, they succeeded in gaining the center of their
suspended beds, and were soon in a sound sleep.