On the voyage from Manila to New York we had the only interruption to
our peace. One day we were informed by the steward that some of the men
had thrown their beef overboard; that they were excited; and he feared
trouble. The captain made inquiry into the cause of disaffection, the
ringleaders in it, the nature of their threats.
He called them together on the main deck in the afternoon. All were
there except the man at the wheel. They were dressed in their Sunday
clothes; they stood round as men do when there is a strike. The
passengers kept out of sight, but were within hearing. We had heard of
mutinies; perhaps we were now to have some practical experience of them.
The captain told them that the steward had informed him that they found
fault with their beef. He believed that there may have been some reason
for complaint; that a new barrel had been opened that morning; he
believed that the first pieces had been exposed to the air, the brine
having been absorbed since leaving New York; that the steward happened
to give these pieces to them rather than to the cabin table, but there
was no design in doing so; that had we had one of the pieces for
dinner that day, we should no doubt have complained that it was not as
fresh after coming round Cape Horn as it was on leaving Fulton Market;
but we would not for this have abused the steward. Now as we were
getting to the last tier of the beef barrels he should have to shorten
their allowance a little, especially if they preferred to throw their
beef overboard, which they might do if they pleased, but they would
gain nothing by it; we were all in the same boat sharing alike. He had
heard of some expressions being used which were not right; he hoped he
was misinformed; they would find that so long as they showed themselves
to be reasonable men they would have no just ground of complaint. They
also knew what the consequences would be to any one who should make
trouble.
The men separated peacefully, making no more complaint; for we soon
drew from deeper brine and the beef proved to be all right.
Perhaps it was accidental, but the captain said that complaints
against the grub had been most frequently made by some Irishmen in his
different crews. Whether these offenders had been accustomed to the
best of fare on shore, and so were less able to bear discomforts in sea
life, or whether they were of a more jealous disposition than others
from some natural cause in their temperament, he would not say, but he
had found it more difficult to suit a man of this class in the matter
of grub than others; the shillaleh was too ready to appear at a fancied
attempt to get an advantage over him in his food. For quick witted,
daring, nimble, nautical feats, none have surpassed Irish sailors. As
quick as any one of his watch, you are sure to find an Irishman lying
out on the yard arm as far as to the weather earring, in a gale.
It is not right to lay hold of a few cases and impute certain classes
of faults to men of one nation, as though these men were all of
them specially addicted to that kind of transgression. There is no
assignable reason, for example, why an Irishman, rather than a Swede,
should be quick to find fault with his grub; if it has so happened
that, as a captain told us, he never in a long course of years, had
a disturbance in his crew about the grub but an Irishman was sure
to be at the bottom of it; that even when in all other respects the
Irishman was exemplary in his disposition, grub was sure to be a weak
point with him; still we would prefer to hear the experience of others
before we drew a conclusion unfavorable to a whole class of men in that
particular.