Part of the
Acorn Archive
Hearts of Oak
Captain J L Vivian Millett
Part 12
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Part Eleven Part Twelve
I
remained at home four months, while the PEMBRIDGE was making a trip to Buenos
Ayres and back, and I then received orders to rejoin her at Cardiff. We loaded
coal for Batavia, and I engaged three officers, who proved excellent, and a
fairly good crew. The chief engineer was a splendid man called Hume. His sense
of discipline was so high that although we were great chums in private or on
shore, yet when on duty he showed an example to everybody on board by never
presuming on my friendship for him.
We had
an uneventful but interesting trip out, and on arrival at Batavia I followed
the example of all other shipmasters in living at an hotel on shore. I felt
rather mean in doing so, as the heat on board ship, added to the coal-dust
permeating everything, made the life of those on board absolutely unbearable.
Even at the hotel one felt the heat severely. The bedrooms were without
windows, and without bed-clothes of any description, except the sheet one lay
on. The pillow was hard, as of course no one could lie on a feather pillow, and
there was a second pillow made like a small hard bolster, to serve as a prop
for one's legs, in turning over to try and find a cool part of the bed. Of
course the beds were carefully curtained against mosquitoes, but one or two
always managed to find a way in, no matter how carefully one manipulated the
curtains, with factory. I had carefully to sound my way as near the shore as I
dared, to find that even then I was a good one mile from the shore when
anchored in about twenty-five feet of water. The sugar came off in lighters as
usual and we completed loading in a couple of days, when, with a sigh of
satisfaction, and without a regret, I left the steaming, fever-stricken place,
and proceeded on our passage to Delaware Breakwater for orders, which, after
another uneventful voyage, I found had not arrived.
Delaware
Breakwater is a very bleak and uninteresting place to lie at. The quarantine
doctor was so interested in the cosiness of my quarters and the curios that I
had collected that he asked permission to bring off his wife and his wife's
sister to see them. They came, and I found them two charming young ladies who
had never been on board ship before, and so were much interested in all that
they saw. On leaving the ship I had to assist them over the rail, and found it
necessary to lift them, which was no great matter, as they were light as
feathers. As they waved back to me from the motor-launch I turned round to the
pilot, who was a rather coarse American, and remarked how light the ladies
were, whereupon he answered "Yaas, they're like all them Boston girls,
there ain't much meat on them" This I thought was rather a crude way of
speaking of them. But he was cruder still when I went ashore with him to
telegraph, as, when we were walking along the side-walk of the little village
he lived in, he pointed to a woman on the opposite side of the street, and said
"See that there woman! That's the woman I sleep with" I answered
"What do you mean?" To which he replied "Ain't I telling you?
That's the woman I married." Different men, different ways of expressing
themselves !
The
following day I received orders to proceed to Philadelphia, where we discharged
our cargo of sugar, and, to my satisfaction, every package turned out in good
condition, through our having been able, owing to fine weather passage, to keep
our hatches off for ventilation.
I
received orders to proceed to Savannah, to load a general cargo for Copenhagen.
At Savannah we found that everybody was keen on learning to ride the safety
bicycle, and so Hume and I decided that we would do so. For that purpose we
went to a big barn of a building, where all sorts and conditions of people were
being held on to bicycles, the instructor running with them and, without the
knowledge of the riders, letting go every now and then to see how the learners
were progressing. When a rider realized this he or she would invariably lose
confidence and tumble off. Both Hume and I had this experience; but after a
couple of hours our instructor told us that we could safely ride a machine
anywhere, and so naturally the first thing we did was to go and buy two
machines, which we afterwards carried with us, and used in every port we came
to, though Hume never had much confidence in his own riding.
On
leaving Savannah, knowing that I could not carry sufficient coal to take me the
whole distance, I wrote my wife to meet me at Dartmouth, where I intended to
bunker, and I also wrote my owners asking their permission for her to join the
ship there. We had a fine weather passage over, and I was overjoyed to meet my
wife. She, on her part, thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being on her
husband's ship for her first trip to sea.
While we
were in Copenhagen the wife of the late King died, and was buried in the family
grave at a church outside the town. My agent drove me out into the country,
where we stood in a field overlooking the road which the funeral procession had
to follow. I had a very close view of our present King, who was then only
Prince George, as his grandmother, Queen Victoria, was still living. Walking by
his side was the late Czar of Russia, and I was very much struck by the close
resemblance the two bore to each other.
On
completion of the discharge I had orders to proceed to Santos in Brazil, and
received permission to take my wife with me for the voyage. I made no change in
my officers or engineers, but of course we had a new crowd of men, amongst whom
it happened there was one very "hard case" of a fireman. He asserted
himself from the moment we started, and the chief engineer, Mr. Hume, who,
although a very quiet man, had a vile temper, told me that we were going to
have trouble from him. This soon came. I was walking up and down the poop, and
saw the fireman come out of the stokehold, go over to Hume, and apparently
speak insolently to him. I was not surprised to see Hume jump out of his chair,
and in an instant start lamming the fireman all round the deck. Hume made no
attempt to defend himself, but his two fists were driving as hard as they could
into the man's body and face, with the result that in about fifteen seconds the
man was practically knocked out. I meanwhile had rushed forward to stop the
fight, but it was all over by the time I got there, and when the man rec'overed
sufficiently I ordered him forward. But before going he turned round to Hume
and said "Shake hands, mister; you've done to me what four ruddy policemen
couldn't do all together at Barry". After that experience, although cock
of the walk in the forecastle, he was as good as gold at his work and in his
behaviour to those in authority.
We had a
fine-weather passage to Santos, which I found to be infested with yellow fever,
and my agents advised me to take my wife to a little seaside resort where most
of the Europeans went in order to be in a healthier climate than Santos
afforded. I forget the name of the place, but it was one of the prettiest spots
that could be imagined, with a very good hotel and a lovely white beach
stretching down to the sea. The hotel was packed with English and Americans,
who were extremely good to my wife and myself. Amongst the guests was the chief
engineer of the San Paulo Railway, who kindly asked my wife and myself to visit
him in order that we could see the famous wire-rope railway. It was rather a
thrilling experience being hauled up precipices by a wire rope, but the scenery
stretching down to the valley, and extending as far as the eye could see, was
simply superb. What on earth would have happened if the wire rope had snapped?
This, during thirty and more years, has never happened, owing to the care taken
in the constant inspection of the rope.
I had
orders to proceed to Galveston when our coal cargo was discharged. We said good-bye
to Santos with no regret, and I congratulated myself that none of the crew had
developed fever. We again had a fine run, and, on arrival at Galveston, found
we were to load cotton for Hamburg. Galveston at that time was built on a spit
of land not many feet above the level of the sea. In 1900 a tidal wave
practically wiped the place out, and thousands of lives were lost. The level of
the land was then raised before rebuilding, and now the city stands at a higher
level. It was the first town I had come across that had electric tramways, as
up to that time my experiences had all been of horse or wire-rope drawn
traffic. The weather whilst we were there was hot, and my wife and I spent all
our time at the hotel, from the grounds of which it was most interesting to see
the crowds surf-bathing. In due course the cargo was loaded and we sailed,
nothing of any interest occurring on the passage.
In
Hamburg I found that the good-fellowship that we had always experienced from
the Germans appeared to be diminishing, as they were still sore over the action
we took in mobilizing our navy when the German Emperor sent his famous telegram
to Kruger. In many cases the German in authority was as rude as he could be to
Englishmen, and while I was there it happened that in a restaurant two English
captains were sitting at a table next to some Germans, who, recognizing their
nationality, began cursing everything that was British. The captains took no
notice, wishing to avoid a row, but when one big German speaking in broken
English said to the others "Yes, my friends, ve vill haf Italy for
breakfast, France for lunch, and England for dinner" - one of the captains
could control himself no longer, and, turning round in a temper, said "Yes, and by the time you've
finished you'll have the ruddiest fit of indigestion you ever had in your
lives!" A free fight seemed inevitable, but some other Englishmen there
immediately got hold of the two captains and advised them to leave before there
was further trouble.
I
received orders to proceed to Cardiff, and again had permission to carry my
wife, as we were bound for Rio. I had a new third officer, but the other
officers were the same as on the previous voyage. We again had a good trip, but
on arrival at Rio I found yellow fever raging. I immediately took rooms for my
wife and myself at a hotel up in the mountains. None of the staff spoke
English, so all our wants had to be interpreted by other English people staying
at the hotel, or by signs. I remember amusing the native waiter extremely by
imitating the sounds of the animals that I thought were represented by the
items on the menu.
I used
to go down to the ship every day to transact my business, and so forgathered
with other masters at the ships' chandlers. Amongst them was a tall, gaunt,
very pale and thin man, who looked anything but a seafaring man. He was but a
boy in appearance, indeed, I heard afterwards that he was only twenty-five.
Being interested in him, I asked who he was, and was informed that he was the
captain of a Nova Scotia barque lying in the harbour. So I introduced myself to
him, and we had lunch together. He was an extremely well-educated man, and
apparently was the son of the owner of the ship, altogether a charming man to
meet. We arranged to meet again next day for lunch, but when I turned up at the
ships' chandlers at 12 o'clock as arranged, and asked for him, I was told that
he was buried, having died of yellow fever at six o'clock that morning ! The
awful suddenness of his death and burial made me wonder what might happen to me
or my wife. However, I congratulated myself that we should be sailing in three
days; but imagine my apprehension when, on the morning of the day we were
finishing the discharge, my wife was taken violently ill! I called a doctor,
and by an interpreter he told me that he couldn't say definitely what was the
matter. It might be typhoid or yellow
fever or anything else, and he could only wait and see. My state of mind may be conceived. The
ship was due to sail next morning, and unless my wife were better it would mean
that I should either have to leave her behind, or stay with her and send the
ship away under the charge of the first officer. I had an extremely anxious
time worrying over the matter, but the following morning she seemed a little
better, and when the doctor came I asked him whether it was safe to take her
away to sea. He, knowing my
predicament, and as a matter of fact neither knowing what was the matter nor
apparently caring much whether my wife lived or died, told me I could take her
away that evening; and as she herself wished to be away from such an infested
place as Rio, I carried her aboard the ship and immediately sailed.
After we
got outside the harbour and I had set my course I began to worry as to whether
I had been wise in bringing her to sea,
as she could scarcely speak and was looking wretched. However, after a
sleepless night looking after her, I was glad to see by her appearance that she
seemed better, and the reading of the thermometer showed me that her temperature
was normal. The day was fine, so I got
her on deck to give her the full benefit of the sea breezes, with the result
that when evening came she was out of danger, and after two or three days was
quite strong. I do not know, and never shall know, what her illness was, but
undoubtedly the pure sea air drove whatever it was out of her system and saved
her from something worse.
We were
bound again for Galveston, and the weather was fine and the Gulf Stream flowing
strongly, with the result that for two or three days we did over three hundred
miles a day, which meant that the Stream was flowing at something over three
miles per hour. On nearing the Caribbean Islands the glass fell very suddenly,
and the sunset showed the most wicked tints that anyone in the ship had ever
seen. I am not artist enough to describe them, but what with the low glass, the
oily sea, and then this almost uncanny combination of threatening and sinister
colours in the sky, every one on board felt decidedly anxious.
However,
to my unutterable relief, the glass began to shift up again about a couple of
hours after sunset, and I can only presume that there must have been a severe
local disturbance somewhere. If so, we were very lucky to escape it, as, the
ship being in ballast trim, and having but little sea-room in consequence of
being surrounded by islands, we should have had an anxious time if a hurricane
had come away. We kept the fine weather all the way to Galveston, where every
one we met on the previous voyage was glad to welcome my wife and myself again.
We found that our favourite hotel had been burnt down, and nothing was left of
it except the foundations. This spoilt our pleasure, as we could no longer
spend our days on the porch, basking in the sun, and watching the people bathe,
as we had done on the previous voyage.
We
loaded grain from an elevator, from which there were about ten pipes leading
down into two of our holds; these pipes were about one foot in diameter, giving
a constant stream of grain, in the same way as a water pipe would have done,
with the result that it took but a few hours to load the four thousand tons
that we could carry. I remember that a new steamer was lying astern loading
cotton, and, being built on the most economical method allowed by Lloyd's, she
looked so shoddy that I went aboard her in order to see the most modern type of
cheap tramp. I had to jump from her rail on to her deck, and to my amazement,
with even my comparatively small weight, the deck seemed to spring. It was the
favourite joke with the shipmasters after she had sailed to say that owing to
the screwing in of the bales of cotton the ship went out with two feet more of
beam than when she came in! I won't mention the name of the ship or the company
to which she belonged, but she certainly was constructed on the cheapest
principle that I had ever seen up to that time, or have seen since.
We had
orders for Havre, and, as the ship was deeply laden, I did not look forward
with any pleasure to going across the Atlantic in the late part of November.
All went well for the first few days, and then the glass began to fall and I
knew we were in for bad weather. It came on to blow from the westward, and so
long as we were running before the wind we did not care much, as, of course,
the gale helped the ship along. However, the glass kept falling, and my wife
began to get very nervous, hearing the seas thump on board. I took her along to
the chart-room on the upper bridge, where she lay down on my bunk, accompanied
by her fox-terrier, who was, if anything, more afraid than she was on hearing
the noise of the seas breaking aboard and washing over the ship. Every time the
sea struck the side of the house the dog yelped and shivered with fear, which,
of course, added to my wife's fright. But although I wanted to take the dog
away from her, she would not let me do so, as I could not be with her all the
time, and she felt that the dog was some company for her. The gale increased,
and as I preferred always to remain on the deck in such a case, I stayed on the
bridge, but
every
few moments I had to go in and comfort my wife, who was nearly hysterical with
fear. At last I had to dose her with brandy, and although she was a
teetotaller, and I gave her a whole bottle of brandy in less than eight hours,
her fear was so great that it had no more effect on her than if it had been
water.
What
with anxiety for the ship and for her I cursed the day that I ever wanted her
to be at sea with me, and I made up my mind that never again would I add to my
responsibilities by having my wife with me on a voyage which was not certain to
be a fine-weather one. As a matter of fact, my experience is such that I doubt,
if I were a shipowner, if I would allow the captains to carry their wives. A
shipmaster has quite enough responsibilities in his duty to his owners, and to
those whose lives are entrusted to his care, without the addition of his wife.
The
hurricane blew itself out, and we found that we had got through without any
damage whatever. The wind died away, and the sea kept as calm as a duck-pond.
The glass rose steadily and kept on rising day after day, and for five days we
were steaming through a dead calm. By the time we came to the Lizard the glass
was so high that I knew that nothing but an easterly gale could be anticipated.
Not wishing to encounter it before we got safely into Havre, which was the port
we were bound for, I gave the chief engineer instructions to open his engines
out, and I was thankful to have picked the pilot up at Havre before the gale, a
regular snorter from the north-east, broke. It held for two days, and we hugged
ourselves that we were comfortably in dock. As soon as I could assure my wife
that she would have a fine run across the Channel she decided to get home. The
sea had
become
an absolute horror to her, and was so ever after.
On
completion of discharge I had orders for Cardiff to load coal for Malta, where
we finally arrived. Nothing of any interest occurred there except that Hume,
the chief engineer, and I one Sunday morning took our bicycles ashore for a
ride into the interior of the island. As I said before, Hume was never
confident when riding and used to wobble whenever he met anything. Coming back
to the ship along a country lane, I was ahead of him about one hundred yards,
and I passed a young Maltese gentleman, immaculately dressed, swinging a cane.
I glanced at him as I passed by, and a few yards farther on, turning round a
corner, I looked behind to see how Hume was getting on. He was not in sight, so
I slowed down, and, as he still didn't turn the corner, I stopped and
determined to go back for him. At that moment he came along, pedalling hard,
and as he got to me he called out "Hurry away as fast as you can". I
jumped on my bicycle and pedalled furiously after him. When I had caught him
up, I asked him what was the matter, and he said, "Did you see that ruddy
Maltee swinging a cane?" and I told him I had. He then told me that on
seeing the Maltee he was uncertain which side to go past him, and began to
wobble, whereupon that gentleman deliberately put his cane through the front
wheel of his bicycle, causing him naturally to come a header off the machine. I
said "What did you do?" "Do?" he said. "I got up and
caught the blighter a beauty full in the face, and left him lying in the road
rolling in the mud, and then rode after you as hard as I could." Luckily
the ship was finishing discharge the next day, but until we sailed Hume and I
were scared out of our lives that the police would trace us and that we should
be had up for assault.
I
received orders to proceed to Taganrog, in the Sea of Azov, to load grain for
Hamburg. We had a lovely fine-weather trip, and the Dardanelles and the
Bosphorus were looking their best. In those days the Turks were very fond of
the English, and it was a pleasure to mix with them. The entrance to the Sea of
Azov is through Kertch Straits, which are very narrow, and at that time only
had about nineteen to twenty-one feet of water. There is a guardship stationed
there, and every ship passing through the Straits has to receive permission to
do so on payment of dues. As the Sea of Azov is very shoal, the anchorage for
vessels in Taganrog is twenty-seven miles away from the town, from which the
cargo is brought off in twin-screw steam lighters, holding up to one thousand
tons of grain.
We
captains had naturally to live the greater part of our time on shore, in order
to attend to the ships' business, and we all put up at a big boarding-house
called "Madame's" - Madame
was a very cheerful Russian widow of uncertain age, and she and a
"maid-of-all-work" had a considerable amount of trouble in looking
after as many as twenty of us masters at one time. We were like a lot of boys
together, no matter what our respective ages were. Our greatest fun was to get
hold of the maidservant, who was called "Manya" and frighten the life
out of her, whereupon, although she knew everything was being done in joke, she
would scream at the top of her voice for "Madame" whereupon we used
to imitate her, with the result that her and our cries together might have been
heard a mile away. "Madame" would come rushing in and slap us right
and left, and call us a naughty lot of children.
We were
a merry crowd, there is no doubt about that, and we had nothing to do except make
life pass as pleasantly as possible, although, of course, there were always one
or two disgruntled shipmasters with us. It was bitterly cold, with snow lying
thick everywhere, and our favourite relaxation was to go to a bath-house and
have Russian steam baths, which consisted of about twenty men of mixed
nationality, in a state of nature, being placed in a room which was absolutely
suffocating with hot steam, where one stood until one could no longer breathe,
and by that time the perspiration would be streaming off us. We then had to go
into another room, where we had shower baths, and from there we went into
another room where the water was showered from hot till it gradually became
quite cool. We then dressed and came out into the bitter cold like "giants
refreshed" and feeling most comfortably clean.
During
my stay in Taganrog there was a strike of the stevedores, but at the first
meeting held after they had ceased work the military commander let loose a
squad of Cossacks, with their whips, amongst the strikers. I am glad to say I
did not see what occurred, but I was told afterwards that the brutes rode right
through the crowd of strikers, knocking them down, trampling them with their
horses, and beating them on their heads and bodies with their knouts. The
strike was over at once, and the poor devils returned to work. The Russian
labourer from infancy was treated more or less like an animal, and grew up
without education or a soul that he could call his own. Nevertheless, both men
and women were happy and apparently contented, for they were always ready to
laugh or joke, and appeared to be well fed.
Women
labourers were used for trimming the grain in the holds, at which they worked
well and cheerfully; but they resented being found fault with unnecessarily by
the ship's officers. For instance, on the steamer lying next to mine, the chief
officer loved to show his authority, and had no tact in his treatment of either
his own men or anyone working on his ship. It appeared that on his going down
one of the holds he began to curse the women for not having trimmed the cargo
in the manner he considered necessary, with the result that, before he was
aware of their intention, a dozen of them dropped their shovels, threw him down
amongst the grain, opened the top of his trousers, tied the bottoms round his
ankles, and shovelled grain into him until his trousers could hold no more, and
then they chased him out of the hold, smacking him with their shovels. Of
course the joke went all round the ships, with full details, and I imagine that
he never heard the last of the incident. It cured him at any rate of cursing
women who knew their work of trimming probably better than he did.
Up to
this time it had been a custom in the Black Sea trade, from time immemorial,
for the captains to supply mats for separating the cargo, for which the
merchants made a certain payment, and consequently, when once a captain had the
mats and was engaged in Black Sea trade, the payment made by the merchants was
all profit to him. Further, it was the custom of the merchants to give the
captains a gratuity, based upon the weight of the grain they carried. The
captains used to make anything from sixty to a hundred pounds every voyage in
mat money and gratuities, and, when regularly employed in that trade, naturally
soon began to accumulate a fortune.
Unfortunately
some of them became shipowners themselves, and, knowing how much money was made
by their captains, human nature being what it is, they began to get envious,
with the result that several of the shipowners put their heads together and
informed their captains that in future the mat money had to be to the ship's
account, and gratuities given by the merchants had to be credited to the
owners. This naturally upset the captains of the ships, and also made the
merchants extremely angry, as they claimed that the gratuity was only given to
the shipmasters in order that they would be certain to pay every attention to
the good storage and subsequent delivery of the cargo. They determined to outwit
the owners, and this is how it was done. The merchant would say to the captain
"Who mats your ship, captain?" The captain would reply "The
owners." Whereupon the merchant would say "I refuse to allow the
owner to mat the ship, and I intend to do it myself, so, captain, let me know
the number of mats you find it necessary to use, and I shall be pleased to give
you the difference between the cost and the schedule of payment. With regard to
the gratuity, here is an official letter to you to say that I absolutely
decline to pay your owners any gratuity, but, captain, what is your wife's
address?" The result can be
guessed at. In any case, the wife was extremely pleased when she received a
draft from an unknown source for a very substantial amount. This, unfortunately,
happened to the wife of one of the junior captains in the same employ as
myself, and the silly fool of a woman took it to the owners to know what it all
meant! I do not know what the owners answered, though if it was any
satisfaction to her it meant a whole lot of trouble for her husband when he
came home !
Since
that time I understand that as the merchants found that some of the captains
had to refund the gratuity, or were afraid to retain it, they ceased to give
it. The greediness of the owners, therefore, only spoilt things for the
captains, and they reaped no benefit themselves.
We had a
fine trip home to London, where I was called upon to explain to my owners why I
had not credited the gratuity; but on production of the letter the Russian merchant
had given me, nothing more was said, and I received orders, on completion of
discharge, to proceed to Shields to load anthracite coal for Surabaya.
I had
orders to proceed via the Cape, and to bunker at Las Palmas. We had a good run
out to the latter place, and then for fifty-two days I had the most monotonous
existence a man could possibly have, for the weather was fine and the
navigation was simple, until we were approaching Java via the Bali Straits.
These are very narrow, with deep water right alongside the banks, and it was
most interesting to see the native houses, and women and children so close that
one could have spoken to them easily, while they gazed in astonishment as the
ship steamed rapidly by. In fact, they seemed to be quite as much interested as
the monkeys, with which the trees were alive.
On
approaching Surabaya there was another channel to navigate, and for five miles
the water was so shoal that we had to steam through mud, the ship's speed being
reduced in consequence to about three miles per hour. When we were three parts
of the way through, the chief engineer came rushing on to the bridge to say
that we should have to stop, as the feed-pipe was getting choked. I told him
that he would have to keep her going at any cost, as if we had stopped the
engines we should probably not have been able to move again without lightening
the cargo. Like the good chap he was, he took the risk, and a few minutes after
that we were in deep water and all was safe. The ship literally seemed to give
a sigh of relief as she felt herself clear of the mud. On coming to anchor the
stevedore who had loaded my ship with sugar on the previous voyage came aboard,
and said that he had received no information that my ship was expected. I went
ashore with him to my former agents, and they also informed me that they had
heard nothing about my ship being due at their port. On my showing them my copy
of the bill of lading, they advised me to go to the gas company to see whether
they knew anything of the cargo.
On arrival
there we were shown into the manager's room, and I found him to be a Dutchman
with no knowledge of English, so my stevedore had to act as interpreter. He at
once said he was the consignee for the cargo, and produced his bill of lading.
There
was the usual clause in the charter party as to the receiver of the goods
having the option of weighing the cargo, or being allowed two per cent of the
freight in lieu of weighing. He apparently did not understand this clause, and
asked me what it meant. I was so astonished that I told him through the
interpreter I was not there to teach him his business, whereupon he said he
would take the cargo without weighing. I naturally expected him when he paid my
freight to deduct two per cent of it, but he paid in full; and when I remitted
the whole of it to my owners without comment they were astonished to receive
ninety odd more pounds than they had anticipated, but they did not present me
with any part of it.
There
were several ships loading and discharging, and we masters used to spend most
of our time together at a very decent hotel. There were two masters, both
loading sugar, and while I was very friendly with one, I did not like the
other. Before they sailed they had arranged with each other as to the amount
they should put in for to their owners for their own personal expenses while at
Surabaya. This was invariably the arrangement when there were two ships
belonging to the same company in port together; but to show how little loyalty
there was between shipmasters in those days I regret to say that my friend,
when I met him some months afterwards, told me he had received a letter from
his owners asking him to explain why his expenses at Surabaya were very nearly
double those of the other man!
While I
was at Surabaya two of my firemen complained of feeling feverish, and fearing
that they might have fever I took them ashore in the boat to the hospital. The authorities there took charge of them
on my agreeing to pay so much a day for each of them. I had the idea that the
men were malingering, especially as I could see how pleased they were at the
prospect of having a good time at the hospital. I left them at about ten
o'clock in the morning, and the next morning at ten o'clock I paid them a visit
to see how they were getting on, and when they saw me from their beds they
stretched out their arms appealingly to me, saying "For God's sake,
captain, take us out of this." I
asked what was the matter, and one of them, who could not contain himself,
said, "They're ruddy well starving us!
They have not given us a single thing to eat since we have been in
here." I made inquiries, and the nurses told me that
it was the invariable practice of the doctor not to give anything in the shape
of food to anybody in the hospital who he thought might be sickening for fever
of some kind. I explained this to the men and thought that food would shortly
be given to them. I left them, and was coming out of the front entrance when I
met the doctor, and asked him what he thought
about my men. He replied scornfully that they were shamming, and that he
was going to teach them a lesson. I chuckled to myself and deferred my visit to
the hospital until the evening of the next day. When the men saw me, although
they were both "hard cases" they almost cried as they told me that
all that had been given them to eat since they left the ship was a little sago.
They promised they would do anything if I would only take them back to the
ship; and on the doctor informing me that there was nothing the matter with
them I, much to their relief, let them come back with me. The language they
used when telling the rest of their mates all that had occurred was enough, I
was told, to shock even the ship's cat!
On completion
of discharge I had orders to proceed to Saigon, and on the evening of the day
we sailed the second officer developed fever. Next morning the chief officer
was down with it, which left only the third officer and myself to look after
the ship. By the evening I felt ill, and found my temperature rising, but as we
were navigating through the Carimata Straits, in which there are hundreds of
islands, I had to stay on the bridge, with the result that on arrival at Saigon
I was nearly dead. In fact, the second officer, who had by that time recovered
from the fever, told me afterwards that he thought my time had come. However,
my very good constitution, with a couple of days in bed with a doctor
prescribing for me, shook the fever out of me, and I was able to enjoy the
comforts of the very well-administered French city of Saigon. It is a
delightful place to live in, with plenty of music and dancing for
entertainment. The native population is, of course, Chinese, and I was
informed, with what truth I do not know, that if anyone falls into the river no
attempt is made by the other natives to save him from drowning, owing to their
being fatalists. We loaded rice and I sailed away from Saigon regretfully, for
I had thoroughly enjoyed the gay French life, every European one met being most
friendly.
We had a
dead calm to Singapore, where I put in to bunker, and on leaving there actually
carried the calm the whole way to Dunkirk. If I made a thousand similar trips I
do not suppose that I should ever have one like we had that time, for there was
no movement in the ship from the time we left Saigon until we arrived at
Dunkirk. The ornaments on the table and the mantelpiece in my saloon were not
lashed, and the hatches were never on, the consequence being that the ventilation
of the holds was so good that on discharging at Dunkirk I was congratulated on
having turned out the finest cargo of rice that had ever been received there.
The merchants were so pleased that they gave me a gratuity of thirty pounds,
which was the more appreciated because it was quite unexpected. They also gave
the chief officer and chief engineer a gratuity, which was a most unusual thing
to do, and of course it was not refused.
As my
wife wrote imploring me to stay at home, knowing that we were shortly to be
blessed with a child, I applied for a voyage off, which the owners granted, so
I took the ship round to Cardiff on completion of the discharge and handed her
over to an elderly man who had previously been a master in the employ. She was
chartered by Messrs. Vogemann, of Hamburg, for two voyages across the Atlantic,
going in ballast to Savannah and returning with cargo for Hamburg. My owners
had just formed a company for marketing West Australian timber, and had bought
forty-two acres of ground at Purfleet in Essex to use as a depot known as
Purfleet Wharf and Saw Mills, Ltd. On hearing this I immediately made
application for a position on shore, and was shortly afterwards offered the
position of superintendent of the pier, which was then being constructed. It
was a small position, but as a daughter had been born to me I longed to give up
the sea and remain on shore with my wife and child. I wrote to my late chief
engineer informing him that I should not return to my ship. His wife had gone
over to him at Hamburg, and when she heard the news she urged him also to give
it up, to which he replied that he would do so at the end of that voyage. The
ship sailed
again
for Savannah from Hamburg, and when loaded out there proceeded down the river,
and found that the meteorological signals were up signifying that a hurricane
was approaching. The captain decided to anchor and await developments, but as
the weather did not appear to grow any worse, after a few hours he sailed.
Unfortunately this was an error of judgment. He must have sailed right into the
centre of the hurricane, for I regret to say the ship was never heard of again.
A
merciful escape for me! Even after twenty-five years I still grieve for Hume.
He had been my friend and colleague for four years, and if he had only listened
to his wife and given up the sea at the time she asked him to he would now
doubtless be alive, and most assuredly still my very faithful friend.
I soon
made good in my position on shore, being rapidly advanced to manager, and was
after a few years responsible for converting the depot into a very extensive
general wharfinger business. The business was sold as a going concern in 1919
to a firm who stipulated that I should enter their service. I agreed, with the
result that they immediately appointed me managing director, and life with me
now flows along on easy lines. But in the evening, when I get home and am
comfortably seated in my arm-chair, my thoughts are ever on the old days at sea
and the men I used to know, such days and such men as will never be seen again.
It is
good to have lived in those old days, and, as I am in the habit of saying, I am
in the unique position of having lived two lives, one of twenty-one years at
sea, and another of, up to the present, twenty-five on shore. The life on shore
has been full of many happy and unhappy experiences, but they are always
forgotten in thinking of the care-free days, so good to look back on, despite
the discomforts we experienced, of my life as an apprentice and junior officer,
which began forty-four years ago.
J L
Vivian Millett.
November
1924.
Raymond
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