HINTS TO SHIPMASTERS.
A Master in charge of a tramp steamer in these days must, if he wishes for any comfort in life, take good care of himself, for the pressure and hurry which is inseparable from his position, combined with the responsibilities and anxieties of his calling, put a very great strain upon him, and will, in time, unless he takes special care, have a serious effect on his health; this is more particularly the case with men of the nervous temperament. It cannot be expected that in this age, when so many thousands of people on shore fail from overwork and "high pressure," steamship masters, who as a class, are overworked and harrassed to a serious extent, should altogether escape. Again, unless a shipmaster takes an interest in the health, comfort, and well-being of his crew, he, in the first place, neglects one of his duties, and, secondly, sows the seeds of discomfort and annoyance to himself. Let us consider his duties to himself personally.
First, then, he must prepare himself to undergo, periodically, the discomfort of want of proper rest and irregularity in times of meals; he may, for instance, not be able to leave the bridge for over forty-eight hours or more on a stretch, and, of course, any shipmaster who may read this will know that this is no uncommon occurrence; during this time he may be unable to get regular meals, and what he does get may have to be eaten in a hurry and at an anxious time when he cannot properly enjoy and digest it.
A time like this may be followed by a period of rest, when the days will hang heavily on his hands, and he will be tempted to long afternoon sleeps merely to get through the weary hours.
Now, as a course of this kind of thing is bound, unless care be exercised, to act unfavorably on the digestion and bring on some form of dyspepsia, so also the nights and days of great anxiety and moments of great strain will, besides increasing the dyspeptic tendency, be apt to bring on nervousness in some form or other. It is a fact that in these times, and often from want of attention to health, nearly every shipmaster long in harness is more or less nervous.
There are people in the present day who have actually talked of making their chief engineer (who exercises his special trade at sea or on shore as suits himself and is in no sense a seaman) the master of the vessel, and turning the shipmaster into a mere pilot. Those who talk in this way forget that to do this the responsibility must be shifted on to the engineer. Of course such a change as this cannot happen, the country would not stand it; but I merely mention it to show the vast amount of ignorance there is, even among those who should be well informed, as to the real strain and responsibility on the modern shipmaster.
The master then, if anxious to do the best for himself, should, if possible, be a total abstainer, for two reasons: first, because, as he will be obliged to be irregular in his feeding, alcohol in any form will do him harm and tend to augment the dyspepsia. Secondly, because, often in times of great mental strain, combined with exposure, a glass of spirits will give great temporary relief (which is of itself a dangerous fact for a weak-minded man), but this will always be followed by depression, and will in reality be doing great harm instead of lasting good. Spirituous liquor may be necessary for a few, but these should use it under medical advice if at all. It is a hard thing for many men to give up their grog, but there is not a man of any experience in the merchant service who has not seen its blasting effects on many a master and officer. It is almost impossible to find a substitute for it which shall recommend itself to anyone who has really a liking for it, about the only things being coffee, lime juice, or lemonade and ginger ale. So-called temperance drinks are all of them very nasty stuff, besides containing a large percentage of alcohol; rather than swallow these one had better not change his habits. The master then, being an abstainer, should also give some care to his diet. Very heavy meals of meat and strong food should not be taken at sea, because there are no means of taking proper exercise, and it is impossible to work them off properly. Again, long, heavy, after-dinner sleeps should not be indulged in; a quiet nap of ten minutes would in many cases be beneficial, but the long sleep up to five o'clock is positively harmful to any man. One of the best things a master can do is to take up some work. No matter what it is so long as he takes an interest in it, such as joiner work, fret work, painting, writing, learning a musical instrument or a foreign language, or anything of that sort. It will be of incalculable benefit to both mind and body.
On occasions when it is absolutely necessary to be on deck for long periods, the steward ought to have orders to attend himself personally to the master's wants—to see that his meals are properly cooked and brought up to him at regular intervals, and that there is always a well made cup of coffee to be had when wanted. The ordinary cup of coffee as made at sea is generally a beastly mixture and not worth drinking. The steward has an easy life and should not be spared at these times, but should always be turned out when wanted, night or day, and made to look after these things himself, and a man who growls at having this to do or who will not take the proper trouble to see things well cooked and served up nicely with cheerfulness should at once be discharged, and a good man, of whom there are plenty, shipped in his place. The master, of course, should always be on the bridge when required, and in fog certainly all the time; but many men are over-cautious in this respect through sheer nervousness, and oftentimes expose and fatigue themselves to no purpose, harass their officers, and make them unreliable, so that when the time comes that their presence on deck is absolutely necessary, they are, through exhaustion of mind and body, in anything but a fit state to take charge of the ship, or be cool and collected in a moment of sudden emergency. Should a man feel that through hard work and exposure he is becoming shaky, he should at once leave off entirely the false relief which drink gives and consult a physician. A good man with experience will in almost any case be able to help him, and, besides medicine, give him such hints for regulating his diet and mode of living as will enable him to bear better than before the strain and wear and tear of his life.[1]
As to the crew. A master who has full command of himself ought to be able to rule judiciously even the most unruly crew, but before he is in a really strong position to do this, he must treat them fairly and honestly. In many cases a bad start is made with a new set of men (of course this will not apply to the high class mail steamers, nor perhaps to what are termed weekly boats). They come on board and find their forecastle just as the last crew left it, full of a week's filth,[2] possibly lumbered up with hauling lines and what-not, wanting painting badly, and often showing unmistakable signs of overhead leakage. This is quite enough to make a respectable man discontented, and naturally so. In common fairness, the often wretched place that the men have to occupy ought to be put in decent order to receive the new crew. Again, they should be distinctly made to understand, when signing articles, what their food will be, and what their pay and allowances will come to. It is to be feared that bad feeding is the cause of much trouble in these days. From first coming on board discipline should be enforced; many officers, both young and old, are greatly remiss in enforcing this, with the consequence that day by day it is harder to do, till at last it is impossible, and anarchy reigns triumphant. If a seaman finds that he is fairly treated, and that he must obey orders, he will in nine cases out of ten conduct himself well, and give no trouble. The more high class type of man the master is the better he will treat his men, and the more exacting he will be in compelling discipline, both in his officers and crew.
Engineers and firemen are often sources of annoyance in these days. Firemen are a lower class generally than seamen, and more inclined to insubordination; in many cases the engineers are quite incapable of keeping them in proper order, and it sometimes happens that in an engine room row it falls to the lot of the deck officers to restore discipline.