A bunch of rope yarns

by Stanton H. King

WE must have been about ten days out from Barbados on my first trip to sea, when Captain Dunscombe ordered me to bring all my traps on deck for his inspection. I felt ashamed to expose my ignorance, for I had never washed a shirt, made a bed, or sewn on a button; in fact I did not know how to care for my clothing and bedding.

During my short period of sea-sickness I had soiled some of my clothes and had stowed them in my cubby hole, the sail locker. The colored cook used a part of this locker in which to keep his stores, and while rummaging around the mainsail which was stowed there, he discovered my offensive clothing and brought it on deck for the old man to see what a dirty boy he had aboard. True enough, for at this time I had not a clean garment in my outfit. My first lesson in cleanliness was now given.

Captain Dunscombe had one of his sailors fill a deck bucket with fresh water, and, seating himself by my side, he taught me how to wash my clothes. It was a new experience for me. It seems strange to me that my sailor brothers did not tell my mother that it was necessary for me to know how to wash and mend my clothes. No doubt they thought of it, but they knew that in Barbados it was almost impossible for a respectable family to wash their clothes, as it was considered degrading, so the negroes did that work. And again, the method of washing clothes is very different from that of northern countries. The negro washer women carry the clothes to some running stream or river, and after giving them a few rubs on a small board, they rinse them in the ocean by pounding them on a white boulder at ebb tide. Then they are spread on the white, burning sands of the beach to dry. I had no knowledge of wash tubs and scrubbing boards, and had never seen clothes soaped and rubbed between the hands, therefore, the lesson I was then receiving on the Meteor was very much needed.

Before I proceed farther, I will advise every mother whose boy is determined to follow the sea for a living, to take her youngster into her kitchen and there give him his first lesson in a sailor’s calling. Teach him how to wash his clothes; instruct him in the making of his bed; have him sew on his buttons, and put a patch on his trousers or mend a rent in his shirt; then as he enters upon his duties as boy on board his vessel, he will thank you for his instructions. Make sure that he can care for the dishes, the knives and forks; let him be the housemaid, cook, the factotum of the home, for the more proficient he is in such duties, the more efficient deck boy he will be. Instead of a dirty slouch he will be a clean, tidy lad.

As there are no washer women on board a ship, it devolves upon every man to do for himself the personal services which are done for men on land, by the other sex.

After spending fully two hours rubbing and rinsing my clothes, I was then shown how to secure them to the footstops of the mainsail; so that they would not blow overboard. As cabin boy, I not only received my lessons in arranging the dining table for meals, washing and wiping dishes, but was fortunate to have a friend to teach me how to wash and mend. I have seen boys enlist as apprentices, yes, landsmen too, young men fresh from the country, who were utterly unable to grapple with the conditions of their new surroundings. Unprepared for that self-reliance which is suddenly thrust upon them, they go for days and days without washing their clothes, until they are forced to do so by the officer of their division.

I remember a lad of tender age who had enlisted as an apprentice. On several occasions he was reported for being dirty and at last one day his bag was brought on deck. As soon as the mouth was opened, a foul odor emanated from his clothing. The poor little fellow had done his best and had tried to keep clean as well as he knew how, but this had proved a failure. His condition elicited the sympathy of an old “flat foot.” The aged jack tar took the bag of clothes on a float alongside the ship, and there with brush, soap and water, taught the lad how to wash his clothes and helped him get his outfit clean once more.

I was once on board a large American sailing ship where we had a middle aged man among our crew. He was a native of Belgium and could speak no English. The poor man had a sore time of it on deck and hardly any better treatment when below among his mates. One day when we had been about four weeks at sea the sailor who slept in the lower bunk under the “Joskin”, growled about the dirt and rubbish that was constantly falling on him from the Belgian’s bunk. Every time the unfortunate farmer rolled in his sleep, down would fall some dirt on the face of his shipmate, disturbing his rest. It grew worse every day till at last the sailor in the lower bunk inspected the joskin’s donkey’s breakfast. In overhauling it he discovered that the whole bunk was alive with vermin. His dirty clothes had been pushed under the mattress, his bedding and what few clothes he owned were filthy beyond description. The greenhorn had no knowledge of washing clothes. One of the sailors bent on the end of an old piece of rope to the clothes and threw them over the side where for four hours they were hauled on the surface of the Atlantic till they were almost towed into shreds.

On a deep water sailing ship the water supply is a very important factor. As there is no knowing how much rain water may be caught to replenish the supply, every man must be careful and not waste any. I have seen times when it became necessary to put the crew on an allowance of water which was hardly enough for drinking purposes. How then can a sailor wash his face, much less his clothes at a time like this?

On a voyage to Japan I was five weeks without a drop of fresh water on my face. We were on our allowance, and in the heat of the tropics we could have used as much again to quench our thirsts. Each morning I washed my face with salt water till I could brush the salt from my features and see it fall in scales on my jumper. We were steering to the south’ard and longingly looked for the rain deluges of the tropics. When that solid down-pour fell upon us we all turned out from below with dirty clothes and blankets, and made a lather of soap visible everywhere. To keep clean during the days we were on our allowance, I bent on my clothes to the end of my chest lashing, and had the ship haul them along on the crest of the waves. In this way much dirt was removed. The towing of clothes, if the ship is making good headway, reduces the sailor’s wardrobe, for it will not take many hours for a vessel to drag a piece of clothing to ribbons, if she is sailing at a good rate.