"PIG-HEADED" SAILOR MEN By Louis Becke T. FISHER UNWIN, 1902 LONDON Crossing from Holyhead to Ireland one night the captain of the steamerand myself, during an hour's talk on the bridge, found that we each hadsailed in a certain Australian coasting steamer more than twenty yearsbefore--he as chief officer and I as passenger; and her shipwreck oneChristmas Eye (long after), which was attended by an appalling loss oflife, led us to talk of "pig-headed" skippers generally. His experienceswere large, and some of his stories were terrible even to hear, otherswere grotesquely humorous, and the memory of that particularly pleasantpassage across a sea as smooth as a mill pond, has impelled me toretell some of the incidents I related to him of my own adventures withobstinate, self-willed, or incapable captains. My first experience was with a gentleman of the "incapable" variety, andbefell me when I was quite a lad. I had taken my passage in a verysmart little Sydney (N. S. W. ) barque bound for Samoa _via_ the FriendlyIslands. She was commanded by a Captain Rosser, who had sailed her fornearly twenty years in the South Sea trade, and who was justly regardedas the _doyen_ of island skippers. He was a "Bluenose, " stood sixfeet two in his stockinged feet, and was a man of the most determinedcourage, unflinching resolution, and was widely known and respected bythe white traders and the natives all over the South Pacific. In those days there was quite a fleet of vessels engaged in the SouthSea trade, and most of them were owned in, and sailed from Sydney, andI could have secured a passage in any one of three other vessels, butpreferred the _Rimitara_ (so I will call her), merely because the agenthad told me that no other passengers were going by her. Captain Rosserhimself frankly told me that he did not like passengers, but when helearned that I had been to sea before, and intended settling in Samoaas a trader, his grim visage relaxed, and he growled something aboutmy finding the accommodation ample enough, as I was to be the onlypassenger. The _Rimitara_ was lying off Garden Island, and as she was to sail ateleven in the morning I went on board at ten with the captain himself. Just ahead of the barque was a very handsome brigantine, also bound forthe Friendly Islands. She had been launched only a few weeks previously, and had been built for His Majesty King George of Tonga, at a cost of£4, 000, as a combined cargo and despatch vessel. As Rosser and I steppedon the barque's poop the captain of the brigantine--whose decks werecrowded with visitors--hailed the former and challenged him to a race. "Oh, race with yourself, sir, " was Rosser's abrupt reply, as he badehis chief mate heave up, and then seeing that a number of ladies werestanding beside the captain of the brigantine, he raised his hat, andadded more good-humouredly that although the _Rimitara_ was not a yachtlike the _Tuitoga_, he would bet the captain of the latter ten poundsthat the barque would be at anchor in Nukualofa Harbour forty-eighthours before him. "Make it fifty, " cried the master of the new ship, amid the cheers ofhis guests. Rosser shook his head, and replied with apparent unconcern (though hewas really angry) that ten pounds was enough for any one to lose. "But, "he added, "don't think I'm going to race you. I'm just going to dodderalong as usual. " (He kept his word most thoroughly. ) We got underway first, and were just passing out between Sydney Headsunder easy sail, when the brigantine overtook us, and passed us like arace-horse galloping past a trotting donkey. She presented a beautifulsight as she swept by with yards braced up sharp to a good south-eastbreeze, and every stitch of her brand-new canvas drawing. One of theofficers had the bad manners to take up a coil of small line, and makea pretence of heaving it to us for a tow rope. Rosser looked on with anunmoved face, though our own mate made some strong remarks. "Guess it's that champagne he's drunk, " was all that Rosser said as heturned away, and I have no doubt he was right, for we afterwards learnedthat nearly every one aft on board the brigantine was half-drunk whenshe lifted anchor, the visitors having brought on board half a dozencases of champagne--as a matter of fact we had seen the steward openingbottles on the poop. In an hour the _Tuitoga_ was a long way ahead. Rosser said to us at dinner-- "That brigantine will come to grief. She's overmasted, and the fellowwho has her ought not to be trusted with her. He's going to make a messof things. " Then in his slow, drawling manner, he told us that the command ofthe _Tuitoga_ had been given to an ex-lieutenant of the navy, whoseknowledge of sailing vessels was confined to his youthful experiences onone of the service training brigs; but King George of Tonga was anxiousto secure an English naval officer to command the new ship, and out ofsome hundreds of eager applicants, Lieutenant Raye had been selected. By sundown the brigantine was hull down ahead of us, though the barquewas a very smart vessel, and we were then making eleven knots. Atmidnight, I heard the mate give orders to take in royals and topgallantsails, and going on deck, found the wind had almost died away. Rosser was on deck, and told me that we were "going to get it hot fromthe N. E. Before long;" and by four in the morning we were under topsailsand lower courses only, the ship flying before a most unpleasant sea. Iturned in again, and slept till daylight, when the second mate gave me acall. "Come on deck and see something pretty. " The "something pretty" was the brigantine, which was in sight about amile away on our lee bow. She was in a terrible mess. Her fore and mainroyal masts and topgallant masts and jibboom had apparently all beencarried away together, and she was almost lying on her beam ends. We randown to her, and saw that her crew were busy in cutting away the sparsand sails alongside. All her boats were gone, and her for'ard deck househad started, and was working to and fro with every sea. In less than half an hour the mate and six hands from the barque wereon board, assisting the crew, cutting away the wire rigging and trimmingthe cargo, the shifting of which had nearly sent her to the bottom. Iwent with the boat to lend a hand, and the second mate of the brigantinetold me that the young captain had refused to listen to the mate'ssuggestion to shorten sail, when the officer told him that the windwould certainly come away suddenly from the N. E. The consequence wasthat a furious squall took her aback, and had not the jibboom--and thenthe upper spars--carried away under the terrific strain, she would havegone to the bottom. The worst part of the business was that two poorseamen had been lost overboard. "He's a pretty kind of man for a skipper if you like, " said thesecond officer bitterly. "He ought to be hanged for pretending he'sa sailorman. It's sheer murder to put such a jackass in command of adeep-water sailing ship. " After rendering all possible assistance to the brigantine, we left herabout mid-day; and had been lying at anchor for two weeks in NukualofaHarbour before she put in an appearance outside the reef. A native pilotwent out in a canoe, but the captain haughtily declined his services, and would not even let him come on board--he wanted to show people thatalthough he had never seen Naknalofa Harbour before, he could bringhis ship in without a pilot. In less than half an hour, a swirling eddycaught the vessel, and earned her broadside on to the reef, where shewould have been battered to pieces, had not our two boats gone to herassistance, and with great difficulty got her off again. Captain Rosserseveral times countermanded orders given by his chief officer--anexperienced seaman--and bullied and "jawed" his crew in the most pompousand irritating manner, and finally when we succeeded in getting thevessel off the reef with the loss of her false keel and rudder, andwere towing her into smooth water inside the reef, he came for'ard, andabruptly desired our chief mate to cease towing, as he meant to anchor. "Anchor, and be hanged to you, " replied our officer with angry contempt;"the kind of ship you ought to command is one that is towed by a horsealong a path in the old country. " We cast off and left him to his own conceit and devices. He let go inless than five fathoms, paid out too much cable, and went stern firston to a coral patch, where he stuck for a couple of days, much to ourdelight. Within six months this gentleman succeeded in getting the brigantineashore on four occasions, and she had to return to Sydney to be repairedat a cost of £1, 700. ***** My next two experiences were with the pig-headed type. I had made anagreement with the master of a Fiji-owned vessel--also a brigantine--toconvey myself and my stock of trade goods from an island in the Tokelauor Union Group (South Pacific) to Yap, in the Caroline Islands in theNorth-west, where I intended starting a trading business. This captainwas as good a seaman as ever trod a deck, and had had a rather longexperience of the island trade, but a mule could not surpass him inobstinacy, as I was soon to learn, to my sorrow. A week after leaving the Tokelaus, we dropped anchor on the edge of thereef of one of the Gilbert Group, to land supplies for a trader livingthere. The coast was very exposed to all but an easterly wind, andneither the mate nor myself liked the idea of anchoring at all. Theskipper, however, brought his vessel close in to the roaring breakerson the reef, let go his anchor in six fathoms, and then neatly backedastern into blue water sixty fathoms deep. Here we lay apparently safeenough, for the time, the wind being easterly and steady. By sunset we had finished landing stores and shipping cargo, and whenthe captain came off in the last boat, we naturally expected him toheave up and get out of such a dangerous place, but to our surprise heremarked carelessly that as the men were very tired, he would hold onuntil daylight. "I wouldn't risk it if I were you, " said the trader, who had come aboardin his own boat to "square up. " "You can't depend on this easterlybreeze holding all night, and it may come on squally from the west orsouth-west in a few hours, and take you unawares. " "Bosh!" was the reply. "Hoist the boats up, Mr. Laird, and tell the mento get supper. " "Very well, sir, " replied the mate, none too cheerfully. Just as the trader was going ashore, he said to me aside, quietly, "Thislittle monkey-faced skipper is a blazing idiot" (our captain was a very, very little man). "I told him again just now, that if the wind comesaway from west or south-west, or even if it falls calm, he'll find he'scaught, to a dead certainty. But he as good as told me to mind my ownbusiness. " Naturally enough I was anxious. I had on board trade goods which hadcost £1, 100, and of course had not one penny of insurance on them. Thebrigantine, however, was well insured, though I do not impute this factas being the cause of the captain's neglect of a sensible warning. After supper, the captain turned in, while the mate and I, both feelingvery uneasy, paced the deck till about nine o'clock, at which hour thewind had become perceptibly lighter, and the captain was called. He cameon deck, trotted up and down in his pyjamas for a few minutes, sat onthe rail, like a monkey on a fence, and then asked the mate snappishlywhat he was "scared about?" The mate made no reply, and the captain was just going below again, whentwo fishing canoes, with four natives in each, came quite near us, bothheading for the shore; and the skipper asked me to hail them and see ifthey had any fish to sell. I did so. "No, " was the reply; "we are going back again, because much rain andwind is coming from the westward, and we want to get over the reefbefore the surf becomes too great. " Then one of them stood up andadded-- "Why does not the ship go away quickly. This is a very bad place herewhen the wind and the sea come from the west. Your ship will be brokento pieces. " "What do they say?" inquired the little man. I translated what they had said. "Bosh, I say again, " was the reply, "the glass has been as steady as arock for the past three days, " and then, to my intense anger, he addedan insinuation that my fears had led me to deliberately misinterpretwhat the natives had said. The retort I made was of so practical anature that the mate had to assist the skipper to his feet. A quarter of an hour later, as the mate and I still walked the deck, discussing the captain's shortcomings, the wind died away suddenly, andthen several of our native crew came aft, and said that a squall wascoming up from the westward, and the mate, though neither he nor myselfcould then see any sign of it, went below and again called the captain. He came on deck, with one hand covering his injured left optic, toldme he would settle with me in the morning, and then took a long lookastern, and there, certainly enough, was a long streak of black risingover the horizon. The mate stood by waiting his orders. "It's not coming near us, " said the little man more snappishly thanever, as he marched up and down the poop. "I say it is, " said Laird bluntly, "and I consider this ship will beashore, if we don't slip and tow out a bit before it is too late. " The mate's manner had some effect on the obstinate little animal--"Oh, well, if there's such a lot of old women on board, I'll give in. Callthe hands, and we'll heave up. " "Heave up!" echoed the mate in angry astonishment, "what's the use oftrying to heave up now! That squall will be on us in ten minutes, andif we had an hour to spare, it would be none too long. Why, man, it'sa dead calm, and the swell will send us into the surf on the reef quickenough without our dragging the ship into it. Reckon the best and onlything we can do, is down boats, and then slip cable right-away. We mightget a show then to lay along the reef, and get clear. " "I'm not going to lose a new cable and anchor to please any one, " wasthe stupid reply. (He could very easily have recovered both anchor andcable with the assistance of the natives on the following day, or indeedmonths after. ) Then he sang out to the men to man the windlass. The hands, realising the danger, turned to with a will, but within fiveminutes the first breath of the squall caught us, and sent us ahead, as was evident by the way the slackened cable came in through thehawsepipe. We had out fifty-five fathoms of chain, and before twenty-five were in, the squall was upon us properly; the brigantine went gracefully ahead, overran her anchor, plunged into the roaring breakers on the reef, andstruck bows on. In another moment or two a heavy sea caught her on the starboardquarter, canted her round, and dashed her broadside on to the reef withterrific violence. Then, fortunately for our lives, two or three furtherrollers sent her crashing along till she brought up against two orthree coral boulders, whose tops were revealed every now and then by thebackwash. In less than twenty minutes she was hopelessly bilged, and herdecks swept by every sea. We carried three boats, and our native sailors showed their pluck andskill by actually getting all three safely into the water, two on thelee side, and one on the other. The captain, now conscious of his folly, became very modest, and gavehis orders quietly. The crew, however, took no notice of him and lookedto the mate. He (the captain) ordered me into the first boat, in whichwere the ship's papers, charts, chronometer, &c. I refused, and said Ipreferred getting on shore in my own way. I had seen that two native boys (passengers) had run out on to thebowsprit, and, watching their chance, had dropped over into a curlingroller, and were carried safely ashore. I had with me on board about nine hundred silver Mexican and Chilidollars--some in a cash box, the rest in a bag. Calling my nativeservant, Levi, I asked him if he thought all the boats would get ashoresafely. He shook his head, said that it was doubtful, and that it wouldbe better for me to throw the bag and the cash box over the lee side, where they were pretty sure to be recovered in the morning at low tide. "All the boats will capsize, or get stove in, going over the reef, orelse will be smashed to bits on the shore, " he said, "and the nativeswill steal everything they can lay their hands on, especially if thewhite men are drowned. So it is better to throw the money overboard. " I took his advice, and going on deck, we dropped both box and bagoverboard, just where Levi pointed out a big boulder, against which thebrigantine was crushing and pounding her quarter. Again refusing to enter any of the boats, I watched my chance, and ranfor'ard, followed by Levi, and as soon as a big roller came along, wedropped, and were carried ashore beautifully. Some hundreds of nativesand the white trader were on the look out, and ran in and caught usbefore the backwash carried us out again. The mate's boat had already reached the shore without accident, owing tothe splendid manner in which he and his native crew had handled her; butboth the captain and second mate came to grief, their boats broaching toand capsizing just as they were within a few fathoms of the shore. However, no lives were lost, and although next morning the brigantine'sdecks had worked out of her and came ashore, the hull held together forsome weeks, and we saved a lot of stores. My money I recovered two orthree days later, though it had been carried more than a hundred yardsaway from the spot where it had been dropped overboard. The tin cashbox(which I had tied up in an oilskin coat, parcelled round with spun yarn, and weighted inside with several hundred Snider cartridges) was foundburied in sand and broken coral, in a small pool on the reef; itpresented a most curious appearance, being almost round in shape. Thecanvas bag was found near by, under a ledge of the reef, together withthe binnacle bell--which was doubled flat--and a dinner plate! Thebag (of No 2 canvas) had been hastily rolled up by Levi in the cabintable-cloth, weighted with all the loose Snider cartridges we could findin the darkened trade room, and tied up at each end like a "roly-poly. "This proved its salvation, for when we dug it out (under three fathomsof water) the outer covering came away in fine shreds, and some of thebig Mexican sun dollars had cut through the canvas. So ended my second experience, and the only satisfactory thing about itto me, after losing over a thousand pounds worth of goods through thecaptain's obstinacy, was that when he was fussing about after the wrecktrying to get one of the anchors ashore, he managed to lose his rightforefinger. I regret to say that whilst I dressed the stump and bound uphis hand for him, I could not help telling him that I was sorry it wasnot his head that had been knocked off--previous to our going ashore. 'Twas very unchristianlike, but I was very sore with the man for hispig-headedness, and then he so bewailed the loss of his finger; neverthinking of the fact that the boatswain had all but lost an eye, but hadnever even murmured at his hard luck. ***** My third experience of a "pig-headed" master mariner, followed veryquickly--so quickly, that I began to think some evil star attended myfortunes, or rather misfortunes. After living on the island for three months, after the loss of thebrigantine, two vessels arrived on the same day--one, a schoonerbelonging to San Francisco, and bound to that port; the other, the_George Noble_, a fine handsome barquentine, bound to Sydney. Now, itwould have suited me very well to go to California in the schooner, but finding that the skipper of the wrecked brigantine had arrangedfor passages for himself, officers and crew in her, I decided to-go toSydney in the _George Noble_, purely because the little man with themissing finger had become so objectionable to me--brooding over mylosses, and wondering how I could pay my debts--that I felt I couldnot possibly remain at close quarters with the man in a small schoonerwithout taking a thousand pounds worth of damage out of him during thevoyage, which "taking out" process might land me in a gaol with twoyears imprisonment to serve. So I bade goodbye to good mate Laird, andthe boatswain with the injured eye, and the native crew who had acted sogallantly; and then with Levi standing by my side, holding my ponderousbag of my beloved Mexican dollars in one hand, and a few articles ofclothing in the other, I told Captain ------ that I considered him tobe an anthropoid ape, an old washerwoman, and a person who should begenerally despised and rejected by all people, even those of the dullestintellects, such as those of the members of the firm who employed him. And then recalling to my memory the sarcastic remark of the mate of the_Rimitara_, to the pompous captain of the _Tuitoga_ about the commandof a canal boat, I wound up by adding that he had missed his vocationin life, and instead of being skipper of a smart brigantine, hewas intended by Providence to be captain of a mud-dredge, for whichposition, however, he had probably barely sufficient intelligence. Feeling very despondent--for I had but nine hundred Mexican and Chiliandollars to meet a debt of eleven hundred pounds, and had out of this tokeep myself and servant for perhaps six months until I got another startas a trader, I went on board the _George Noble_ and bargained with hercaptain for a passage to Sydney, at which port I knew I could at oncemeet with an engagement. The captain of the _George Noble_ was a very decent and good-naturedGerman, named Evers. He agreed to take me and my henchman to Sydney for125 dollars--I to live aft, the boy to go for'ard with the sailors, andlend a hand in working the ship, if called upon in an emergency. Thevessel, I found, was owned by a firm of Chinese merchants in Sydney, andcarried a Chinese supercargo, but he was the only Celestial on board, the firm only employing him on account of their having so many Chinesetraders throughout the equatorial islands of the Pacific. I had not been long on board the _George Noble_ when I discovered thatEvers, who was a fine sailorman and a good navigator as well, was oneof the "pig-headed" kind. His mate, second mate, and carpenter, wereBritishers, as were nearly all the crew, but they and the skipper couldnot agree. There was no open rupture--but Evers had the idea that bothhis officers and men disliked him because he was a "Dutchman. " Perhapsthis was so, but if it was, the officers and men never showed theirdislike at being commanded by a foreigner--they knew he was a goodseaman, and gave him unvarying respect and obedience. Nevertheless, Captain Evers never spoke a friendly word to any one of his officers, and when he had to speak to them, he did so in such a manner of strainedpoliteness and severity, that it was really unpleasant to hear him. On our way to Sydney we called at various islands of the Gilbert Group, and finally went into Apaian Lagoon, where the barquentine had to loadone hundred tons of copra (dried coco-nut). During the time I had beenon board, Evers and myself had become very intimate, and, I am glad tosay, through me, he and his officers became quite friendly with eachother. And we all spent many happy evenings together. But I could seethat Evers was extremely jealous of his second mate's reputation as aSouth Sea pilot, and he would very often purposely question him as tothe entrance of such and such a passage of such and such an island, and then deliberately contradict his officer's plain and truthfulstatements, and tell him he was wrong. Foster, a good-humoured oldfellow, would merely laugh and change the subject, though he well knewthat Captain Evers had had very little experience of the navigationof the South Seas, and relied upon his charts more than upon his localknowledge--he would never take a suggestion from his officers, both ofwhom were old "island" men--especially the second mate. We loaded the hundred tons of copra, and were ready for sea by nineo'clock one morning, when a number of large sailing canoes came off, crowded with natives from a distant part of the island, all anxious tobuy firearms and ammunition in view of a great expedition against theadjacent island of Tarawa. They all possessed either plenty of moneyor copra, and Evers did a remarkably good, though illegal business, andsold them over a hundred rifles. By the time they had finished, however, it was past one o'clock, and I concluded that we could not leave thelagoon till the following morning. To my surprise, and the second mate'sopen-mouthed astonishment, the skipper, who was highly elated with hismorning's trading, told the mate to clear the decks, and get ready toheave up. "Why, he's mad!" said the second officer to me. Now I must explain: Apaian Lagoon is a vast atoll completely enclosed onthe eastern and southern sides by a low, narrow strip of land, denselycovered with coco-palms, and on the northern and western by a continuouschain of tiny islets connected by the reef. On the western side thereare two narrow ship passages, both exceedingly dangerous on accountof their being studded with numerous coral "mushrooms"--i. E. , enormousboulders of coral rock, which, resembling a mushroom in shape, come towithin a few feet of the surface of the water. Through these passages, the tide, especially the ebb, rushes with great velocity--six or sevenknots at least--and vessels when leaving the lagoon, generally waitedtill slack water, or the first of the flood, when with the usual strongsouth-east trades, they could stem the current and avoid the dangerous"mushrooms. " But no shipmaster would ever attempt either of thesepassages, except in the morning, when the sun was astern, and he could, from aloft, con the ship. After two or three o'clock, the sun would bedirectly in his face, and render it almost impossible for him to getthrough without striking. Here then was the position when Evers, cheerfully smoking a cigar, andsmiling all over his handsome face, gave the order to heave up. It wasblowing very strongly, the tide was on the ebb, the sun was directlyin our faces, and we were to tear through a narrow passage at racehorsespeed without being able to see anything. I ventured to suggest to him that it was a bit late for us to get underway. "Not a bit of it. Come along with me up on the foreyard, and you'll seehow the _George Noble_ will skip through. " We certainly did skip, for before the anchor was secured, we weredashing westwards for the passage at eight or nine knots, and Evers keptcalling out to the mate to make more sail. By the time we were abreastof the passage, the _George Noble_ had every stitch of her canvas onher, and was fairly "humming" along at nearly thirteen knots over thesmooth water, and then when she spun into the narrow passage throughwhich a seven-knot current was tearing, her speed became terrific, and Iheld my breath. The second mate and boatswain were at the wheel, andthe crew were standing by the braces. The silence on board was almostpainful, for the terrible roar of the current as it tore along the coralwalls of the passage, deadened every sound. "Starboard a little, " shouted Evers to a sailor stationed in the forerigging below us, who repeated the order to a man on the rail, who inturn passed the word aft. "Steady, there, steady!" I tried in vain to discern anything ahead of us--the blinding, blazingsun prevented my seeing aught but a mad seething swirl of water justbeneath our bows, and on each side of us. Evers, however, seemed veryconfident. "We'll be through in another two minutes--" he began, and then came aterrific shock, and both he and I were jerked off the footrope, andtoppled over the yard on to the bellying foresail! We both rolled down on top of the windlass, and landed almost in eachothers arms, half dazed. I sat down on deck to consider who I was, andwhat was the matter, and Evers made a wobbly run aft, the ship stillripping along, for we had been checked in our mad career for a second ortwo only. In two or three minutes we were outside, and clear of danger, and Evers, now much subdued, brought to under the lee of the reef, and anchored. Then we lowered a boat, and made an examination of the ship for'ard. Nothing was wrong with her above her water-line, but three feet furtherdown her stem was smashed into a pulp, and bits of timber kept comingto the surface every now and then. An hour later we had nine inches ofwater in the hold, and the consequence of Evers's pig-headedness wasthat we had to keep the pumps going day and night, every two hours, tillwe rigged a windmill, which was kept going till we reached Sydney. Six months later, the local trader of Apaian wrote to me, and told methat Evers "has improved the passage into the lagoon very much. You ransmack into a big mushroom, standing up right in the middle, and broke itoff short, about fifteen feet below the surface. Hope the _George Noble_will do the same thing next time. "