THE SAILOR AND HIS DUDHEEN
The Sailor and His Dudheen
IT is possible to find a sailor who does not smoke or chew tobacco; but he is a rare creature. The great majority of seamen enjoy their pipes and some chew the weed as well, finding much comfort and consolation thereby.
A very large number of friends have asked why do sailors smoke so much? It is not an unusual occurrence to see some of the seamen leave our concert hall while there is an excellent entertainment taking place, for the sole purpose of having a few draws on their old dudheens. Generally they are firemen and coal passers of the merchant steamers. These men have more opportunities than the deck hands to smoke. Usually they are on watch four hours of every twelve, and off or on duty they are allowed to smoke their pipes. There may be an exceptional ship where the engineer of the watch will prohibit a fireman or coal passer from smoking while on duty, but such discipline in the fireroom of an ocean steamship is seldom seen.
Naturally these men feel the need of a smoke after the duration of an hour. They long for a whiff of the pipe, and therefore leave their seats during a good concert to obtain it.
I do not think that seamen smoke oftener nor use more tobacco than any other class of men. When a sailor has donned his “go shore” clothes and is ready to take a spin on the beach the chief thing he sees to, is that his pipe and tobacco are in his jacket pocket, and when away from the restraint of ship life, he smokes to his heart’s content. Perhaps during the day when other men have had the privilege of enjoying several cigars and as many pipefulls as they desired, poor Jack has had only a few draws during the meal hours, so when his day’s work is over he makes up for lost time.
Take the amount of tobacco used by a ship’s crew and compare it with the amount used by the same number of landsmen and I think we will find the lesser weight to be credited to the “shell back.” So with drinking. The sailor uses less alcohol than the man ashore; not being accustomed to drinking, a very few glasses makes him totter and shake, and soon throws him on his beam’s end, while his brother, the landlubber, has been pouring it down his throat all day, and is able at the close of the night to meander his way home safely.
On a sailing ship it would be considered a breach of discipline for a man to be seen smoking his pipe while on duty. He is expected to refrain from such tendencies which help to weaken ship discipline, and abide his time till eight bells have been struck and he is relieved. Then before he closes his weary eyelids for a few hours’ nap, he can have the pleasure of a draw on his old dudheen.
I recall a voyage on an American full rigger where the question of smoking tobacco was the cause of much disturbance to the crew. During the watch below a sailor was not allowed to come on deck with his pipe in his mouth. He must confine his incense to the denizens of the forecastle. On Sundays, when the decks had been washed and the brass work cleaned, he could chew and spit over the rail; but the privilege of smoking at such a time or on watch during the night was an offense which meant the loss of an afternoon below.
On some ships there are times when the boatswains are not severe and cruel, then a sailor may slip into the forecastle and steal a few draws from his pipe. Especially if the man has come from the wheel where he has been grinding salt water for two hours, doing his best to keep the ship on her course, lest the officer of the watch find her wake is crooked and greets him with an oath or blow, or from the lookout where he has spent his watch in strange meditations.