Christmas at Sea

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 149, 21 December 1923, Page 14

Christmas at Sea

The Day as Kept on Board Ships

Christinas is observed more at sea than any other festival in the'year, especially aboard, ships manned by American, British, German, Swedish, Dutch, Norwegian, and Danish sailors. On mail boats the rooms are decorated with liolly, mistletoe, and other evergreens. There are Christmas trees for ' \the children, and for the grown-ups dances on Christmas Eve and general merriment all the next day if Father' Neptune does riot make the gray Atlantio billows heave too high on that day.

...The crews of. the British ships in the Atlantic, usually will get a bottle of beer apiece" with dinner of turkey and plum pudding. The officers have their Christmas dinner with wine...

: German and,-Dutch and Scandinavian crews also have beer, and a good peg of schnapps afterward. :For the crews :.;'6a.':the Swedish vessels the Christmas drink will be the ancient potage called „!'glug"—a sailor's drink since the days v of the Vikings. . It is served red hot and is composed of raisins, brandy, and : Swedish punch and sugar; all burned together and topped off with: old brandy. Three stiff pegs of "glug" on board ship make the hardiest salt feel like going on deck to look the wind in the eye ■for a fewiminutes -■•-. '-"-I. ?t: '.";,'.. . ON SCOTS SHIPS. '■■- ';jie;;crews of .the Spotch Ships," like t,H<>se,<>f the Anchor Line, do not keep Christmas 'as the English:. .. They, prefer tdrhave their, good time on New Year's Day;.'..when,'the. watch, ofi duty dances '" tlje fling, sings "Auld Lang Synei-' 'spears' the .haggis,. and washes it do,wn:with gills of real smoky usqu-' ■b.agh. , In the French, Italian, and . Spanish" ships .the crews ..get .a daily alfow.ahQe "of" wine , at, sea and in .port.- ---:: On ~Ghf istmas ...Day and, -.New. Year's ;.'■'.Bay they have braridy_ as -well; but not ;:'ehough'.-tb'-ca.psizetheir equilibrium.'- ,*. ■'.-■■' i.lOn,;'big,, liners, like the.; Majestic or" : : the -Berengaria, ; it is customary to have a-fancy dress ball in the first cabin.on : Christmas night or the night after. The barbers carry all kinds of costumes and '..'■'-. masks for.the ball, but many pi the women passengers often make their own i costumes on strikihg.and original lines. The same idea is followed on the VNeN^ Zealand,ani Shaw'S'avill liners at 1 season Christmas Day. \ .yj" ' Christmas,; Day the captain-usual-■'■''.iff■mikes" a- point of showing'himself if ha^is'not.too harassed. He walks through .'the? ship-to inspect the Christmas trees alii'decide which one wins the prize for ' artistic decorations. ■ ■ A quarter of: a century ago the great event, on Christmas Day for the crew ;, wag^he,.pluisi-dttff,' the nautical. term i for jlne • famous pudding which is said (by landlubbers) to have invented mdi■- ■ gestion. '■-■:. In those days, when (seamen fought the elements in comparatively ; small ships and slept in harrow bunks !in their oilskins and.seaboots, sometimes with the water seeping through -the seams above them, plum duff was some- , thing to be looked forward to.. In : sailing vessels and freighters the crew .'lused to give a ; -quarter ,to,the steward ; before leaving''port to make sure that /the duff would be rich and have plenty of fruit. Old salts with gray beards . and weather-beaten faces would stand round,'the,galley on Christmas Eve and i take tarns at. mixing the pudding, and i would even get up coals for the oook ; .to keep the. big "stove going all night.

WHEN;THE COOK FELL ASLEEP. In one passenger steamed trading from ; London to New York the chief steward , ion a certain Christmas gave the ship's i cook' Kalf a bottle; of ' 'square" face" to ; cheer him -while stopping all night in the jgalley to. watch the dufi boiling in the Thuge coppers, of ■ the passengers, ; not knowing this, prised in beer and i. whisky also to the '-doctor"—as cooks I used to he called at sea.—and this cook ! fell asleep. '■' .{ , < ; ;•;'.•■ .•■-. AJ noon, on Christmas .Day, when the I firemen.jand sailors went ; .with their mess ..j.tinsfto get the plum duff they.had helped to mix, it. resembled clay in taste, , C°«>OT>. and weight. Yearning for r'ei venge, the crew -went to the galley, fasitened both doors, and then pelted the I unfortunate cook ..through the skylight from .the upper deck with chunks of the -, pudding he had spoiled. . The first piece ;that got him right, knocked him out on ,the'deck of the;-galley; the rest of the i\ pellets, just bounced;off him. ■■■ ; The.men "who'.goVto.sea to-day work ...less -and haVe better, fare, and so duff is ■. almost .commonplace at Christmas.: "When ; American, -liners.-sail-. for Hamburg j now there.i? always a-rush, of-men-to \ Eerv?>.:'.Th.ey;say .it is in order to enjoy .-, the good and German beer.'When • ■the gunarder, .Laconia, was-in mid- . j raciffc; on; ; a.:pleasure' cruise' around the • wld£4so -American globe-trotters were ; obliged to dp their: Christmas shopping .■.i- ear?y»;..<«::-iiofat;all, and completed their I purchases during the call atSan-Fran- :; Cisco.- -.Several large Christmas trees : were taken; also a complete outfit for j costuming Santa Claus, including ' the :! -white beard and pack. : During the call at Hawaii, two tons .! °fe.decorations for i dressing the ship ;.were taken on board, the familiar exer.j greens of the north replaced by the {rich green foliage of the tropics, while* i bright red flowers supplied the necessary vtonch of colour. A special Christmas ,-;. tree, brought from the United States, ■,: was placed at the. masthead to guide .;• Santa; Claus. • ' . ,