"My signing the paper was a mere form. I came on board to work my passage to Palermo; and the captain said he would let me go when we got there."
"When we get to Palermo he will do so," chuckled the mate. "In the mean time, as you are written down as an able seaman, we shall regard you as such, and expect you to do duty as one."
I did not understand him then; but I afterwards learned that sailors, when they ship, rate themselves as able seamen, ordinary seamen, or boys, the latter term meaning green hands, whatever their age or size. If a man claims to be an able seaman, he must do the work of one; not only be able to hand, reef, and steer, but to perform all the difficult problems in making and mending rigging. In a word, he must be proficient in all the arts of seamanship. He receives the highest rate of wages.
An ordinary seaman is required to hand, reef, and steer; to make the usual knots, and to understand the ropes and sails so that he can obey an order from the officers; but he is not expected to be proficient in all the niceties of making and mending rigging. A boy, or green hand, is not supposed to know anything except what is taught him after he comes on board. It is a great nautical sin for a man to ship above his proper rating. If he signs his name and takes his pay as an able seaman when he is not competent to perform the work of one, he is regarded as a cheat. As there are usually but few able seamen in a ship, the work of one who has thus deceived the officer has to be done by others, and he is generally punished severely for the trick. The most unpopular hand before the mast is one who has shipped above his rate; and all his shipmates feel that they have a reasonable grudge against him.
The mate had evidently rated me on the ship's papers to suit himself, intending thereby to draw down upon me the enmity of the crew. I expected no favors from him, and was prepared to submit to any indignities and hardships to which I might be subjected, consoling myself with the belief that I had only three or four weeks of service in the bark before me.
"I shall do my duty to the best of my ability," I continued. "I did not expect to find you in the vessel, or I should not have been here."
"I suppose not; but I'm very glad you are here. I may say I wanted you here, and it is not altogether by chance that you happen to be here," he replied, shaking his head. "You have come athwart my hawse once or twice too often, Phil."
"I have never had any malice or ill-will towards you."
"Tell that to the marines! If you had minded your own business, I should have been a rich man, and the husband of Marian Collingsby to-day. No matter, my lad; I mean to be both yet."
"I only did what I considered it my duty to do."