Part of the Acorn Archive

Hearts of Oak

 

               

 

Captain J L Vivian Millett

 

Part 3

 

INDEX PAGE

Part One       Part Two     Part Three         Part Four

Part Five       Part Six       Part Seven         Part Eight

Part Nine      Part Ten     Part Eleven     Part Twelve

 

THE TWEED, one of the peculiarities about her was that the definite article was an integral part of her name, was the last of the East India Company's frigates. She was built at Bombay in 1852 as the PUNJAUB, a paddle-wheel frigate; she was of selected Moulmein teak all through, and it was said that twenty thousand pounds' worth of copper bolts were used in her construction. She had wedge-shaped bows and a square stern, with windows and imitation quarter-galleries highly decorated with gilt ginger­bread work, and absolutely no sheer. After an eventful career as a steamship, which has been written about so much that I don't propose to go into detail about it here, she was sold in 1862 to Captain Willis, the old Indian Marine having been merged into the Royal Navy. It is said that Cap­tain Willis recouped himself for his outlay by the sale of her engines.

 

I joined her in the East India Docks one day in May, 1882, together with nine other apprentices. She was commanded by the well-known "Gentle­man" White, so called owing to the fact that he never appeared on deck in any weather unless clad in a double-breasted reefer suit, white shirt, and starched collar. In European ports he never went ashore without a top hat. He was a man of about sixty, with a very squeaky voice. He kept himself very much aloof from his officers: indeed, he never had speech with anyone on board unless he was obliged, with two exceptions, and those were the carpenter and steward, who in consequence were looked upon by every one else as tale-bearers.

 

The mate was called Norie. He was a well-built man, standing about five foot ten, and a magnificent seaman. But during the twenty-two months I had the misfortune to serve under him he adopted the rôle of bucko mate, and put the fear of God not only into us boys but also into three separate crews we shipped during the voyage. His language was never anything but fluently blasphemous, and every­body was afraid of him, so that I was immensely disgusted when I discovered, two years after I had left the ship, that he was nothing but a fraud. He could not use his fists at all, and had, moreover, a streak of yellow in him. The man who made the discovery was Southby, a fellow-apprentice of mine during the voyage I made in the ship. He completed his time in her, and after­wards became third mate under Norie.

 

During the time Southby and I were shipmates we had a quarrel, in the course of which he called me a name I cannot write. This got my monkey up so much that I went for him, and in the space of a minute had finished him off as regards his willing­ness to continue the fight. This same young fellow, when third mate, answered Norie back. Norie said, with many swear words, what he would do to him, whereupon Southby told him to do it. The result was that the mate had to show for the first time what sort of stuff he was really made of, and although Southby was no fighter he knocked Norie out. His bluffing days were over, and he left the ship with his tail between his legs when she arrived in Sydney.

 

The second mate was making his first voyage in that capacity. He was a wonderful musician and could play pretty nearly every kind of instrument under the sun, but unfortunately he was no seaman. On arrival in Sydney, he got the sack through the ship of which he was in charge being caught aback in his watch and losing the foretopmast, and took on a job he was much better fitted for, namely, that of conductor of an orchestra. The third mate was the senior apprentice, a chap called Gorel, a big, hefty fellow, but rather a bully, and, so the rest of us thought, a bit of a sneak.

 

~~~~ooo~~~~

 

The KOW SHING

Galsworthy, one of my fellow-apprentices, had a very sensational experience in later life. After serving his time and passing as second mate he joined the employ of Jardine, Matheson & Co., of China, and eventually got command in their service. He was master of their steamship KOW SHING at the time when war broke out between China and Japan. The KOW SHING was conveying Chinese soldiers, and although she was flying the British flag she was chased by a Japanese gunboat, and finally overhauled.

 

The commander of the gunboat sent a boat off with a junior officer to tell Galsworthy he must leave the ship with all his European crew, as he was about to torpedo her. The Chinese general in command of the troops ordered him, on the con­trary, to remain in the ship, and drew his sword to enforce his words. When the officer who had come from the Japanese ship saw the state of affairs, he went down the gangway to his boat, and the third officer of the KOW SHING,  a young Englishman, purely out of politeness, followed him to see him safely off the ship. The Chinese general jumped to the conclusion that he was going to leave the vessel; he uttered a command, and the sentry at the gangway with one sweep of his sword cut the third officer's head clean off.

 

Captain Galsworthy now saw the danger in which he and all his company stood. On the one hand, from the gunboat, which might torpedo the ship at any time, and on the other from the Chinese soldiery, who had already given such a ghastly example of their intentions. He could do nothing but await developments, and it was not long before these came.

 

The gunboat hoisted a red flag, indicating her intention to fire a torpedo, and next thing a big hole was blown out of the KOW SHING's side. Captain Galsworthy gave the word to the crew to jump for it, and himself set the example. He told me afterwards that he had a terrible time when in the water, for as soon as the Chinese troops realized that the ship was sinking and that there was no hope for them they started to fire at the men swimming for their lives. The captain and some, if not all, of his crew escaped, but all the Chinese were either drowned or shot down by the fire from the gunboat.

 

Galsworthy was taken prisoner when he reached the land, and was detained for some time in Japan as a political prisoner. When he was released he received compensation from the Japanese Govern­ment, but his nerves had been so badly shattered by what he had gone through that he left the sea and became, I believe, Emigration Officer under the Board of Trade at Southampton.

~~~~ooo~~~~

 

Another apprentice, by name Hickey, was a dare­devil, but very lovable fellow. I met him once after I had left THE TWEED, when he told me some of his experiences. He took the rather foolish step of joining a Nova Scotia barque under a bully captain of the regular "blue-nose" stamp. Shortly after the ship left Cardiff the skipper said something to him he didn't like, and Hickey gave him a back answer. The captain jumped right off the poop and went for him, and before he had finished with him poor Hickey was pretty well battered to pieces. However, after that, strange to say, they were bosom chums. I heard since that Hickey joined the Singapore pilot service and died out there.

 

Then there was Southby, whom I have already mentioned; he came, I believe, from Ventnor in the Isle of Wight. Foran, whose father was a bookseller in the Strand, was a thorough good sailorman, and he had also a splendid voice for chantey singing. Another apprentice was Rush-brooke. You could hardly call him a boy, for, although he was a first-voyager, he was twenty-one years of age. He was a big, hefty chap, and the rest of us were inclined to be a bit afraid of him on that account. However, in Calcutta, when we were washing the decks one day, he and I fell out over something. In my sane moments I should never have ventured to tackle him ; but some uncomplimentary language he used with regard to my ancestry got my monkey up thoroughly and I went for him hands down. It was only about thirty seconds before we were separated, but during that time I had blacked both his eyes, split his lips, and made his nose bleed. He still had plenty of fight in him, and vowed that he would do all manner of things to me when breakfast time came along. I don't mind owning that I was scared out of my life when my hot fit was over, but, as it happened, my opponent thought better of it. He too had thought it over and realized that he had no right to say what he did, so, being a gentleman and a real good chap at heart, he came along and shook hands, and we were friends again.

 

This same fellow had written to his people saying that he did not like the sea life, and wanted to get a job in India; and while we were in Calcutta Captain White received a cable from the owner instructing him to let Rushbrooke leave the ship and give him a hundred pounds. Rushbrooke, of course, was tremendously set up, and I can see him now coming to wish us good-bye, two or three days afterwards, rigged out in the smartest of white clothes and full of talk about the white breeches and goodness knows what else he had ordered in readiness for the new job he had got. A week or two afterwards Captain White received a letter confirming the cablegram, and learned to his disgust that the amount instead of being a hundred pounds should have been a hundred rupees, or about seven pounds ten shillings. The skipper was very wild about it, but of course the money was gone beyond recall, unless he got any of it back from Rush-brooke's parents. Poor fellow ! he died from sun­stroke very shortly after he got his job ashore, so he would have done better to stick to the sea.

 

There were other apprentices, including two who deserted in Sydney whose names I have clean for­gotten, and everything else about them.

 

The steward was an old, old man who had sailed with Captain White for many years. He was a Scotsman and extremely mean; he hated the men and they heartily reciprocated the feeling. I can see him now serving out the lime-juice according to the Act, and it seemed to me that he took a positive delight in making his hands and arms as dirty as he could with scrubbing the cabin floor before dipping them into the bucket of lime-juice to stir up the sugar at the bottom.

 

The carpenter, like the steward, was a Scotsman and very thick with the captain. He was disliked all round for that reason, but he was a first-rate "Chips" for all that. I remember that he made singlehanded a complete set of yards, topmasts, and top-gallant masts during the voyage.

 

"Sails" was another splendid man at his trade. During the time I was in the ship he must have cut and made two complete sets of sails, and the way he used to work was an example to anyone. Needless to say, he was not a Britisher, but a Dane or a Norwegian, I am not sure which.

 

The bos'n was a thorough seaman. He had a magnificent bass voice, which could be heard above the strongest wind, but he was nothing of a fighter, and so had very little control over the men. He was a black-bearded man, and during the twenty-two months I sailed with him I don't believe he ever washed lower than the collar of his shirt!

 

THE TWEED's usual complement consisted of nine apprentices and sixteen A.B.'s, but on the passage out we had a double crew for'ard, namely, sixteen men signed on at the prevailing wages of £2 10s. a month, and sixteen at is. a month who were simply making a trip out in order to join ships on the Australian coast, where the pay was £7 to £8 a month. It proved, as will be seen later on, very lucky for us that we had these extra hands.

 

The accommodation for apprentices in THE TWEED was infinitely superior to that in the TINTERN ABBEY. We were berthed amidships, in accommodation which had been originally in­tended for second-class passengers. We had two-berth cabins, very small ones to be sure. I was fortunate enough to get a top bunk and so had the advantage of a big square window. This, although delightful in the Tropics, had its drawbacks in colder latitudes, for the window, being only loosely fitted, let in a plentiful supply of draughts.

 

The men's forecastle was a magnificent one, with plenty of head-room, and accommodation for sixteen men on each side, and a couple of two-berth cabins at the after end for the petty officers. The length of the forecastle head was fifty-seven feet.

 

The poop was sixty-six feet long, and had two entrances from the main deck. On the port side there was a short alleyway in which was the chief officer's cabin, looking out on deck, and a spare cabin next to it. A door from the alleyway led into the saloon. On the starboard side was a similar alleyway giving access to the second officer's room and a spare cabin adjoining ; from this also a door opened into the saloon. The space between the two alleyways was occupied by the pantry. The saloon was about thirty feet long by twenty wide, with a long table running from the mizzen mast to the after bulkhead. At the end of the saloon were two magnificent cabins which were used by the captain as a sitting-room and sleeping cabin, and on each side were passengers' cabins, each with a bathroom.

 

I used to take a great pleasure in cleaning and polishing the rifles and old swords which hung in their racks round the masts. These were relics of the days when these, and even small cannons,  used to be carried by all ships engaged in the East Indian and China trades, as a precaution against the pirates who swarmed in all the seas of the East.

 

We towed out of the East India Dock the day I joined; old Captain Willis, the owner of the ship, stood at the dockhead to watch us away. Accord­ing to custom we apprentices lined the rail as the ship passed him, and, taking off our caps, called out "Good-bye, sir" ; he responding with a "Good­bye, my lads", raising the tall white hat he always wore, whence his nickname of "White Hat".

 

We then started work, and very soon shook down into our places; but it was not long before both apprentices and crew realized that THE TWEED was what the latter called a "blinkin' workhouse”. All the apprentices other than the first-voyagers were expected to do the work of men. The discipline was of the strictest; in fact, it was cruel. For the slightest offence we apprentices were punished by being kept at work during our watch below.

 

THE TWEED was a three skysail ship, and we always had to handle the skysail and royals on the main and mizen, leaving the light sails on the fore to the crew. Apprentices were never allowed on the bowsprit and jib-boom, Captain Willis having given orders to that effect. All went well for the first part of the passage, and we soon learned that the ship we were in was one of the fastest afloat; in fact, I doubt if any ship was superior to her in heavy weather. Mr. Norie, the mate, would have been a great sail-carrier if he had had all his own way, but Captain White was a very cautious man, and it was only when he was alseep that Mr. Norie had a chance to show what he could do with the ship.

 

We had fine weather as far as the Cape meridian, and at midnight, when the watch went below, every stitch was set to a light breeze. At two o'clock in the morning, in the second mate's watch, we were roused out by a loud cry from the look-out man of "All aback for'ard", followed almost immediately by "Foremast gone by the board". We in our bunks could only hear a great wind and the clashing of falling spars, but we could feel that the ship was on her beam ends. All hands scrambled out, and it was a scene of the wildest confusion which greeted our eyes.

 

The foretopmast with all the yards were over the side. It was so dark that no one could tell what had happened to the main, but we could hear spars banging about aloft and sails thrashing themselves to pieces. Some of us laid aloft to secure everything we could on the main and mizen, while others were engaged in cutting the wreckage adrift. We found that the main royal mast had carried away and was thrashing about aloft, the main upper topsail yard was fractured, and the main skysail and royal yards were hanging by the rigging. The crew rose to the occasion splendidly, and went to work with a will, so that by five o'clock everything that was damaged on the main had been either secured or sent down. Oddly enough, there was no harm done on the mizen. The ship, of course, righted herself as soon as the sail had been got off her, but next morning at daylight she looked a sorry sight with nothing set except the main trysail.

 

We got her off before the wind, and it is an absolute fact that in the next twenty-four hours we did 240 miles with only the mainsail set, a record which I believe no other ship has ever made, nor ever could make. THE TWEED's enormous square stern we always used to say was as good as a second mainsail, and it served her in good stead in that capacity on this occasion. During this time we were busy sending down the mizen yards and swaying up spare spars on the fore. The broken main topsail yard was fished, and a new foretop-mast sent aloft, and thus jury-rigged the gallant old ship covered 2,000 miles in a week, and reached Sydney on July 28th, only ninety-three days out.

 

Sydney Harbour in 1882 was without doubt the most beautiful in the world. We entered it on a beautiful spring morning, with the sun shining as it only does shine in the Antipodes, and with all its creeks and bays, like a hundred harbours in one, and the trees and shrubs growing down to the water's edge, it was a sight which will never fade from my memory. No doubt it is beautiful still, but it is not what it was in the days I write of. Now, alas I houses and roads are to be seen everywhere, and in order that they might be constructed trees have been cut down wholesale.

 

The Tweed must have presented a woeful if interesting spectacle as she entered the harbour. However, she was not alone in misfortune, for the mail steamer AUSTRAL, the crack steamship of her time, had sunk at her moorings the day before owing to her lower ports having been left open when coaling, and her masts and a part of her super­structure were visible above the waters of the bay. We dipped our flag in token of sympathy as we passed her by.

 

As soon as we moored the whole of the crew took themselves off, cursing the ship whole-heartedly. We towed to Waterman's Bay after discharging our cargo, and for three months we apprentices, with the bos'n and an A.B. called Robson, were hard at work re-rigging the ship. This seaman Robson, a Chinaman by birth, was without doubt one of the finest sailormen that ever went to sea. He had a remarkable history. He was picked up in a canoe when he was a few months old, in which he had evidently been placed and sent adrift to die. The captain adopted him and trained him to the sea. What he did not know about sailorizing wasn't worth knowing. Of course, he was a regular Chinaman in appearance, but in every other way he could not be distinguished from an Englishman; and although he was inclined to be silent, everybody liked him and respected him for his seamanlike qualities.

 

Mr. Norie, the bos'n, and Robson were, of course, the men who really re-rigged the ship ; we appren­tices naturally could only lend a hand and do as we were told. The carpenter made the spars, and the sailmaker a new suit of sails. The wire for the rigging was all sent out from home. It took us three months' hard work to complete the job, and we then towed round to Newcastle to load coal for Manilla.

 

We got very little time ashore at Sydney, only occasionally in the evening and on Sundays, as we were kept at work from six in the morning until six at night. We greatly envied other apprentices, who seemed to get plenty of leave, and it was adding insult to injury when they used to ask us if ours was a reformatory ship!

 

We shipped a new crew in Newcastle. They were a poor lot, but they had to be paid the Aus­tralian wages of £7 to £7 10s a month, and the new second mate £9 a month. Mr. Norie's feelings may be imagined, especially as regarded the second mate, as he was only getting £6 a month as chief officer. He evidently made up his mind to wear the crew and the second mate out, and as soon as we were out of the harbour he selected the weediest of the new hands and laid him out with a handspike, the result being that the poor devil was slightly imbecile from that time. This exploit had the effect of making the rest of the crowd think Norie a real bucko, and having thus put the fear of God into them he proceeded to work them, and us apprentices along with them, very nearly to death.

 

We had an uneventful passage to Manilla, and sailed right into the anchorage about two miles from the shore. Manilla was, of course, at that time owned by the Spaniards, and had no docks or wharves. The captains used to go ashore in their own four-oared gigs, and the boats' crews vied with each other in smartness of handling, keeping stroke, and tossing their oars when going alongside a landing-stage or gangway.

 

The crew and ourselves were given three-cornered scrapers and put over the side in the blazing sun to scrape all the paint off to the bare teak, and then plane it so as to get a smooth surface. Day in and day out were we kept at it, and although there were twenty of us at work it can be imagined that it was a slow and wearisome business ; and it was made more distasteful by the heat of the sun and the scrapings of the paint, which got into our eyes. However, by the time we left Manilla she was scraped and planed quite smooth, with the exception of the stern. We all thought the ship a regular workhouse, but we derived a certain amount of comfort from the reflection that there were two American ships lying near by whose crews were treated even worse than we were.

 

One of these ships was the famous, or infamous, PAUL REVERE, rightly looked upon as one of the hardest in the American merchant service. Her masts and yards were all scraped bright, and her decks were a greyish white owing to their having been coal-tarred before they were holystoned. Although we lay a full half mile away, we could often hear the officers blaspheming at the men, and see members of the crew scraping the spars as a punishment by the light of the moon. The other ship was an American barquentine whose crew were even worse treated. The poor devils had found the ship such a hell that they had deserted at Foo-chow, only to find themselves stranded in that place. They therefore had to crawl back to the ship and ask to be taken on again, and, being technically deserters, their lives were made less worth living than ever.

 

There were two Nova Scotian barques at the anchorage, one of which carried a stewardess instead of a steward. She and the skipper had a row, and the latter thereupon arranged with the captain of the other "blue-nose" that she should marry his cook and act as stewardess in the other ship. The cook was bribed into falling in with this arrangement, and the two crews had a holiday to celebrate the happy event, which took place on board an English man-of-war lying in the harbour. There were great rejoicings all day and lots of bunting flying, and in the evening the steward of the second ship went over to the one the stewardess had left, and all was peace. However, the bride soon got tired either of her new husband or her new ship, or both, for four days later she went on board her old ship and made it up with the skipper, who promptly sent his new steward back and sailed away with the stewardess.

 

The English man-of-war was a full-rigged steam frigate, and it was a fine sight at sunset to see the royal and topgallant yards and sometimes the top­gallant masts sent down in less than ten minutes, and at eight bells next morning sent up again, each mast crew vieing with the others as to who should get their yards crossed first.

 

When a ship sailed from Manilla it was the custom for each ship to try to get all sail set sooner than any of the others. The anchor was hove short, and when the first breath of the land wind sprang up about four o'clock in the afternoon it was both interesting and exciting to watch the different ships getting under way. The PAUL REVERE sailed the day before us, and I doubt whether a man-of-war with ten times the crew of that ship could have made sail quicker than she did. She was lying at anchor one minute with her sails all loose ; five minutes afterwards she was on her way out of the harbour with every stitch set. She had, of course, like all American ships, the advantage of cotton ropes and patent blocks, which up to that time were not used in English ships owing to their being more expensive.

 

Every ship in the harbour had to have two soldiers on board, who took day and night duty, in order to see that no smuggling went on between the ship and the shore. These men were not allowed to leave the ship, and the captain of the guard used to row round occasionally about mid­night without notice, to see that the soldiers were aboard each ship. The soldiers, knowing that the risk of being absent when the officer paid his sur­prise visit was very small, used to take turns now and then at going ashore to see their wives, and, as it happened, on the only occasion that the officer paid us a visit, one of them was on shore. The other soldier told Norie in broken English that unless we were able to get his comrade from shore, and intercept his captain's boat before he had finished his round, the absentee would be imprisoned and flogged.

 

Norie immediately called six of us, amongst them being my unlucky self, to man a boat and go off to find the missing man, taking his comrade with us. We had a two-mile pull after midnight, fortunately in glorious weather, and landed the soldier, who went off in search of the other and found him. We then had a four-mile pull chasing round after their officer's boat, and eventually overhauled it and came alongside. The fellow who had broken leave went on board, and in about ten minutes reappeared, the poorer for a fine of ten dollars (which no doubt went into his captain's pocket), but vastly relieved at having escaped prison and a flogging.

 

The trip took us until about four o'clock in the morning, but although we looked for a little extra time for sleep, Norie hauled us out at six o'clock just the same.

 

When it came to our turn to sail, Norie had made every possible arrangement with a view to showing the other ships in the harbour how quickly he could get under way; but, as it turned out, every blessed thing went wrong, and it was fully half an hour after we left the anchorage before we were under full sail. Needless to say, we poor beggars who had been doing the work came in for a full share of Norie's bad temper on account of the mess we had made of his show performance.

 

As soon as we were clear of Manilla, Norie began to work us harder than ever. His reason, as I found out afterwards, was to make the crew and the second mate so dissatisfied that they would ask to be discharged when the ship reached Calcutta, and in this, as it turned out, he was successful, for they all left the ship in that port.

 

The food, which had never been good, became rapidly worse and worse. We, of course, had only our Board of Trade allowance, which was scarcely enough to keep body and soul together, and when the quality as well as the quantity was at fault we were hungry all the time.

 

The biscuits were especially bad, being absolutely full of weevils and maggots. You could easily get rid of the weevils by taking the biscuit and banging it on its edge, when they would fall out in showers, but the maggots were a more difficult proposition. They used to hide themselves in crevices, and it was impossible to see them by the poor light we had at night-time; so we used to eat our biscuits and trust to luck that we weren't eating maggots. And if we were, we consoled ourselves by the reflection that we were only eating fresh meat!

 

All the same, we were far from satisfied with the poor grub we got, and after many days and weeks of growling about it amongst ourselves, I was deputed to lay the case before the captain. For some reason, what I don't know, I was always chosen to represent the apprentices on such occa­sions.

 

Accordingly, I marched aft to see Captain White when he was taking the sun at midday. Mr. Norie, who was with him, spotted me as I came up the leeside ladder. "What do you want?" he asked sharply. "To see the captain, please, sir", I replied. The captain thereupon turned round and inquired in his squeaky little voice what I wanted. I told him that we were dissatisfied with the food, to which he replied: “You are getting your Board of Trade allowance".  "Can we apprentices have more than that?" I asked, which seemed to rile him.   He replied angrily: "Get away for'ard, and just remember that I will not make the slightest difference between you and the men!"

 

Another time, a cask of salt beef was opened, and when it was served out to us, after boiling it, proved to be absolutely putrid. The men dared not com­plain, but they came along to the apprentices' house to ask us what we intended doing about it. I volunteered to go aft and speak to the captain ; so off I went, carrying the tin kid containing our whack of beef, while all hands stood for'ard waiting to see the blow-up. Captain White and Mr. Norie were again taking the sun. When the captain saw me coming along with the tin in my hand he yelled out: "What do you mean coming aft like that?"  I mounted on to the poop, still with the kid in my hands, and boldly said : "I want you to look at this meat, sir. It is not fit to eat". The captain turned round to Mr. Norie, and said : "Get a knife and fork and see what it is like, Mr. Norie". The mate took a mouthful, gave one chew, slipped it out into his hand when Captain White was not looking, and threw it over the side. Then, to my astonishment, he said: "The beef is quite all right, sir". I was so taken aback that when Captain White ordered me off the poop I went without a word. But the men, who had been watching everything that went on, met me as I went for'ard, and, when I told them what had happened, they forgot their fear and made a simultaneous bolt aft, we appren­tices following them. I shall never forget the look of dismay that spread over the faces of the captain and Mr. Norie when they saw the whole crowd coming quickly aft. They must have thought they were in for a mutiny, and when one of the men said that they had had no dinner because they could not eat the meat, Captain White was diplomatic enough to say that fresh tinned meat should be served out to them at once, and that the cask of meat which we said was rotten should be thrown overboard.

 

I often wondered why Norie or Gorell, the third mate, never gave me a hammering. I was certainly the most truculent boy in the ship, and I can only guess that, knowing I had held my own, and rather more, in the two fights I had had with the other apprentices, they did not care to tackle me. For all that, I am sure that they could have easily made short work of me if they had tried.

 

Any other ship would have sailed through the Malacca Straits, but I suppose there wasn't enough hard work in that for THE TWEED, and as there was no wind we spent two days kedging through. The procedure was as follows : We were called at half-past five, started work at six, and went on until dark, when the anchor watch was set, which would be about nine o'clock, with half an hour off for breakfast and an hour for dinner. Two boats were used, with a kedge anchor in each. As soon as the ship had been hove up to one anchor by a rope, the rope of the other anchor, which had meanwhile been dropped ahead, was taken to the winch ; and this business went on all day long, our progress being assisted by sailing when there was a breath of wind.

 

When the anchor had been let go for the night all sail had to be stowed harbour fashion, and the yards squared by lifts and braces, before we were allowed to go below. It was killing work, and we were glad when we were clear of the Straits and went back to the ordinary work of sailing the ship.

 

Soon after passing the Straits we fell in with the south-west monsoon, and a little later sighted the pilot brig off the mouth of the Hugli. There were about twenty ships waiting for a pilot, so we had to beat up and down until it was our turn. It was a welcome sight when we saw the flag go up which indicated that our pilot was ready. He was one of the real old type of Hugli pilot, with the air of an emperor at least, and he was accompanied by an English apprentice, two native servants, two native leadsmen, and about a ton of luggage.

 

As the south-west monsoon was blowing strong, the pilot undertook to sail the ship up the river as far as Garden Reach. We, of course, had nothing to do except making and taking in sail and attend­ing to the braces. In the river we overhauled and passed a big sailing ship, the THIRLMERE, as if she had been at anchor, although she was carrying the same amount of sail that we were.

 

The captain looked very worried as we sailed over the celebrated "James and Mary" shoal, upon which so many ships have come to disaster, but the old pilot never turned a hair. We eventually anchored at Garden Reach, and next day we were towed up to our moorings off the Esplanade, just above what'was known as the "Pepper Box".

 

Calcutta in those days had no docks, the passenger steamers lying alongside wharves near the centre of the town. Tramp steamers were unknown, and if my memory serves me right no steamer came to Calcutta unless she carried passengers. This being the case, sailing ships were always in demand, but when we arrived we found that freights had fallen so low in other parts of the world that all the owners had sent their ships seeking better charters at Calcutta. The river was choked with sailing ships, which lay at their moorings, four abreast, from above the Esplanade right down to Kidderpore. There were some magnificent and interesting ships amongst them, and I will just note a few which I can call to mind.

 

The EARL OF SHAFTESBURY was a four-masted barque which, like THE TWEED, had started life as a steamship. The CELESTIAL EMPIRE was a three skysail yarder and beautifully sparred. Then there was the ACCRINGTON, an old iron ship whose sides were so thin from old age that when the men were chipping her plates they actually chipped a hole clean through her hull! In those days they did not have to trouble about calling for a survey, but the ship's carpenter just put a plug in the hole and the ship sailed, but whether she ever reached home or not I don't know. She not only had the distinction of being the oldest iron ship there, but her captain was far the oldest skipper ; he was close upon eighty years of age and still able to do his work.

 

The CROWN OF ENGLAND and the ECCLEFECHAN were two new ships built for cargo-carrying. The latter had lines as awful as her name, but she was noteworthy for being square-rigged on all four masts, which was not so usual then as it became later. The PERICLES was, of course, the well-known clipper of the Aberdeen White Star Line. She was a beautiful little ship, as were all those belonging to that firm; but her day is now done, as I see that she has just been sold by the Nor­wegians for breaking up.

 

Then there was the BLAIR ATHOL, a large well-found ship with a very young chief officer, whom I used to admire greatly for the smart way in which he did his work; and others I remember are the KNIGHT OF ST. MICHAEL, a magnificent "four-poster" on her first voyage; the CHERSONESE (called by sailors the "Curse of Jasus"), another converted steamer dating back to the 'fifties which had turned out a very fast sailing ship ; the YARRA YARRA, a pretty little barque which came in under jury rig, having been dismasted in the Bay of Bengal; and the LADAKH, one of Bate's ships, and the very first, I should imagine, to serve out such unheard-of luxuries to her crew as butter and marmalade.

 

Part Four

 

Raymond Forward