Chapter XIV (2)

The cook almost always lives in the forecastle, though sometimes in the steerage. He stands no watch, sleeping in at night, and working at his business during the day. He spends his time mostly in the cook-house, which is called the “galley,” where he cooks both for the cabin and forecastle. This, with keeping the galley, boilers, pans, kids, and other cooking utensils in order, occupies him during the entire day. He is, however, called with all hands, and in tacking and wearing, works the fore-sheet. He is also expected to pull and haul about decks in all-hands work, and is occasionally called from his galley to give a pull at a tackle or halyards.[423]

Seafaring persons, before the mast, are divided into three classes: able seamen, ordinary seamen, and boys, or “green hands.” If any man is found incompetent to perform the duty he contracts for, his wages can not only be reduced to the grade for which he is fitted, but something additional is occasionally deducted for the deception practised, and for the loss of service, besides the difficulties which too frequently arise from his misrepresentation, the crew justly deeming it a sort of fraud upon themselves. If, for instance, the articles provide for six able seamen, the men expect as many; and if one of them proves unequal to his assumed rating, the duties which would be commonly done by six seamen will fall upon the five, leaving the vessel short-handed for the voyage. But the hardship is felt still more in the watches, for if the delinquent is not a capable helmsman, the increased duty at the wheel alone would of itself be a serious evil. The officers also feel at liberty to punish a man who has so imposed upon all hands, and accordingly every kind of inferior and disagreeable duty is put upon him; and as he finds no sympathy from the crew, his situation on board is made very unpleasant.

[Sidenote: Their duties.]

To “haul, reef, and steer” constitute a sailor in ordinary phraseology, but something more is required from an able seaman, who should, in addition to these duties, be a good workman on rigging; and a man’s skill in this work is the chief test of his seamanship; a competent knowledge of steering, reefing, furling, and the like being taken for granted, and being no more than is expected from an ordinary seaman, though there is, of course, a great deal of difference in the relative skill and neatness of the work of different men; but no man will pass for an able seaman, in a square-rigged vessel, who cannot make a long and short splice, fit a blockstrap, pass seizings[424] to lower rigging, and make the ordinary knots in a fair and workmanlike manner.

[Sidenote: Division of their labour.]

In working ship the able seamen are stationed variously; though for the most part upon the forecastle, at the main tack or fore and main lower and topsail braces; the light hands being placed at the cross-jack, and fore and main top-gallant and royal braces. In taking in and making sail, and in all things connected with the working of the vessel, there is no duty which may not be required of an able seaman; yet there are certain things requiring more skill and strength, to which he is always put, and others which are as invariably assigned to ordinary seamen and boys.[425] In reefing, the able seamen go out to the yard-arms, and the light hands stand in toward the slings; while in furling, the bunt and quarters belong to the able seamen, and the yard-arms to the boys. The light hands are expected to loose and furl the light sails, such as royals, flying-jib, and mizen top-gallant sail, and the men seldom go above the cross-trees, except to work upon the rigging, or to send a mast or yard up or down. The fore and main top-gallant sails, and sometimes the flying-jib of large vessels, require one or more able seamen for furling, but are loosed by light hands.

[Sidenote: Duties of ordinary seamen.]

An ordinary seaman is expected to hand, reef, and steer, under the usual circumstances, and to be competent to “box the compass.”[426] He must likewise be acquainted with all the running and standing rigging of a ship; be able to reeve the studding sail gear, and set a top-gallant or royal studding sail out of the top; loose and furl a royal, and a small top-gallant sail or flying-jib; and perhaps also send down or cross a royal yard. But he need not be a complete helmsman, and if an able seaman should be put into his place at the wheel in bad weather, or when a ship is steered with difficulty, it would be no imputation upon him, provided he could take his turn[427] creditably under ordinary circumstances. But his duty depends a good deal upon whether there are boys or green hands on board or not. If there are, he has a preference over them, as an able seaman has over him in the light work; and since he stands his helm regularly, and is occasionally set to work upon rigging with the men, he will be favoured accordingly in the watch, and in common duty about decks. The distinction, however, between ordinary seamen and boys is not very nicely observed in the merchant service, and an ordinary seaman is frequently called upon for boy’s duty, though there are boys on board and at hand. If an officer wished for some one to loose a royal, take a broom and sweep the decks, hold the log-reel, coil up a rope, or the like, he would probably first call upon a boy, if at hand; if not, upon an ordinary seaman; but upon either of them indifferently before an able seaman.

[Sidenote: Boys or apprentices.]

We have already defined the term _boys_, as embracing all green hands of whatever age; as well as boys who, though they may have been at sea before, are not strong enough to rate as ordinary seamen. It is a common saying that a boy does not ship as knowing anything. Accordingly if any one enters as a boy, and upon boy’s wages, he cannot be blamed, although he may not know the name of a rope in the ship, or even the stem from the stern. In the ordinary day’s work the boys are taught to draw and knot yarns, make spun yarn, foxes, sennit, and so forth, and are employed in passing a ball, or otherwise assisting the able seamen in their jobs. Slushing masts, sweeping and clearing up decks, holding the log-reel, coiling up the running rigging, and loosing and furling the light sails are duties which are invariably put upon the boys or green hands. They stand their watches like the rest, are called with all hands, go aloft to reef and furl, and work whenever and wherever the men do, the only difference being in the description of work upon which they are put. In reefing, the boys lay in towards the slings of the yard, and in furling go out to the yard-arms. They are sent aloft immediately as soon as they get to sea, to accustom them to the motion of the vessel, and to moving about in the rigging and on the yards. Setting top-gallant studding sails, and reeving the gear, shaking out reefs, learning the names and uses of all the ropes, and how to make the common hitches, bends, and knots, are also included in the knowledge first imparted to beginners. There is some difference in the manner in which boys are put forward in different vessels. Sometimes in large vessels, where there are plenty of men, the boys never take the wheel, and are seldom put upon any but the most simple and inferior duties. In others, they are allowed to take the wheel in light winds, and gradually, if they are of sufficient age and strength, become regular helmsmen. So also, in their duties aloft, if they are favoured, they may be kept at the royals and top-gallant sails, and gradually come to the earring of a mizen topsail.

[Sidenote: Bells.]

Bells mark the time at sea. At noon, eight bells are struck, that is eight strokes are made upon the bell: and from that time it is struck every half-hour throughout the twenty-four, beginning at one stroke, but never exceeding eight. A watch of four hours runs out the bells. Even bells come at the full hours, and the odd bells at the half-hours. For instance, eight bells is always twelve, four, or eight o’clock; and seven bells always half-past three, half-past seven, or half-past eleven. They are sounded by two strokes following each other quickly, and then a short interval: after which two more; and so on. If it is an odd number, the odd one is struck alone, after the interval. This is to make the counting more sure and easy; and by such means the distinction between a full hour and a half-hour is more plainly indicated.

[Sidenote: Helm.]

Each watch steers the ship in its turn, and the watch on deck supplies the helmsman, even when all hands are called. Each man stands at the helm two hours, which is called his “trick.” Thus there are two tricks in a watch. Sometimes, in very cold weather, the tricks are reduced to one hour, and if the ship steers badly in a gale of wind, two men are sent to the wheel at once. In this case the man who stands on the weather side of the wheel is the responsible helmsman, the other at the lee side merely assisting him by steadying it or aiding its more rapid revolution.

[Sidenote: “Tricks” at the helm.]

The men in the watch usually arrange their tricks among themselves, the officers being satisfied so long as there is always a man ready to take the helm at the proper time. In steering, the helmsman stands on the weather side of a wheel, and on the lee side of a tiller. But when steering by tiller-ropes with no hitch round the tiller-head, or with a tackle, as in a heavy gale and a rough cross sea, when it is necessary to ease the helm a good deal, it is better to stand up to windward and steer by means of the tiller-ropes.

[Sidenote: Relieving duty.]

In relieving the wheel, the man should come aft on the lee side of the quarter-deck, as indeed he almost invariably does, and go to the wheel behind the helmsman, taking hold of the spokes so as to have the wheel in command before the other lets go. Before letting go the helmsman gives the course in an audible voice to the man that relieves him, who repeats it aloud, just as it was given, so as to make it sure that he has heard it correctly. This is especially necessary, since the points and half-points are so much alike that a mistake might easily be made. It is the duty of the officer of the watch to be present when the wheel is relieved, in order to see that the course is correctly reported and understood; which is another reason why the course should be spoken in a loud tone of voice.

[Sidenote: Orders at the wheel.]

If a vessel is sailing close-hauled and does not lay her course, the order is “Full and by;” which means, by the wind, yet all full. If she lays her course, the order then is her course, as N.W. by W. or W.S.W., and the like. When a man is at the wheel he has nothing else to attend to but steering the ship, and no conversation should be allowed with him. If he wishes to be relieved, it should not be done without the permission of the officer, and the same form of giving and repeating the course must be gone through, even though absent from the helm for only a few minutes.

[Sidenote: Repeating of orders at wheel.]

If an order is given to the man at the helm as to his steering, he should always repeat the order distinctly, that the officer may be sure he is understood. For instance, if the order is a new course, or “Keep her off a point,” “Luff a little,” “Ease her,” “Meet her,” or the like, the helmsman should answer by repeating the course or order, echoing the precise words, and should not answer, “Ay, ay, sir,” or simply execute the order as he understands it. This practice of repeating every word, even the most minute order at the wheel, is well understood among seamen, and a failure or refusal to do so is an offence sometimes leading to disagreeable results. If, when the watch is out and the other watch has been called, all hands are detained for any purpose, such as reefing topsails, setting studding sails, or the like, the helm should not be relieved until the work is done and the watch ready to go below.

[Sidenote: Conversation not allowed while on duty.]

In well-disciplined vessels no conversation is allowed among the men when they are employed at their work; that is to say, it is not allowed in the presence of an officer or of the master; and although, when two or more men are together aloft, or by themselves on deck, a little low conversation might not be noticed, yet if it seemed to take off their attention, or to attract the attention of others, it would be considered a misdemeanour. In this practice variations occur in different vessels. Coasters, colliers, or other small vessels on short voyages, do not preserve the same rule; but no seaman who has been accustomed to first-class ships will object to a strictness as to conversation and laughing, while at the day’s work, very nearly as great as is observed in a school. While the crew are below in the forecastle great licence is given them; and the severest officer will never interfere with the noise and sport of the forecastle, unless it is an inconvenience to those who are on the deck. In working ship, when the men are at their stations, the same silence and decorum are observed. But during the dog-watches, as already noticed, and when the men are together on the forecastle at night, and no work going forward, smoking, singing, spinning yarns (telling stories), and so forth are allowed; and, in fact, a considerable degree of noise and skylarking is permitted, unless it amounts to positive disorder and disturbance.

It is a good rule to enforce, that whenever a man aloft wishes anything to be done on deck, he should hail the officer of the deck, and not call out, as is sometimes done, to any one whom he sees about the deck. The proper place for the seamen when they are on deck, and are not at work, is on the forecastle, which comprises so much of the upper deck as is forward of the after fore-shroud. There the crew may have their meals, if they choose, in fine weather. Their food is cooked in the galley. It is placed in wooden tubs, or “kids,” by the cook and taken away by the men. Tea or coffee is also served out to the men, each of whom provides his own eating utensils, usually consisting of a tin pot, an iron spoon, and his “jack-knife,” which serves alike for fork and carver, and numerous other purposes. Such was, and still is to a large extent, the internal economy of the ordinary merchant sailing vessels of all nations.

Before closing our remarks on the vessels of other days, there is one class which ought to receive more than a passing notice, and that is the English collier. Mr. Cooke furnishes an admirable illustration of one of these vessels, now being fast superseded by steam, in the following sketch.

The average size of the regular collier has long been about 230 tons register, with a capacity of from fourteen to seventeen keels of coals;[428] and they were chiefly employed in the trade between the northern coal ports and London, although a considerable number of them were required to supply the wants of the outports (especially before the introduction of railways), and to these many of them still trade as well as to London. The crew of each vessel generally consisted of ten persons, all told, comprising the master, mate, and cook—who also performed seaman’s duty—five sailors, and two boys. Their duties were of the most arduous description. They were usually engaged for the voyage at a sum which included the discharge of the cargo, and sometimes the supply of their own provisions. Mr. Cooke furnishes an illustration of one of these vessels discharging her coals in the Pool (see below). The men are employed, as will be seen, “jumping” the coals in baskets, which, after passing through the weighing machine, are delivered into barges alongside. This jumping operation required a good deal of practical skill, and greenhorns often got awkward falls. It consisted of four men who held in their hands whip lines, attached to a rope, which was passed over a single pulley with a basket fastened to the end of it. As the basket was being lowered into the hold the men walked up a temporary platform, not unlike an ordinary four-barred gate placed slightly on the incline. When the basket was filled with coals they “jumped” from the top of this stage on to the deck, the weight of their bodies raising the basket in one whip to a point where a man in attendance could instantaneously capsize its contents into the weighing machine; thus the operation of discharging the coals proceeded with extraordinary rapidity.

Perhaps no branch of maritime commerce ever produced hardier or more alert seamen than that of the Northern coal trade. During her great naval engagements England looked to that trade more than to any other for the best, or at least the hardest and most daring seamen for her navy. Indeed, it afforded a supply of men who could go aloft in any weather and fight the guns, with the green sea frequently rolling through the port-holes. They never saw danger. Accustomed to work their way amongst shoals and sandbanks, and along iron-bound coasts in their frail craft, and during the most tempestuous weather, the shelter of a man-of-war was like a haven of rest to them. But though they frequently faced dangers without a thought which would have made the regular man-of-war’s man tremble, they stood sadly in want of discipline, and were with great difficulty trained to order, so that the comparatively easy life of a man-of-war’s man had few attractions for them. On board of the collier, master, mate, and men smoked their pipes together; and if they did not mess from the same kid, they were in all other respects pretty much alike, creating an equality and freedom more in accordance with their habits and tastes than the drill and daily routine of the royal navy.

FOOTNOTES:

[406] It was not until 1850, when the English Navigation Laws were repealed, that any material advance was made by the shipowners of Great Britain in the improvement of their vessels. In that year, when they were in a very desponding state, seeing nothing before them but “ruin,” the result, as they conceived, of an entirely free-trade policy, the author had the hardihood to order to be built, for his own use in the trade between London, Australia, and India, six ships, each of an average size of eight hundred tons register, and with a capacity of from eleven hundred to fourteen hundred tons, according to the nature of the cargo. The crew of each of these vessels consisted of the master, first and second officers, steward, cook, boatswain, carpenter, sail-maker, seventeen seamen, and five apprentices, or thirty “all told;” a very great difference, as will be seen, in the capacity and current expenditure, but no great advance in the proportionate dimensions, for the length was only one hundred and forty-five feet to a beam of thirty-one feet, and twenty-two feet depth of hold. Such was the popular prejudice even then among British shipowners against any material increase in the length. The impression had prevailed for centuries that a long ship must be weak, and a narrow one dangerous, from her “liability to capsize;” and no amount of argument would convince the old school of shipowners to the contrary. At last the author, anxious to practically test this question, built in 1853, contrary to the advice of numerous well-meaning friends, an iron sailing ship, which in length measured close upon seven times the width of her beam. Such a “monstrous” deviation from “established rules,” and that, too, in a “tin kettle,” the name by which the comparatively few iron ships then built were familiarly known, created considerable discussion, mingled with many gloomy forebodings as to the result. The ship, when finished, loaded in London and sailed, with a general cargo and her full complement of passengers, for Australia. She encountered rough weather, and meeting with some slight accident, had to anchor in the Downs for repair. The captain, officers, and crew were fully satisfied with the strength, safety, and good sea-going qualities of the ship; but after this trivial accident the popular outcry against her became so strong that the author recalled her, and despatched the passengers to their destination in another vessel. Though his pecuniary loss was very considerable, he resolved to make it rather than encounter the howl of indignation which must have arisen had he sent the ship to sea and any disaster befallen her, which might have happened to any other ship, whereby the lives of the passengers were lost or placed in jeopardy. The crew remained by her. No alteration whatever was made in her construction. She proceeded almost immediately afterwards, with a full cargo of general merchandise, to Bombay, and on her return the captain reported that he never sailed in a finer or safer sea-going vessel. Such vessels are now very common, and many of them, especially steamers, are much more extreme in length in proportion to their beam.—So much for popular prejudice.

[407] “Slops,” general term for ready-made clothes (Maydman, 1691). In a MS. wardrobe of Queen Elizabeth there is an order to John Fortescue to deliver some fustian for “sloppe for Jack Green, our foole” (Adm. W. H. Smyth, p. 633).

[408] These duties were too frequently overlooked, and the accommodation for seamen when at sea, or in harbour abroad, is still far from being as comfortable as the ordinary run of cheap lodging-houses on shore, although it has been greatly improved of late years, more especially since the Merchant Shipping Act came into operation. Previously it was generally of a wretched description, and as the Author has the most vivid recollection of the forecastle of the ship in which he served his apprenticeship, a description of it may serve to illustrate an ordinary specimen of the sea homes of sailors forty years ago.

The vessel in which he served was about four hundred and twenty tons register, and of North American build. She was ship-rigged, and had a flush deck, that is, there were no erections upon the deck except the galley or cook-house, which stood before the long-boat; on each side of both were lashed, to ring-bolts in the deck, the spare spars, and to these were again lashed a row of puncheons or butts filled with fresh water. This vessel was employed in the trade between Great Britain and Demerara, making occasionally a voyage to the Bay of Fundy (Nova Scotia) for lumber, a description of boards used for the heading of rum and molasses casks and sugar hogsheads. Her crew (she had more than the usual complement) consisted of twenty-one persons all told, comprising the master, or “captain,” first and second mates, and steward, all of whom lived in the cabin. Besides these there were the carpenter, cooper, and cook—who with the steward were expected to assist in seaman’s duties—ten seamen, and four apprentices. One of the latter lived with the carpenter and cooper in a place called the “steerage,” that is, a small space temporarily separated by some rough stauncheons and boards from the cargo in the square of the after-hatch. Here their tools, with various rope and sail stores, were also kept. The cook, ten seamen, and three apprentices had their abode in the forecastle. This place, which was in the “’tween decks” at the extremity of the bow, may have been about twenty-one feet in width at the after or widest part, tapering gradually away to a narrow point at the stern. The length in midships was somewhere about twenty feet, but much less as the sides of the vessel were approached. The height was five feet from deck to beam, or about five feet nine inches from deck to deck at the greatest elevation between the beams; the only approach to it being through a scuttle or hole in the main deck, about two and a half feet square. Beyond this hole there were no means of obtaining either light or ventilation, and in bad weather, when the sea washed over the deck, the crew had to do as best they could without either, or receive the air mixed with spray, and sometimes accompanied by the almost unbroken crest of a wave, which, in defiance of all the tarpaulin guards, too frequently found its way through the scuttle. Here fourteen persons slept in hammocks suspended from the beams, and had their daily food. There was no room for tables, chairs, or stools, so that the tops of their sea-chests in which they kept their clothes and all their possessions, were substituted for those useful and necessary household articles. In fact so closely were these chests packed that it was difficult to sit astride them, the mode which the sailors found most convenient for taking their meals, especially in rough weather. But the whole of this limited space was not appropriated to the use of the crew, for it contained a rough deal locker, in which the beef and soup-kids and other utensils were kept, while the stout staunchions or knight-heads which supported the windlass on the upper deck came through the forecastle, and were bolted to the lower beams; and too frequently, when the ship was very full of cargo, a row of water-casks and provisions were stowed along the after-bulkhead, which was a temporary erection; while on the top of these, cables, coils of rope, and numerous other articles were piled. At all times it was a foulsome and suffocating abode, and in bad weather the water and filth which washed about the deck and among the chests and casks created the most intolerable and loathsome stench. Here, however, these fourteen sailors and apprentices slept, washed, dressed, and had their food, except in fine weather, when they took their meals on deck, their food consisting almost entirely of inferior salted pork, beef, which was sometimes nearly as hard and unpalatable as the kids in which it was served, and brown biscuits, too often mouldy and full of maggots. To make matters worse, the forecastle of the ship to which the Author refers was full of rats, and he has the most vivid recollection of one of these animals on more than one occasion finding its way into the hammock where he slept. In the West Indies the place was so suffocatingly hot that the sailors invariably slept wherever they could find a clear place upon deck or in the tops; and in winter, when approaching the English Channel, or when on an intermediate voyage to the Bay of Fundy, it was as bitterly cold, no stoves or fires of any kind being allowed on board except in the galley and in the cabin. No Siberian slaves ever suffered so much from the intensity of the cold as did those of the sailors and apprentices of that ship, who had not deserted, during two months of a winter when she lay at anchor in one of the roadsteads of the Bay. The bow ports were then obliged to be open to receive the cargo, and could only be covered with matting during the night. One of these ports opened upon the forecastle, so that its occupants might almost as well have slept upon deck, their damp clothes as they lay upon the chests or hung suspended from the beams being frequently frozen to such an extent that the ice had to be beaten from them before they could be again used.

[409] “Wearing” is the reverse of tacking. The head of the vessel in this operation is put away from the wind and turned twenty points of the compass, instead of twelve, and without strain is brought up on the opposite tack. Lords St. Vincent, Exmouth, and other distinguished naval officers preferred “wearing” when possible, as less damaging to the sails and spars than tacking; but in merchant vessels, where progress is an object, tacking, when practicable, is invariably adopted.

[410] Dana’s ‘Seaman’s Friend.’

[411] “Serving,” or service-rope, is spun yarn wound round a rope by means of a serving board or mallet (Adm. W. H. Smyth, p. 608).

[412] The Dutch government do not compel the owners of merchant vessels to take any fixed number of seamen, as was required in British ships under the Navigation Act, but the Dutch Commercial Society, a very large trading company, appears to have made a regulation in the year 1843, that every Dutch ship which went out to Batavia should take on board one ass for every hundred tons! Evidence of Mr. William von Houten before a Committee of the House of Commons, 1843.

[413] Evidence given before a Committee of the House of Commons, 1843.

[414] Nautical terms for raising and stowing the anchor.

[415] The “earrings” are small ropes to fasten the upper corners of the sail to the yard. The “courses” are the sails hanging from the lower yards of a ship, viz, the mainsail, foresail, and mizen. A ship is said to be “under her courses” when no other sails are set (Admiral W. H. Smyth, pp. 270 and 218).

[416] In a man-of-war there is always a lieutenant of the watch on the weather side of the quarter-deck, but it is not so in the merchant service. When the ordinary day’s work is going forward the mates must be about the decks or aloft, like the petty officers of a ship of war; and it is only while the work is going forward, or in bad weather, on Sundays, or at night, that the officer of the watch, if the master is not there, keeps the quarter-deck.

[417] Chancellor Kent impugns this decision, and says the warranty of seaworthiness implies no more than that the assured must have a sound and well-equipped vessel, with reference to the voyage, and have on board a competent person as _master_, a competent person as _mate_, and a competent crew as _seamen_; and he cites cases where, as regards the American coasting and West India trades, this doctrine has been discarded. (See Arnold’s work, p. 721.)

[418] The “bunt” is the middle part or cavity of the square sails, that is, of the mainsail, foresail, topsails, and top-gallant sails.

[419] “Ratlings,” or rat-lines, are small ropes crossing the shrouds parallel with the deck, and answering the purpose of the rounds of a ladder.

[420] “Graftings” are ornamental weavings of fine yarn, etc, on the strop of a block; applied also to the tapering ends of ropes, sometimes called “pointings” (Admiral W. H. Smyth, pp. 562 and 345).

[421] The chief mate has no authority over the carpenter _in his trade_, except in the case of the master’s absence or disability. In all things pertaining to the working of the vessel, however, and as far as he acts in the capacity of seaman, he must obey the orders of the officers as implicitly as any of the crew; though, perhaps, an order from the second mate would come somewhat in the form of a request. Nevertheless there is no doubt, in point of discipline, he must obey the second mate in his proper place, as much as he would the master in his. Although the carpenter lives in the steerage, he gets his food from the galley, from the same mess with the men in the forecastle, having no better or different fare in any respect, and he has no right on the quarter-deck, but must take his place on the forecastle with the common seamen. In many vessels, during fine weather and on long voyages, the carpenter stands no watch, but “sleeps in” at night, is called at daylight, and works all day at his trade.

[422] “Steerage” generally means the portion of the ’tween-decks just before the gun-room bulk-head in ships of war, and below the after hatchway in merchant vessels.

[423] In regular passenger-ships the cook is not required to do any duty about decks, except in case of necessity, or of common danger. In other vessels, if strongly manned, neither the cook nor steward is sent upon the yards, yet it can, without doubt, be required of them, by the usage and understanding of the Merchant Service, to go upon a topsail or lower yard to reef or furl. In a merchant vessel where all hands are called the order applies to every one on board except the passengers. Those of the crew who do not keep watch are termed “idlers,” who besides turning out with all hands, are sometimes called up to help the watch on deck in any heavy or difficult duty in cases, when it is not desirable to call the other watch, who may have had severe service.

[424] “Seizings,” the fastening of any two ropes, or of different parts of the same rope, with turns of small stuff (Admiral W. H. Smyth, p. 606).

[425] In allotting the jobs among the crew, reference is always had to a man’s rate and capacity, and it is considered a decided imputation upon an “able seaman,” to put him upon inferior work, such as turning the spunyarn winch, knotting yarns, or picking oakum, while there are boys on board, or other work to be performed more within the line of his knowledge and capacity.

[426] To repeat the names of the thirty-two points of the compass in order and backwards, and to answer any questions relative to its subdivisions (Admiral W. H. Smyth, ‘Sailor’s Word Book,’ p. 127).

[427] A seaman’s spell at the wheel is called his “trick.” (Ibid. p. 697.)

[428] A keel is 21 tons 5 cwt.

LIST OF ARTICLES IN APPENDIX.

No. PAGE

1. Letter of Mr. Robert Thorne to Dr. Ley, ambassador of
Charles V 541

2. Letter of Advice and Instruction from the Merchant Adventurers
Co. 555

3. Inventory of ye Great Barke, A.D. 1531 557

4. Furniture of the Harry Grâce à Dieu, in Pepysian Library
at Cambridge 559

5. Names of all the King’s Majesty’s Shippes, Galleys, etc.,
(official return, 1 Edw. VI.) (Archæologia) 561

6. Note of all Shippes bound to Turkey, etc., etc. 563

7. Mersey Docks and Harbour board 564

8. Extracts from Charter Party of E. I. C. 570

9. Ships of E. I. Company, etc., 1700-1819 572

10. Ships of E. I. C. in 1820 576

11. Historical Abstract of services of E. I. C. 578

12. List of Wages, E. I. C. 583

13. Victualling Bill of E. I. C. 585

14. List of Large Ships of E. I. C. in 1831 586

15. Memorial of Capt. George Probyn 588

APPENDICES.