CHAPTER XXXV

[THE LONG-LOOKED-FOR PAYDAY]

On Monday, Sept. 26th, 1898, three days after our arrival in the bay, we were paid off before the United States Shipping Commissioner, the short interval having worked a deplorable change in the crew. Whoever was responsible for a condition so well calculated to cause the downfall of the returning deepwaterman, has a great weight of iniquity resting against his eternal soul; no doubt this responsibility was so well divided that each and every one of those guilty felt that his individual part in the great scheme of debauchery would go unnoticed.

I like to believe that all of them, boarding masters, crimps, runners, politicians, shipping officials, owners, managers, and masters who were parties to the fate that befell the men of the Fuller, have long since received their due reward in full consciousness of its meaning. Nowadays things are managed better, thanks to the greater influence of such noble establishments as the American Seamen's Friend Society, the Seamen's Christian Association in West Street, and the Seamen's Church Institute, on South Street, clubs where sailors are given room and board, are outfitted, and are able to bank their payday. Healthful amusements and recreation are provided, without that sanctimonious atmosphere that seems to curdle many well-meaning attempts of this sort and most of the shipping companies secure their crews through the Institute.

But in 1898, the deepwater sailor was at the mercy of the hungry sharks who had full sway in the vile business of ruining the souls and health of sailors in order to rob them of the few dollars earned during a year or more of cruel labor on the sea.

I have forgotten just where the shipping office was located, but it was somewhere near Beaver Street and the waterfront. I was on hand bright and early, anxious to see the crowd. The three days of rest and good food, and wholesome amusement, those happy days at the home of my uncle, had put me in fine condition; I never felt better in my life, and I was looking forward to a visit with the old gang. I wanted to take a trip around the waterfront with Frenchy and Australia, as we had often planned, and have a good dinner ashore, such as Frenchy and Tommy and I enjoyed in Honolulu.

The shipping office, as I remember it, had a dingy outer room in which the crew to be paid off awaited the pleasure of the haughty officials. One must be a sailor about to receive the scant reward for a year of toil, to fully appreciate the high and mighty character of such minor public officers as waited upon us on that bluest of all blue Mondays.

A gruff understrapper told me where to wait, and in the course of a half hour the crew, in tow of the crimps, appeared on the scene; I would like to draw a veil over this part of the story and leave the reader the simple picture of the men rowing toward the Battery, with Scouse shaking his fist at the ship, but realism, which in itself constitutes the highest romance, bids me tell things as I saw them, and the final tragedy is a part of the old days under sail that none of us wish to see return.

I looked for Frenchy, but hardly knew him. His beard was trimmed close to his chin, he wore his old cap but had on a cheap new suit of clothes, wrinkled as though he had slept in them, and his eyes were bloodshot. He seemed to avoid me, as he hung in the rear of the crowd. For every man to be paid off, at least two crimps were on hand.

All were more or less under the weather, the smell of cheap whisky permeated the room, and the ribald jests of the crimps, the constant whooping up of an ill-sustained merriment, gave the gathering a ghastly character that drove home to me with peculiar force. No doubt the close approach to the money caused the robbers more than a passing thrill. A couple of special bouncers from the inner office appeared when the gathering became too obstreperous, and I had a chance to say "hello" to the gang. Peter was there, sober, and wide-eyed with astonishment, having come from the house of Mrs. Burdick, the good angel of the waterfront. Australia, in a new rig, derby, watch, and soiled linen, kept bursting into song; not the songs of the sea, but some cheap new airs picked up along the Bowery.

"I owe them half of what's coming to me," he whispered, as if this was something to be proud of; a crimp slid up, and he at once ceased his confidences; all hands acted as though they were in charge of jailers, which in fact they were.

Brenden, Charlie Horse, and Tommy sat in a corner, sullen, and I judge partly sober.

Their attendants were anything but friendly. Martin, Fred, Tony, and Old Smith had given themselves over body and soul. Smith was already promised a ship, to sail in a week, so he had seven more days of hilarious living to look forward to, and then another drill, around the Horn or the Cape of Good Hope; another such voyage as we had just passed through.

Axel and Hitchen were in their old clothes; they had seen the sights, but seemed far steadier than the rest.

I cornered Frenchy. "What are you going to do when you get your pay?" I asked.

"I will pay up what I owe and ship for England or France."

"Better buy a steerage passage for Havre," I reminded him, when the crimp who owned him closed in, and a bull voice from the back room ordered us to line up for our pay.

My name was one of the last to be called, and as I got my pay, something over one hundred and twenty-five dollars, with slops and allowance given in Honolulu deducted, I returned to the outer room and found most of the men gone. As fast as they had got their money, the crimps had hurried them off to their respective boarding houses. The Kanakas came in, still in charge of the colored mission, or whatever it was, that had them in tow, apparently the only honest people there, and I bid those simple fellows good-bye; whether Kahemuku ever got to "Pilladelpia," I don't know; I hope he did.

Presently I was on the street. The crew of the Fuller had vanished. I looked for Peter; he was gone. I stood alone and strangers passed, bumping into me, no doubt thinking me a sunburned country yokel, stranded in those busy, narrow streets.

That afternoon I saw Captain Shackford, of the American Line, and was promised a billet as cadet on the St. Louis, just returned to the passenger service after her brief career as an auxiliary cruiser during the war with Spain. My service in sail was completed, and I was to experience eighteen months, as quartermaster, for I was soon promoted, on the St. Louis, during her golden age, when for a brief period it looked as though the Stars and Stripes were again to come into their own upon the Western Ocean.

THE END

Printed in the United States of America.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Chas. Scribner & Sons, N. Y.

[2] G. P. Putnam and Sons.

[3] Data re A. J. Fuller.

Ship A. J. Fuller.
Flint and Co. The California Clipper Line, Owners.
Signal letters J.V.G.B. International Code.
Built at Bath, Maine, 1881, of wood.

Gross tonnage 1,848.76
Net tonnage 1,781.88
Length 229.3 ft.
Breadth 41.5 ft.
Draft (mean) 17.8 ft.
Depth of hold 23.0 ft.

[4] Now Boatswain of the Schoolship Newport.

[5] The following is the Scale of Provisions allowed and served out to the Crew during the voyage in addition to the daily issue of lime and lemon juice and sugar, or other antiscorbutics in any case required by law.

BreadBeefPorkFlourPeasRiceBarleyTeaCoffeeSugarWater
lb.lb.lb.lb.pt.pt.pt.oz.oz.oz.qt.
Sunday11½½1/8½23
Monday11¼1-1/81/8½23
Tuesday11½½1/8½23
Wednesday11¼1-1/81/8½23
Thursday11½½1/8½23
Friday11¼1-1/81/8½23
Saturday11½1/8½23

SUBSTITUTES

One ounce of coffee or cocoa or chocolate may be substituted for one quarter ounce of tea; molasses for sugar, the quantity to be one half more; one pound of potatoes or yams; one half pound of flour or rice; one third pint of peas or one quarter pint of barley may be substituted for each other.

When fresh meat is issued, the proportion to be two pounds per man, per day, in lieu of salt meat.

Flour, rice, and peas, beef and pork, may be substituted for each other, and for potatoes onions may be substituted.

Note by Author.—The above is from the fo'c'sle card of the ship A. J. Fuller, taken when I left her. This scale of provisions was greatly amplified a few years later. It was found that a shipmaster sticking close to the law in the matter of provisioning could easily starve a crew, as there was no control over quality. On the Fuller, the owners were liberal in provisioning. Such trouble as we had was due to the conditions of deep water voyages.

[6] Changed in 1916 to admit men of 19 years, having the required sea experience, to examination for third or second mate.

[7] 1918.

[8] Dr. G. Schott, as the result of studying the form and height of sea waves, claims that under a moderate breeze their velocity was 24.6 feet per second, or 16.8 miles per hour, which is about the speed of a modern sailing vessel. (Some speed!) As the wind rises, the size and speed of the waves increase. In a strong breeze their length rises to 260 feet and their speed reaches 36.0 to 36.4 feet per second. Waves the period of which is 9 seconds, the length 400 or 425 feet, and the speed 28 nautical miles per hour, are produced only in storms. During a southeast storm in the southern Atlantic, Dr. Schott measured waves 690 feet long, and this was not a maximum; for in latitude 28 degrees south and longitude 39 degrees west, he observed waves of fifteen seconds' period, which were 1,150 feet long with a velocity of 78.7 feet per second, or 46-1/8 nautical miles per hour. Dr. Schott does not think that the maximum height of the waves is very great. Some observers have estimated it at 30 or 40 feet in a wind the force of which is represented by 11 on the Beaufort scale (the highest number of which is 12); and Dr. Schott's maximum is 32 feet. He believes that in great tempests waves of more than 60 feet are rare, and even those of 50 feet are exceptional. In the ordinary trade winds the height is 5 or 6 feet. The ratio of height to length is about 1:33 in a moderate wind, 1:18 in a strong wind, 1:17 in a storm; from which it follows that the inclination of the waves is respectively about 6, 10, and 11 degrees. The ratio to the height of the waves to the force of the wind varies greatly.—Scientific American.

Note on Above by Author.—It would seem that the late Dr. Schott, if quoted correctly, did not consider the "fetch" as an element in the process of wave formation at sea; but his maximum waves were observed at a point where there was plenty of sea room.

[9] The Beaufort Notation, to indicate the force of the wind.

0 Calm.
1 Light airs: just sufficient to give steerage way.
2 Light breeze. Ship under all plain sail 1 to 2 knots.
3 Gentle breeze. Ship under all plain sail 3 to 4 knots.
4 Moderate breeze. Ship under all plain sail 4 to 5 knots.
5 Fresh breeze. Ship close hauled can carry Skysails.
6 Strong breeze. Ship close hauled can carry Topgallant sails.
7 Moderate gale. Ship close hauled can carry Reefed topsails.
8 Fresh gale. Ship close hauled can carry Lower topsails, courses.
9 Strong gale. Ship close hauled can carry Lower topsails; reefed courses.
10 Whole gale. Hove to, under main lower topsail and reefed foresail.
11 Storm. Hove to, under storm staysails.
12 Hurricane. Hove to, under bare poles.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:

Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Otherwise, the author's original spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been left intact.