How Sailors Wash Their Clothes
How Sailors Wash Their Clothes
WE must have been about ten days out from Barbados on my first trip to sea, when Captain Dunscombe ordered me to bring all my traps on deck for his inspection. I felt ashamed to expose my ignorance, for I had never washed a shirt, made a bed, or sewn on a button; in fact I did not know how to care for my clothing and bedding.
During my short period of sea-sickness I had soiled some of my clothes and had stowed them in my cubby hole, the sail locker. The colored cook used a part of this locker in which to keep his stores, and while rummaging around the mainsail which was stowed there, he discovered my offensive clothing and brought it on deck for the old man to see what a dirty boy he had aboard. True enough, for at this time I hadnot a clean garment in my outfit. My first lesson in cleanliness was now given.
Captain Dunscombe had one of his sailors fill a deck bucket with fresh water, and, seating himself by my side, he taught me how to wash my clothes. It was a new experience for me. It seems strange to me that my sailor brothers did not tell my mother that it was necessary for me to know how to wash and mend my clothes. No doubt they thought of it, but they knew that in Barbados it was almost impossible for a respectable family to wash their clothes, as it was considered degrading, so the negroes did that work. And again, the method of washing clothes is very different from that of northern countries. The negro washer women carry the clothes to some running stream or river, and after giving them a few rubs on a small board, they rinse them in the ocean by pounding them on a white boulder at ebb tide. Then they are spread on the white, burning sands of the beach to dry. I had no knowledge of wash tubs and scrubbing boards, and had never seen clothes soaped and rubbed between the hands, therefore, the lesson I was then receiving on theMeteorwas very much needed.
Before I proceed farther, I will advise every mother whose boy is determined to follow the sea for a living, to take her youngster into her kitchen and there give him his first lesson in a sailor’s calling. Teach him how to wash his clothes; instruct him in the making of his bed; have him sew on his buttons, and put a patch on his trousers or mend a rent in his shirt; then as he enters upon his duties as boy on board his vessel, he will thank you for his instructions. Make sure that he can care for the dishes, the knives and forks; let him be the housemaid, cook, the factotum of the home, for the more proficient he is in such duties, the more efficient deck boy he will be. Instead of a dirty slouch he will be a clean, tidy lad.
As there are no washer women on board a ship, it devolves upon every man to do for himself the personal services which are done for men on land, by the other sex.
After spending fully two hours rubbing and rinsing my clothes, I was then shown how to secure them to the footstops of the mainsail; so that they would not blow overboard. As cabin boy, I not only received my lessons in arranging the dining table for meals, washingand wiping dishes, but was fortunate to have a friend to teach me how to wash and mend. I have seen boys enlist as apprentices, yes, landsmen too, young men fresh from the country, who were utterly unable to grapple with the conditions of their new surroundings. Unprepared for that self-reliance which is suddenly thrust upon them, they go for days and days without washing their clothes, until they are forced to do so by the officer of their division.
I remember a lad of tender age who had enlisted as an apprentice. On several occasions he was reported for being dirty and at last one day his bag was brought on deck. As soon as the mouth was opened, a foul odor emanated from his clothing. The poor little fellow had done his best and had tried to keep clean as well as he knew how, but this had proved a failure. His condition elicited the sympathy of an old “flat foot.” The aged jack tar took the bag of clothes on a float alongside the ship, and there with brush, soap and water, taught the lad how to wash his clothes and helped him get his outfit clean once more.
I was once on board a large American sailing ship where we had a middle aged man amongour crew. He was a native of Belgium and could speak no English. The poor man had a sore time of it on deck and hardly any better treatment when below among his mates. One day when we had been about four weeks at sea the sailor who slept in the lower bunk under the “Joskin”, growled about the dirt and rubbish that was constantly falling on him from the Belgian’s bunk. Every time the unfortunate farmer rolled in his sleep, down would fall some dirt on the face of his shipmate, disturbing his rest. It grew worse every day till at last the sailor in the lower bunk inspected the joskin’s donkey’s breakfast. In overhauling it he discovered that the whole bunk was alive with vermin. His dirty clothes had been pushed under the mattress, his bedding and what few clothes he owned were filthy beyond description. The greenhorn had no knowledge of washing clothes. One of the sailors bent on the end of an old piece of rope to the clothes and threw them over the side where for four hours they were hauled on the surface of the Atlantic till they were almost towed into shreds.
On a deep water sailing ship the water supply is a very important factor. As there is no knowinghow much rain water may be caught to replenish the supply, every man must be careful and not waste any. I have seen times when it became necessary to put the crew on an allowance of water which was hardly enough for drinking purposes. How then can a sailor wash his face, much less his clothes at a time like this?
On a voyage to Japan I was five weeks without a drop of fresh water on my face. We were on our allowance, and in the heat of the tropics we could have used as much again to quench our thirsts. Each morning I washed my face with salt water till I could brush the salt from my features and see it fall in scales on my jumper. We were steering to the south’ard and longingly looked for the rain deluges of the tropics. When that solid down-pour fell upon us we all turned out from below with dirty clothes and blankets, and made a lather of soap visible everywhere. To keep clean during the days we were on our allowance, I bent on my clothes to the end of my chest lashing, and had the ship haul them along on the crest of the waves. In this way much dirt was removed. The towing of clothes, if the ship is making good headway, reduces the sailor’s wardrobe,for it will not take many hours for a vessel to drag a piece of clothing to ribbons, if she is sailing at a good rate.
When a youngster I took my blankets out over the bow and bending on a line, allowed them to drag close to the stem of the ship. The wavelets from her bow tumbled them over and over as they trailed in front of the old girl’s nose. In an hour when I hauled them aboard they were as clean as when I brought them from the store. This was such an easy method of cleaning blankets that in about two month’s time I thought I would give them another drag over the bow. But alas! I forgot to take them in on going below. Next morning when I remembered them I hurriedly reached the bowsprit and found instead of the white folds of my blankets rolling themselves among the foam at the bow, a dirty woolen mass wrapped around the rusty chain bobstays. I tried to release it but could not, as the vessel was then ducking into the waves of a strong trade wind.
It fell a dead calm one forenoon, so I got overboard to unwrap my blankets from the bobstay. I was not molested even though my shipmates tried to frighten me by shouting “a shark”while I was overboard, but my labor was in vain, for my blankets were now a heap of shreds covered with iron rust. Fortunately the slop chest was supplied with a few blankets made of “dogs wool and oakum,” or I should have shivered in my bunk when we sailed into cold weather. On another occasion I was on a ship where the captain did not allow any towing of clothes over the side, as he claimed it decreased the speed of his vessel. At night he prowled around the decks and if there was a line made fast on deck on which some sailor was towing his clothes, he would set the whole adrift, a serious loss to the owner.
A sailor’s great delight is to overhaul his belongings. His vessel is at anchor in the bay or perhaps moored alongside some wharf. He has been hard at work from daylight till dark every day of the week. Sunday morning has dawned, and as soon as the decks have been cleaned, he has the remaining portion of the Sabbath to himself. Up comes his bag or chest on deck and the contents are aired and dried. Then it is he can sit on the coamings of the hatch, or on a spare spar or bucket, and gathering his dirty duds around him, with soap andplenty of fresh water, he can wash to his heart’s delight. The method on a man-of-war is different. Keeping one’s clothes clean is an important matter on such a vessel. On some war ships there are three days in which the man can wash clothes while in port, while on others only two wash days a week are allowed. The evening before the wash clothes day, just before sunset, the different parts of the ship are ordered by the officer of the deck through the boatswain’s mates to get up their clothes line. These lines are two single ropes reaching the full length of the ship. At certain distances apart there are stirrups about four feet deep holding them together. After the whips are hooked on to the lines, a man stands by at each whip waiting for the quartermaster to report sundown. Then as the colors are being lowered the lines are triced aloft in their places. At such a time there may be other evolutions in progress; the light yards are coming down, the awnings triced up; everything accomplished as though it were the movements of one great machine.
The question of fresh water arises at this time. The paymaster has served us with salt water soap, a mixture of potash and grease whichdoes not give the cleansing lather in salt water that ordinary soap will give in fresh. It is a poor substitute at its best. Fresh water on a war vessel is a scarce luxury. The condenser is at work most of the time for there are many men to use the supply. Therefore a marine is stationed at the scuttle butt to see that no water is taken from it except for drinking. There is a dipper fastened to the butt and each man must drink what he needs in the presence of the sentry. I have seen men resort to every device to secure a bucket of water to wash their clothes. I, myself, have worked the drip bucket scheme. As there is a bucket placed by the scuttle butt to receive the drippings and leavings of the dipper, we have planned to make frequent visits to the scuttle butt, fill the dipper, then take a mouthful and empty the remainder into the save-all pail. In a little while the bucket needs to be emptied. We are ready to do this, and so secure a couple of gallons of water.
Again, when on friendly terms with the firemen on watch, they would allow us to sneak down to the fireroom and draw a bucket full from the condenser. In port when alongside a navy yard dock, it was different. Then oursupply was plentiful, but at sea, or at anchor in a foreign harbor, we had to watch our chances to steal a bucketful to wash our clothes.
On a certain war vessel the “first luff” gave a standing order, that every part of the ship was to have a bucket of fresh water to swab off the white paint on the bulwarks. Sometimes this water was used for this purpose, but more frequently it was kept hidden back of a gun carriage till the decks were cleaned. Then we would divide the water between us. We had fully fourteen men in our part of the ship which was a large number to bathe in this one pail. Still it was better than salt water. I have washed in less than half a gallon of water which several men had already used. Although only muddy soapsuds, thick enough to be cut with a knife, it removed the dirt from my face and I could then give myself the final polish by dousing my face with clean salt water.
If in port and the awnings were housed so as to shelter the crew from the falling rain, every wash deck bucket was put into use. When the awnings are housed only a few stops are in use and the remaining ones make excellent places to fasten an empty bucket. The weightof it forms a ridge on the awning. In this way we could secure water at times for washing purposes.
We had a sailing launch which was seldom used. Only when all boats armed and equipped for distance service, were called away, or to abandon ship, did her keel touch the sea. This Noah’s Ark was a secluded place for the maintop men. Resting in her crutches in their part of the ship, they could hide a bucket of water from the eyes of the “first luff,” or the officer of the deck.
It is the duty of the coxswain of each boat to see that his boat’s water breaker is filled, especially when at sea. On this same ship the coxswain of the first cutter was lowered on the conduct class as a punishment for not having his boat’s breaker filled. It was not his fault. Before the ship had left the harbor he had filled his breaker, but some thoughtless fellow had lifted the corner of the boat’s cover and getting into the boat, had stolen the water. It was useless for the coxswain to make this statement for he had no proof, and even if he had, he would have settled it on the forecastle head and not at the mast. It was well for the thief hewas not caught. He would have been court-martialed and well he deserved it. If we had met with an accident and had to abandon our vessel, some twenty or more men would have been at sea in an open boat without water.
When in port we were called at five o’clock each morning. One half hour was allowed for coffee; then if it was a morning to wash clothes the officer of the deck would order the boatswain’s mates to pipe, “scrub and wash clothes.” In both the starboard and port gangways, on top and under the forecastle head the crew would do their washing. Sometimes a blue flannel shirt which did not need much cleansing, or a white duck suit too stiff to rub between the hands, were placed on deck, and the dirt removed by rubbing the scrub brush over them, after first applying a liberal coating of soapsuds.
It may be dark at such an hour according to the latitude we were in, or the season of year, but whatever the conditions are, the man who is scrubbing his clothes must see to it that he wets the deck before he begins to scrub, otherwise the soapsuds will sink into the dry deck, and unless it is a morning when holy stones are in order it will require much strengthon a hickory broom to remove them. He also sees to it in scrubbing, that his soapsuds do not spatter the gun carriages, for if they do and he neglects to wash them off, he will receive a scolding and a growl from the chief of growlers, the quarter gunner.
If we had many pieces of clothing to scrub we would hurry and get through, for in thirty minutes’ time the boatswain’s mates would be ordered to lower the lines and in another ten minutes they were triced aloft. If we were not through on time and missed the lines, we would have to care for our wet clothing, keeping it out of sight. Often I have been late in reaching the clothes line and have sneaked into the sailing launch and there spread my things on the thwarts to dry.
Experience soon taught the green horns where not to hang their clothes on the lines. Stretched from stem to stern, that portion near the mainstay or close to the eyes of the lower main rigging, or any place in close proximity to the smoke stack was undesirable. For if the wind does not blow your washed garments against these sooted stays and shrouds, in some way they will come in contact with the smoke stack, whenthey are piped down in the afternoon. On a morning when hammocks were scrubbed those who were through first selected the best place on the lines near the mizzenmast or forward of the fore mast. It was necessary to have our hammocks spotless; otherwise at evening quarters the division officer would reject them and order us to scrub them over again the next wash day. I have seen men who were slow in heeding the call to “stand by their scrubbed hammocks,” compelled to scrub their hammocks two, three and four times over before they were passed as clean. It was their own fault as, instead of being on deck standing under their hammocks to receive them and to keep them from striking against the smoke stack guys, or being trampled on the deck by others who were removing theirs, they were enjoying an afternoon nap in some secluded corner of the ship.
The method of washing clothes at sea varies little from that in port. There is a sea clothes line about six lengths of rope, stirrupped together about four feet apart. These lines are secured between the main and mizzen rigging. We were allowed to scrub our clothes every morningexcept Sunday. At this rate it was only three wash days a week, as those would be the mornings we were on deck. The crew was divided into two watches and this gave a different watch on deck each morning.
Among the many ways of earning a few dollars on a man-of-war, the scrubbing of clothes and hammocks is one of the most lucrative. There are several first class petty officers who pay others to do their scrubbing. A thrifty apprentice or landsman can earn his spending money doing this work. We had an ordinary seaman who made almost as much money scrubbing clothes and hammocks for the first class petty officers, as he earned as a salary from the government. He charged seventy-five cents a hammock, and some mornings he would be on the forecastle head long before all hands were called, working with soapsuds to his waist, scrubbing with all his might. Had he saved his money I should say it was a profitable task, but it was only a labor for “Dirty Dick’s” saloon and the dance halls on Calle St. Theresa in Montevideo.