Page:The Blight of Insubordination.djvu/50

42 relative merits of the British seaman and the foreign seaman. My own idea is the common one, that the British sailor is the best in time of trouble at sea, but as we are not always in trouble at sea his good qualities seldom come into prominence, but his bad qualities are, more or less, always apparent. I feel inclined to give the palm to the foreigner, who, having been disciplined in his own country, is mostly amenable to laws of ours, and on the whole is just as good and in in any instances a better sailor-man, as we call them, than the present day paint-washing, deck-scrubbing sea lawyer who signs on as A.B. In any case when on the point of sailing from England, a master feels inclined to cry 'Give me anyone; fill up my complement, let them be tinkers or tailors, Greeks, Turks, Chinese, anyone; only let me get to sea clear of all this Board of Trade tomfoolery.' And, really, looking back at the cool way sailors and firemen take their bags on shore after joining, and the brass-bound Board of Trade officer looking on with calm approval, the rest of the noble British sailors being on their backs in the forecastle allowing the fumes of the best old shot whisky to escape, one does feel mighty tickled when engaging a crew at the mercantile marine office to hear the well-known passage read over by the shipping-master in a voice and with the expression of a full-blown High Church curate: 'And the said crew agree to conduct themselves in an orderly, faithful, honest and sober manner. To be at all times diligent in their respective duties, and to be obedient to the lawful commands of the said master, or of any person who shall lawfully succeed him, and of their superior officers, etc., etc.' On looking at the men who listen to him, one almost fancies they also are trying to smother their risibility at the idea of inserting such a useless and never-to-be-thought-of-by-them clause in the agreement, which at the best of times won't hold water. I think, sir, we, as an organised body, should never rest in our endeavours until we have secured better regulations for the enforcement of discipline on board, also with regard to the engagement of seamen, thereby ensuring to ourselves and 'all concerned—seamen, firemen, engineers, officers, and masters—a greater measure of security, harmony, and good service. I am, dear Sir, Yours very truly, Master, ss. Brunswick."

This case is a fair sample of the discipline on board a British ship if the crew are inclined to be troublesome. The travesty of attempting to maintain discipline at sea under these conditions. has resulted in many, many cases, and unless too serious, of shipmasters letting defaulters go scot free rather than suffer the chance of further indignity of a decision against them, as so often has happened, owing to the wasted sympathy so freely lavished on these offenders by those whose duty it is (and in which they have failed) to administer the law! We do not