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Concluding Chapter
Concluding Chapter
I trust that they who have followed me to the end of my narrative, will
not refuse to carry their attention a little farther, to the concluding
remarks which I here present to them.
This chapter is written after the lapse of a considerable time since the
end of my voyage, and after a return to my former pursuits; and in it I design
to offer those views of what may be done for seamen, and of what is already
doing, which I have deduced from my experiences, and from the attention which
I have since gladly given to the subject.
The romantic interest which many take in the sea, and in those who live
upon it, may be of use in exciting their attention to this subject, though I
cannot but feel sure that all who have followed me in my narrative must be
convinced that the sailor has no romance in his every-day life to sustain
him, but that it is very much the same plain, matter-of-fact drudgery and
hardship, which would be experienced on shore. If I have not produced this
conviction, I have failed in persuading others of what my own experience has
most fully impressed upon myself.
There is a witchery in the sea, its songs and stories, and in the mere
sight of a ship, and the sailor`s dress, especially to a young mind, which has
done more to man navies, and fill merchantmen, that all the press-gangs of
Europe. I have known a young man with such a passion for the sea, that the
very creaking of a block stirred up his imagination so that he could hardly
keep his feet on dry ground; and many are the boys, in every seaport, who are
drawn away, as by an almost irresistible attraction, from their work and
schools, and hang about the decks and yards of vessels, with a fondness which,
it is plain, will have its way. No sooner, however, has the young sailor begun
his new life in earnest, than all this fine drapery falls off, and he learns
that it is but work and hardship, after all. This is the true light in which a
sailor`s life is to be viewed; and if in our books, and anniversary speeches,
we would leave out much that is said about "blue water," "blue jackets," "open
hearts," "seeing God`s hand on the deep," and so forth, and take this up like
any other practical subject, I am quite sure we should do full as much for
those we wish to benefit. The question is, what can be done for sailors, as
they are, - men to be fed, and clothed, and lodged, for whom laws must be made
and executed, and who are to be instructed in useful knowledge, and, above
all, to be brought under religious influence and restraint? It is upon these
topics that I wish to make a few observations.
In the first place, I have no fancies about equality on board ship. It is
a thing out of the question, and certainly, in the present state of mankind,
not to be desired. I never knew a sailor who found fault with the orders and
ranks of the service; and if expected to pass the rest of my life before the
mast, I would not wish to have the power of the captain diminished an iota. It
is absolutely necessary that there should be one head and one voice, to
control everything, and be responsible for everything. There are emergencies
which require the instant exercise of extreme power. These emergencies do not
allow of consultation; and they who would be the captain`s constituted
advisers might be the very men over whom he would be called upon to exert his
authority. It has been found necessary to vest in every government, even the
most democratic, some extraordinary, and, at first sight, alarming powers;
trusting in public opinion, and subsequent accountability to modify the
exercise of them. These are provided to meet exigencies, which all hope may
never occur, but which yet by possibility may occur, and if they should, and
there were no power to meet them instantly, there would be an end put to the
government at once. So it is with the authority of the shipmaster. It will not
answer to say that he shall never do this and that thing, because it does not
seem always necessary and advisable that it should be done. He has great cares
and responsibilities; is answerable for everything; and is subject to
emergencies which perhaps no other man exercising authority among civilized
people is subject to. Let him, then, have powers commensurate with his utmost
possible need; only let him be held strictly responsible for the exercise of
them. Any other course would be injustice, as well as bad policy.
In the treatment of those under his authority, the captain is amenable to
the common law, like any other person. He is liable at common law for murder,
assault and battery, and other offences; and in addition to this, there is a
special statute of the United States which makes a captain or other officer
liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, and to a fine not
exceeding a thousand dollars, for inflicting any cruel punishment upon,
withholding food from, or in any other way maltreating a seaman. This is the
state of the law on the subject; while the relation in which the parties
stand, and the peculiar necessities, excuses, and provocations arising from
that relation, are merely circumstances to be considered in each case. As to
the restraints upon the master`s exercise of power, the laws themselves seem,
on the whole, to be sufficient. I do not see that we are in need, at present,
of more legislation on the subject. The difficulty lies rather in the
administration of the laws; and this is certainly a matter that deserves great
consideration, and one of no little embarrassment.
In the first place, the courts have said that public policy requires the
power of the master and officers should be sustained. Many lives and a great
amount of property are constantly in their hands, for which they are strictly
responsible. To preserve these, and to deal justly by the captain, and not lay
upon him a really fearful responsibility, and then tie up his hands, it is
essential that discipline should be supported. In the second place, there is
always great allowance to be made for false swearing and exaggeration by
seamen, and for combinations among them against their officers; and it is to
be remembered that the latter have often no one to testify on their side.
These are weighty and true statements, and should not be lost sight of by the
friends of seamen. On the other hand, sailors make many complaints, some of
which are well founded.
On the subject of testimony, seamen labor under a difficulty full as
great as that of the captain. It is a well-known fact, that they are usually
much better treated when there are passengers on board. The presence of
passengers is a restraint upon the captain, not only from his regard to their
feelings and to the estimation in which they may hold him, but because he
knows they will be influential witnesses against him if he is brought to
trial. Though officers may sometimes be inclined to show themselves off before
passengers, by freaks of office and authority, yet cruelty they would hardly
dare to be guilty of. It is on long and distant voyages, where there is no
restraint upon the captain, and none but the crew to testify against him, that
sailors need most the protection of the law. On such voyages as these, there
are many cases of outrageous cruelty on record, enough to make one heartsick,
and almost disgusted with the sight of man; and many, many more, which have
never come to light, and never will be known, until the sea shall give up its
dead. Many of these have led to mutiny and piracy, - stripe for stripe, and
blood for blood. If on voyages of this description the testimony of seamen is
not to be received in favor of one another, or too great a deduction is made
on account of their being seamen, their case is without remedy; and the
captain, knowing this, will be strengthened in that disposition to tyrannize
which the possession of absolute power, without the restraints of friends and
public opinion, is too apt to engender.
It is to be considered, also, that the sailor comes into court under very
different circumstances from the master. He is thrown among landlords, and
sharks of all descriptions; is often led to drink freely; and comes upon the
stand unaided, and under a certain cloud of suspicion as to his character and
veracity. The captain, on the other hand, is backed by the owners and
insurers, and has an air of greater respectability; though, after all, he may
have but a little better education than the sailor, and sometimes, (especially
among those engaged in certain voyages that I could mention) a very hackneyed
conscience.
These are the considerations most commonly brought up on the subject of
seamen`s evidence; and I think it cannot but be obvious to every one that
here, positive legislation would be of no manner of use. There can be no rule
of law regulating the weight to be given to seamen`s evidence. It must rest in
the mind of the judge and jury; and no enactment or positive rule of court
could vary the result a hair, in any one case. The effect of a sailor`s
testimony in deciding a case must depend altogether upon the reputation of the
class to which he belongs, and upon the impression he himself produces in
court by his deportment, and by those infallible marks of character which
always tell upon a jury. In fine, after all the well-meant and specious
projects that have been brought forward, we seem driven back to the belief,
that the best means of securing a fair administration of the laws made for the
protection of seamen, and certainly the only means which can create any
important change for the better, is the gradual one of raising the
intellectual and religious character of the sailor, so that as an individual
and as one of a class, he may, in the first instance, command the respect of
his officers, and if any difficulty should happen, may upon the stand carry
that weight which an intelligent and respectable man of the lower class almost
always does with a jury. I know there are many men who, when a few cases of
great hardship occur, and it is evident that there is an evil somewhere, think
that some arrangement must be made, some law passed, or some society got up,
to set all right at once. On this subject there can be no call for any such
movement; on the contrary, I fully believe that any public and strong action
would do harm, and that we must be satisfied to labor in the less easy and
less exciting task of gradual improvement, and abide the issue of things
working slowly together for good.
Equally injudicious would be any interference with the economy of the
ship. The lodging, food, hours of sleep, etc., are all matters which, though
capable of many changes for the better, must yet be left to regulate
themselves. And I am confident that there will be, and that there is now a
gradual improvement in all such particulars. The forecastles of most of our
ships are small, black, and wet holes, which few landsmen would believe held a
crew of ten or twelve men on a voyage of months or years; and often, indeed in
most cases, the provisions are not good enough to make a meal anything more
than a necessary part of a day`s duty;^1 and on the score of sleep, I fully
believe that the lives of merchant seamen are shortened by the want of it. I
do not refer to those occasions when it is necessarily broken in upon; but,
for months, during fine weather, in many merchantmen, all hands are kept,
throughout the day, and, then, there are eight hours on deck for one watch
each night. Thus it is usually the case that at the end of a voyage, where
there has been the finest weather, and no disaster, the crew have a wearied
and worn-out appearance. They never sleep longer than four hours at a time,
and are seldom called without being really in need of more rest. There is no
one thing that a sailor thinks more of as a luxury of life on shore, than a
whole night`s sleep. Still, all these things must be left to be gradually
modified by circumstances. Whenever hard cases occur, they should be made
known, and masters and owners should be held answerable, and will, no doubt,
in time, be influenced in their arrangements and discipline by the increased
consideration in which sailors are held by the public. It is perfectly proper
that the men should live in a different part of the vessel from the officers;
and if the forecastle is made large and comfortable, there is no reason why
the crew should not live there as well as in any other part. In fact, sailors
prefer the forecastle. It is their accustomed place, and in it they are out of
the sight and hearing of their officers.
[Footnote 1: I am not sure that I have stated, in the course of my narrative,
the manner in which sailors eat, on board ship. There are neither tables,
knives, forks, nor plates, in a forecastle; but the kid (a wooden tub, with
iron hoops) is placed on the floor, and the crew sit round it, and each man
cuts for himself with the common jack-knife or sheath-knife, that he carries
about him. They drink their tea out of tin pots, holding little less than a
quart each.
These particulars are not looked upon as hardships, and, indeed, may be
considered matters of choice. Sailors, in our merchantmen, furnish their own
eating utensils, as they do many of the instruments which they use in the
ship`s work, such as knives, palms and needles, marline-spikes, rubbers,
etc. And considering their mode of life in other respects, the little time
they would have for laying and clearing away a table with its apparatus, and
the room it would take up in a forecastle, as well as the simple character of
their meals, consisting generally of only one piece of meat, - it is certainly
a convenient method, and, as the kid and pans are usually kept perfectly
clean, a neat and simple one. I had supposed these things to be generally
known, until I heard, a few months ago, a lawyer of repute, who has had a good
deal to do with marine cases, ask a sailor upon the stand whether the crew had
"got up from table" when a certain thing happened.]
As to their food and sleep, there are laws, with heavy penalties,
requiring a certain amount of stores to be on board, and safely stowed; and,
for depriving the crew unnecessarily of food or sleep, the captain is liable
at common law, as well as under the statute before referred to. Farther than
this, it would not be safe to go. The captain must be the judge when it is
necessary to keep his crew from their sleep; and sometimes a retrenching, not
of the necessaries, but of some of the little niceties of their meals, as, for
instance, duff on Sunday, may be a mode of punishment, though I think
generally an injudicious one.
Corporal Punishment
I could not do justice to this subject without noticing one part of the
discipline of a ship, which has been very much discussed of late, and has
brought out strong expressions of indignation from many, - I mean the
infliction of corporal punishment. Those who have followed me in my narrative
will remember that I was witness to an act of great cruelty inflicted upon my
own shipmates; and indeed I can sincerely say that the simple mention of the
word flogging, brings up in me feelings which I can hardly control. Yet, when
the proposition is made to abolish it entirely and at once; to prohibit the
captain from ever, under any circumstances, inflicting corporal punishment; I
am obliged to pause, and, I must say, to doubt exceedingly the expediency of
making any positive enactment which shall have that effect. If the design of
those who are writing on this subject is merely to draw public attention to
it, and to discourage the practice of flogging, and bring it into disrepute,
it is well; and, indeed, whatever may be the end they have in view, the mere
agitation of the question will have that effect, and, so far, must do good.
Yet I should not wish to take command of a ship to-morrow, running my chance
of a crew, as most masters must, and know, and have my crew know, that I could
not, under any circumstances, inflict even moderate chastisement. I should
trust that I might never have to resort to it; and, indeed, I scarcely know
what risk I would not run, and to what inconvenience I would not subject
myself, rather than do so. Yet not to have the power of holding it up in
terrorem, and indeed of protecting myself, and all under my charge, by it, if
some extreme case should arise, would be a situation I should not wish to be
placed in myself, or to take the responsibility of placing another in.
Indeed, the difficulties into which masters and officers are liable to be
thrown, are not sufficiently considered by many whose sympathies are easily
excited by stories, frequent enough, and true enough of outrageous abuse of
this power. It is to be remembered that more than three-fourths of the seamen
in our merchant vessels are foreigners. They are from all parts of the world.
A great many from the north of Europe, beside Frenchmen, Spaniards,
Portuguese, Italians, men from all parts of the Mediterranean, together with
Lascars, Negroes, and, perhaps worst of all, the off-casts of British
men-of-war, and men from our own country who have gone to sea because they
could not be permitted to live on land.
As things now are, many masters are obliged to sail without knowing
anything of their crews, until they get out at sea. There may be pirates or
mutineers among them; and one bad man will often infect all the rest; and it
is almost certain that some of them will be ignorant foreigners, hardly
understanding a word of our language, accustomed all their lives to no
influence but force, and perhaps nearly as familiar with the use of the knife
as with that of the marline-spike. No prudent master, however peaceably
inclined, would go to sea without his pistols and handcuffs. Even with such a
crew as I have supposed, kindness and moderation would be the best policy, and
the duty of every conscientious man; and the administering of corporal
punishment might be dangerous, and of doubtful use. But the question is not,
what a captain ought generally to do, but whether it shall be put out of the
power of every captain, under any circumstances, to make use of, even
moderate, chastisement. As the law now stands, a parent may correct moderately
his child, and the master his apprentice; and the case of the shipmaster has
been placed upon the same principle. The statutes, and the common law as
expounded in the decisions of courts, and in the books of commentators, are
express and unanimous to this point, that the captain may inflict moderate
corporal chastisement, for a reasonable cause. If the punishment is excessive,
or the cause not sufficient to justify it, he is answerable; and the jury are
to determine, by their verdict in each case, whether, under all the
circumstances, the punishment was moderate, and for a justifiable cause.
This seems to me to be as good a position as the whole subject can be
left in. I mean to say, that no positive enactment, going beyond this, is
needed, or would be a benefit either to masters or men, in the present state
of things. This again would seem to be a case which should be left to the
gradual working of its own cure. As seamen improve, punishment will become
less necessary; and as the character of officers is raised, they will be less
ready to inflict it; and, still more, the infliction of it upon intelligent
and respectable men, will be an enormity which will not be tolerated by public
opinion, and by juries, who are the pulse of the body politic. No one can have
a greater abhorrence of the infliction of such punishment than I have, and a
stronger conviction that severity is bad policy with a crew; yet I would ask
every reasonable man whether he had not better trust to the practice becoming
unnecessary and disreputable; to the measure of moderate chastisement and a
justifiable cause being better understood, and thus, the act becoming
dangerous, and in course of time to be regarded as an unheard-of barbarity -
than to take the responsibility of prohibiting it, at once, in all cases, and
in what ever degree, by positive enactment?
There is, however, one point connected with the administration of justice
to seamen, to which I wish seriously to call the attention of those interested
in their behalf, and, if possible, also of some of those concerned in that
administration. This is, the practice which prevails of making strong appeals
to the jury in mitigation of damages, or to the judge, after a verdict has
been rendered against a captain or officer, for a lenient sentence, on the
grounds of their previous good character, and of their being poor, and having
friends and families depending upon them for support. These appeals have been
allowed a weight which is almost incredible, and which, I think, works a
greater hardship upon seamen than any one other thing in the laws, or the
execution of them. Notwithstanding every advantage the captain has over the
seaman in point of evidence, friends, money, and able counsel, it becomes
apparent that he must fail in his defence. An appeal is then made to the jury,
if it is a civil action, or to the judge for a mitigated sentence, if it is a
criminal prosecution, on the two grounds I have mentioned. The same form is
usually gone through in every case. In the first place, as to the previous
good character of the party. Witnesses are brought from the town in which he
resides, to testify to his good character, and to his unexceptionable conduct
when on shore. They say that he is a good father, or husband, or son, or
neighbor, and that they never saw in him any signs of a cruel or tyrannical
disposition. I have even known evidence admitted to show the character he bore
when a boy at school. The owners of the vessel, and other merchants, and
perhaps the president of the insurance company, are then introduced; and they
testify to his correct deportment, express their confidence in his honesty,
and say that they have never seen anything in his conduct to justify a
suspicion of his being capable of cruelty or tyranny. This evidence is then
put together, and great stress is laid upon the extreme respectability of
those who give it. They are the companions and neighbors of the captain, it is
said, - men who know him in his business and domestic relations, and who knew
him in his early youth. They are also men of the highest standing in the
community, and who, as the captain`s employers, must be supposed to know his
character. This testimony is then contrasted with that of some half dozen
obscure sailors, who, the counsel will not forget to add, are exasperated
against the captain because he has found it necessary to punish them
moderately, and who have combined against him, and if they have not fabricated
a story entirely, have at least so exaggerated it, that little confidence can
be placed in it.
The next thing to be done is to show to the court and jury that the
captain is a poor man, and has a wife and family, or other friends, depending
upon him for support; that if he is fined, it will only be taking bread from
the mouths of the innocent and helpless, and laying a burden upon them which
their whole lives will not be able to work off; and that if he is imprisoned,
the confinement, to be sure, he will have to bear, but the distress consequent
upon the cutting him off from his labor and means of earning his wages, will
fall upon a poor wife and helpless children, or upon an infirm parent. These
two topics, well put, and urged home earnestly, seldom fail of their effect.
In depreciation of this mode of proceeding, and in behalf of men who I
believe are every day wronged by it, I would urge a few considerations which
seem to me to be conclusive.
First, as to the evidence of the good character the captain sustains on
shore. It is to be remembered that masters of vessels have usually been
brought up in a forecastle; and upon all men, and especially upon those taken
from lower situations, the conferring of absolute power is too apt to work a
great change. There are many captains whom I know to be cruel and tyrannical
men at sea, who yet, among their friends, and in their families, have never
lost the reputation they bore in childhood. In fact, the sea-captain is
seldom at home, and when he is, his stay is short, and during the continuance
of it he is surrounded by friends who treat him with kindness and
consideration, and he has everything to please, and at the same time to
restrain him. He would be a brute indeed, if, after an absence of months or
years, during his short stay, so short that the novelty and excitement of it
has hardly time to wear off, and the attentions he receives as a visitor and
stranger hardly time to slacken, - if, under such circumstances, a townsman or
neighbor would be justified in testifying against his correct and peaceable
deportment. With the owners of the vessel, also, to which he is attached, and
among merchants and insurers generally, he is a very different man from what
he may be at sea, when his own master, and the master of everybody and
everything about him. He knows that upon such men, and their good opinion of
him, he depends for his bread. So far from their testimony being of any value
in determining what his conduct would be at sea, one would expect that the
master who would abuse and impose upon a man under his power, would be the
most compliant and deferential to his employers at home.
As to the appeal made in the captain`s behalf on the ground of his being
poor and having persons depending upon his labor for support, the main and
fatal objection to it is, that it will cover every case of the kind, and
exempt nearly the whole body of masters and officers from the punishment the
law has provided for them. There are very few, if any masters or other
officers of merchantmen in our country, who are not poor men, and having
either parents, wives, children, or other relatives, depending mainly or
wholly upon their exertions for support in life. Few others follow the sea for
subsistence. Now if this appeal is to have weight with courts in diminishing
the penalty the law would otherwise inflict, is not the whole class under a
privilege which will, in a degree, protect it in wrong-doing? It is not a
thing that happens now and then. It is the invariable appeal, the last resort,
of counsel, when everything else has failed. I have known cases of the most
flagrant nature, where after every effort has been made for the captain, and
yet a verdict rendered against him, and all other hope failed, this appeal has
been urged, and with such success that the punishment has been reduced to
something little more than nominal, the court not seeming to consider that it
might be made in almost every such case that could come before them. It is a
little singular, too, that it seems to be confined to cases of shipmasters and
officers. No one ever heard of a sentence, for an offence committed on shore,
being reduced by the court on the ground of the prisoner`s poverty, and the
relation in which he may stand to third persons. On the contrary, it had been
thought that the certainty that disgrace and suffering will be brought upon
others as well as himself, is one of the chief restraints upon the criminally
disposed. Besides, this course works a peculiar hardship in the case of the
sailor. For if poverty is the point in question, the sailor is the poorer of
the two; and if there is a man on earth who depends upon whole limbs and an
unbroken spirit for support, it is the sailor. He, too, has friends to whom
his hard earnings may be a relief, and whose hearts will bleed at any cruelty
or indignity practised upon him. Yet I never knew this side of the case to be
once adverted to in these arguments addressed to the leniency of the court,
which are now so much in vogue; and certainly they are never allowed a
moment`s consideration when a sailor is on trial for revolt, or for an injury
done to an officer. Notwithstanding the many difficulties which lie in a
seaman`s way in a court of justice, presuming that they will be modified in
time, there would be little to complain of, were it not for these two appeals.
It is no cause of complaint that the testimony of seamen against their
officers is viewed with suspicion, and that great allowance is made for
combinations and exaggeration. On the contrary, it is the judge`s duty to
charge the jury on these points strongly. But there is reason for objection,
when, after a strict cross-examination of witnesses, after the arguments of
counsel, and the judge`s charge, a verdict is found against the master, that
the court should allow the practice of hearing appeals to its lenity,
supported solely by evidence of the captain`s good conduct when on shore,
(especially where the case is one in which no evidence but that of sailors
could have been brought against the accused), and then, on this ground, and on
the invariable claims of the wife and family, be induced to cut down
essentially the penalty imposed by a statute made expressly for masters and
officers of merchantmen, and for no one else.
There are many particulars connected with the manning of vessels, the
provisions given to crews, and the treatment of them while at sea, upon which
there might be a good deal said; but as I have, for the most part, remarked
upon them as they came up in the course of my narrative, I will offer nothing
further now, except on the single point of the manner of shipping men. This,
it is well known, is usually left entirely to the shipping-masters, and is a
cause of a great deal of difficulty, which might be remedied by the captain,
or owner, if he has any knowledge of seamen, attending to it personally. One
of the members of the firm to which our ship belonged, Mr. S____, had been
himself a master of a vessel, and generally selected the crew from a number
sent down to him from the shipping-office. In this way he almost always had
healthy, serviceable, and respectable men; for any one who has seen much of
sailors can tell pretty well at first sight, by a man`s dress, countenance,
and deportment, what he would be on board ship. This same gentleman was also
in the habit of seeing the crew together, and speaking to them previously to
their sailing. On the day before our ship sailed, while the crew were getting
their chests and clothes on board, he went down into the forecastle and spoke
to them about the voyage, the clothing they would need, the provision he had
made for them, and saw that they had a lamp and a few other conveniences. If
owners or masters would more generally take the same pains, they would often
save their crews a good deal of inconvenience, beside creating a sense of
satisfaction and gratitude, which makes a voyage begin under good auspices,
and goes far toward keeping up a better state of feeling throughout its
continuance.
It only remains for me now to speak of the associated public efforts
which have been making of late years for the good of seamen: a far more
agreeable task than that of finding fault, even where fault there is. The
exertions of the general association, called the American Seamen`s Friend
Society, and of the other smaller societies throughout the Union, have been a
true blessing to the seaman; and bid fair, in course of time, to change the
whole nature of the circumstances in which he is placed, and give him a new
name, as well as a new character. These associations have taken hold in the
right way, and aimed both at making the sailor`s life more comfortable and
creditable, and at giving him spiritual instruction. Connected with these
efforts, the spread of temperance among seamen, by means of societies, called,
in their own nautical language, Windward-Anchor Societies, and the
distribution of books; the establishment of Sailors` Homes, where they can be
comfortably and cheaply boarded, live quietly and decently, and be in the way
of religious services, reading and conversation; also the institution of
Savings Banks for Seamen; the distribution of tracts and Bibles; - are all
means which are silently doing a great work for this class of men. These
societies make the religious instruction of seamen their prominent object. If
this is gained, there is no fear but that all other things necessary will be
added unto them. A sailor never becomes interested in religion, without
immediately learning to read, if he did not know how before; and regular
habits, forehandedness (if I may use the word) in worldly affairs, and hours
reclaimed from indolence and vice, which follow in the wake of the converted
man, make it sure that he will instruct himself in the knowledge necessary and
suitable to his calling. The religious change is the great object. If this is
secured, there is no fear but that knowledge of things of the world will come
in fast enough. With the sailor, as with all other men in fact, the
cultivation of the intellect, and the spread of what is commonly called useful
knowledge, while religious instruction is neglected, is little else than
changing an ignorant sinner into an intelligent and powerful one. That sailor
upon whom, of all others, the preaching of the Cross is least likely to have
effect, is the one whose understanding has been cultivated, while his heart
has been left to its own devices. I fully believe that those efforts which
have their end in the intellectual cultivation of the sailor; in giving him
scientific knowledge; putting it in his power to read everything, without
securing, first of all, a right heart which shall guide him in judgment; in
giving him political information, and interesting him in newspapers; - an end
in the furtherance of which he is exhibited at ladies` fairs and public
meetings, and complemented for his gallantry and generosity, - are all doing a
harm which the labors of many faithful men cannot undo.
The establishment of Bethels in most of our own seaports, and in many
foreign ports frequented by our vessels, where the gospel is regularly
preached and the opening of "Sailors` Homes," which I have before mentioned,
where there are usually religious services and other good influences, are
doing a vast deal in this cause. But it is to be remembered that the sailor`s
home is on the deep. Nearly all his life must be spent on board ship; and to
secure a religious influence there, should be the great object. The
distribution of Bibles and tracts into cabins and forecastles, will do much
toward this. There is nothing which will gain a sailor`s attention sooner, and
interest him more deeply, than a tract, especially one which contains a story.
It is difficult to engage their attention in mere essays and arguments, but
the simplest and shortest story, in which home is spoken of, kind friends, a
praying mother or sister, a sudden death, and the like, often touches the
heart of the roughest and most abandoned. The Bible is to the sailor a sacred
book. It may lie in the bottom of his chest, voyage after voyage; but he never
treats it with positive disrespect. I never knew but one sailor who doubted
its being the inspired word of God; and he was one who had received an
uncommonly good education, except that he had been brought up without any
early religious influence. The most abandoned man of our crew, one Sunday
morning, asked one of the boys to lend him his Bible. The boy said he would,
but was afraid he would make sport of it. "No!" said the man, "I don`t make
sport of God Almighty." This is a feeling general among sailors, and is a good
foundation for religious influence.
A still greater gain is made whenever, by means of a captain who is
interested in the eternal welfare of those under his command, there can be
secured the performance of regular religious exercises, and the exertion, on
the side of religion, of that mighty influence which a captain possesses for
good, or for evil. There are occurrences at sea which he may turn to great
account, - a sudden death, the apprehension of danger, or the escape from it,
and the like; and all the calls for gratitude and faith. Besides, this state
of thing alters the whole current of feeling between the crew and their
commander. His authority assumes more of the parental character; and kinder
feelings exist. Godwin, though an infidel, in one of his novels, describing
the relation in which a tutor stood to his pupil, says that the conviction the
tutor was under, that he and his ward were both alike awaiting a state of
eternal happiness or misery, and that they must appear together before the
same judgment-seat, operated so upon his naturally morose disposition, as to
produce a feeling of kindness and tenderness toward his ward, which nothing
else could have caused. Such must be the effect upon the relation of master
and common seaman.
There are now many vessels sailing under such auspices, in which great
good is done. Yet I never happened to fall in with one of them. I did not hear
a prayer made, a chapter read in public, nor see anything approaching to a
religious service, for two years and a quarter. There were, in the course of
the voyage, many incidents which made, for the time, serious impressions upon
our minds, and which might have been turned to our good; but there being no
one to use the opportunity, and no services, the regular return of which might
have kept something of the feeling alive in us, the advantage of them was
lost, to some, perhaps, forever.
The good which a single religious captain may do can hardly be
calculated. In the first place, as I have said, a kinder state of feeling
exists on board the ship. There is no profanity allowed; and the men are not
called by any opprobrious names, which is a great thing with sailors. The
Sabbath is observed. This gives the men a day of rest, even if they pass it in
no other way. Such a captain, too, will not allow a sailor on board his ship
to remain unable to read his Bible and the books given to him; and will
usually instruct those who need it, in writing, arithmetic, and navigation;
since he has a good deal of time on his hands, which he can easily employ in
such a manner. He will also have regular religious services; and, in fact, by
the power of his example, and, where it can judiciously be done, by the
exercise of his authority, will give a character to the ship and all on board.
In foreign ports, a ship is known by her captain; for, there being no general
rules in the merchant service, each master may adopt a plan of his own. It is
to be remembered, too, that there are, in most ships, boys of a tender age,
whose characters for life are forming, as well as old men, whose lives must be
drawing toward a close. The greater part of sailors die at sea; and when they
find their end approaching, if it does not, as is often the case, come without
warning, they cannot, as on shore, send for a clergyman, or some religious
friend, to speak to them of that hope in a Saviour, which they have neglected,
if not despised, through life; but if the little hull does not contain such an
one within its compass, they must be left without human aid in their great
extremity. When such commanders and such ships, as I have just described,
shall become more numerous, the hope of the friends of seamen will be greatly
strengthened; and it is encouraging to remember that the efforts among common
sailors will soon raise up such a class; for those of them who are brought
under these influences will inevitably be the ones to succeed to the places of
trust and authority. If there is on earth an instance where a little leaven
may leaven the whole lump, it is that of the religious shipmaster.
It is to the progress of this work among seamen that we must look with
the greatest confidence for the remedying of those numerous minor evils and
abuses that we so often hear of. It will raise the character of sailors, both
as individuals and as a class. It will give weight to their testimony in
courts of justice, secure better usage to them on board ship, and add comforts
to their lives on shore and at sea. There are some laws that can be passed to
remove temptation from their way and to help them in their progress; and some
changes in the jurisdiction of the lower courts, to prevent delays, may, and
probably will, be made. But, generally speaking more especially in things
which concern the discipline of ships, we had better labor in this great work,
and view with caution the proposal of new laws and arbitrary regulations,
remembering that most of those concerned in the making of them must
necessarily be little qualified to judge of their operation.
Without any formal dedication of my narrative to that body of men, of
whose common life it is intended to be a picture, I have yet borne them
constantly in mind during its preparation. I cannot but trust that those of
them, into whose hands it may chance to fall, will find in it that which shall
render any professions of sympathy and good wishes on my part unnecessary. And
I will take the liberty, on parting with my reader, who has gone down with us
to the ocean, and "laid his hand upon its mane," to commend to his kind
wishes, and to the benefit of his efforts, that class of men with whom, for a
time, my lot was cast. I wish the rather to do this, since I feel that
whatever attention this book may gain, and whatever favor it may find, I shall
owe almost entirely to that interest in the sea, and those who follow it,
which is so easily excited in us all.
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