BEFORE THE MAST

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 313, 29 August 1932, Page 3

BEFORE THE MAST

INTERESTING REMINISCENCES AND LECTURE BY REV. McDIARMID A most interesting lecture was given by the Rev. D. McDiarmid on j Friday evening, entitled "Four Years I Before the Mast." It was a brief, but ( graphic review of the life of a mer- j chant seaman illustrated hy personal reminiscences. The lecturer appeared to he living some of those stirring days once I more as he recalled how he had com- | menced as a ship's boy on the four l masted barque "Helen Denny." i He recounted graphically how his pride failed rapidly shortly after they left the shore, for he was woefully siclc and he pointed out that | being sea-sick as a passenger and be- j ing sea-sick as a ship's boy, chipping paint in a small hold or hanging on to the swaying rigging high above the deck, were two different things. He was under the impression that hy going to sea he would miss much j of the study which would have had i to be done ashore. This he soon found was not so, for the mate came j to him and told him in no uncertain i terms that he must learn the name, place and use of every rope in the ship within a week. He found that this was not so difficult as it first appeared as there were plenty of people willing to teach him, all of them in a more or less uncomfortable manner. The First Voyage His first voyage was from New Zealand to Fiji and hy the time they had arrived at Suva he had learnt to handle a small boat and was told olf to take the skipper ashore. This done he thought he would go ashore himself and being hungry as sailors nearly always are, he approached a small boy and said, "This is a great place for fruit, isn't it?" The boy replied, "Oh, you want to go to New Zealand for fruit." {Laughter.) As he was only earning the princely sum of £1 per month, he did not have a great deal of money, but he soon found there were ways and means of reetifying this. A native, who was following him around, took 'a faney to the coat he was wearing and offered him 3s for it. After a certain amount of argument they compromised on the exchange of the coat for 5s and a bunch of hananas. ' Promoted Mr. McDiarmid later joined the Marguerita of the Craig line, which traded between Australia and Kaipara. On this vessel he was promoted to the position of donkey man. This boat frequently carried car- 1 goes of timber and the lecturer spoke feelingly of the difiiculties experienced by the crew if a ship had the. mis- £ -Umrr, o Anr>lr r.U

small pieces of timber. These were easy to handle when lying flat and firm, but when warped by sun and sea water the ends turned up and inevitably led to badly barked shins when one was clambering about the deck in the dark. Another vessel on which he served was known as a "lime juicer" because aceording to the agreement under which the crew shipped, it was not necessary for them to be given any fresh fruit or vegetables, but merely a certain amount of lime puice per day while in the tropics. This boat traded to the West Coast of America. Life was very hard aboard her and in eleven weeks he only got one day ashore.

He also recounted his experience when he was appointed ship's cook. The appointment did not last long, however. Having been told off to make some pea soup for the cabin, he dipped some sea water up (thinking it would save salt) and cooked the peas for hours, but they refused to soften and at last, in despair, he sent them in as they were. His appointment as cook ceased immediately. On another occasion he was sent ashore at Newcastle to fetch a "Parcel." He put on his best clothes to go ashore and was just going down the gangway when he was told to take a sack to put the parcel in. This struck him as somewhat suspicious and his suspicions were. well founded, for the "parcel" proved to be a live pig which squealed most of the way from its destination to the wharf much to the amusement of everybody he passed. He told of emergencies when instead of four hours on and four hours off, it was a case of all hands on deck sometimes for twenty-four hours on end and of times when all hands had to haul on ropes and lines for hours at a time while huge seas broke over them. How he once spent four hours on a yard arm trying to take in sail in a stiff breeze. The sail was blown from their hands again and again, sometimes tearing their nails and fingers as it went. To quote the lecturer, "The salary of an A.B. was £3 per month or £2 15s in a Scot.ch ship, and sailors are often asked, 'Would you rather go to sea than work?' Well, I should smile." During the course of the lecture, Mr. McDiarmid said most of the work about the ship was done to the accompaniment of songs or sea chanties. The male choir consisting of Messrs. McDiarmid, R. Semple, A. H. Hilford, H. Roland, T. Steele, H. Simpson and C. Thompson, then sang several of these rollicking ditties among others, Shandoah, Rio Grande, Sally Brown, Billy Boy, and Blow the Man Down, while Mrs. Hilford played the accompaniment. Miss C. Armstrong danced a sailor's hornpipe with Miss E. Fleming ' as accompanist. Mr. M. Wheatly sang and after the lecture, Mr. T. Steele sang "Sea Fever," and the Hon. J. B. Gow briefly thanked the speaker for a most interesting address.