LIFE IN A STOKEHOLD.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 295, 18 November 1912, Page 2

LIFE IN A STOKEHOLD.

NAPIER BOY’S EXPERIENCE. , UAL TRIMMEL'S TIM.-ILS ON A TRAMP. (Continued from Saturday.) The story of young Alkm Berry's •lyei’ii v’ces as a triimaer on ( >w r MVCMs - ; y Reuse ? M MM;.;- kl’A Slid bred IjGW (Uli- ; ' 1 ’'■w'i'tK' on the: A.-pi, . I' 1 <•.' ’ rtawkb :: L,:W 'l l ’ I ■ WO-"' -W rt-0,.. i.. ! : • . w.nw Ui crew to get usHr | • niiidy at Guy’s Hospital, Envoy I ' ..rt. liit’c money, he Capped as . ■ Iriniiiier and rcrkcg hrs p; " lied (" i i'i-jont l i-ith and id'- ;- . '* v.j '• / - 1 .'. »' 1 Vv -ul v. Let -tv vl. Cl J. 7. t M a. - v.' 2 ].' '■ c:Echoic mate, and recounted Art few painful lessons in the tiric ; work lie- had undertaken. The nan-a-re ve proceeds:— THE VOY.tGE COMMENCED. The Htirunui unmoored from th* Qii-tcn’!. wharf, treaded her wav across the harbour, and in a shor. time we had passed through Wcl Lmlun Heads and were making cur way through Cock Strait. Hi bra with which we communicated io means of semaphore signals. Tl-; Ond Gomi disapiteaved while J '.7, itched it with something of tire • eciirgs that Nspoken musf have i'clt when he took his last look at thr cost of Franeo from the deck of thi Bollei'phcci en route for St. Helena. U 1 f co m e th(’ ci ?c v 1 II 2 titi- c vu;■ •' altogether differtnt. The; per-siinistf 0:1 board had already phophesied tlir.it vve shall have it rough going •‘.•chad the ’Orn.” The fcllowim arc the notes from my diary:— Saturday, 4th May.—The work ha-bc.-n hard for me in the :-,!ckchold. I have been giddy and slippin? about like a drunken man. Tlu others seem to be in much the same condition, although one would think .hey were made of iron. They pLain that as soon as they get the beer out of their systems they wi! he all right The night was beaut; Hilly clear, although I was too tirer to appreciate its' beauty. I turnci in and slept soundly until sever bells. Saturday, 4th May.—We ar. having two Saturdays in order t-< make our calendar right by tile tunc we get to England. It is a great puzzle to our men why this shou’ii bo so, but after discussing from :d. sides they decided that ‘"the olr man- had a tremendous headpiece." and left it at that. Duffie. tin strongest and biggest man in <-h< ■ stokehold, is the laziest and ■ h< greatest bully. I have already manag cd with my usual luck to displease him. A sailor pointed' cut th< various species of sea birds tha were living, about. He raid tlia wc could see Mother Carey’; chickens before long. 1 have be-, feeling very queer, but it is a satis faction to know that ethers are con .siderably worse. One of lit-.- met has put a picture 'The Greatest General of All” in. the fo’c’slc or the .partition between the firemen’: and the sailors’ quarters; In i tDeatl is depicted on horseback, while rounc. about the armies of the world art engaged in combat. Being a ghastly oivtiirc it soon disappeared. Dufii; lent night named about six different shipping companies in which he hire’ been "blacklisted.” it is the custom, I believe, tor a shipping com pany to put certain men on th* "black list” and refuse to employ tlie-m. I have been in this ship on'; a few days, yet the amount of ex pcricnce I have gained makes it seen: like a century. It is not so niucl the work, but the company of th: men that makes the life almost unbe a rable. I laughed the other -day when I heard one of the bigg ■- ruffians in the: ship singing "Yes •Jesus Loves Tie.” as he mended hi: boots with the Help of a file end f hammer. The work I have hat lately has made mv hands ver.' te-d’er. Sunday. Sth May. —I noticed whik. in the bunker last night that my throat was getting wry :'o;-e, ant bv tlio end of the watch, wh ch was the most exhausting I have yet ox jni'icnced, it was very bad. During the right 1 did not sloop much am, 1 was hardly able to breathe or account of the pain, in my chest Once the ship rolled, pitching ore: a fc':’m and tlirowma- tt.mer, cut • I the I-rei-kcrs. I was to miscrablt rtat I aid not tlrey wondered whctlm- the Iturmti. wrereid right hererti. I tbirek I ha-, cai-ght a cold throreg’i coming out o tree stokehold without put’ireg a c.t't cr:. This mc-iming I was agni : i on th: ':< cc L/’.mkvr, and much ,o j-i.t JO,cF the trip so that I shall r.ct bo v: plates any more. It is no fan re ! 1 — c il c’ ' et fo • four hours will I the vessel rolling about at all angles. ■The ship, has: a big list to pert, sc ; 12 fires arc being fed from my pre’nkor 8 rrom Dur M-b. I hop: at the rest pert the llurunui (-oal: i eho will develop a list to f lailjoard. >1 a:n quite equal to the work now 1 It is IS days’ run from Weliingtor i to Capo Horn. Vro have done three. I There is a nasty chopr-v sea runirng ;My bands arc becc'ming hard -r. i Superstition does not enter mucl ■ into modern commerce. IVO started : 'em a Friday, although I heard cm |cf the men express a ixious vvcT ithnt we sliculd not. Again the mate ! according to the men. was cnge.g j shooting alii nt ro sscs.- I r.o'ice while I the firemen are washing that each ;has the latissimus dorsi »r I the back splcnt'cdlv d-.. ve'opcd J : o’Dpc-.re' this is tiie iresulr of I'-oir | tinned shovelling. Tire men lock , er wp-d to Sll nday n?. they then bav; cti-hman. ' ;

Monday, Gth May.—My cold is utter, and I can do my work more easily than before. Another argument in the stokehole will) Duffie, but a fight was'prevented by the intervention of "Bob.” I worked continuously in my bunker, nnd am feeling very rlt. The day is rainy and dark clouds are hanging lov; in many retris of tire hcrbic-i. lam ndnire soiree re my. Mothe re but tire .sn ep can get d. fireman told tie 'on coming off atch this reicre’iiing that t he B iiremui ir tn !<-;■ '’’i.sl tri ppm s. ” 1 ’ ire '. <■ hire. lie gavi, re...:' lire fre: . riVCre. rer’K.l; Lre-'dcr tlllii .that I h'ar id have gcreic on board n diStnreat Abus- coming off -waiefa .at amAa ; id j rev bug huti been com. yi 'i. cl;, irrc.-reecf i t.hijik ai:i.» out' ; = ... 111 s ire <: sre- cored gave a herter -iiret.recv of ’-.tliat I possess than my-relf. ' Tuesday, 7th May.-—While having our meal after coming oft* .1 ".tell last night Bob wished io ere a simile, .-.i’ll said "Like Job when he went refit and slewed icoo of the disciples with the jawbone c-f a donkey." "Garn,” said Dick, "yer don’t know what yer talking hbaht. It was □avid threi: went aht with the jarrbor.c and made a mess of Goliath.” file matter was discussed st. length but scon branched off on to et.hre reirrts cf Biblical LirUtry, -when both people mid place: were mixed in the most amusing and extraordinary manner. Last night while worki...:;g in the bunker the .fifth engineer .renc in and directed, nir' to crene "vith him. I followed ,<tnd in' t ae to the starboard bunker □ufiie was nowhere to 'be ■ sec,;srt rest we heard a faint-voice .do hindis and 1 slid in face dciynw-crds .0 sec what was the matter. I found 'duffie with a big iron rod trying to clear a blockfed-v.p bunker. At fare .-re got Ac-re, and then bund r-omc difficulty in getting out again. The ’Fifth” thought that Duffie had 'alien down the bunker w : th a ton ..re two of coal on the top of him. The coal we arc- working now is lamp; Al tough th is-makes- the werk heavier yet it has the advantage of having no dust. I was sleeping this ifiernoen when I was awoke by the ;ound of fighting. I looked out of my ■>unk and Duffie w;m engaged in ..brushing a trimmer. The ‘'second” md raid that six. hour watches were In sight as the trimmers were not keeping tiie bunkers as full as they ihould. Duffie was impressing tin's .ipen the trimmer whom he had to relieve and who had allowed the bunker to run down. Duffie decided ;hat bis victim would have to work larder, and gave por.r Sid a tremmdmts thrashing. After that Sid ilniost took off his cap every time ic saw Duffie. It is remarkable how •cspcctful some men get after re•eiving a hiding. Wednesday, Sth May.—l was shovelling coal in the stokehole and '.n turning round to throw it, I wrought the shovel into violent conact with the "fifth’s'’ shin. He is 1 dour Scotchman and did not show ..he least fooling, although it was a '.tnrd bang. .When the men are unable to get hot water for shaving, which happens occasionally, they use tea as a 'substittile. After coming off nt midnight last night,. 1 had . .1 fine view of the sen It was rough and waves were coming on board. Some spray was blown along the dock and seemed just like some water sprite The wind was blowing 1-hurricane from the icy south, and as I looked at the waves racing part I could not help thinking of .the .vonderful storm description in Martin C’huzzlewit. The only drink the men have is “korfee.” It s nwhil stuff and I have drank |vc.tci- rather than that. The other fiiig'-.t I sugared the “korfee”. as I '-bought it shu’d be sugared. Thencn declared it was “surrup/’ and I xme in fcr a lot of adverse criticism. A .light with shovels in the stokdro’c was narro'.vly averted this n-i'ming. One man lilted the shovel Frit, a’lcdhcr, who ducked and o:.-k'd for a weapon, hv.r who could aot lay hold of anything harder .bmi a “hand rag.” 1 .have rc-reiid c-ut that it is best to drink as ret're •.■.•.iter a s -, i;re<-,ible wliile in the stokehole. It is wonderful how deirewus a can <d dirty water becomes •.•■ici! one is tlre-My. 1 .believe while some king was flying in Egypt he .trunk water jx,'luted by corpses, but yet declared that no wine bad tasted ?c.l: ". The weather las been very rough lately, mid the propeller c-re-a-re.mal’y "l ac; s'.’ —1 hat is comes out II tree- water, it shakes the ship stein lo .( ::i. While sleeping a tire afternoon, I was . awakened ■y -'‘D s-rerend of cursing and found Trek dew.ing out punishment to a i.iiriiir named "Wenden. Rccognisiig that Dick wan stronger than him re- .'.nd down. These mon seem to ■avo no life at all. I think (hat ,!( -'A /Aw Zealanders would hit i-aok Jack Johnson if ho were to hit beai, but tlicse chap;; take .a hiding :n much the retire manner as they lake fvtrydilm. eire. This man was reppreed to call us to prepare .0 go c:i vreti-l), brer be had called us .ate sei oral times and Dick adopted cis method 0.l <.acmtraging him in ■mnetuahty. I rminmity ha:; nt last icon obtained as to what I am to be ailed. In futuie it i;-, net to be "Bill, ’.or "Jim,” or “Charles,” but "Uhoriie.”