Show IN N THE SAILING DAYS MEN WHO WORKED SHIPS HAD HARD LABORIOUS LIVES rule of thi lh strongest was the only law known and shanghaiing was accepted as a matter of course A great deal of 0 sentiment is misplaced or wasted on on ilia lie passing ot of the sailing ship and the age aga ot of sail ii navigation it there Is truth in many of the old chronicles of tho the sea the condition of 0 the men who go don don r to the sea in ships has mightily changed for or tho the better within two or three generations erat ions there wits was a time when strong arm methods wore were commonly employed in getting betting work out cut of the crews and in operating a ship from port to port brutality was not ex it was common and according to the lights of 0 the time it was not looked on oil as brutality the practices which were then co considered n necessary and proper could not be countenanced today even though there has been a marked reversion to barbarous practices both on land and water an ali old writer has said that alio ile principle on which most skips ships were worked was that sailor men were brutes and must be treated as such the law ot of the fist and the belaying pin was the only one they knew their crews seldom shipped willingly the shan shanghai system invariably gave them their men on oil the eve of sailing in the dark watches ot of the night boats would draw alongside and discharge their cargoes of 0 inanimate men breathing as one does who has baa been doped next morning out at sea merciless man handling wherein knuckle dust ers and monk monkey ey wrenches played a prominent part brought the luckless follows fellows round to a little consciousness chev might complain who would but tile skipper had bad their papers sig signed ned w with ith a cross their receipt for or a months advance of 0 pay remonstrance was met with an iron fist 0 one ne of the consequences ot of the brutal practices was that being so long and often resorted to jhc thc they Y seemed to become necessary Y I 1 in n tho the working 0 ot f the ship A moments relaxation would have meant red mutiny in the event of the vessel having to be abandoned it was not unusual for the to take the only available boats at the point of the revolver leaving the crew to drown like rats that was gentle precaution against a possible shortage ot of supplies 9 the yankee ship and especially the frisco hooker had an unenviable reputation among the men of tile the sea an old eld authority on the condition of sailors has written that the work aboard these ships was slavery the mer men were required to work all day on deck and keep tour kour hour watches throughout the night tasks were invented for them they were sent to overhaul sky sails before breakfast to give them an appetite they had to take to the rigging barefoot and woe betide the laggard this was the yankee skippers motto aboard my ship you walk and you run you must blame well fly tho the charge has been made that all the efforts of the officers were directed to making life unlivable livable iiii so that the men would desert in fit the first port leaving their back pay in the hands bands of the skipper it 11 was a profitable way of getting labor label every now and then there is an echo of the old time shanghaiing practices practice i and a couple ot of generations ago such practices were particularly cornmon common tile the system was to erotido a seaman with board and lodging pending bis reigning on in return tor his months advance of pay it was to the boarding nia steps rs advantage to set get rid of that man mail as soon as possible and if he would not go willingly there were always tho the fighting man and the dope when there was a shortage of men mail the touts went out shadowed likely looking sall ormen and took the first opportunity of drugging their lr drinks the isral price pi ice of blood moile money y which skippers bound for a long voyage paid for a man mail was 80 and the alic boarding masters were not particular anero those men came from nor their condition when they were shipped it has been recorded that once an american admiral was shanghaied shanghai ed in tacoma coins aud and that when lie he recovered lie he forred forced the skipper to ta put back into port |