And the bit you get you earn it;
You can take the tip from me, sir, that it’s anything but play
When you’re layin’ on the screw,
When you’re draggin’ on the screw,
In the summer, under hatches, in the middle o’ the day.
So sings the Australian sailor’s poet Brady.
In the sixties the bales of wool were pressed on shore by hydraulic power, then lashed with manila or New Zealand hemp, or hoop iron, at the ship’s expense. The bales were generally pressed on their flats, but sometimes, for the sake of stowage, on their ends, when they were called “dumps.” They had to be stowed immediately after being pressed, as if left for any time, especially in the sun, the wool would swell and carry away the lashings. There were from 8 to 12 lashings for each package of Sydney wool, which were called single dumps, doubles, trebles and fourbles, according to the number lashed together, trebles being the most common.
The actual loading of a wool cargo was a slowish process, and sometimes attended with danger to the stowers if great care was not used, as wool bales have great elasticity. A description of the uses of screws, sampson posts, trunk planks, toms, shores, etc., would, I fear, be so technical as to be wearisome.