THOSE FICTIONS OF THE SEA

Press, Volume L, Issue 8582, 8 September 1893, Page 2

THOSE FICTIONS OF THE SEA

H.v.H. in the Christ's College Register. ■ UntU about two years ago I had never been to sea. At sea I had often been, notably when in an absent mood in the sixth form I bad translated "feseis vomere tauris" as "the oxen tired of vomiting," and that heavy tread of footsteps pacing deliberately op and down the schoolroom ceased, and an awfol silence proclaimed tflat I was a marked man. But this is by the way, as the highwayman remarked when he stuck up the mailcoach. Prior to my first voyage my ideas about the sea had been principally derived from the concert room. I hadn't been two days oa the good ship Freezer when I made a discovery that shook mc up a good bit at first, the absolute and Inexcusable falseholds that are told in the sea-songs which you hear so merrily trolled out in the , concert-room by young men in dress clothes, whose deep voices have a tendency to reverberate in their boots. They talk of " pleasant gales on their lee," of " caring naught, for wind and rain," of " a life on the ocean wave, and a home on the rolling deep," and advise you " to pull away, my boys, pull away," with such abandon that you expect every minute to see them hitch up their panes in true nautical fashion, like the old saJts they appear to be. But these same young seen, when you get them well away from land in a sou*-wester, are seen contemplating " the ro-wo-wolling deep" (as-they call it) with a subdued gaze and a heart too full for speech, and if you accost them with "Well, old man, how goes it now?" reply in a withered soprano voice ** I don't feel very well." If you ask them jocularly how they like- *' a pleasant Kale on their lee, ,, you only get a plaintive "Don't," and when you coma one with a " Yo-Heave-Ho" they turn upon you a look as pitiful ac that of the laaab that la led to the slaughter. "Yet when these same landlubbers find themselves once more on terra firma, ■ instead of " hanging ap their dank and dripping garments to Neptune/ as old Horace puts ie somewhere in the Odes, and forswearing their evil ways, they have the nerve to repeat all their enticing falsehoods about the sea, sod to go on "Yo-heave-hoiog, "flitirtLhofpgt a&d BtunbeUOowlngf* until

the piaster threatens to drop off the ceiling. My experience of-aailor life np to tha time I embarked iv the Freeter had bets gained from songs describing the sailors* uvea as " open and free," and chief ocean*, tion as " Sitting iv a ring, singing soses with a chorus of Yo-beave-ho," their desire being to sweetheart with " a lass ia every port" on land, and to get *•_ pleasant gale on their lee " when at sea. While 1 am in process of suffering _ recovery (and it is surely suffering arecovery at sea), from the " plea.-.ant gale on our lee "that greeted us the first day of our voyage. I retire into the engine house for warmth, and there endeavour to divert my mind from the melancholy that besets it by perusing the instructions for the q__ of life-lines. '* Wait till you get a tailed block with an endless fall rove through it" keens running through my head, and I wonder whether an euuless fall would hurt if you ever reached the bottom. When the "endless fall "had no longer anj charnu for mc, and I had got my tea-legs, l determined to inspect the sailors closely with a view to discovering those peculUrities attributed to them by nautical songsters. I found that they dressed ia old trousers, blue blouses, slouch hats, tam-o'-shanters, sou-westers, anything for the sake of variety, that when the breezes blew they stalked about in oilskins and sea-boots, that their chief occupa< ion consisted in removing coal from one natch and stowing it in another, during which occupation they got very dirty and grimy and looked very unrouiantic, or else in oiling tbe deck or painting the ship. These, occupations and this garb didn't he in with my preconceived ideas of the typical sailor, I looked anxiously to see them siitinging ring, but never discovered them at it never overheard a "Yo-heave-ho** or a song, their ouly musical exploit being _ "Hee-la" when they pulled on a rope. Another blow to my fuitb. In sea-songs. The next shock came upon mc when I discovered that the jolly British Ur wa? generally a Scandinavian, and that out of ten men, five were teetotallers. "Ye shades of Dlbdiu aud Mayorick! Fond fancies of my ooyhood, farewell !'* The bosun who much to my disappointment pip n't '-pipe the watch below," _■ "pipe" at all in fa.cc, was a squareshouldered man with a dare, complexion and only one eye, the loss of the other giting him Che appearance of a perpetual wink. I talked to him one day withgreit anticipations, bat instead of his teili-xg about such things as " splicing the foretopgallant bobstay" or 'Teeung the royal halyards" or incidents of the '"Dogwatch," his conversation was something to this effect—" D'you play football, sirr* "No," I replied, "Tun getting too old.** He winked tbe other eye at this and re, joined without so much as a hitch of the pants, "I played football agin the crew of another ship in Wellington, but we wo* too rough for that sort of game; we jest pulled the shirts off tbe other fellows' backs. So we took to cricket." Great heavens ! a sailor ashore playing football and cricket. Where -was the '• honey, with her pockets full of money tripping it on the quay,"' then? As the bo'ma painted the funnels he told mc that ha preferred "Familiar paint" to "bunt Susannah," and that I must be careful I didn't fall over the " instigated hatches.** I found out afterwards that he await " Vermilion, Burnt Sienna and insulated," butlefc that pass, as the coster said when he stopped his donkey shay at a railway crossing to let the Flying Dutchman go by. There was only one redeeming featort about that bosun as a typical sailor. Be did chew a quid of tobacco, expectorating slowly but surely upon the deck. When I retired to my bunk that evening and experienced for the first time a genuine gale, J first hummed the only sea-song really applicable to our circoastances. «* For tho raging seas did roar, And the stormy winds did blow. And all the jolly sailor boys were up, up alfl8» And tlie landlubbers {-ring down below." and then I swore on a copy of Nancy I*e —"Odds bulkheads and belajii>g-pi_-f that I'd never sing a sea-song again, in ay life. By the time I awoke next moroiag my reflections had crystallised Into It THOSE FICTIONS OF THE SEA. I've a deep bass voice, so I often would rejoice In ipt»e'**_' songs descriptive of tha aea (Yo-ho) ; Of the ocean's waves so blue and the sailor's hoot so true, And the wind that always follows on Ms lee (Ta« ho). I'd Bins of Jack ashors at Gibraltar or the Nois, Wih Poll or Bess or Sue tipon his knee His trousers hitched up short, with »l__*in*r_7 port. And the life he leads so open ma so free (To-ho) Choeps. But no "Yclheave-hc-" or ••-aambelows - or ** Hi_ee-h-*_toe-hos" for ms : 111 Bing* about the land henceforth, you'll s_ssp> stand. And sot about those Actions of tha sea, rd never been to see, so I'd troll right merrily Of barouea that o'er the bo-ndin? xnsls did!*** (Yb-ho). Of BWeethearta on theory, I'll be tew to thee," Axid of homes-j*<mthe**o-wt>woffi***de*p{T>"»}; Then Btonny winds would blow as the bo's****. J*je4 below, The more it blew, ths more they loved thaa-ia (To-ho), Then the sailors in a nag sU kinds ot songs wools sis**, With the merry "Yo-heave-ho" for theft retail (Yo-ho). Chow-B—But no, 4c When winter next came round. It found as Hon** ward bound To England in a steamer os*r ths main (To-ho)} Then thought I "The ocean wave win •rarely prurs my grave, «• And Bfs isnotworthU*riij_'instaAp_iEfY«-*-»).*" I found the rolling deep did not conduce to slsep, The breezes were not always os our lee (Yo-ho), The wind sometimes ahead kept you rolling is yosr bed With the tumble sad the tossing c£ the st* (Yo-ho). Choscb—But no, Ac Jack's life I found a fraud, u_i_t*resting on board, And (renerslly drinking when ashore (To-ho); When the Teasel heaves and rolls, his job of working coals Is not the life so free I sang before (Yo-ho). But s-Oors are hot few is an ocean steamer's cr**. The firemen by themselves outnumber Jack (Yoho). And those who feed ths fire your true poet don't inspire, For as a rule they're soot-begrimed sad black {Te* ho). Chows—Br-jyno, &c When H returned to shore, I resolved that bstbx more Td sing shoot the pleas-res of the sea (Yo-ho). And that* s the reason why I strenuously try To shua what looks a sailor's melody (Yo-ho), Fsr even Hancy Lee brings **ememb*-a&c«s to mc • That make mc feel quite dizzy fax tha head (Yo-ho), And a chorus "Yo-heave-ho" wBl cause ms Mttst woe, While "Bumbalow" wfll drive ms to ay ha& (Yo-ho). Gnoses. So no "Yo-heave-hos" ox "Bnmbetow**" or • HiQee-hanlae-hos " for mc $ IHsiris'abo-t the land henceforth, you'll **_*S*S* stud, « _ Aiid not sJK>_ttkos» v fictions of the •» _