A CATTLE BOAT

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 13 December 1926, Page 9

A CATTLE BOAT

AMATEUR, COWMEN'S LIFE. A TRIP ACROSS THE OCEAN. “Fifteen, dollars you owe me/’ said the man in the shipping office in Boston, United States, “ttiteen dollars is our fee.’’ It was disconcerting, to have to pay for the privilege of working, but it seemed that there was no alternative, writes Mr. Keith Baclielder, formerly of Auckland, who recently arranged to sign on as a cattle hand on the Leyland steamer Devonian for the voyage from Boston to Liverpool. Cattle are shipped in large numbers from the United States and Canada to Europe, and the steamer companies engage men to feed them on the voyage across, offering, by way of compensation for the entire absence of wages, a free return passage.

The writer tells his story as follows : So popular ha© the job become among college students and other© seeking a cheap trip across the Atlantic that tne aspiring ship’s cattleman has now to pay a premium to get a position. My particular shipping agent assured me that despite the fact that cattle steamers jailed almost weekly from Boston, and other ports, he hiad a waiting list of about 500 men willing to give their services. That, however. 1 regarded as a slight exaggeration for business purposes. With reluctance I paid his extortion.

A few mornings later at the foot of the East Boston pier where the Devonian was lying the cattle hands formT ally signed on. There were thirty of us altogether, young and old, representative of all clashes- of society from the student going abroad for an economical pleasure trip, to the professional “out-of-wonk" looking for an easy time. Several young men were bound for England to take advantage of the cheap, nominated passages from that country to New Zealand and Australia. and one in particular I remember was going eventually to, Mastertori. W c were a peculiar crew. Some of the ’ more “citified’’ had hardly ever seen a cow, while most of us had very faint notions indeed regarding what we were expected to do on the trip. The advice of the “man-who-had-been-across-be-fcre” was eagerly sought. On board we found that we were accommodated in a fo’esle deep down in the bow of the kship. A, bare table and bench took up most of the Qopr space, and tiers of iron, bunks, two deep, were ranged around the walls. A number of lockers, minus locks, made up the furniture. In due course the stewards handed out to each man two bagfci of istraw, one large and one small for mattress and pillow respectively, two' coal’s© blankets, which we were strictly cautioned we, must return, a tin plate a. pannikin, knife, fork and spoon. By the apparent age of the blankets we judged how many men before us had been given the same warning regarding them. “Didn’t know you hoys were coming aboard here.’’ was how the cook explained the- lack of dinner, when with the ship under way we had set out on a hopeful search for something to eat. But as though the unexpected arrival of thirty hungry men was a matter ot but small consequence in his day, he soon had a meal ready for us. Our food, we found, was poor but eatable, though coffee and tea could hardly be distinguished, as both tasted almost equally like nasty dishwater. We were to take on our cattle at Halifax, and as we approached the grim Nova Scotian coast in a downpour of rain the following evening the l land looked savage and repelling. But the unprepossessing entrance led to one of the finest harbours in the world, and secure from any storm we berthed for the night some distance below the town. We commenced to load our shipment! of well over 10CO head at daybreak. The cattle, were accommodated in large, wooden pens on the lower deck, and it was exciting work driving the terrified animals down the high-walled gangway into the ship, and along the narrow ' nmWSye. But under the perienced supervision of half a dozen “cattle bosses,” who had joined our number the previous evening, it was successfully accomplished. At length, when the steamer sailed, and the cattle had to be “made fact,” we amateurs were given our first real opportunity to show what we could do. Each animal had to be tied by a rope round it© neck or horns with its head in the direction of the alley-way from which feeding and watering would lie done. Catching a cow in a pen is hardly the same as 1 assooing it on the open plains of a vast ranch, but the two jobs may have something in common. At any rate we entered into our worn with unbounded energy,, and enthusiasm. and had we had “six-shooter© at our waist belts we could hard!A have been more convinced that we were now real wild western desperadoes. It wa© necessary sometimes to climb spread-eagle fashion over the hacks of animals already tied to get at one that had obstinately wedged itself between the heels of the others, and the rear wall of the pen, but the accomplishment of this .somewhat “ticklish” task only increased that real cowbov feeling At length all were duly made fast/' 'and there were no serious eas- , ualties in our ranks.

The voyage to Liverpool occupied the best part of ten days, foT the Devonian was no “ocean greyhound.’’ For nearly forty-eight hours she rolled idly lost in a fog on the Grand Banks, and the siren boomed night ami day, though it was fear of ice rather than of other vessels that caused the captain to order the engines to be stopped. The precaution was well taken, for through the mist oiye morning an iceberg was sighted and hacTwe been forging ahead at full speed there might have been a small scale repetition of the Titanic disaster.

With placid, bovine philosophy the cattle quickly accustomed themselves to their new surroundings. It was amazing the amount of water they could drink, and as they were not stinted in anv way the cattleman's day was one long round of carrying full buckets to thirsty beasts, who, in their perversity and eagerness to get at the water, would promptly upset them. Bales of hay 7)ad to be roiled up and distributed, and the cattle had to be taught that they must not commit suicide by strangulation, something they all appeared to be thoroughly desirous of doing. The hours were long, for we started at four in the morning and were scarcely ever finished before eight in the evening, but (he work was not really hard, and there were frequent opportunities for a “spell.” We contemplated declaring a strike to be in the’fashion, but decided that the lack of wages would rob this attitude of a great deal,of its impressiveness and enjoyment. We arrived at the entrance to the Mersey River late one night, and we docked at Birkenhead in the small hours of the morning. Unloading was quick work, for tht; beasts merely had to be untied and the bars of their pens knocked down. After the barriers were away instinct seemed to tell them that they were going ashore, and they

needed little urging to run in the right, direction. Tn an hour or so the thousand head were off the steamer, and the cattlemen’s .job was done. Wo donned our “go-ashores,” filed past the immigration officer, and soon stood on the Liverpool wharf, to scatter to all parts of the world, and probably never to meet again.