There have been so many stories told of the sufferings of boys, when
first sent to sea, that I shall not dwell long on those that befell
myself.
What a world to me was that ship! I little knew, before it became my
home, how many great men there were in the world. By great men, I mean
those high in authority over their fellows.
I went aboard of the ship, with the idea that my position in it would be
one which ordinary people might envy. I was guided to this opinion by
something said by the captain, at the time the indentures of my
apprenticeship were being signed. No sooner were we out to sea, than I
learnt that there were at least a dozen individuals on board, who
claimed the right of commanding my services, and that my situation on
board was so humble, as to place me far beneath the notice of the
captain in command. I had been told that we were to be _friends_, but
before we were a week out, I saw that should it be my lot to be lost
overboard, the captain might only accidentally learn that I was gone.
The knowledge of this indifference to my fate was not pleasant to me.
On the contrary, I felt disappointed and unhappy.
Aboard of the ship were four mates, two boatswains, a carpenter and
_his_ mate, and a steward, besides some others who took a little trouble
to teach me my duty, by giving me orders which were frequently only
given, to save themselves the trouble of doing what they commanded me to
do.
Only one of these many masters ever spoke to me in a pleasant manner.
This was the boatswain of the watch, in which I was placed, who was
called by his companions, "Stormy Jack," probably for the reason that
there was generally a tempest in his mind, too often expressed in a
storm of words.
For all this, Stormy Jack was every inch a sailor, a true British tar,
and all know what that means.
Perhaps I should have said, that all know what it might have meant in
times past, for Stormy Jack was not a fair specimen of English sailors
of the present day. The majority of the men aboard of British ships are
not now as they were thirty years ago. English sailors, in general,
seem to have lost many of the peculiarities that once distinguished them
from other people, and a foreign language is too often spoken in the
forecastle of English ships.
To return to Stormy Jack.
One day the carpenter had ordered me to bring him a pannikin of water.
Leaving a job on which I had been set to work by Stormy Jack, I started
to obey. In doing so, I caught the eye of the latter, who was standing
a little to one side, and had not been seen by the carpenter as he gave
me the order.
Stormy shook his head at me, and pointed to the work he had himself
ordered me to perform, in a manner that plainly said, "go at it again."