On Board the "Rocket"

by Robert C. Adams

"No, sir, I never did," said the mate.

"Well, I never did myself till last voyage, then I was so well pleased with the result that I should like to try it again. The voyage before that, I came on deck one night, while we were keeping all hands, and found the second mate sitting on the bumpkin, his arms on the rail and his head buried down in them, while he was snoring after the style called 'driving the pigs to market.' The next day I had a talk with him about his neglect of duty. He acknowledged his fault, but said it occurred in spite of all he could do. He said he had tried every way he could think of to keep himself awake. He had walked the deck until he was compelled from sheer exhaustion to sit down, for it was a hot sultry night, and he had been on his legs all day long. He assured me very earnestly that he had not neglected his duty intentionally. Said he: 'Cap'n, did you ever have any fault to find with the way I kept the night watch before we had all hands?'

"'No,' I answered, 'none whatever.'

"'No, sir,' he said, 'and I am sure you had no occasion to. Excuse me,' said he, 'I don't mean to growl at your way of doing things, but I can't feel that an officer is greatly to blame if he is drowsy at night in an all-hands ship. I was studying it all out last night while I was dragging myself fore and aft the deck trying to keep awake, and this was what I made out: I get nineteen hours to myself out of forty-eight, and when you take out meal-times, dog-watch, a little time for keeping clothes in order and what time I give up to the ship in my watch below to help things along, I can't get more than twelve hours' sleep in two days. Six hours a day is thought a small allowance on shore where a man can sleep it right through. But our rest is so broken I don't believe it does as much good. Three hours and a half or four hours is the longest sleep one can get at a time, and then he has to stand four hours on deck before he has a chance to get another cat nap.'

"I felt he had a good deal of truth on his side, though I didn't like to tell him so, and I thought a good deal about it afterwards. The next voyage I resolved to try how watch and watch would work, and when we got into the S.E. trades, homeward bound, I told the mate to say to the men: 'There's just so much work that's got to be done before this ship reaches port; now if you can do it with watch and watch, you shall have it, but if there's any 'sogering' or loafing you'll be kept up in the afternoon.'

"We began it. The men all worked with a will, and I am certain that as much was done as on the previous voyage. I took special pains to compare, and all through I noticed that there was more drive, and less loafing, going for a drink, turns round the foremast, and long spells at the grindstone. On some of the large jobs, too, I had a good chance to judge. I suppose there's no job that admits of as many 'soger moves' as scrubbing ship outside. The men come up on deck every little while to haul up or 'fleet' the stages they are working on, and then they spin out the time before they get back by sharpening knives and scrapers, or getting a drink, and a good many other moves that every one knows, who has ever had to follow up old sailors.

"When we had all hands we scrubbed the ship around outside in one day and thought we had done a smart piece of work; but with watch and watch we scrubbed her and cleaned the chain-plates below the channels, beside, in the same time, and as far as I could see the work was done fully as well. The difference was, that the men all felt an interest in showing how the watch and watch system would work, and there was no dodging, or loafing, or spinning yarns on the stages.

"Now I should like to have you do the same thing this passage, and the fact is, I want to see it proved a second time before I go over to it altogether."

Second officer sitting for his portrait, belaying pin in hand.