The merchant vessel : a sailor boy's voyages around the world . he men at next. Before we wereten days out he was completely at the end of his limited stockof sailorship; and, as he had not sufficient Yankee ingenuity tomake a spunyarn winch, all hands were kept up to braid sin-net* To have kept the watch on deck busy at this wouldhave been not unusual; but to keep up all hands for suchwork, and that, too, when we were short of provisions, was toobad. We remonstrated, but to no purpose. The captain merelyasked if we refused to obey orders. By rashly doing so, weshould have forfeited our wages,
The merchant vessel : a sailor boy's voyages around the world . he men at next. Before we wereten days out he was completely at the end of his limited stockof sailorship; and, as he had not sufficient Yankee ingenuity tomake a spunyarn winch, all hands were kept up to braid sin-net* To have kept the watch on deck busy at this wouldhave been not unusual; but to keep up all hands for suchwork, and that, too, when we were short of provisions, was toobad. We remonstrated, but to no purpose. The captain merelyasked if we refused to obey orders. By rashly doing so, weshould have forfeited our wages, which would have pleased himbut too well, and benefited us naught, as we should have hadto work the vessel into port, at any rate. So we by way of satisfaction for this outrage on our priv-ileges, we used to throw overboard every night the product ofour days labor, and the mate would sapiently wonder whathad become of all the sinnet. * Sinnet is a small line, braided from rope-yarns, from the minute strands of which a rope isformed. w o r ?as. THE SAILORS DISLIKE OF THE COURT-ROOM. , , * Shortly after we left Buen Ayre, our supply of coffee \consumed, and thenceforth we were compelled to drink an in-fusion of burnt beans. Compelled to drink this, because thewater we obtained at the salt-works was so brackish that itwas impossible to swallow it without it having been previouslycooked. The stomach even of a sailor would not retain it;and several times, when we had grown thirsty at some hardwork, and were tempted to lave our thirst from the water-cask, all hands were made sick, having to vomit up the mis-erable stuff. Thus, with salt water, mouldy biscuits, a small portion ofrice, and beef, we lingered out a long passage of thirty before we reached port even this wretched food grew veryscarce, and our allowance of bread was reduced. We could not doaught to extricate ourselves from our difficulties. To have forcedthe captain to run into a port by the way wou
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