IN WHICH PHIL FINDS HIMSELF RATED AS AN ABLE SEAMAN IN THE PORT WATCH.
"We are in blue water, Phil," said Mr. Ben Waterford, as he opened
the door of the state-room. "I didn't know but you might want to take
a last look at the shores of your native land, as you are a little
sentimental, like all young monkeys when they go to sea for the first
time."
"Thank you; it is very kind of you to give me the opportunity to do
so," I replied.
"It may be a long time before you see it again."
"Neither of us may ever see it again."
"That's a good deal more likely to happen to you than to me."
"There's no knowing what may happen to either of us."
"Whatever happens to either of us, I want you to understand, in the
first place, Phil, that I am the mate of this vessel."
"I understand that already, and because I understood it, I wanted to
get out of the vessel."
"You didn't get out of her."
"Unfortunately I did not."
"I didn't mean you should," said the mate, chuckling over the success
of his efforts.
"I'm here, and I'm disposed to make the best of it."
"I have no doubt you will be meek enough now; but you needn't attempt
to play the hypocrite here. Your cant won't help you."
"Cant never helps any one."
"You are growing sensible as you grow older," said he, with a sneer. "I
see you have shipped as an able seaman."
"I was not aware that I had shipped in any particular capacity. I
signed the paper at the captain's request."
"You are a very innocent little lamb. Didn't you write able seaman
against your name?"
"I did not."
"Then somebody else wrote it there for you, because you neglected to
rate yourself."
"My signing the paper was a mere form. I came on board to work my
passage to Palermo; and the captain said he would let me go when we got
there."
"When we get to Palermo he will do so," chuckled the mate. "In the mean
time, as you are written down as an able seaman, we shall regard you as
such, and expect you to do duty as one."
I did not understand him then; but I afterwards learned that sailors,
when they ship, rate themselves as able seamen, ordinary seamen, or
boys, the latter term meaning green hands, whatever their age or size.
If a man claims to be an able seaman, he must do the work of one;
not only be able to hand, reef, and steer, but to perform all the
difficult problems in making and mending rigging. In a word, he must be
proficient in all the arts of seamanship. He receives the highest rate
of wages.
An ordinary seaman is required to hand, reef, and steer; to make the
usual knots, and to understand the ropes and sails so that he can obey
an order from the officers; but he is not expected to be proficient in
all the niceties of making and mending rigging. A boy, or green hand,
is not supposed to know anything except what is taught him after he
comes on board. It is a great nautical sin for a man to ship above his
proper rating. If he signs his name and takes his pay as an able seaman
when he is not competent to perform the work of one, he is regarded as
a cheat. As there are usually but few able seamen in a ship, the work
of one who has thus deceived the officer has to be done by others, and
he is generally punished severely for the trick. The most unpopular
hand before the mast is one who has shipped above his rate; and all his
shipmates feel that they have a reasonable grudge against him.
The mate had evidently rated me on the ship's papers to suit himself,
intending thereby to draw down upon me the enmity of the crew. I
expected no favors from him, and was prepared to submit to any
indignities and hardships to which I might be subjected, consoling
myself with the belief that I had only three or four weeks of service
in the bark before me.
"I shall do my duty to the best of my ability," I continued. "I did not
expect to find you in the vessel, or I should not have been here."
"I suppose not; but I'm very glad you are here. I may say I wanted you
here, and it is not altogether by chance that you happen to be here,"
he replied, shaking his head. "You have come athwart my hawse once or
twice too often, Phil."
"I have never had any malice or ill-will towards you."
"Tell that to the marines! If you had minded your own business, I
should have been a rich man, and the husband of Marian Collingsby
to-day. No matter, my lad; I mean to be both yet."
"I only did what I considered it my duty to do."
"None of your cant! I'm going to call all hands in a few minutes, and I
shall take care that you are in my watch."
"Wherever I am, I shall do the best I know how."
"You will wish you had always done so, and not meddled with my affairs,
before this cruise is up. You are not going to live in the cabin, and
have plum duff for dinner every day."
"I will submit as cheerfully as possible to my lot, whatever it may be."
Ben Waterford appeared to be angry because his threats did not appall
me. I hoped that God would give me strength to do my duty, and enable
me to bear all I might be called upon to endure. My tyrant seemed to be
disposed to torture me before he sacrificed me; but I was determined
not to be tortured by any mere words that he used. I had already
nullified a part of the mischief he had done me, for I had my gold in
my pocket. If I could retain this, my future seemed to be tolerably
secure.
"Do you know how you happen to be on board of this bark, Phil?" said
Waterford, the malice twinkling in his eye.
"The circumstances led me here."
"Not exactly! I led you here."
"Perhaps you did, for it looks now as though an evil spirit had guided
my steps."
"Good, Phil! That was well said. You hit the nail on the head. I won't
tell you yet where we are bound; but I must tell you that I saw you on
board of the ferry-boat when you came to New York, and that Captain
Farraday induced you to ship because I desired it. This will be good
news to you, and I wished you to know it. Before I have done with you,
I am going to teach you to mind your own business."
"You will find me a good scholar at that," I replied.
I asked no questions, as he evidently wished me to do. I had parted
with him when we left the Ohio, but I had no idea where he had been
since that time. His explanation showed me why Captain Farraday had
been so anxious to have me go with him, and I felt that I had walked
into the trap very blindly.
"That's all, Phil. We shall be even soon. Now we will go on deck.
Where's your trunk?"
"On deck, I believe."
I followed him on deck. The bark was under all sail, and driving
rapidly over the blue waves. Far away in the distance I saw some hills,
which the darkness soon shut out from my view. The drunken crew had
certainly improved wonderfully since I had seen them last, for all were
quiet and orderly. I found my trunk, and was ordered to carry it to the
forecastle. A bunk near the door was assigned to me, and I put my trunk
under it.
"How do you like this?" asked the mate.
"Very well," I replied.
"Very well? Is that the way you address your officer? If you ever
speak to me or the second mate without a 'sir,' you will get knocked
down for your impudence. Do you understand that?"
"I do, sir."
"That's better. Now open your trunk; and let's see what you have in it."
"Open my trunk, sir!" I exclaimed, amazed at this requirement.
"Open it!" he added, sternly. "We look into every man's kit, to see
that he has no liquor concealed there."
I thought this was a reasonable requirement, after this explanation,
and I opened the trunk. The mate tumbled over my things very rudely. I
had tied up the relics of my childhood in little bundles, so that he
did not see their contents, and he only tossed them on the deck. He
picked up the bag which had contained my gold.
"What's this for?" he demanded.
"I had my money in it, sir."
"Where's your money now?"
"I lost it, sir."
"Lost it!"
"It was stolen from me, sir."
"Was it? Well, I hope you may find it again--that's all," chuckled he.
I made no answer; but I could not help foreshadowing the scene when he
examined the contents of his own trunk.
"Put back your duds, and stand by when all hands are called."
He left me, and I hastily restored my property to the trunk, and locked
it. I took up the bag which the mate had examined, and dropped the
handkerchief containing the gold into it. I dared not put the treasure
into my trunk, and I looked about me for some secure place of deposit
for it. An apartment frequented by twenty such men as composed the crew
of the Michigan was not a safe place for fifteen hundred dollars in
gold; but I had no alternative, and I thrust the bag into a hole under
my berth.
"All hands on deck!" shouted the second mate, whose name was Tom York,
though nautical courtesy compelled us to call him Mr. York.
The men gathered in the waist, and the captain made a speech to them,
which I thought contained buncombe enough for a member of Congress;
but the speaker, whose grog had not been stopped, as that of the crew
had been, was still boozy. The men were then divided into watches, the
mates alternately selecting a hand until all had been stationed.
"Call your man," said the captain to the chief mate.
"Phil Farringford, able seaman," replied Waterford.
"Your turn, Mr. York," added the captain.
"Ned Bilger."
"Jack Sanderson," continued the chief mate.
"Are you an able seaman, my hearty?" asked Sanderson, the man who had
been chosen second in the port watch with me.
"No, I am not. The mate is down upon me, and rated me as an able
seaman, because I did not know enough to rate myself," I replied.
"But we want the able seamen equally divided in the watches."
"The mate knows very well that I am not an able seaman," I added.
"Beg your pardon, Mr. Waterford, but this youngster says he's not an
able seaman," said Sanderson, stepping up to the mate.
"He shipped as such, and we take him at his word. You must do the same."
"That will never do, my hearty," growled Sanderson to me.
"I can't help it."
"You are honest, my lad," said the old sailor, who was at least fifty
years old. "I don't see why the mate should make his first choice of a
youngster like you, though."
"I know something about a vessel, but not much. I am willing to do what
I can to learn; but I don't pretend to be what I am not."
"That's honest," added old Jack, slapping me on the back. "I'll make
an able seaman of you. There, pipe down. Now come with me, and we will
overhaul the matter."
I went to the forecastle with Sanderson, and told him my story, so far
as it related to my connection with the vessel.