IN HER MAJESTY'S SERVICE
No money in advance, nor baggage as security for our board, was
required. Nothing in the house was too good for us; we could have
anything we wanted, and, oh, how glad the other boarders were to see us!
I almost felt at that time as if I had met about twenty long-lost
brothers. All that affection cost Jimmy and me several rounds of drink
for the "house." That afternoon we went to the consulate and received
our discharges and pay. The money was in Brazilian currency, and,
together, our money amounted to a hundred and fifty-five thousand
reis--twenty reis equal to a cent of United States money. Bookkeeping in
that country requires the use of a large number of figures.
Our first venture was to get new suits of clothes and enjoy the luxury
of a much-needed fresh-water bath, when "Richard was himself again."
What a change in our mode of living! Fruit of all kinds to be had for
almost nothing; comfortable beds to sleep in; fresh food and vegetables
to eat. The only thing I objected to was that we had too many newly
found friends. I was strictly temperate at that time. Jimmy made me his
banker, with the condition that I should give him money only in small
amounts.
Brazil is a very large country, and at that time was the only empire in
South America. Dom Pedro III was emperor. His palace was close to the
city of Rio. I saw him several times, as he frequently rode through the
city in his carriage, always escorted by his bodyguard of thirty
cavalrymen. He was a very fine-looking young man with fair complexion.
No doubt he was the most progressive ruler Brazil ever had. Now he is
dead and Brazil is a Republic. Rio de Janeiro is the capital, and a most
beautiful city it is. Viewing it from the bay in the night-time, it
resembles the dress-circle in an immensely large theatre, the
street-lights forming the rows of seats. The language is Portuguese,
much similar to Spanish. I had very little difficulty in making myself
understood when conversing with the natives. There was not a sewer in
the city. Large tubs about three feet high, eighteen inches in diameter,
were used in the houses for all refuse and waste material, and, when
filled, they were carried on the heads of slaves at night-time and
emptied into the bay. A large building at the water's edge was the
public dumping ground. The slaves were nearly all genuine Africans,
naked to the waist, the breast and face tattooed in different designs,
by scarring the skin with a knife.
When one of those fellows came down the street on a dog-trot, singing
"Hoo! hoo! hoo! hoo!" I would get out of his way quickly. It was a
wonder to me how they could balance those heavy tubs on their heads and
keep swinging their arms at the same time.
The native liquor is cashass, distilled from sugar-cane. Take equal
parts of pure alcohol and water, put in a very liberal quantity of
creosote, and you will have a good sample of cashass--flavour, smell,
and strength will be the same as the genuine article. One evening, on
returning to the boarding-house, there was quite an excitement in the
dining-room. My friend Jimmy was laid out on the table, with three men
holding him down; he was in spasms and frothing at the mouth. My
impression was that he had been poisoned. After a while he quieted down
and went to sleep. The next morning he confidentially remarked to me
that he had no more use for any of "that ---- cashass." My reason for
describing the liquor is to give an idea of its strength. Once, when I
was on an English man-of-war, it was probably the cause of a friend's
being drowned and of getting me into a serious scrape.
I would frequently take a stroll down to the military dock where the
boat from the man-of-war landed. It was interesting to observe the
peculiarities of the different nationalities. The Americans were the
most intelligent, very neat in appearance, their clothing of fine
material and well made, dark blue flannel shirts embroidered with black
silk, a white silk star on each corner of the wide collars, a silk
ribbon with the name of the ship in gilt letters on the sailor hats.
When their boats landed the officers would get out, then the boat's
crew, with the exception of one man, going where they pleased, returning
after a time, and pulling off to their ship. Next were the Englishmen.
Their clothes fitted awkwardly. In appearance they were not so bright
and cheerful. No going ashore for them! A midshipman was always in
charge of the boat, every man being required to remain in his seat. The
Italians, Spanish, French, and Brazilians were a dirty, barefooted lot,
probably not one in ten being able to read or write. The English always
had difficulty in getting men for the navy. Low wages, flogging with the
cat-o'-nine-tails, and no chance for promotion, were the chief reasons.
A law was passed allowing any seaman in the British merchant service to
volunteer in any part of the world for Her Majesty's service. That was
the reason why I got my discharge from the Grenfalls. I remained at
Portuguese Joe's for two weeks, my money being spent in sight-seeing.
Then I went on board Her Majesty's frigate Madagascar and shipped for
five years as an ordinary seaman. My pay was one pound sixteen
shillings--about nine dollars--a month.
I had to retain the name of Mike Murray on account of the discharge from
the last ship. Cloth was furnished to me--flannel and other
articles--for clothing, everything being charged to me excepting hammock
and bag. With the assistance of the other sailors, I soon had clothing
made and became a full-fledged man-of-war's-man. The Madagascar was a
very large frigate with two tiers of guns, and had been stationed at Rio
for a number of years without leaving the harbour. The admiral of the
South Atlantic station made her the flagship of the fleet. Only about
one third of the full complement of men was on board, and, consequently,
we had no drilling at the big guns or making and furling sails. But we
had "holystoning" decks enough to make up for it. At four o'clock every
morning we were routed out of hammocks to wash decks. Sand and a little
water would be sprinkled on the deck, each man would have a piece of
flat sandstone, and then, on our knees, we would do some mighty hard
scouring, hence the name of "holystoning." Afterwards, with the use of
plenty of water, the sand and dirt would be washed off. Then, with
swabs, the deck would be dried and afterwards swept with brooms. By that
time it would be seven o'clock, and then we had breakfast.
Jimmy came on board and shipped a few days after myself. We both
belonged to the same mess. He had a picnic, as I gave him my share of
grog to drink. Each mess was composed of fourteen men, each man in turn
being cook of the mess for one day. His work was to set the table, draw
rations, and bring the food from the galley. At twelve-thirty he would
take a bucket and get the grog. The grog was one half gill of Jamaica
rum and three half gills of water, mixed, making one half pint. Each
mess had a measure holding a little less than that quantity. The cook
would give each man his allowance, and the difference in the measures
after fourteen men had been served would be considerable; that would be
the cook's perquisite. Orders had been given to refit the Madagascar
with entirely new rigging. The Brazilian Government had given permission
to use one of their ship-houses to work in. Every day a gang of us were
taken ashore to fit up the standing rigging. We were at that work for
two months. The experience and knowledge I acquired in that brief time
made me a good sailor. The English Government had the lease of a small
island in the harbour on which were erected a number of buildings
containing supplies for the navy. As we returned to the ship at night,
our boat would stop there and bring off the paymaster. One evening we
had to wait for him. As was the English custom, the boat was rowed a few
hundred yards from the dock, then "Peak oars!" was the order, each man
holding his oar straight up, the handle resting on the bottom of the
boat, the blade in the air. It was the second cutter with fourteen
oars, two men on each seat, quite a fine sight, but very tedious for the
men. We had a sudden change from the sublime to the ridiculous that
time. Two of the crew had got into an argument. One of them, getting
excited, emphasized his remarks by lifting his oar and bringing it down
on the bottom of the boat. That ended the debate abruptly. The boat,
being old and rotten, could not stand such treatment. The force of the
blow knocked a big hole in the bottom. In a few seconds all hands were
in the water, men and oars badly mixed up. Those of us who could swim
struck out for dry land, the remainder saving themselves by clinging to
the wreck.
We had very little work to do after the old frigate was newly rigged. I
would look out of the gun-ports and watch the shipping in the harbour.
One day the United States brig Perry came in from a cruise on the
African coast and anchored close to us. She was a beautiful vessel. All
the crew appeared to be happy and contented. They were a fine, active
lot of men. I should have liked to exchange places with any of them.
Finally they went on another cruise in quest of slavers. The next time I
saw the Perry was in Boston during the war, and I was then one of her
officers, in a position I little dreamed of holding when I watched her
leaving the harbour of Rio de Janeiro.
I soon became discontented and homesick on the old frigate. My
messmates, knowing me to be a "blawsted Yankee," as they called me, made
me ill-natured. I usually returned what they gave. After several fights
they let me alone, but I was punished by being put on the black-list for
fighting. That meant being kept at work all day long cleaning
brass-work, etc. At dinner hour I would be on the quarter-deck with my
bowl of grog, an extra half pint of water being introduced, and I then
received a spoon with holes in it with which to sup the grog. With my
cap under my arm, I would be ordered to drink Her Majesty's health. It
was a tedious job sipping that infernal stuff out of the bowl with the
spoon. It would run out as fast as I dipped it up. Sometimes there
would be ten or twelve men undergoing the same punishment. In the
evening I would have to stand one hour on the quarter-deck, toeing one
of the seams. Poor Jimmy got into a scrape, so I had him drinking Her
Majesty's health with me. This was also the case with a half-breed
American Indian from Massachusetts, and a greenhorn from England, and a
very troublesome quartette we proved to be. That night all four of us
deserted. The first lieutenant had his gig condemned and got a new one
to replace it. While we were doing the seam-toeing act he came on deck
and ordered us to get into the new gig and pull around the ship, so that
he could see how it set in the water. A conversation between us while
rowing made it plain that all were anxious to run away. We went on the
gun deck and had a quiet talk. Everything was arranged for going ashore.
The boat could not be hoisted up, as there were no spare davits for it.
That just suited us.
At bedtime we got into our hammocks with our clothes on, and about three
o'clock we got our bags containing all our clothing and took them on
the gun deck. Matt, the half-breed, got into the boat from the gun ports
and hauled it around to the bow port. The bags were then handed down.
Jimmy had gone back for something and we were waiting for him. At last
he came and handed me a pocket-book. All of us got into the boat, and
away we went. No one had seen us leaving. There were three decks in that
frigate, the spar, the gun, and the lower or berth deck. The crew swung
their hammocks on the latter. What few officers and men there were on
duty at night would be on the spar deck, so there was no one on the gun
deck to bother us, and all below were asleep. Had there been a full
crew, arrangements would have been different and our plan frustrated.
When we got into the city, Matt and the greenhorn went ashore. Jimmy and
I concluded to take a trip up the bay. By seven o'clock we were quite a
distance from the city. The boat was run ashore and our bags were taken
out. The dry land was good enough for us. Something to eat was next in
order. The pocket-book was then examined and found to contain eighty
thousand reis, Brazilian money--forty dollars. Then Jimmy explained how
he got it. A new man slept next to my worthy chum, and every night he
would place his pocket-book between the mattress and the canvas hammock,
and lie on the whole affair himself, feeling secure against all loss.
Just where the pocket-book lay there was a lump bulging out in the
canvas, so Jim cut a slit in the right place and the booty was his.
A short distance from the landing-place were a number of
slaughter-houses, and the butchers were very much surprised to see two
man-of-war's-men with their baggage in their neighbourhood. One of their
number could speak Spanish, so a friendly conversation took place which
ended in their purchasing our clothes--bags and all. We received a fair
price, both parties being satisfied with the bargain. After eating a
good breakfast in one of their houses, we bade our new acquaintances
good-bye. With plenty of money in our pockets, and on shore, everything
seemed quite pleasant. Our plans were soon agreed upon--to take a
walking tour to the south, have a view of the country, get to the
seaport of St. Catharines, and ship on some vessel for the United
States. It was necessary to make a detour of the city to get on our
right road. After awhile we met a market-woman with fruit and bought
enough for our dinner. Sitting under a tree, we enjoyed our picnic very
much. All our money was then counted; there proved to be one hundred and
seventy thousand reis altogether. A fourteen-thousand-reis bill I put
inside the lining of my hat, the balance in my pocket. During the rest,
Jim proposed going into the city to make some purchases for our journey.
We went--and that was a grand mistake. When we passed the Hamburg House,
kept by a Dutchman, we were reminded that we were thirsty, so we went in
and sat down at a table and ordered a bottle of English ale. Just then I
noticed a young fellow go out of the door. After awhile I asked about
the ale--why they did not bring it? They replied that they had to send
out for it. Shortly afterwards the English consul's "runner" came in
with two vigilantes and, pointing to us, said, "Esas dos"--"Those two."
That settled it! We had been "given away" for the reward, three pounds
sterling--about fifteen dollars each--being the amount for apprehension
of deserters from Her Majesty's service, and off to the calaboose we
were marched. About twelve hours' liberty on shore was all we had
enjoyed. We were taken into the office and searched, and the money was
taken out of my pocket and carefully counted. They gave me a receipt for
it. Very greatly to their disgust, no big bank roll was found on my
chum. I never saw a cent of that money again. Our loss was somebody's
gain that time, sure enough. We were put into a cell with about fifteen
other prisoners, among them two sailors, deserters, from the English
sloop-of-war Siren. From them we found out the rules of our new
quarters. No food was furnished to prisoners--either to buy it, or have
friends bring it, was the custom. As they had been locked up for two
days without food, they had a yearning for something to eat. I called
the turnkey and made him understand in Spanish that I wanted coffee and
rolls for four. In Portuguese he made me understand that money would
have to be furnished first. I showed the receipt for money in the
office, but that would not do, so I took the fourteen-thousand-reis bill
out of my cap and handed it to him. He gave a queer, astonished look and
then a sickly smile, but we got the coffee and rolls, however. That
little luncheon cost me just two thousand reis. I considered myself
lucky to get the change back. They got nearly all of it, though, the
next day. Finally, we four deserters were taken outside the city limits
and, much to our surprise, landed in the penitentiary. Not having
committed any crime against the country, or having had a trial, we found
ourselves convicts "doing time" for nothing.