VOICE FROM THE DEEP. BY CAPT. P. STRICKLAND. BOSTON : A. WILLIAMS & COMPANY. 1873- Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by A. WILLIAMS & CO., In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. BOSTON S STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY RAND, AVKRY, A CO. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. PAGE. The Wonders and Uses of the Ocean. Remarks on Ships and Seamen. Camel the Type of Commerce in Ancient Times. A Ship the Type of Modern Commerce. Comparison between Ancient and Modern Maritime Commerce. Piracy linked with Commerce Two Centuries ago. Agriculture the True Basis of Commerce. Commerce the Handmaid of Peace and Civilization. Some assist Benevolent Enter- prises from Unworthy Motives. The Light of Truth pro - gressive. She must now let it shine upon Seamen . . 13 CHAPTER I. The Arrival of an East-Indiaman. Seamen's Wardrobes. Behavior of Runners. Man craves Female Society. The Laborer can have a Wife and Children. Seamen's Board- ing-Houses and Landlords. Clothing-Stores. Meal Times. Waiting-Maids in Seamen's Boarding-Houses generally Girls of Loose Character. Their Evil Influence on Seamen. Origin of Runners and the most debased among Prostitutes. How the Sailor gets rid of his Money. Seamen can sel- dom leave their Boarding-Houses without Advanced Wages. They frequently go to Sea more or less intoxicated. Serious Troubles often result from their Bad Behavior when partially Drunk. Venereal Diseases often contracted while on Shore. They cause the Most Intense Bodily and Mental Suffering. How treated. Influences on Board of Ships generally more for Evil than for Good. Pernicious Read- 3 CONTENTS. ing-Matter one Fruitful Source of Iniquity. The most Shame- less and Heartless Tyranny frequently practised by Officers in dealing with Seamen. Its Pernicious Results. The !'. -t Seamen avoid Large Ships and Long Voyages. The Shame- less Conduct of Sea-Lawyers. They must be dealt with severely. Rascally and Hypocritical Conduct of the Honora- ble Ship-Master Foreign Consuls and Tailors. Seamen not naturally Viler than other Men . . k . . .25 CHAPTER II. The Accommodations for Seamen on Shipboard. Evil of hav- ing Double Berths. Swinish Method of Eating. Quality of Provisions. Method of Cooking. Deficiency of Fresh Water. Religion must be Tangible to benefit the Sailor. Board ing- Houses and Landlords. They are not the Primary Cause of the Sailor's Degradation and Misery. Sailors' Homes. Shipping-Agents. Foreign Consuls. Ship- Owners. The Happy Effects of Marriage among Officers. Tyrants and Tyrannical Measures. Seafaring Men not no- ticed by the Government. Bad Effects of some of the Pres- ent Custom-House Regulations. Summing up of the Sail- ors' Miseries. Rule to prevent the Social Evil. The Rights of Women. Sailors are in a Pitiable Condition, and need Help 50 CHAPTER lU. The Efforts of Benevolent Societies to benefit Seamen. The Sea- men's Friend Society. A Sketch of the Life and Labors of Father Taylor. A Short Account of Father Stowe and Others. The Mariners' House in Boston. Sailors' Homes. The Difficulties which beset Bethel Ministers and Missiona- ries. Obstacles in the Way of Sailors who are trying to reform their Lives. Encouragements for Bethel Ministers. The Great Value of Libraries. The Effect which Good Books sometimes have upon Seamen. Captains' Wives and their Children. The Efforts of Benevolent Societies inef- fectual to reclaim the Seaman's Profession from Dishonor . 88 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. The Effects of Early Instruction. Bethel Influences scarcely reach the Mass of Seamen. The Tendency of Religious and Well-behaved Seamen to avoid Large Ships and Long Voyages. Sailors need Female Society. They do not prefer the Company of Abandoned Women. Comparison between the lives of Seamen and Clergymen. The Potency of Marriage to sanctify the Heart. Good People in Society indebted to Means of Grace furnished them by Others for the Loveliness of their Characters. The Evil Influences to which Seamen are exposed must be removed. Christian Sailors generally marry and quit a Seafaring Life, and Society suffers on that Account. The Highest Motives not generally Efficacious at first in leading Sinners to Repentance. Erroneous No- tions concerning Heaven. Heaven a State of Bliss rather than a Place of Fancy. Sailors must be saved by Human Agencv. The Wages of Seamen, and Reasons why they are .so Low. Commerce should be the Sailor's Nurse, and not Freight. The Slave-Trade still carried on among Seamen. The Benevolent Contracts of Landlords in Favor of Sea- men are not productive of much Good. Seamen must be saved from Physical, Moral, and Spiritual Shipwreck . . 105 CHAPTER V. Conclusions deduced from a Retrospective View of the Circum- stances and Condition of Seamen. The Nation must provide Remedies for the Wrongs of Seamen. She must adopt them as her Wards. A Financial View of Their Prospective Situa- tion. What such a Measure would do for the Abandoned Woman. No Class of Men can keep Virtuous without Female Society. A Project for providing Seamen with Homes. How Seamen's Clothing should be kept in Order. The End of Seamen's Boarding-Houses and Sharkish Landlords. Seamen should have Newspapers devoted to their Interests. Remarks concerning our Commerce. Seamen should live by Commerce the same as the Artisan lives by his Trade. They should have the Commonest Blessings of Life secured to them by Society, if nothing more 132 6 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. Seamen's Miseries not so much due to Defective Legislation as to other Causes. A Few Extra Laws may eventually be needed to protect both Ship-Masters and Seamen. Litigation among Seamen should be discouraged as much as possible. Pecu- niary Assistance from the Government would solve most Nau- tical Problems. How Sailors might be prevented from Smuggling. Seamen, even if assisted by the Government, should receive from their Fellow-Men more than an Ordinary Share of Regard and Consideration. Very Exemplary Be- havior should not be expected from them at first. The Wages of Officers. Seamen more worthy of Help than In- dians. Sailors ignorant of Politics. Patriotism . .151 CHAPTER VH Mammon should not be allowed to supersede Justice in National Affairs. The Devotees of Fashion miserably defrauded and perpetually deceived. It is expected that any Monetary Project to assist Seamen will be sharply criticised. Their Case needs Investigation. Nations would sooner spend Billions in settling big Indian Disputes than use a Dollar to befriend Mercy and Goodness. The Church of Christ now a Power in the Land. All Denominations of Christians must unite their Efforts to bless the Sailor. Worldly Wis- dom cannot grasp Common Sense. Hope for Abandoned Females. Seaman's Cause will eventually triumph . , 168 PEEFATOEY EEMAEKS. THE author of this little volume has been a sailor for nearly twenty years. He has, in that time, served in nearly every capacity on hoard of a merchant-ship. It cannot he urged, therefore, that the inexperience of the writer disqualifies him from making an accurate estimate of the evils which exist among a class of men with whom he has spent nearly two-thirds of his life. The suhject of this work has engaged my attention, in a greater or less degree, ever since I became cognizant of the miserable condition of seamen. It never occurred to me, however, that I could ever do much to effect a change for the better. I thought, with many others perhaps, that the most of a sailor's woes were due to his own depravity ; and that, when the genial influences of the Christian religion should become more widely diffused, the hardened mariner, as well as others, would eventually be subdued and saved by the matchless power of grace. I thought my duty would be done in the matter, if I used diligently my best endeavors to reclaim individuals. As to influencing 7 8 PREFATORY REMARKS. the masses, I thought that that was the business of those who are specially set apart by the Church " to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Time and observation at length wrought a change in my views. I saw that the majority of seamen had no heart for religion. If, here and there, one could be im- proved, I noticed, that, in most instances, he would soon abandon a seafaring life, and seek for other means to gain a livelihood. I found that there was something in the con- dition and circumstances of the sailor that pre-occupied his mind, and prevented him from being acted upon by moral and spiritual motives with any great degree of efficacy. When I first took charge of a vessel, I felt my respon- sibility to seamen keenly. I do not think my owners' interests lay much nearer my heart. It caused me so far to overcome my natural reserve and diffidence, that I immediately resolved to hold divine services every sabbath on board of any vessel that it might fall to my lot to command; and I have never yet seen occasion to regret my decision. The men would generally all attend, and conduct them- selves in a becoming manner. They would also behave much better during the voyage than if no such services had been held. Those circumstances seemed encouraging ; but I quickly saw that there was a limit to a shipmaster's usefulness, far more circumscribed than I had any idea of when I began. I found that (in the case of sailors at least) many of the steps were gone from the ladder which PREFATORY REMARKS. 9 Jacob saw reaching from earth *to heaven ; and, unless they were replaced, seamen could not ascend. Unless the disabilities of sailors were first removed, all efforts to reclaim them must be about as futile as the attempts of Sisyphus of old to roll his stone. This discovery induced me to examine the subject closely, to see if any way could be devised that would be likely to lead out of such a labyrinth of difficulties ; and the results of my researches and investigations may be found by perusing the following pages. When I thought that I had divined the cause of, and cure for, most of the special ills which beset seamen, I met with other difficulties, which, for a little time, almost threatened to make me despair of ever being able to do any thing for the sailor. In the first place, I was frightened at the magnitude of the remedies which had commended themselves to my careful judgment. I could not help thinking that our tax-burdened people would be almost ready to ( stone any one who should have the temerity to propose a further increase of taxes. Whether I was right or not, time will determine ; but, if the stoning time ever does arrive, I shall console myself with the reflection that I never proposed such an unpopular remedy for the ills of seamen, merely to serve my own selfish interests. I, at least, must bear my share of the taxation. Another serious difficulty now presented itself for my consideration. I had no means of gaining the public ear. As to lecturing, that was entirely out of the question ; for 10 PREFATORY REMARKS. I had never yet been prevailed upon to speak a dozen sentences before an audience on any one subject in my life. Writing would do better, for me at least ; but then I very well knew that my seafaring life had never been favorable for developing such habits of thinking, and modes of expression, as would qualify me to produce any thing like a perfect literary performance. The rules of grammar had partially fled from my memory ; and I had had but little occasion to submit my mind to the vigorous discipline which is so essential to give even genius any well-grounded hopes of achieving success as an author. No one, therefore, need expect to have his fancy tickled by the productions of a man who knows more about box- hauling a ship than he does of the rules of syntax. People should reflect that Nature does not often combine the fleetness of the greyhound with the strength of the buffalo. If I had spent my youth in schools and colleges, I might have missed that experience which no amount of book-learning could compensate for, or the greatest skill in debate supply. If there are those, however, who shall choose to criticise this work, all I have to say is, they are entirely welcome to do so. If the style should not suit them, or if there should be found any violation of the established rules of grammar, it would be a benefit to me to have all mistakes brought to my notice. If the sentiments are adjudged faulty, I should like to hear all the objections that can be offered ; for I think all the subject needs is ventilation. If PREFATORY REMARKS. 11 I have made any mistakes in judgment with regard to ways and means, I should like to be apprised of my errors, and set right. If any one knows of a more excellent plan, I should really like to hear of it ; and perhaps some of my readers may be able to furnish suggestions bearing on this subject that would be invaluable. Perhaps some one can devise a plan that would be more feasible than mine. All are cordially invited to give their views on this highly important and deeply interesting subject ; for in the "multitude of counsellors" there is said to be safety. If any uncharitable persons shall choose to attack my little work with ridicule, and me with calumny, I shall not have much confidence in their honesty ; but still, if they are able to advance any thing that will throw additional light on what I have termed the seamen's cause, I shall gladly avail myself of their moonshine, and try to feel very much obliged to them. The children of the Wicked One have done many a good turn for the cause of truth, without, perhaps, intending to do any such thing ; and sometimes they have accomplished glorious results while taking active and energetic measures to stay up the palsied hands of prejudice and ill-will. Whatever different conclusions people may come to as to what ought to be done for seamen, they should always bear in mind that the evils enumerated in this book actually exist. No man conversant with nautical affairs can honestly deny that fact without doubting the evidence of his own senses. I feel that my duty will not be done 12 PREFATORY REMARKS. in the matter until I have laid the subject before the pub- lic, and perhaps not then. Something ought to be done for seamen, and something must be done; for the enemies of the sailor are not idle. Even while I write, the sharks in the great tide of destruction are devouring thousands. For the further consideration of all uncharitable critics that may be allied to the shark family, I will just state that the following pages were wholly composed at sea, during short intermissions from the active duties of my station ; and that I have had neither friends nor libraries to consult while attempting to draught a rude sketch of the seamen's cause. This explanation must also answer as an apology to my friends for not exhibiting detailed statis- tical accounts of various matters connected with my subject, which might greatly interest some of my readers. This work was ready for the press in the summer of 1871, and before I heard of the new shipping-laws. As they can only operate, at the best, to slightly mitigate a few abuses which exist within the limits of the United States, and as they are otherwise liable to very grave objections, it must be obvious to every one who reads this book attentively, and feels convinced that its statements are true, that it was hardly worth the while of Congress to enact them. It is not so much law that the sailor requires as justice. Then let our virtuous freemen give Poor outraged seamen means to live, And find them cause, without delay, To shout, " Long live America ! " Nov. 25, 1871. INTRODUCTION. THE boundless ocean, which covers to an immense depth more than two-thirds of the surface of the earth, has ever, and justly, been considered one of the grandest objects which the God of Nature has revealed to the eye of man. When we look away at the distant horizon, and reflect, that, if we were transported thither, we should be- hold, at an equally removed distance from us, still another seeming boundary between sea and skies traced on the heaving bosom of the vasty deep ; and when we give our full and undivided attention to the great fact revealed to us by the light of science, that we might go on changing our position with the same results until time with us should be no more, - we can then conceive, in some degree, with what propriety this great and mighty expanse of waters has been called the image of eternity. Nor is it the magnitude of the ocean alone that excites our wonder and admiration. Terrific storms and tempests often rage with dreadful fury on its vast plain of waters; and at such times the grandeur of the scene exhibited by 13 14 INTRODUCTION. the wild warring of the elements is absolutely beyond description. Then, truly, the deep utters his voice, and lifts up his hands on high. Poor pygmy man is then and there compelled to acknowledge his insignificance ; and the boasting, would-be atheist is made painfully conscious that there is a God. The ocean has been described as being a waste of waters ; but that is not true in every sense, for in more ways than one it is necessary to our very existence. The vapor which rises from its surface, condensed into clouds, and carried about by winds, descends again in refreshing showers upon the mountains and hills and plains, giving fertility to lands which would otherwise be barren wastes. Nor is this all ; for, after serving a great variety of useful purposes, these gathering waters unite again in forming springs, brooks, creeks, and rivers, which, besides turning mills, and furnishing thousands of miles of navigable water, also constitute the natural drainage of continents, carrying out into the sea, and mingling with its waters, millions of tons of organic and inorganic matter, which are carried about by marine currents, and slowly deposited, to form future continents, when some great geological change shall cause the present bed of the sea to become dry land. The ocean is also the abode of myriads of fishes, which are excellent for food; and their capture affords employ- ment to thousands of people, and is an important source of wealth to mankind. One of the most important purposes which it serves, INTRODUCTION. 15 however, in connection with the welfare of the human race, is in affording a natural highway for commerce to transport her goods, and for travellers to visit all parts of the earth. It is a road that needs no repairs. No amount of travel can injure it in the least degree. In a very few minutes after the passage of a vessel over a wave, not a trace of her track remains to he seen. A nohle ship gliding safely over the ever restless deep, with " every thing set," is one of the most interesting objects of man's skill and enterprise that we can possibly contemplate. Almost every thing about her seems to be a mystery. Although all of her movements and evolutions can be accounted for on mechanical principles, yet such is the complexity of the operations made use of in directing a ship on her course, that she has not been inaptly termed " a thing of life." To navigate the vast multitude of vessels which carry on the commerce of the world requires the lifelong services of millions of human beings, who are denominated, as a class, sailors, mariners, or seamen. It is of the physical, moral, and spiritual character and condition of this very important body of men, that we propose to treat in the following work. It has been said that ships carry on the commerce of the world: but perhaps that statement requires some qualification ; for a vast amount of the carrying-trade is performed by railroads and other modes of conveyance on the land. In many semi-civilized and barbarous countries 16 INTRODUCTION. the camel is made use of to exchange the productions of one country for those of another ; and even smaller quad- rupeds, such as the mule and llama, are held in requisition for the same purpose in mountainous districts, where trans- portation cannot he effected very well in any other way. It is nevertheless a fact, however, that a ship is the true type of the commerce of the present day ; and, whenever we hear the subject mentioned in our presence, we almost involuntarily picture to ourselves anchors, chains, cordage, blocks, quadrants, and the mariner's compass: in fact, all the paraphernalia of navigation seem to be inseparably connected with a true idea of commerce. In the early ages of the world, however, this great department of industry was mostly confined to the land ; and that " ship of the desert," the camel, figured conspic- uously as the type of commerce in those days. The art of navigation was then but very imperfectly understood ; and that, as well as other things, had a tendency to confine maritime commerce principally to the shores of the inland seas of Europe, and the south-western parts of Asia. The mariner's compass had not then been in- vented ; and the science of astronomy was not yet suffi- ciently developed to enable mariners to avail themselves of its principles in tracking their courses over the unknown regions of the pathless deep that lay beyond the Pillars of Hercules. The ancient Greeks and Romans had fleets of small vessels; and some of the other nations bordering on the INTRODUCTION. 17 Mediterranean carried on, at times, quite a brisk trade with each other ; but, when compared with the gigantic mercan- tile enterprises of the present day, their little traffic sinks into insignificance, and seems to be hardly worth mention- ing. Probably the whole commerce of the Mediterranean in the time of Julius Caesar did not exceed in pecuniary value that of Lake Michigan in 1870. It was not until the time of Columbus, Diaz, Cabot, and De Gama, that the ocean began to assume its true place as the highway of the nations. Even then, and for two centuries later, there was but very little legitimate com- merce. Cargoes were principally obtained by fraud, robbery, pillage, and almost every species of outrage and violence. ' The bold and restless spirits who were exploring every coast, and ascending every river, in their eager search for gold, hesitated not to imbrue their hands in the blood of their fellow-men, nor to have recourse to any other expedient by which they could effect their much-desired object. With but very few exceptions indeed, the mass of them were about on a par with the Algerines ; and here and there could be found one who performed deeds worthy of Tamerlane or Ghengis-Khan. Time, and the progress of true civilization, at length inaugurated a better state of things. The seekers after gold met with too many misfortunes, and had too much competition in their business, to allow it to pay well ; and it was at length found that the greatest good would accrue to the greatest number by colonizing the newly-discovered 2* 18 INTRODUCTION. countries, with a view to the cultivation of the soil as the principal and true basis of a legitimate commerce. The result has been a most rapid development of friendly feelings among the nations of the earth. The principles which ought to govern trade have been carefully studied, and systems of banking and insurance have grown into existence, which are world- wide in their application; and it is safe to say that this improved state of things has done more to keep the peace, and bind the nations together, than all other agencies combined, excepting, perhaps, the influence of the Christian religion. Wars are growing unpopular, and becoming less frequent. The nations are beginning to find that they are as necessary to each other's welfare as the various trades and professions are to each other in the division of labor. What could the carpenter do without the blacksmith, the shoemaker, and the grocer? And how could the world afford to dispense with the tropical productions of Brazil and the West Indies, the grain and cotton crops of the United States, the manufactures of England and Conti- nental Europe, and the literature of Scotland ? The tendencies of legitimate commerce and true religion are ever towards peace and brotherhood. Unprincipled and ambitious men have succeeded from time to time in plunging the nations into mortal conflicts with each other; but it is plain to be seen that they do not meet with the encouragement now that they did a hundred years ago. A great general who has been a scourge to his own and INTRODUCTION. 19 to every other country is now seldom revered as a demi- god ; and even those successful commanders that can lay claim to purer motives and better intentions are obliged to content themselves with a very small share of regard from their fellow-men compared with what they once received. It is probable now that Humboldt is a much dearer name to the world at large than Van Moltke ; and Napoleon Bonaparte can certainly bear no comparison with Sir Isaac Newton. " The world moves " said Galileo Galilei ; not only the physical world, but also the moral and spiritual. There are plenty of bears now, as there were then ; and they all declare that every thing, except vice, is still at rest or retrograding. To hear them talk sometimes, one would be almost tempted to think that the world was at last perfectly ripe in wickedness, and that the great day of wrath must be close at hand. Such people are always prating about the good old times in which their fathers lived, when virtue reigned supreme, and the moral atmos- phere was so pure and clear, that great and disinterested men were produced almost spontaneously. They seem to forget that such agencies as the whipping-post were em- ployed in those days to effect moral reforms; and that about one-half of the precious time of almost every public school-teacher was required to govern his refractory pupils, and to bestow upon them their daily dividends of castiga- tion. Yes, the world moves, and forward too, or else the 20 INTRODUCTION. prophecies must be a delusion. More than two thousand years ago the prediction was made, that every valley should be exalted, and every mountain and hill be made low ; that the crooked should be made straight, and the rough places plain ; and that the glory of the Lord should be revealed so that all flesh should see it together. Those memorable words, which were dictated by the Spirit of God to the prophet Isainh, are being fulfilled to-day. The agencies for good are unceasingly at work on every hand ; and, as time progresses, the means of grace seem to multiply in almost a geometrical ratio. The centfal idea contained in the prophecy is becoming popularized ; and doubtless hundreds, if not thousands, of poor deluded mortals, are rendering very efficient aid to the cause of truth, merely because it is fashionable to do so. Men, whose actionsvin private and even in public life demon- strate that they have but very little true regard for the claims of Christianity, will often give large sums of money to advance the interests of that kingdom which Christ came upon the earth to establish ; and there can be found ladies, who while they are plying their needles very industriously at sewing-circles and elsewhere, to aid some benevolent object, will at the same time be using their tongues very maliciously in discussing the demerits and misfortunes of such of their neighbors as happen to be absent. It would not be easy to enumerate the various agencies which are being employed to equalize the comforts, and INTRODUCTION. 21 the mental, moral, and spiritual advantages of life. The strong protect the weak. Labor is no longer the slave of capital. The churches and schools are open to all. The children of the poor possess almost equal educational advantages with those of the rich ; and organized efforts are being almost everywhere put forth to reclaim every creature unto whom Christ has commanded his loved ones to preach the gospel. As the primitive forests disappear before the woodman's axe, leaving the landscape clear for the bright and glorious sunlight to quicken into existence, and supply nourishment to beautiful flowers, fruitful trees, and golden grain, so does the onward march of civilisation dissipate the dark clouds of error, superstition, and bigotry, which have so long overspread our fair world like a funeral pall ; clearing the horizon for the Sun of righteousness to arise, and shed his benignant rays of heavenly light on those fields which our Saviour has declared are ripe for the harvest, and ready to be cut down. As the wild beasts of prey which roam forth in the woods at night, in quest of blood and carnage, melt away before the huntsman's rifle, so do the sweet influences of the Holy Spirit of truth teach mankind to conquer and subdue all of those evil appetites and passions which have so often been the means of bringing such misery and wretchedness upon the human race as to cause mercy and penitence to shed floods of bitter tears. There is a bear side to the question, however, as some 22 INTRODUCTION. of the following pages will abundantly testify. The Ca- naanites are still strong in their holds; and there yet remaineth very much land to be possessed. The sun gilds the top of Pisgah ; and a few bright spirits are up there, beholding with the eye of faith the utmost borders of the promised land ; but the mists of prejudice and error still lie in the valleys, and the popular mind is scarcely yet able to divide the light from the darkness. It cannot see afar off. Innumerable evils have yet a very strong hold upon society ; and the " broad road " to destruction is still thronged with people of all classes and conditions, some of whom seem emulous to excel each other in their appreciation of forbidden pleasures, and the transient delights of sin. Much of the fair fruit that might now be saved if Heaven's appointed laborers would only do their duty is also left upon the ground to perish, and furnish food for the " worm that never dies." Truth is abroad, however ; and but few can entirely avoid beholding her bright and steady light. She is pointing to where the day dawns, and the shadows flee away upon the mountains. Many feel interested to make their way thither, so that they can behold her beauty by the sunlight. It is our object now to let her light shine upon a class of men who have hitherto been almost neglected, a class of men that the world could not do very well without, and who are suffering, because they do not get that help from the world which is their due for its extensive obligations to them. INTRODUCTION. 23 We shall now attempt to exhibit some of the principal phases of their condition and character, and point out where, in our judgment, remedies might be applied to what appear to be flagrant wrongs; not forgetting, how- ever, to mention the efforts put forth by some benevolent societies and individuals to improve the moral and spirit- ual condition of seamen, and to see how the remedies which we shall propose bear on the results of their labors. With this explanation of our intentions, we shall pro- ceed at once towards the consummation of the work before us ; and we hope it may prove profitable and interesting to all good people who have at heart the welfare of their Master's kingdom. A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. CHAPTER I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES, CHARACTER, AND CONDITION OF SEAMEN. 1. THE arrival of a large ship from a long voyage, in one of our seaport towns, is quite a novel spectacle to behold. As she comes slowly to the wharf in tow of a steamer, a sight of the hronzed faces and weather-worn hulks of the crew, as they come into view on the forecastle and other exposed places of the ship, shows most conclusively, that their life has not been one of ease and pleasure, but of toils, sufferings, and privations. They have just returned from a conflict with the elements ; and long and bitter has been the struggle in which they have finally prevailed. 2. Their scanty wardrobes composed of old pea-jackets, canvas pantaloons, shrunk-up flannels, dilapidated shoes, oiled clothing, and sou'-westers, all saturated with salt, and daubed over with tar and grease are carefully packed in sundry bags, trunks, and chests, awaiting transportation to the different boarding-places where these friendless sons of Neptune propose to recruit their wasted energies, and pre- pare for another voyage. 3 25 26 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 3. We say friendless ; but it would hardly seem so at the first view, for certainly they receive very marked attentions on their first arrival in port. There are always a large number of men, called in nautical parlance " runners," that usually try to board vessels as soon as they arrive in the har- bor; but, if they are then refused admission on board, they will greet the sailors from their boats alongside, and proffer their services, as soon as they can be made available, in the most friendly manner. These generous creatures are very particular to inquire abr ut the welfare of every person on board ; and they usually threaten to inflict sundry punish- ments upon the officers, if any of them have been so unfor- tunate as to offend any part of the crew during the voyage. They promise all sorts of accommodations in the different boarding-houses which they represent ; and each one is ready to pledge his honor that whoever goes with him will be sure of having a glorious good time, and be well cared for. Unfortunately the countenances and actions of these men usually belie their professions ; for, in many instances, their faces exhibit a number of frightful scars and other marks of dishonor which they have received from their companions in drunken brawls, or from policemen while perpetrating deeds of darkness that Satan might be ashamed of, were that notorious personage capable of being acted on by any such motive.* 4. These felons and criminals are usually denominated " sharks " by the sailors, and shovel-nosed ones at that ; which shows that their true character is not unknown to the society of webfoots. Sailors dislike them a* a class, but * The new shipping-laws prohibit runners from boarding vcraefe, which i a .rime regulation to protect officers from imposition ; but it docs not prevent sea- men from eventually falling into their clutches. They can still greet sailors from fleir boats, and meet them lovingly at the head of the wharf, luring them to ruin 4a before. A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 27 sometimes affect to think well of the shark that is attached to their own boarding-house. To enumerate the crimes and villanies of these cormorants would be too great a digression from our main object in this place ; but, as we shall hereafter have many occasions to introduce them again, it is to be presumed that the main features of their characters will be sufficiently delineated to indicate the class of predaceous animals to which they belong. Sailors seem to think that they are allied to the shark family ; and they certainly resemble those repulsive creatures in many of their physical and in most of their moral characteristics. 5. Having now given the reader some idea of the char- acters of the men that greet the sailor on the wharf, when they cannot before, it must now suffice to state that their main object in greeting seamen so cordially is to entice them to go^to boarding-houses, where they can assist their respective landlords and others to deprive the hapless mari- ners of the paltry sums of money which may be due them when they are paid off. 6. If we examine the countenances of the seamen as they leave the ship, it will be apparent to us that they manifest very little of that buoyancy and light-heartedness which we should naturally expect to witness in the actions of men that had just returned from a long voyage, where they had encountered dangers, hardships, and discomforts almost every day. The reason is obvious. These men know they are not going home. They know there is no one on shore to take much interest in them, except self-interest ; and so they feel hopeless and dejected. They know, from former experiences, what is about to take place. A very few days of sinful pleasure, or rather of pain, are before them ; and then, as soon as their little stock of money is expended, they will embark to go another weary voyage, and return again in the same manner as before. 28 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 7. The Bible says that it is not good for man to be alone. He craves and needs sympathy. He longs for female society. In the case of the sailor, how are these cravings and longings of the human soul to be gratified ? Who is there to feel interested in his welfare, and bid him welcome in such a manner, that he can feel that the lan- guage which he hears is but an exponent of the heart's best affections ? There is no one ; and he is painfully con- scious of it. There is no one to share the bitter feelings which crowd upon his memory ; and he tries to give vent to them by unavailing sighs and curses. 8. The laborer on the wharf, although his occupation is a humble one, has this in his favor : he can go home when his work is done, and there contemplate and enjoy treas- ures such as money alone can never purchase, treasures which bring gladness to the heart and animation to the spirits. However deficient he may be in this world's goods, he feels that his wife and children are his own. The rela- tions that exist, or ought to exist, between him and his family, have a powerful tendency to strengthen his hands and heart, and buoy him up against despair, even under the most adverse circumstances. *Not so the sailor. He has no treasures but a little hard-earned cash, which his professed friends are trying every expedient to get away from him ; nor can he find any female companions, except- ing those poor, degraded wretches who are more outcasts from society than himself. Under such circumstances, is it strange that sober looks should prevail among seamen* when they are about to take their departure from the best home they are usually ever possessed of upon the earth, a ship's forecastle ? * There are men going to sea to whom the above remarks will not apply, natural eons of Belial, who delight in riot and debauchery. But they are no more numerous among seamen than they are among other classes of men. A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 29 9. The usage on board of ships is frequently bad enough, and the accommodations almost always wretched ; but, while there, the mind of the sailor can feed on hope. He knows, it is true, that his life is pre-eminently one of toils, discomforts, and privations ; but then such things, in some degree, fall to the lot of all men : and he is seldom heard to complain, or even allude to them. But when he reaches port, and finds that his air-castles 4iave all vanished; when he finds, that, in place of bread, lie must take up with a stone, then despair seizes upon him, and he rushes madly into the embraces of sin, determined, that, rather than be deprived of all the treasures that men hold dear, he will take up with the counterfeit; and so he perishes miserably, with no eye to pity, and no arm to save. 10. Let us now, in our imagination, follow the sailor to his boarding-house, and observe what takes place there ; so that we can understand what was meant by that glorious good time promised him by his officious friend, the shovel- nosed shark, whom we have already introduced and par- tially described. He is usuall}' conducted thither by that attentive and interested individual, who receives a certain sum per head for all boarders, new and old ; but there is usually a large difference made in favor of the new. The sailor sometimes has a chance to ride on top of his things in the team ; but he usually prefers to go afoot, so that, in his uncouth appearance and forlorn condition, he shall attract as little attention as possible. When he arrives at the boarding-house, he is greeted very kindly by the landlord and landlady ; and after he has replied to all their questions concerning his health, welfare, &c., and after they have expressed much sympathy for him by words and gestures, he is invited to the bar, where his kind and benevolent landlord gives him a glass of grog to cheer him up, and make him feel like himself, now that he has arrived 3* 30 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. safe and sound among such good friends. He is also given to understand that it will be better for him to take a few quiet drinks at home than to go elsewhere for them, where he will be likely to fall into bad company, and perhaps get robbed. Nearly all of these boarding-houses either have a clothing-store in a part of the building, or else the pro- prietors are interested in one elsewhere ; and into one of these Jack is next introduced. The goods in such places are generally cheap and poorly made : but the sailor thinks he must have clothing immediately; and so he trades where they are willing to trust him until he is paid off from the ship. The prices in those stores are regulated somewhat by the amount of intelligence and knowledge displayed by the individual who buys; but they usually range from five to seventy-five per cent more than would have to be paid almost anywhere else for the same articles. Considerable advantage is frequently taken of the sailor in those stores, whenever he happens to be in circumstances which render it extremely difficult for him to avoid extortion. Whale- men are often in such circumstances while buying their outfits ; and that is probably one reason why they have so little due them on their pay-days. After the sailor has changed his clothes, visited the barber, and sent his things to the washerwoman, he is considered as fairly inducted into the boarding-house; and most of the special attentions of his friends cease for a time. 11. Meal-time at length arrives, and Jack has an oppor- tunity to indulge in the luxuries of fresh beef, fresh bread, pies, cakes, &c. ; and he enjoj's it. Confined for months on board of a vessel, where a large part of his daily food is composed of " flint biscuits " and " mahogany beef," the change seems great'and grateful to him ; and so it is. The quality of the food served up in seamen's boarding-houses is probably equal to that of others where the same price is A VOICE PROM THE DEEP. 31 charged for board; and in this respect they are certainly entitled to some credit. But food for the support of his body is not the only entertainment furnished at meal-times for the sailor. Loud talking, swearing, and even quarrel- ling, add to the conviviality of the scene; and, as the waiting- maids in such places are seldom overburdened with modesty, low jokes, vulgar and even obscene language, and many other improprieties, are constantly carried on between them and the boarders. The landlord and landlady generally countenance, and in some cases encourage as much as possible, all such things, believing that they all help to make their house popular among seamen. If any one is observed at the table who does not affect to take a part in and be pleased with such proceedings, he is almost sure to be made the butt of all the witty remarks the company can think of; and, if he should be so unwise as to remonstrate, his persecutions would certainly be increased. 12. There is usually a dirty, repulsive-looking room in every seamen's boarding-house, where some of the men assemble at times to smoke and to talk. In the midst of it there is a table set, where a party can frequently be seen playing cards. The custom is, that the beaten player shall treat all hands to whiskey, or some other liquor which the company may chance to prefer. The landlord spends much of his time in this vicinity, and looks on approvingly, telling his boarders that it is much better spending their time so, than to be cruising about the streets, where they will be exposed to temptations and bad company. He declares there is no harm done in playing cards, as long as peo- ple just amuse themselves by playing for the drinks, and do not stake money. He knows very well, however, that it is his clerk who dispenses the drinks, and that all the money they cost eventually goes into his own pockets. 13. Some of these houses keep one or two girls besides 32 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. the table-waiters, to do chamber-work, and help in the kitchen. If they were all intelligent and well-behaved, their influence on seamen would be good and salutary; but that is seldom or never the case. None of them may be downright prostitutes; but, in many places, they are encour- aged and expected by the keepers of such houses to make as free with the sailors as they well can, and not part with the last relic of virtue and modesty which they possess; and in nearly all cases they are required to have a tender regard for the home-instincts of the sailor, and to seek to please him in all things. Hence it is, that there can fre- quently be witnessed in all parts of such houses rude frolics and almost all kinds of lewd actions and conversation be- tween the boarders and employees. It can easily be ima- gined what eftect such actions would be likely to have on men that have never been systematically taught the neces- sity of qualifying their animal instincts by moral and religious training. The apparent freedom and sociability which seamen enjoy in their boarding-places is also one reason why they usually prefer them to the Sailors' Honi---. where they can seldom find influences adapted to gratify their social feelings. 14. When Jack receives his supply of new clothing, his landlord generally advances him twenty-five or thirty dol- lars, if the prospects of his voyage will warrant it; and this circumstance is of course known to the runner (alias John Shark), who at once proceeds to lay a trap to get as much of it as possible. In order to fully understand the working of his plan, we must inquire a little further into the status of the runner, and the person or persons that he makes use of to accomplish his object. These runners are perhaps the most hardened specimens of humanity that exist upon the earth. The very nature of their employment makes them so in some degree : but other influences are not want- A VOICE FKOM THE DEEP. 33 ing; and among them the bias given to their characters by the laws of hereditary descent is probably the strongest and most enduring. They are bad by nature, and deficient in moral susceptibilities. In certain of the worst localities in nearly all of our large seaport towns there can be seen, at almost any time, bare- footed and bare-headed little children running about the streets, or playing in the gutters, covered with filth and vermin, and, in many cases, the victims of dreadful dis- eases. When night comes, the poor little things crawl into the cellars and attics of those forbidding-looking buildings which are used for sailors' boarding-houses, rum- shops, and dens of prostitution. Being, in many instances, the direct offspring of sin and shame, what good can be expected from them ? They grow up familiar with all kinds of vice and wickedness, and, of course, practise what they know as soon as they get big enough. Some of the males grow up to be runners for sailors' boarding-houses ; and the females form the nuclei of those houses of pros- titution which abound in the vicinity of nearly all seamen's boarding-houses. These people seldom marry, but live together, and help each other get a living. The runner proposes a walk with the sailor, and soon introduces him to one of these women, who receives him cordially, and, as soon as she can gain his confidence, proceeds to get his money away as fast as possible. And, when that is gone, he is obliged to go to sea for more, which leaves her free to play the same game on somebody else ; and the money she divides with her paramour the runner. If she gets into any difficulty with the sailor, the runner is always at hand to help her out of it, by force if necessary. In this way sailors frequently divest themselves of half the proceeds of an East-India voyage in three or four days. 15. As the time and attention of the sailor are largely 34 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. taken up with liis mistress, it follows that he will be absent from his boarding-house at meal-times on many occasions. He has to pay just the same, however; and the number of drinks he has taken, and sometimes a great many he has not taken, are likewise carefully reckoned into the account. The landlord gains very much in this way ; for, besides being absent from many of his meals, the sailor's appetite for wholesome food is so much diminished by the amount of trash he takes into his stomach in the shape of poison- ous liquors, ice-creams, oysters, nuts, and candies, that he cannot eat much when he happens to be in ; and the pru- dent landlady is not slow in turning this circumstance to pecuniary account. 16. As soon as Jack is paid off, he usually deposits a part of his money with his boarding-master for safe-keep- ing, and draws such sums as he may want from time to time. That is a very good arrangement for the landlord, but not quite so good for the runner and his mate. If the sailor prefers to keep his money himself, which he does sometimes, the runner and his courtesan come in for the largest share ; and the landlord is obliged to content him- self with the advanced wages, which he always handles. As Jack is very liberal in his dealings, and keeps no account of his expenditures, it is not surprising that such a multi- tude of friends should soon manage to find the bottom of his purse. The state of his finances is usually announced to him by the runner, who asks him how he should like to go in such a ship on such a voyage. The sailor knows what the hint means well enough, but generally does not like to go until he is absolutely obliged to. In making the agreement, and stipulating for the advance, the runner, who acts under instructions from the boarding-master, has pretty much his own way ; but he .usually defers to the wishes of the sailor as far as his own interests will allow A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 35 him. A sailor in the hands of a boarding-master can never get away without advanced wages. They usually stipulate for about two months' pay on long voyages; and the land- lord becomes their security and broker, receiving his pay from the shipping-agent after the vessel has proceeded to sea. Out of his advanced wages the sailor is allowed a small sum by his landlord to replenish his sea-stock of clothing ; and the garments are furnished from the store we have just mentioned. He also gives the sailor one or two dollars to spend with his mistress, and wind up his spree, leaving the balance until the bill is settled. When the reckoning time comes, it is often found that the sailor is heavily in debt to his landlord; but that benevolent individual considerately tells him to " never mind," but be sure and come back next time, and make it all right then. If he fails to come, however, his wages are immediately trus- teed; and the runner, and sometimes the landlord, set their wits to work to procure for him a sound thrashing. 17. When the ship is ready to go, Jack is generally ush- ered on board by the runner in a state bordering on intoxi- cation ; for, in some respects, he is more manageable when partially drunk. The runner, on such occasions, coaxes and pets him until the fasts are cast loose, and then bids him a hearty good-by, and ends by wishing him a pleasant voyage, and all sorts of good things until he is out of hear- ing. The landlady sometimes slips a bottle of rum into the sailor's chest before it leaves the house, as a token of her affectionate regard, motherly care, and good-will ; and sometimes the runner slips him an extra bottle just as the vessel is about to leave.* * How can our shipping commissioners prevent such things as these? They cannot. Unless the temporal condition of our seamen is improved by suitable means, all legal enactments to benefit them must prove unsatisfactory and abortive. 36 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 18. Such is Jack's experience on shore among his friends ; and a very eventful one it is too. In a very few short days he is deprived of perhaps a year's earnings; and the money is distributed among a lot of sharks, cormorants, and har- pies ; for certainly they deserve no better name. He went on shore to recruit; but, instead of accomplishing his object, he is far worse off than he was before, both physically and morally. A voyage around Cape Horn, or a western pas- sage across the Atlantic in the winter, would not do so much to shatter his constitution as a few short days spent in the haunts of sin and vice. His self-respect is also gone ; for he knows that he has degraded himself, and defiled the temple of God. Under such circumstances, he tries to find some relief from the stings of conscience by having recourse to the bottle which was placed in his chest by the landlady. He drinks deep and recklessly ; and the poisonous liquid, like an electric current, sends madness and despair through all his frame. The officers of the ship, in the mean time, require his services on deck ; and, if their calls are not promptly obeyed, they use force to bring him out. A fight generally ensues, in which poor Jack gets badly bruised and beaten ; and he also frequently renders himself obnoxious to the ill-will of his officers for the whole voyage by his offensive conduct. 19. In two or three days after leaving port, the rum is all gone ; and the realities of another voyage, -begun so inauspiciously, begin to present themselves. The claims of duty begin once more to occupy the time and minds of the poor mariners ; and in a few days a better effect is visible. The powers of nature are again busily at work, seeking to restore the exhausted energies of mind and body; and in due time things wear a more pleasing aspect. The officers grow better natured as they find the crew. A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 37 more tractable; and at length peace and harmony are some- times restored fore and aft. Many of the sailors then try to forget the awful scenes they have just passed through, and begin to indulge again in the pleasures of hope. They think they will do better the next time ; and that delusion never leaves them. As long as the soul of man continues to inhabit its earthly tenement, hope will always keep a taper burning to lure him from despair. 20. Most men love to look ahead, and let their fancy luxuriate in the midst of imaginary blessings. They know that behind them is a desolate wilderness, but before them is the garden of Eden ; and they are generally just expect- ing to arrive thither, and rest forever. Such is not always the case, however; for men are affected differently, according to their susceptibilities and temperaments. People that are naturally morose and peevish in their tempers and dis- positions are sometimes tenfold more disagreeable, if possi- ble, when they have inflicted upon them the just punish- ments due to their transgressions, and are neither willing to enjoy any thing themselves, nor let anybody else. Sail- ors of this description often get a whole ship's company into trouble by indulging in sulky looks and actions, thereby treating their officers with the grossest disrespect, and making themselves obnoxious to those wholesome rules and regulations which must be enforced in order that the best interests of all may be secured. 21. Sometimes physical diseases of the most loathsome description result from those outrages of the laws of nature which all men are guilty of that follow the strange woman to her haunts of sin and death. The wretched patient, 1 it-sides having to endure the most intense bodily suffer- ings, is often made to feel some of the dreadful horrors of the second death, with hardly hope to be his companion. Shipmasters, with a view to keep such men in a condition 4 38 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. so as not to lose their services, generally administer such remedies as the medicine-chest affords ; but they seldom or never effect a cure, if such a thing is indeed possible. 22. Most sailors try to forget their miseries as soon as they can, however, and philosophically conclude that it is of no use to grieve about that which cannot be helped. They delude themselves with the belief that the future will be better than the past ; though a little reflection on their own experience would surely teach them better. It is not unusual, even, to hear them moralize about their follies and transgressions in such a manner as to lead one to believe that they were thoroughly conscious of their situation ; and, if good resolves could effect any thing, we might reasonably conclude that they would never yield to temptation again. Alas for them ! They do not realize the treachery of the human heart, nor the deceitfulness of sin. They do not resolve to flee from temptation, but only not to fall in it They would still consider the advantages enumerated by the tempter, when he says in honeyed accents, " Ye shall not surely die." Their renewed hopes have the effect to promote cheerfulness, however, and in that respect, if in no other, are the means of doing much good. 23. The influences for good on board of a ship are rather negative than positive in their character. As the poet observed : ' Much waa removed that tempted once to sin." And that is about all that can be said in favor of a sailor's life upon the sea. He is there taught neither to fear God nor to regard man ; and it is very seldom that he can ever see the beauty of holiness exhibited in the lives and conver- sation of those around him. The society of other individuals situated like himself may afford him some pleasure, and A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 39 the kindly feelings which he sees manifested towards him by his officers may give him considerable satisfaction ; but his better part is not nourished. " No man cares for his soul." 24. Daily and hourly he hears his companions indulge in profanity without any apparent compunctions of con- science. The sabbath is but very little regarded at sea and, whenever he is allowed to rest a little, there is hardly ever wanting in a ship's forecastle a number of the " sons of Belial," that are always speaking in terms of glo- rification about their exploits in evil both by sea and land. The reading-matter on board of a ship is very apt to be low in its tone, and some of it of the worst description. Cheap novels, which record the imaginary exploits of highway- men and pirates, constitute the chief; and the productions of Byron, Eeynolds, and Paul de Kock, contribute their corrupting influences to poison the minds of hundreds of young and inexperienced sailors, and thus pave their way to those " houses of death," from which " none that go ever return again ; neither take they hold of the paths of life." 25. The officers, too, whose positions the seamen are bound to respect, are often unprincipled and wicked men ; tod it is very seldom indeed that one can be found who is willing to make any personal efforts to promote the moral and spiritual welfare of his crew. The majority of ship- masters are, perhaps, men of kindly feelings ; but, their minds and hearts being pre-occupied by selfish and worldly interests, they do not perceive that the cause of truth has any claims upon them ; and so they content themselves by taking but very little notice of any thing in connection with their crews, except to see that the work is done right, and proper discipline maintained. Many of them practise the same vices which the seamen are guilty of j and very 40 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. few can be found who do not habitually use profane lan- guage, drink occasionally, and use tobacco. The influence that most officers exert upon their crews is, therefore, un- favorable to the cause of virtue and religion ; as most men are apt to refer to the bad conduct of those who happen to be above them in wealth, position, and accompli >h- ments, as an excuse for their own shortcomings and mis- demeanors. 26. There are also several direct agencies for evil exist- ing on board of many of our ships ; and perhaps we cannot do better than to introduce a few of them here. One is the most debasing, shameless, and heartless tyranny. Some men are naturally tyrants in the worst sense of the word; and, when poor Jack gets into a ship where one of these fiends holds sway, his condition is indeed deplorable. The worst kind of slavery is an enviable state compared with the usage on board of these " hells afloat," as the sailors call them. The men are beaten with belay ing-pins, knocked down with brass knuckles, kicked with heavy boots, deprived of sleep, and tortured in almost every pos- sible way to satisfy the fiendish malice of those monsters of depravity, who delight and^glory in being called fighting- men, bullies, and horses. About fifteen years ago, it seemed as though the majority of our large clipper ships were cursed by being officered by these devils in human shape ; and the names of some of those Neros, Herods, and Calig- ulas, will long be remembered by the unfortunate men who were compelled to sail with them. 27. A sailor's condition on board of such a ship is indeed pitiable, and a parallel case it is very hard to find. The epithets applied to seamen by such officers are often too shocking to be repeated. To be called the "son of a female of the canine species" is not calculated to make a spirited man feel very pleasant ; but that is about the A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 41 mildest term ever used by such officers when addressing their men ; and they almost invariably put a volley of oaths before and behind their favorite expression to give it emphasis. Such officers in their ordinary conversation use the term "hounds" to designate their sailors collec- tively, and vie with each other in boasting how many men they have knocked down, kicked the face off of, robbed, and murdered. When we reflect upon such horrible scenes of cruelty, which used to be so common on board of sea- going vessels, and take into consideration the fact that American commerce is very much diminished, and, perhaps, in a fair way to become extinct, how can we resist the conclusion, that the sad change is largely due to that shameless tyranny and oppression which has brought down the judgments of God on our mercantile interests, and seem- ingly destroyed our commerce beyond the possibility of a resurrection ? It is nearly certain that it cannot be resus- citated without help from the nation ; and it will assuredly be for the nation's interest to provide for a better state of things in the future. May our commerce never rise until its foundations are established in truth and righteous- ness! 28. The immediate effect of the ill-treatment which sea- men so often receive is to destroy their self-respect, and make them feel that they have very little in prospect worth living for in this world. They frequently brood over their miseries, and cherish bitter and revengeful feelings towards their officers, until, finally, desperation causes them to com- mit acts of violence and bloodshed. Their oppressions have also a powerful tendency to give them dark and erroneous views of human nature, and sometimes even cause them to distrust the goodness of God. " For why," say they, " does he suffer such rascality to exist?" They observe, also, that ship-owners, and others connected with vessels, are gener- 4* 42 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. ally church-going people ; and that circumstance leads many seamen to conclude that all Christians are hypo- crites, or wolves in sheep's clothing. All such things have an influence to harden the sailor's heart, and confirm him in the belief that all virtue is counterfeit, and that good motives are hardly ever the springs of action in conducting human affairs. 29. In many other ways does oppression and tyranny produce evil, and only evil. The best part of seamen do not always get entirely discouraged; but their experience causes them to avoid large ships and long voyages as much as possible, and confine themselves to coasting, fishing, and short voyages, where they can soon change their quarters if things do not go on to suit them. Such unjust and shameful proceedings have also had the effect to keep most Americans away from the sea altogether ; for the tastes and education of our people render them averse to being will- ingly brought into positions where they will be almost sure to receive unmerited abuse. As ships must be manned at some rate in order to make their voyages safely, and as the best behaved and most efficient seamen will not go if they can help it, shipping-agents are therefore compelled to hire thugs, thieves, pickpockets, and runners, that want to make a passage somewhere, to help make up a vessel's complement of men. This is a great evil ; for such vagabonds, of course, know but very little about a sea-faring life : and so the most complicated of all trades, involving the safety of thou- sands of lives, and hundreds of millions of property, has to be left, in a great measure, to the care of men that ought to be confined in a state-prison, or transported beyond the seas against their will and wishes. It is no wonder, then, that so many noble vessels are carelessly lost, and valuable lives and property imperilled. 30. If the bad men could always be associated with the A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 43 bad officers, there might not be quite so much harm done ; but the reverse is oftener the case. The petty tyrants who delight in the misery of others are just as anxious to obtain quiet, peaceable men themselves as anybody ; and they succeed about as often. To do this, they will fre- quently 'anchor their vessels in the stream, and then au- thorize their broker to pay " blood money " to the landlords, which has the effect to interest them ; and then there is seldom mSich difficulty. The best shipmasters are not so fond of paying the " blood money," which is sometimes as high as ten or twelve dollars per head ; and so, in many cases, they have to take up with what the others leave. This, again, is another crying evil ; for when bad sailors, or rather salt-water impostors, get into a good ship, they make it about as disagreeable for the officers as bad officers can make it disagreeable for well-disposed men. Their con- duct is generally in the highest degree irritating and vexa- tious. They are not willing to submit to proper discipline, nor to any wholesome restraints, and act continually as though they thought it must be extremely dishonorable in them to behave well. In such unpleasant circumstances, if the officers do not act promptly, and use any and every means that may be necessary to keep the miscreants under, they will behave like so many devils incarnate, and make the ship a perfect pandemonium. They will openly and shamelessly rob the decent men on board of their clothing; insult the officers ; fight among themselves ; and do many other things which must rojoice the heart of the Great Destroyer, when he sees what apt and zealous crea- tures the greater part of his children are. The writer of these pages has heard several of these scoundrels tell their officers to go to a " very warm place," because they were very civilly requested to keep a lookout at night. They are seldom willing to do any thing that requires them 44 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. to make any effort ; and, as they are entirely destitute of shame, no man can hope to govern such a set, but by having recourse to the most stringent measures, and fear- lessly using every means that may be necessary to preserve peace and order. These men, too, are regular sea-lawyers; and, if they can provoke an officer to strike one of their number, they will lay their case before their boarding- master, who will employ a lawyer that will harass the shipmaster with letters aud arrests, until he is glad to get clear of the annoyance by paying quite a large sum of money; and their success gives them fresh courage to repeat the same manoeuvre on somebody else. If the ship- master is resolved to fight it through in the law, he is very likely to get the worst of it: for these men will swear to any thing; and, being assisted by the boarding-master and runner, they will make up and swear to a plausible story, which would deceive almost any jury of landsmen. This, again, is another great evil which ought to be remedied ; for most juries know as little of maritime affairs as they do of Tristan, d. Acuna, or Van Dieman's Land. Juries to try seamen should, as far as possible, be composed of sea- faring men. 31. It is very rarely, however, that a ship's crew is com- posed of men wholly good or wholly bad. For reasons already given, they now average far worse than formerly. But still there are many men now going to sea that are naturally well disposed; and if they could have their temp- tations removed, and be subjected to good influences, many of them might be saved from destruction, and become orna- ments to .their profession, as well as benefactors to the human race. As long ns such men are swindled by their landlords, maltreated by their officers, and compelled to live on equal terms with felons and blackguards of almost every description, it is, of course, useless to talk about re- A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 45 form ; but if society will take knowledge of the situation of these suffering men, and be willing to give them, one and all, an equal chance in the world, and the same rights and privileges that other men enjoy, then we can hope that the time has at last arrived, when the "abundance of the sea" shall be given to that Being who is using his children as agents to establish upon the earth his blessed kingdom of righteousness and peace. Before we discuss the means to be employed for the accomplishment of this much-desired object, we will take notice of a few more grievous wrongs which seamen have to endure, and which will probably continue to exist until the change we have mentioned shall become an accom- plished fact. We shall take no further notice of the crimi- nals and blacklegs, who, in consequence of the existing state of things, make up so large a percentage of our ships' crews, unless compelled to do so in order to make our sub- ject intelligible. They do not deserve to class with seamen ; and, if things were as they should be, they would all be cared for at some penal establishment, where force could be advantageously used to make them work for a living. 32. It has been already noticed, that many of our ship- masters are wicked and unprincipled men, who would stoop, if circumstances were favorable, to do the meanest things for the sake of a little pecuniary benefit. It is to be par- ticularly remarked, that such men generally ignore religion, and profess to be governed by a high sense of honor in all their dealings with mankind. When a ship commanded by one of these honorable individuals reaches a foreign port, and he finds that seamen can be obtained there for a less rate of wages than what he is paying, he immediately sets his wits to work to devise some plan of persecution, which rarely fails to drive the crew all ashore ; especially if there are any landlords and runners in the place to entice them. 46 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. The* United States have laws to discourage the discharge of seamen in foreign lands ; but they are wholly ineffec- tual to prevent the evil, and only operate to embarrass and perplex good captains, who, perhaps, would be very glad to get rid of some of their roughs. Bad shipmasters compel their crews to desert by hard usage, and nothing can be done to them for it ; but, if a good captain wants to get clear of a felon who is nothing but a nuisance on board, he must first take him to the consul, and get the consent of that functionary, and afterwards pay three months' addi- tional wages to defray the man's expenses home. The poor sailor who is compelled to desert by cruel treatment forfeits all of his wages, and his clothing into the bargain ; but the miserable scoundrel who is nothing but a pest on board of a good ship is protected by the laws, and must be paid every cent that belongs to him, and sent home by the government, free of expense. It is true, that, if the captain can make it appear that any of the crew have been guilty of criminal offences on board of his ship, he will then be justified in discharging them without the three-months' additional pay ; but that almost always involves a lawsuit, which, for many reasons, is far more practicable for the sailor than for the captain. The lost wages of the deserted sailor are lawfully claimed by the United-States Government; and it is the duty of con- suls to affix a true account of the same to every vessel's crew-list, so as to avoid all disputes in the custom-houses at home. The captain carries the ship's articles, and the deserted crew's receipts for advanced wages, to the consul's outer office, and assists the consul's clerk to "square up" the forfeited wages and effects of the "runaways." These experts in mathematics generally dispose of the matter much as a schoolboy would an affected quadratic equation ; and when they have got every thing involved, transposed, A VOICE FKOM THE DEEP. 47 reduced, and simplified to their minds, it is often found that U. S. = a very long string of accounts, which the mathematical processes have reduced to cipher margins. The ship gains largely by laying for a long time without any crew on board ; for their services are seldom actually required in ports where stevedores handle the cargoes. 33. But such is not the course that is generally pursued by the majority of these honorable .shipmasters, especially if the consul happens to be a man of known integrity; which is sometimes the case. Most of them know a trick worth two of that, as we shall presently see. In nearly all sea- port towns there exists a lot of rascally tailors who are willing to do any thing to make money, as long as they can manage to keep the weather-side of the law. To one of these men the honorable shipmaster applies himself, and gives him authority to pay off his deserted crew. In these transactions it is understood that the seamen are to receive what is due them, only on condition that they will take a large part, say seventy-five or eighty per cent of the whole amount, in clothing at .the tailor's prices. They do not sign receipts for the full amount of wages in settling, but only for so much money advanced them, so as not to com- promise the shipmaster, who has no right to discharge them. The tailor then finds means to inform the men of this arrangement; and they soon come for their pay, glad enough to get any thing. The captain then carries these receipts to the consul's office ; and they are, of course, al- lowed in making up the accounts to be transmitted home. By this little piece of roguery the tarlor makes an enor- mous profit, the captain gets a nice new suit of clothes, and poor Jack is branded as a deserter, and left to shift for himself, and get home the best way he can. This is a very common transaction, especially if a vessel makes a voy- age to Europe. 48 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 34. In many instances where the crews do not leave, the same thing is practised to some extent. A sailor wants money, say twenty-five or thirty dollars; and the captain, instead of advancing it himself, gives the man an order to go to some tailor, who is willing to give him only about twenty per cent of what he calls for in money ; and the rest he must take in clothing, as in the case of desertion. As clothing is the main thing that the sailor generally wants to get with his money, he submits to the arrange- ment; and the captain gets a suit of clothes, as before, but not so good a one as in the case of desertion. In that case, the tailor has a double incentive to do well by the captain, and give him large presents: for in Europe many of them keep shipping-offices, and furnish men for the return voy- ages of American ships, which gives them a chance to han- dle large amounts in advanced wages. These tailors will never ship men, if they can help it, who are not willing to take a large part 6f their advanced wages in clothing; and so the poor miserable shell-backs from one ship are robbed in the same manner while shipping in another. And all this rascality is carried on right under the noses of our foreign consuls ; but it does not seem to excite any comments from them. It is true that they are nearly impotent to hinder such things; but they might give an alarm, and let people know what wolves and hyenas surround them. 35. The effect of such dealing on the minds of seamen is necessarily pernicious. They cannot help feeling that tln-y are not considered a part of the civilized world, but the natural prey of every human shark and cormorant that claims to belong to society. Can it be surprising, then, that they act like brutes while on shore? What earthly motive can a sailor have to behave well, when he sees noth- ing but evil result from, his conduct, be it good or bad? His hand is, therefore, against every man, and every man's A VOICE FKOM THE DEEP. 49 hand against him. He reels into every grog-shop, and tries to efface memory, and drown the voice of conscience, by pouring down streams of liquid fire. Good people shun him in the streets as they would the pestilence, and gravely moralize on the awful depravity of sailors. What poor, blind creatures we are ! and how liable to err in judg- ment ! The sailor's natural qualities of mind and heart may be as good as our own. By subjecting our wheat to one process, we obtain from it the healthful, nourishing, and invigorating "staff of life;" but, by fermentation and distillation, we can convert the same article into one of the deadliest poisons known in the universe. Just so with the sailor and the rest of mankind. Give seamen the same chance in life that other men have, and they would un- doubtedly turn out as well. If other men have got vir- tiK! in their possession, it is because she was given them by those that felt a generous interest in their welfare; and it is the duty of all that have received and appreciated such a precious gift to be willing to bless others in a like manner. To neglect seamen, therefore, because they are sinful and depraved, shows both hypocrisy and ingrati- tude; and they are crimes so foul and mean, that it is doubtful if their names were ever registered at Dean Swift's famous whispering office. Some one has said, with consid- erable truth, that no human being has yet been found who would acknowledge himself guilty of them. CHAPTER II. THE CIRCUMSTANCES, CHARACTER, AND CONDITION OF SEAMEN (CONTINUED). 36. IT has already been intimated that the accommoda- tions for seamen on shipboard are often extremely bad. That was especially the case a few years ago, when fore- castles were almost invariably built under the vessel's main-deck, and near the bows. Such forecastles are hardly ever tight; and, besides the discomfort of having his cloth- ing and bedding wet much of the time, the sailor has to breathe, day and night, in full force, whatever odors may arise from the cargo, be it guano, petroleum, hides, or mo- lasses. These dogholes are also as dark as Egypt ; and, as sailors are frequently allowed no light but what they can produce by burning salt-beef and pork-grease in a tin vessel constructed for the purpose, it can, perhaps, be faintly imagined what an uninteresting place such a den must be. Ho man in his right senses would ever think of risking a dumb animal in which he was pecuniarily interested in a ship's fore-peak; for, if he did, it would be almost sure to die. It is probable, however, that the human species can endure more abuse, and live, than any animal belonging to the brute creation. Cockroaches and rats thrive well in such places, however; and so do centipedes and scorpions, if the weather happens to be warm, and the vessel is loaded with logwood or dry hides. The peculiar motions of a ship are felt much more severely iu the vicinity of the bows than 60 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 51 elsewhere ; and that is probably one reason why young and inexperienced whalemen are so long afflicted with sea-sick- ness. It cannot be surprising, either, that men living in such dungeons should be subject to agues, rheumatism, and bilious attacks, nor that they should soon fall victims to pestilential diseases when the vessel happens to be lying in a malarious district ; and their discomforts are immeas- urably enhanced by myriads of mosquitoes that will not suffer the sailor to rest a moment on his miserable couch. If Mr. ttergh should know of any quadrupeds as uncom- fortably situated as some sailors are with respect to their sleeping-accommodations, he would undoubtedly make a fuss about it ; and no man possessed of the common in- stincts of humanity could blame him. 37. Most foreign vessels are still constructed with fore- castles below ; but, within a dozen or fifteen years, many American builders fit up an apartment for the sailors in the forward part of what is now called the forward-house. These places are far more comfortable than the others; for on deck the sailor is removed from the odors of the cargo, and can have sunlight and ventilation. He is also meas- urably freed from the presence of venomous reptiles, which crawl out of some cargoes ; and, being now where he can sleep in a current of air to keep him cool, he can use a mos- quito-net, and so free himself from that plague. It is much to be feared, however, that Jack was never shifted on deck from motives of benevolence, but simply to gain room below to stow merchandise when freights were high. 38. If a forecastle below is worse to live in than any damp cellar can possibly be, the one on deck is certainly not a paradise. Imagine a dozen men, with all their chests, bags, clothing, eating utensils,- and bedding, living in a room six feet high by twelve feet square. Passengers are allowed by law sixteen superficial feet ; and they, perhaps, 52 A VOICE FEOM THE DEEP. have only to endure the discomforts of a sea-voyage once in a lifetime : but no law seems to avail for the sailor who has to go to sea all his days. Some forecastles are a little larger in proportion than the one we have described ; but the extra room is generally used to stow away salt provis- ions, chain-cables, or something of the sort ; so that the sailor is actually worse off than he would be with a smaller apartment free from those distasteful objects. In many instances, too, the berths are constructed double ; and so it frequently happens, that a clean, intelligent, sensitive boy has to take up his quarters with some loathsome wreck of a man, afflicted with all sorts of chronic diseases, and a slave to every evil habit and vice. If a young man in such unpleasant circumstances should manifest any repug- nance towards the person referred to, his evil passions would immediately be aroused, and the poor fellow would become an object of dislike, and perhaps of persecution, for the remainder of the voyage. 39. There is seldom any thing like a table in a ship's forecastle ; but the food is usually brought from the galley in huge tin pans, and placed in the middle of the floor, where each man is expected to help himself with his sheath- knife, which, perhaps, he has been using ten minutes before to scrape greasy spars, or to cut tarry ropes. Each man has a small tin basin in lieu of a plate, a quart-pot to hold tea and coffee, and an iron spoon. With these rude uten- >ils. and a little help from their fingers (that they can seldom get fresh water enough to wash), they manage to supply their corporeal natures with such aliment as custom or cupidity will allow, and a very slovenly cook prepare. Some of our fastidious epicures, who declare that they cannot possibly eat fish with a steel fork, might be puzzled to know how it is that sailors relish such meals. But per- A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 53 haps what the poet says maybe true on some occasions; and this may be one of them : " Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." 40. Then, again, as we have just stated, there is seldom much pains taken in preparing the food ; and the quality of the ingredients is generally very inferior. Biscuits com- posed of rye, rice, and Indian-meal, baked as hard as chalk ; salt beef and bones completely innocent of fat ; pork that would do honor to a soap-boiler's vat ; chiccory-coffee ; the cheapest kind of tea; broken rice; kiln-dried Indian- meal; a very little flour twice a week; the poorest quality of molasses eked out with salt water ; a very few potatoes occasionally; and split peas, beans, and vinegar, comprise about the only articles from which the cooks can select materials from which to prepare their meals. If the cooks could or would do justice to what sailors have allowed them, they would fare much better than they do now ; but justice never seems to be in the fashion when dealing with sailors. The salt beef is hardly ever skimmed while boil- ing; the beans are thrown into a kettle with a junk of pork (soap-grease), and boiled to a jelly ; the rice is cooked in the same manner; the potatoes are boiled with their "jackets" on, and left to soak in the water; and a hundred other things done that would be suggestive of emetics to people living ashore. The cooks are not always to blame for such negligence, for frequently they have no time to do better. Some owners do much better in provisioning their vessels than the foregoing description would indicate, and are quite liberal with flour and potatoes, and fresh meat in port ; but such are not regular practitioners. The ma- jority adhere rigidly to the old style, and would as soon think of giving plum-cake to swine as butter and sugar to sailors. 6* 54 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 41. One bad consequence of the present system of dealing with sailors is seen in the fact that they do not know how to conduct themselves in the society of refined and culti- vated people ; and that is another inducement for them to go to seamen's boarding-houses, where but little notice is ever taken of their peculiarities. Such slovenly habits con- stantly indulged in tend also to lessen their self-respect, which, in the absence of religion, is one of the best safe- guards to human virtue and honor. 42. Another evil is to be found in the fact that a great many owners, and not a few shipmasters, seem to be very much afraid they shall put too much fresh water on board their vessels; and so the strictest economy has to be used to make it hold out. This is a great evil ; for it makes it very difficult for seamen to keep their persons and clothing clean. One gallon of fresh water per day is too little for a civilized man to keep himself in a civilized condition, especialty in hot weather ; but that is all the sailor is gen- erally allowed for cooking, tea, and coffee, and all other purposes. 43. It can readily be seen, from what has been stated, that there is but very little, if any thing, in the surround- ings of a sailor, that has any tendency to elevate him. Almost all the influences which are brought to bear upon him are only productive of evil. It is true that he is occa- sionally brought into contact with some benevolent per- sons who will, perhaps, offer to take an interest in his moral and spiritual welfare; but that does not satisfy the sailor, nor hardly seem to reach his case. Abstractions are not very tangible things; and what the sailor wan something tangible. It may be easy for some people to tell him that ho is a vile sinner, and that, unless he re- pent, he will be ruined and lost ; but how can such a declaration benefit him ? He knows that he is ruined and A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 55 lost as well as anybody else ; and, what is more, he knows that he has always been so. If he is told that Jesus Christ came into the world to save just such sinners as he is, the great thick cloud of unbelief, supported by a thousand fla- grant wrongs, will not let the light shine upon the truth : so it is nothing but an abstraction to hiui. Perhaps it might also stagger the faith of some weak-kneed Christians, if they were called upon to tell him how faith in Christ could put him on equal terms with themselves, and give him a home and a wife and children. Almost any sailor would be ready to admit that religion might be a very fine thing for people living ashore, who have friends and houses and wives and children aad sympathy ; but he cannot see how it can avail much in his case. He can see no remedy, even in Christ, for all the evils which seem to be so intimately connected with his station in life; and those evils, being ever present with him, operate to prevent him from beholding the light that shines above the portals of heaven. If the sailor could see Christ in the hearts of his fellow-men, and witness them making self-denying efforts to remove his disabilities, and make him a man, he would then have an efficacious motive to believe in Christ, but hardly till then. When Christ came upon the earth, he went about doing good, and convinced people of his divine mission by his labors of love for their bodies, before he undertook to convert their souls. So it must be with the sailor. He must be able to see Christ's love working in the hearts of his people, and behold them trying ear- nestly to remove all obstacles that prevent him from having an equal chance in the world with themselves; for what other pledge can ho have of their good faith ? It will not do to go from our pleasant homes to this needy class of men. and say to them, " Be ye warmed and filled ! " No indeed! The life-boat must be launched and manned by 56 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. true Christians, who are willing to brave perils, if need be, and privations, to effect their salvation; and then tin- poor outcasts may be able to see something tangible and beautiful in Christ's love. 44. Before we proceed any further with our investiga- tions, we will glance back, and review some of the things which have been said concerning those classes of men who are, by their occupations and professions, more or less con- nected with seamen, lest a false impression should be left on the minds of any of onr readers whe may be unac- quainted with nautical affairs; and, in the first place, we will commence with the boarding-master. Men and women that keep seamen's boarding-houses have generally the credit of being great rogues; but such is not always tin- case. Doubtless a few of them have as good intentions, when they first begin their business, as any other class of people who are striving to get an honest living by serv- ing, in some manner, their fellow-men. Their profession is not necessarily bad, no worse than a hotel-keeper's, a barber's, or a baker's. Seamen must board somewhere; and it is a great accommodation to them to have a place to live between their voyages. Some of these bonding-masters, too, have kindly dispositions, and, in many cu-es, are will- ing to do much for the sailor aside from sordid self-interest. Many of them have actually lost money by rendering ;i - sistance to those who have been unfortunate ; for, in some instances, those unfortunate ones have been heartless and unprincipled vagabonds, who never had any intention of repaying their kind benefactors, except by the basest in- gratitude. Quite a number of these boarding-house keep- era have been seamen themselves, and know, from tlieir own experiences, how to sympathize with others in their privations and Bufferings. Doubtless there are men among them, who, according to the dim light they have received, A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 57 mean to be honest, and to practise fair dealing as well as they can. It is not by any means the object of this book to attack boarding-masters, or any other class of men, but simply to present facts from which we can draw conclu- sions as to what causes the physical, moral, and spiritual degradation of the sailor, so that we can intelligently apply remedies which will be best calculated to remove the evils te which he is subjected, and elevate him to the dignity of a Christian brother and fellow-citizen. Good boarding- houses cannot be permanently injured by any such reme- dies ; but the bad ones will be squelched without fail. 45. If what has been said bears hard on those scoun- drels that are and that have been using their best endeav- ors to ruin the bodies and souls of their fellow-men for the sake of advancing what they conceive to be their own tem- poral interests, it cannot be helped. The light must shine, whomsoever it may offend; for such is the will of that Being who has not only commanded his children to walk in the light while they have it, but also to let their light shine upon the dark places of the earth, which "are full of the habita- tions of cruelty." Light on this subject will not operate to disparage the attempts of any honest and upright person who is trying to gain a livelihood by administering to the temporal wants of seamen, but will rather stivngthen his hands. Those people only whose deeds are evil hate the light; and, when we consider the effect which light has upon their works, we can scarcely wonder at their repug- nance. 4(>. Notwithstanding all that has been said in favor of fair-dealing landlords, it must be confessed they are but rarely met with ; and the majority are fully as bad as has been represented. Even in those houses where hon- orable principles prevail, as far as money-matters are con- cerned, there is hardly any thing ever done to promote 58 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. the moral and spiritual interests of seamen. The prevail- ing influences in some of the best of these places tend rather to weaken than to build up the cause of virtue in the human heart. 47. It is not so strange, however, as it might at first seem, that nearly all seamen's landlords should be men that have but little regard for the higher and nobler inter- ests of life. The fact is, but few of the best people in society could be prevailed upon to keep a seamen's board- ing-house; and they have very sound reasons for declining. People on shore are not ignorant of the fact that sailors have the reputation of being a turbulent and depraved class of men ; and what poor Christian widow, keeping a boarding-house, would like to have her moral sensibilities constantly shocked by dealing with such barbarous crea- tures ? A great many professed Christians, and, it may be, true ones too, are not very aggressive^ jn their characters, but prefer to send substitutes into those fields of labor where thorns and brambles, and poisonous plants, must be rooted up and subdued. They might go there if sent by the Church or some societj'; but few would ever think of being so benevolent of their own accord : and we can hardly blame them, when we reflect that other considera- tions are involved, which would deter most good people from engaging voluntarily in any such work. Who would like to have a parcel of swearing, drunken, and licentious men introduced into his family, especially if he had little children? It is useless to say that they might be all con- verted, and induced to behave well. Some of them might ; but enough would remain bad to make it extremely un- pleasant and disagreeable to try to get along with them on any terms. We see, therefore, that the conduct of the sailor qualifies the character of his boarding-house even more than the evil influences of the boarding-house affect the character of the sailor. A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 59 48. From what has been said, we can also rightly infer that bad seamen's boarding-houses are not the primary cause of the sailor's degradation and misery. They are only branches of the tree of sin, and not the roots. As branches, they produce very pernicious and bitter fruits, which contribute largely to increase the wretchedness and woe of those "that go down to the sea in ships ; " but, after all, we must seek farther if we would find the source of all the mischief. We must follow the tap-root along until we find where the little fibres elaborate deadly poison from the dark laboratory of the destroyer. We must probe society, and see by what means the enemy has succeeded in inflicting a wound that refuses to be healed by any remedy which has hitherto been tried, and will not be mol- lified with ointment. Good boarding-houses, like rood branches of the tree of righteousness, produce many fair and excellent fruits, which may do very well to nourish a convalescent sailor; but they cannot cure him. Nothing but a copious flow of sap from the roots can impart life and vigor to one so far gone as he. 49. As good branches, producing many fair and excel- lent fruits, we may mention some of our Sailors' Homes, and other institutions of like character, which abound in some of our seaport towns. They are undoubtedly the means of accomplishing an incalculable amount of good ; and those noble men and women who first interested themselves to make self-denying efforts to establish such places are wor- thy of all praise. It is also to be hoped that they have already seen good enough result from their labors to make their hearts rejoice in the fulfilment of some of the sweetest promises of Scripture; for, among other things, the "chil- dren of light" are constantly assured that their lab y or is not in vain in the Lord. Sailors' Homes, however, and all kindred agencies, though they may benefit hundreds, and 60 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. perhaps thousands, of individual seamen, still cannot effect a cure for scarcety any of the special evils to which they are, as a class, subjected. The plaster is not large enough for the wound ; nor can it be made large enough, even if every port had a hundred Sailors' Homes. 50. The character of runners will generally be found to agree with the character of the houses which they repre- sent. Some sailors regard them as merely an excrescence of a bad boarding-house, and not at all necessary in a good one. But such a view is not strictly correct ; for they are frequently useful in assisting timid and bashful seamen to obtain situations ; and, in a variety of ways, such a man, attached to a good boarding-house may bo not only use- ful, but necessary. It is also proper to mention that there has been considerable improvement in the character of some of the seamen's boarding-houses in many of our Northern seaport towns during the last ten years; and the runners behave much better now than formerly. These improve- ments, however, are largely due to stringent laws, which will not allow runners to board vessels until after they arrive at the wharves; and to better police-regulations than we formerly had. It is also found impracticable to des- patch vessels from the wharves Sundays; and the various institutions for the benefit of seamen now receive the fos- tering care of city governments ; whereas they were formerly obliged to shift for themselves. 51. These changes are great, and as they should be ; but still it is doubtful if they contribute very much towards actually improving the condition of seamen. There is no corresponding change for the better in other parts of the world ; and even hero the aforesaid laws and regulations were probably made and enforced more with a view to pro- tect the public from having to witness and bo annoyed by shameless exhibitions of depravity thuu from any just and A VOICE FROM THE DEEP, r 61 intelligent appreciation of the obligations and duties of soci- ety to that class of men who are daily and hourly risking their lives for her welfare. The character of boarding-houses, landlords, and runners, is and must be intrinsically the same as ever, unless there shall some change take place in the character, circumstances, and condition of seamen, which will necessitate a thorough reform. Landlords, runners, and prostitutes may stand in awe of the police, and try to maintain an outside show of decency ; but inside of their peacock's feathers they have gizzards like ostriches, and nothing would come amiss to them which they could devour. 52. The brokers employed to hire seamen, called ship- ping-agents or shipping-masters, frequently exercise a very bad influence upon them by the methods which many of them adopt to get crews, and by cheating in various ways. These brokers frequently have authority from own- ers to pay off some of the crews they have shipped ; and in such cases figures (which won't lie) are often so arranged as to tell tales which make poor Jack's heart ache. Some- times, again, when men are plenty, and chances scarce, they will extort a fee from the sailor, besides the regular brokerage which they get from the ship-owner. This is a great evil : for, the fee being variable, the best chances, of course, go to the highest bidders; and the highest bid- ders are generally those that are worth the least. The best men are not very fond of paying this fee. But board- ing-masters that have a parcel of drunken swabs on hand, that they consider in debt to them, will sometimes pay lib- erally to get them shipped off; and that, too, is one reason why good ships are so often cursed with bad crews. Mates are frequently bled in the same way, the fee for them being sometimes as high as fifteen or twenty dollars; and any officer who does not feel disposed to uphold such a sharne- 6 62 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. less system of corruption, and who has no acquaintance among ship-owners, might remain ashore a month without being noticed by a broker, unless circumstances should favor him. The evil is not so much in the fee itself as in the irregularity of it. When men are scarce, the broker.-* are glad to get them without it, and even call on the owners for blood-money; but, when men are plenty, qualifications are often, in a great measure, disregarded, and the best places are secured to the highest bidders. We see, there- fore, that the influence of shipping-agents as a class is unfavorable to the development of right principles in the mind of the sailor. Many of them not only cheat him when they can, but tell all kinds of lies about the vessels they are working for, and the voyages they are interested in ; and Jack is sure to find them all out eventually, which gives him another lamentable proof that he was born to be the legitimate prey of all the harpies in the world. Many shipping-agents, however, do as well as can reasona- bly be expected of them, considering the circumstances in which they are placed; and the abuses for which they are directly responsible are small when compared wU,h many others which seamen have to endure.* * As the shipping-agents are now superseded by the shipping-commission ers, it may be thought unnecessary to retain this section; but it yet remains to be Been, whether they will do much better than their predecessors did. The same temptations are before them; and there is no valid reason to give why a mmi appointed by the government should prove more virtuous than one who is not. The head commissioners In the different ports may possibly retain their integ- rity; and, as a new broom sweeps clean, their utaff officers mny do well for a while; hut it will be a miracle indeed, if they do not soon prove as corrupt as those that have just been compelled to retire before them. As long as the sailor is physically, morally, and spiritually corrupt, just so long will he be surrounded by vultures and hyenas : but put him in harmony with nature, and all of his as- sociations will quickly regulate themselves to his new standpoint in society ; and the lion will quickly learn to eat straw like the ox. It should be remembered, too, that our commissioners have no jurisdiction out of the United States, where most of our shipping and discharging is practically done. Sec SECTION 34. A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 63 53. Another thing which goes to prove to seamen that landsmen are sharks and hypocrites is the treatment which they often receive at the hands of some of our foreign con- suls. Some of these officials are humane, well educated, and intelligent, and perhaps every way worthy of the posi- tion they have attempted to fill ; but it is to be feared there are many among them who are inclined to seek iheir own instead of another's wealth. Broken-down merchants that have failed in business, and who, perhaps, were never burdened with honesty, will sometimes contrive to get a number of respectable names attached to their petitions to the government for an office which will give them a good living, a respectable position in society, and, at the same time, remove them as far as possible from the scene of their former mishaps ; and they are very apt to succeed. Many of these men know and care but very little about the rights or the wrongs of seamen, but have an eye continually to replenishing their pockets before the next presidential election. They use every expedient to extort money from both shipmasters and seamen; and, instead of facilitating commercial enterprises for their countrymen, they only place obstacles in the way. Innumerable are the instances in which consuls and their deputies have wronged sea- men ; and so their influence for good cannot rate much higher than the boarding-masters' or the shipping-agents.' There are, doubtless, many excellent men among them ; but they generally manage to keep their excellences far away from the vulgar gaze of seamen. 54. A great many people seem to think that ship-owners are primarily responsible for most of the evils which sea- men have to endure. They say that if merchants would see that their ships were sea-worthy, and provided with ample accommodations for their crews, much discomfort would be avoided ; if they would be careful to put on board 64 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. an adequate supply of good nourishing food, and pay the men well, they would be contented and happy ; and if they would go a step further, and select honest, upright, and, as far as possible, religious men for officers, there could then be nothing else left to be desired ; and, if sailors would not; then improve, it must be their own fault. This view of the case, plausible as it seems, is liable to grave objections. It is not intended to shield ship-owners from their just responsibilities ; but it can readily be shown that there is a limit to what merchants can do, far more circumscribed than is generally supposed. 55. Ship-owners are generally thought to be immensely rich, and sometimes such a supposition is true ; but then it does not necessarily follow that they can all afford to pay high wages, besides expending large sums in providing things for seamen's comfort, when the state of their busi- ness will not warrant such indulgences. They cannot do it simply because they are rich ; for, if a rich man con- stantly pays away more than he receives, he will soon cease to be wealthy ; and those versed in maritime affairs know that it is extremely awkward for a ship-owner to be poor. Vessel-property has, of late years, been about the poorest of any; and, unless something is speedily done by the gov- ernment to relieve our merchants, ship-building in the United States must soon be practically numbered with the lost arts. 5G. Supposing, tljen, that merchants should conclude to enhance the cost of running their ships thirty per cent., for the express purpose of benefiting seamen: what must necessarily be the result? Would not such a measure speedily destroy the whole commerce of the country, and leave our seamen with nothing to do? It must be obvi- ous, therefore, to every intelligent person, that the most that any merchant can do, under present circumstances, will A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 65 only be to give his attention to such means of improve- ment as will tend to alleviate some of the woes and discom- forts of sailors, and not cost too much money. And here it must be confessed that many of them are sadly at fault, as much so, perhaps, as the landlords, the brokers, and the consuls, whose conduct we have already had occasion to notice. Money is the objective point to which all own- ers direct their attention ; and it must be confessed that some of them, in their greed for gain, neglect all the nobler faculties of their souls, and sacrifice their whole lives at Mammon's unholy shrine. 57. Such men, if they own ships, merely regard them as a pecuniary investment, valuable only according to the dividends which they pay. The comfort and happiness of the crews they employ never enters into their calcula- tions ; for they only regard seamen as tools to work with for the accomplishment of their own selfish purposes; and they are constantly contriving how to make them service- able with the least possible expense. Some of these soul- less men connive at, and even encourage, the unlawful dis- charge of seamen in foreign ports, where cheaper help can be obtained ; and they likewise have recourse to every other expedient which their ingenuity can suggest to save for themselves a few paltry dollars at the expense of poor Jack's health, comfort, and happiness. Such meanness is truly despicable ; but it is astonishing to what low things some people can stoop when they have neither religion nor honor to strengthen their poor weak backbones. 58. Merchants, on the whole, however, compare favora- bly in society with any other class of men. Some of the greatest enterprises for the benefit of sailors have originated almost entirely with them ; and many a noble man who has amassed wealth by industriously following mercantile pur- suits has rendered his name illustrious by his timely con- 6* 66 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. tributions to the various objects of benevolence which abound in all civilized communities. Thousands of people in our land will never cease to give thanks that the world has been blessed by the self-sacrificing benevolence of such rich men as Cooper, Forbes, Peabody, Fearing, Stewart, and Rousevelt; and it may be possible with God for even a camel to pass through a needle's eye. 59. Ship-owners are clearly responsible, however, for not providing suitable accommodations on board of their ves- sels for sailors, and also for not supplying them with a sufficient quantity of good wholesome food and water. It is likewise criminal in merchants to send rotten and unsea- worthy vessels on voyages where they are liable to be lost on account of their weakness ; for, although they may se- cure themselves from damage by getting such vessels insured, it is not so with the sailor. With the merchant it is only a matter of a few dollars and cents; but with the sailor it is a matter of life and death. Such vessels are sent to sea quite often; and sometimes, it is to be feared, on purpose to get rid of them. Whoever tempts Provi- dence in this manner, merely for purposes of gain, incurs a most fearful responsibility, even if the voyage should ter- minate successfully ; for the motive would be the same in both cases. 60. Some owners demonstrate that they have but little regard for the comfort and happiness of their crews by hiring tyrannical and disagreeable men for officers. It is very true, that, in selecting officers, the utmost pains should be taken to secure energetic, enterprising, and competent men in the first place ; but when a man is known to be brutal, unprincipled, and tyrannical, his bad qualities should not be overlooked simply because he is a proper man to make money. Doubtless there are merchants that would hire Satan himself to do their business if he would A VOICE PROM THE DEEP. 67 only promise them handsome dividends ; and they would not care much, either, what means he used to make money, as long as they could be sure that he would shoulder his own legal responsibilities. Such men excuse the brutality of their officers, if the subject is ever alluded to in their presence, by saying that he is a nice man, a very good fellow ; only he is a little cross when he is annoyed by the unreasonable stupidity of sailors. "He is a little quick- tempered," say they ; when, perhaps, the scoundrel has been the cause of more misery than a whole lifetime of pen- ance could atone for. And cases are not wanting in which these miscreants have been guilty of murder in the first degree, and still continued in office. 61. It should be remembered here, that it always makes a wide difference who the parties are, when any event out of the usual order takes place at sea. If passen- gers have been ill treated in any manner, or their lives rendered unsafe by the criminal neglect of merchants and shipmasters, there is immediately a general cry raised for a thorough investigation; and so ready are people in such cases to jump at conclusions detrimental to the characters of officers and merchants, that much injustice is frequently done by the promptings of unreasoning prejudice. On the other hand, if a ship is lost, and many seamen perish, or if any thing else happens in the course of a voyage preju- dicial to their interests, but very little notice is ever taken of it. It is generally thrust into some obscure corner of the newspapers, and just glanced at by the casual reader, who does not feel, perhaps, that he lias any particular inter- est in unimportant events which transpire in Behring's Straits or the Mozambique Channel. G2. The^e is no doubt, however, but that some ship- owners do try to have honest and humane men take charge of their vessel-,; and many of these shipmasters reflect 68 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. great credit on their profession by their unceasing efforts to do good. Some of these men are intelligent and well- educated, and would no more think of taking a mean advantage of a sailor than of cutting off their right han make them, we shall hardly wonder that the Prince of Darkness has the best chance. Bad as things are now conducted on board of many of our ships, there are yet cases in which good, intelligent boys choose a seafaring life, and stick to it in spite of all the ill-treatment they receive. Being, in many cases, the disciples of the sab- bath school, and perhaps graduates of the high school, if not of some college, their early associations help them very much to resist and overcome those vices and pollu- tions which are the ruin of so many young sailors. When- ever such young men happen to get in ships where their exemplary conduct is appreciated by those above them, they soon get ahead, and finally make the best shipmasters we have, men who are every way worthy of the honor, iv.-pect, and love usually bestowed upon them by their fel- low-men. Would that there were more of them ! Would that all the officers on board of our ships were kind-hearted, conscientious, and intelligent men. Alas! they are not. There are not enough to select from ; and so the majority come from the most capable men that the forecastle affords A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 69 (without much regard being paid to their dispositions and characters), and from the ranks of those fast young men who manage, by means of their father's money, to crawl into the cabin-windows and into a great many other places which they are naturally much better adapted for than going to sea. 64. It seems strange that men who have been ground down by the most relentless oppression for a great number of years should, in their turn, make the worst of tyrants whenever they are delegated with the power. One would naturally suppose that a sailor taken from the forecastle would be the very man to feel for the condition of those he might leave behind; but such is very seldom the case. It seems as though any system of oppression and wrong to which ignorant men are subjected has a tendency to harden their natures, and render them more intensely selfish and disagreeable. With intelligent and educated persons the case might be very different ; but it is certainly true, that when any of the poor, hardened wretches that are usually denominated " growls " in a ship's forecastle get to be officers, those they leave behind are more to be pitied than ever; that is, if the men thus selected possess much force of character. Quite a number of officers are selected from crews in this way: for it frequently happens that a shipmaster finds himself short of officers when placed in circumstances where he can do no better than pick a man from the crew as a temporary expedient; and most of these transient officers try hard to keep out of the forecastle for- ever after, and generally succeed. When such a man finds he can maintain his position as second mate, he will fre- quently, if he happen to bo young and ambitious, try to acquire enough knowledge of the art of navigation to enable him to navigate a ship indifferently well ; and then he is ready for a mate's berth. A long experience as mate of a 70 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. vessel, and some contact with cultivated people, prepares the way for his becoming master when an opportunity occurs; and in this way the major part of our shipmas- ters get their positions. 65. These men are very apt to bring their vices along with them ; but they are all subjected to a refining process. Thus, instead of drinking rum and whiskey, they must have Madeira and Champagne ; a clay pipe is exchanged for the inevitable cigar; and, in visiting houses of ill-fame, they are careful to bestow their patronage on those only where the furniture and surroundings are all pleasing to the eye, and where the inmates have only gone a few of the first stages on the road to death. It is noteworthy, however, that shipmasters, even of this latter description, generally marry before they are fifty years of age ; but, when they have been very vicious in youth, they seldom make faith- ful husbands. It is related of the strange woman, that "none that go unto her return again; neither take they hold of the paths of life." And observation, as well as reve- lation, teaches us, that, in most cases, it is certainly even so. 66. What, then, can be expected of such men when they become shipmasters? Can we expect selfish and vicious men to become unselfish and pure minded, merely because their position happens to be changed a little? No: not unless the heart be changed, can we reasonably expect any good to result from the actions of men who have been trained up in the school of vice, and become sublimated in the ways of sin. 67. There are some circumstances, however, in favor of an improvement in the moral character of officers, even though their antecedents may be bad. We have noticed that many of them get married, especially the captains; iind when this event is not consummated too late in life, A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 71 and the object of the affections is possessed of a good moral character, the fires of sanctified love often prove sufficiently powerful to rouse up all the latent faculties of the soul ; which, under the stimulus of affection, re-acts in favor of purity and virtue, until at length the individual is brought within the domain of conscience, and becomes a thoroughly reformed and virtuous man. Even in those cases where the conduct of the wife exerts no positive influence for good, if there are children, their innocent prattle and harmless mirth have a wonderfully humanizing effect, bring- ing the heart and mind, in a greater or less degree, under the magic influence of love ; and so the way is often paved for truth to come in, and ingraft upon the soul many of those sweet and lovely graces which are the offshoots of the tree of life. In very many, if not in most, in- stances where both parties have missed the path of virtue in youth, their union is attended with some degree of ben- efit ; at least to the parties immediately concerned. It is fearful to contemplate their offspring, which are so often enstamped by abused and outraged Nature with the awful lineaments of sin ; but, even with that drawback to their happiness, the parties are undoubtedly infinitely better off married than they would be pursuing their former road to ruin, a path that can have but one termination, the utter destruction of soul and body. 68. We see, then, that the influence of woman, if she is not actually depraved and vicious, conspires powerfully to elevate man under any circumstances. The sexes were made for each other ; and nothing but evil can ever result from keeping them apart. We shall yet have occasion to show that it is through and by the agency of woman that we hope to obtain our most efficacious means for the physical, moral, and spiritual regeneration of seamen. G9. It must, then lore, be apparent to every one, that 72 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. there are some good influences to which men are more exposed as officers than they are in the capacity of seamen. Besides the inestimable privilege of often having a wife, their increased means, and the respectability attached to their official positions, and many other advantages in their favor, all have a tendency to make them cherish self- respect, and many other sentiments powerfully conducive to human virtue. 70. On the other hand, the advanced position of the shipmaster exposes him to temptations which he felt only in a very slight degree before. He now finds that money is the prize coveted by his employers, and, apparently, by most of the world besides. He has accustomed himself to respect their maxims, and execute their commands, many of which, as we have already seen, are dictated by un- righteous motives. In such a school he frequently learns to be unscrupulous in the methods which he uses to get gain, either for himself or his owners; and at length be- comes such a proficient in the art of knavery, that lie hardens hit heart to all the demands of justice, love, and mercy, excepting, perhaps, where he sees his own interests concerned, as in the case of his friends and family. While absent on his voyages, he will resort to all kinds of expe- dients to make money at the expense of sailors, or any others whom he finds incapable of protecting themselves, or of doing him any injury in return. He will sometimes take advantage of the improvident habits of seamen, and also of their misfortunes; and, when he finds they are suf- fering for clothing, he will offer them enough to supply their present needs at a profit of perhaps two or three hundred per cent. He will also join hands with shipping 1 - agents, tailors, and consuls' clerks, and divide with them all the money which can in any possible way be wrung out of the victimized mariner. A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 73 71. Shipmasters and officers who treat their men in this manner cannot, of course, have any respect for them ; and so they act accordingly. The sailor is regarded simply as a machine to make money with, that needs no repairs j" and so he is taxed to his utmost capacity of endurance. He is treated, in many respects, worse than any dumb animal would be, for the simple but singular reason that he is a thinking, intelligent being, possessed of rational faculties which can respond to abusive treatment with bitter feelings and a broken spirit ; whereas it would effect but little, even in the eyes of a tyrant, to abuse an inoffen- sive brute, which could have no appreciation of his motives. There are many inhuman beings, however, that seem to delight in torturing dumb animals, as common observation, and the records of one of our most useful societies, can abundantly testify. 72. At this present day, the greater part of our shipmas- ters who command foreign-going ships make a constant practice of keeping both watches on deck in the afternoon, on their passages out and home ; and they will continue to do so until they are compelled to desist. A sailor is always obliged to spend one-half of his time in the service of the vessel, no matter what the weather may be; and this ar- rangement seems unavoidable : but there is no occasion for keeping him at work three or four hours longer every day, unless something unusual takes place. No landsman would like to be obliged to attend to business fifteen hours out of every twenty-four, and be harassed about Sundays be- sides. In port, sailors are almost invariably obliged to work from daylight until dark ; but there seems to be more rea- son for that, as their work is useful : but at sea, much of their extra work is absolutely vain and silly, and does not benefit anybody. Some owners buy up a lot of old junk r 74 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. which is hardly fit to make oakum, and put it on board their vessels to be worked over into spun-yarn. Half a dozen sailors will be "kept up" a week, perhaps, to make a coil that would not fetch a dollar at auction ; and many other like things they are compelled to do, while they might and ought to be improving their minds by reading, or washing and mending their clothes to make them comfortable. It is not objected that a sailor's work at sea is generally very hard, but that he is required to devote too many hours to it, which leaves him no time for any thing else but sleep. We see that they are required to spend fifteen hours out of every twenty-four in the service of the vessel. Add an hour and a half more for their meals, and it leaves them seven hours and a half to themselves; and we presume that the most of them would require as much as that for sleep. What would our mechanics, that are so anxious to establish an eight-hour system of labor, think of such an arrangement as that? How would they like to be confined to their work still another eight hours, and have a part of them come in the night? And, in addition to all this, how would they like to realize that they neither had a home, nor the remotest prospect of one? We think, that, under such depressing circumstances, many of them, as well as the sailors, would be tempted to have recourse to the bottle, and " turn spirit down to keep spirit up." 73. But it is often said that sailors are not kept so busily at work for the pecuniary profit that results from their labors, but merely to keep the scurvy out of their bones, and to prevent grumbling. Indeed ! Then, why is it that shipmasters do not grumble, and have the scurvy ? If we examine history, we shall find, that from the times of Cook, Anson, and La Perouse, commanders have, as a class, been remarkably free from the scurvy ; and that it has been almost entirely confined to their neglected, misused, and A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 75 ill-fed crews. As to keeping sailors out of mischief by hard work and abuse, that is all twaddle. A plenty of good vegetables and water would be a far better specific for the scurvy, and a library of good books, with maps, pencils, and paper, and time to use them, a much more rational means to prevent grumbling. Some owners might not think that their interests would be best served by libraries and vegetables ; but that is because selfishness always was and always will be near-sighted. Many of them seem to be nearly blind to the fact that an intelligent, well-behaved, and efficient crew is one of the main things to be secured in order to conduct a voyage successfully. The money lost by a single collision, where a harassed, sleepy, and discon- tented sailor failed to keep his lookout properly, would buy more than a thousand libraries, or load a dozen vessels with potatoes. 74. There are many shipmasters who actually esteem it an honor to bully and tyrannize over those who may be so unfortunate as to sail with them. In conversation these petty tyrants are always boasting about the prowess they have displayed in pugilistic encounters ; and some of them act as though they thought that the surest way to rise in the estimation of their owners would be to gain a reputa- tion for exactness and cruelty. They would not have it thought that they are naturally cruel, but made so by the stupidity, slowness, and bad behavior of sailors. They would try and make it appear, that, but for their own per- sonal vigilance and extraordinary skill, their vessels could not sail a mile without disaster. 75. It must now be obvious to all readers that have fol- lowed us thus far, that bad officers on -a long voyage are a terrible calamity to poor Jack ; and it is no wonder that ships commanded by such miscreants should be de- nominated " hells afloat ; " nor is it surprising that good sea- 76 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. men should avoid such vessels as they would a pestilential disease. There has been some legislation that was intended to protect seamen, and the courts are apt to sympathize with them ; but still the rascality is carried on, and the worst villains nearly always manage to go unpunished. The fact is, it is a matter which cannot be very well reached by legislation, unless it be of a different character from any which has yet emanated from Congress. 76. It is astonishing how ignorant our national repre- sentatives are of the wants and necessities of seamen. Here are nearly a hundred thousand of the most deserv- ing of our fellow-citizens, who, if they had families the same as other men, would represent half a million of our population; and not a single soul to plead their cause intel- ligently, or represent them in Congress. Our senators and representatives, even from our seaboard States, know about as little concerning the practical life of a sailor as they do of the inmates of the Great Mogul's seraglio ; and that surely is not much. These are the very men, too, who bring us all our necessaries and luxuries from foreign lands, the men, too, that choked the South to death in the secession war, the men, too, whose life-blood would be required, in case of a European war, to keep our enemies at bay. Of these men, their wants and necessities, con- gressmen know and realize but little. 77. There are but very few, if any, office-seekers and lobbyists from among sailors. It is, indeed, but very sel- dom that they can even get a chance to vote ; and then they think it hardly worth their while. A poor, honest, but unfortunate shipmaster seldom gets a lighthouse to keep, or any other position under the government, which can, in any possible way, be filled by the scrambling ver- min that are as eager to grab every thing of the kind as catfish are to seize the contents of a table-cloth. There A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 77 are honest, upright, and intelligent men in the country who have spent the greater part of their lives at sea. Why should not the lighthouse-keepers, some of the custom-house officers, and other officials, be selected from among them ? It is actually disgusting to have a young sprig of a lands- man, who, perhaps, was never exposed to a storm in his life, rush down into a vessel's cabin on her arrival, with his hat on, and cry out, " Halloo, cap ! Let's see your papers! Got any cigars ? Any good brandy ? " &c. 78. It may be said that such officers must be had; and if seafaring men will not step forward, and present them- selves, others must be taken. That seems to be a pretty good excuse ; but it argues badly, we think, for the ten- dency of republican institutions. There is a fitness to things; and a cattle-drover would be as much out of place officiating as secretary of the navy as a sailor would deal- ing with the Sioux Indians as peace-commissioner. If sea- faring men are not intelligent enough to be light-keepers and custom-house officers, that is quite another thing ; but then "who is to blame?" We shall see by and by. The landsmen can have the custom-house a while longer, and the lighthouses, too, for that matter ; but seamen must be had to keep the lightships. It seems, then, that necessity can find them, if justice cannot. 79. It is not intended by the foregoing remarks to cast obloquy on our custom-house officials, or those that ap- pointed them. Many of them are no doubt excellent men, and might shine in some of the various trades and profes- sions which abound in our midst ; but it does not seem hardly proper that so many should addict themselves to maritime affairs without some knowledge of the first rudi- ments of a seaman's profession, without so much as know- ing how to dig clams. Collectors should see to this, and ask every applicant for office if it would be best to dig 7* 78 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. clams at high or low water. Doubtless many of them would say, " Sibboleth." 80. Be that as it may, however, and laying all jesting aside, it is surely a matter worthy the attention of public men ; for why should seamen be altogether excluded from remunerative offices, as well as ostracized from society? Allowing that it is much easier to take applicants from other trades and professions for every thing, does that make it right and proper, or even expedient? Would it not help to make seamen virtuous, if they could see that even a few of their number were kindly noticed by those in authority under the government ? 81. If it be said that seafaring men would sympathize with their former companions, and encourage a little smug- gling, we reply, that if that is true, why not, on the same principle, send sailors on shore to collect the internal reve- nue, for fear that landsmen should sympathize with lands- men ? Are sailors naturally more dishonest than shore people? and, if so, what makes them? We shall yet have occasion to show that many of the irregularities of which seafaring men are manifestly guilty can be traced directly to the present system of dealing with them, which almost presupposes that they are all thieves, liars, and sniugglers, and sends unsympathizing, and sometimes predaceous de- tectives to watch them narrowly, and seize every silk dress, accordion, and bed-spread with which the poor, wretched outcasts from society propose to gladden the hearts of their female acquaintances, whom the nature of their occupation, and the want of means, will hardly ever allow tbem to see. It may be that the female friends of sailors have no right to have silk dresses. And perhaps some people cannot realize what it is to leave a pleasant home forty or fifty times in a lifetime, and spend their weary weeks and months and years ploughing salt water for the benefit A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 79 of others : but it is time that somebody gave their attention to those things ; it is time that the rights and privileges of seamen should be clearly denned, and proper regulations made to save them from the supposed necessity of having to practise fraud and concealment to keep their little pres- ents to their wives, mothers, and sisters, out of the clutches of those unsympathizing land-sharks and small politicians that now compose quite a large per cent of the officials in some of our custom-houses. 82. Be it distinctly understood, however, that we do not say a word in favor of giving seamen free permits to en- courage smuggling, but to vindicate a command that was given a long time ago, and the moral bearing of which is worthy of a moment's reflection : " Thou shalt not muzzle the ox which treadeth out the grain." People who are caught smuggling should be punished severely ; but, if a seafaring man buys a few little things abroad for his own family, he should be allowed to pass them free of duty if the value is not excessive. It could be easily arranged so that but little damage would result from these small leaks ; and much good would be done if sailors could be made to see that they were accounted worthy of a little consideration by their countrymen. 83. We have now discussed the principal of the sailors' business-relations, and found them all wanting. Let us turn our attention to the sailors again for a short space, and take a retrospective view of the situation before we proceed to inquire what remedies may be available to alter the present state of things, and give seamen something like an equal chance in life with other people. 84. Some may think, that, as this book treats principally of the wrongs of seamen, it may, perhaps, leave an unfair impression on the minds of those who have had no oppor- tunities of knowing any thing about them by personal con- 80 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. tact. They would say, perhaps, that the hright side of a sailor's life should be exhibited at the same time, and with equal fidelity; so that a one-sided view of the picture need not bias the judgment. Such reasoning is plausible, and should be adopted if possible ; but what can be done when there is no bright side? Let any landsman who has spent twenty years in the bosom of a Christian family, loved and respected by his neighbors, enjoying all the rights of a freeman, and the privilege of going to the house of God on the sabbath, we say, let such a man "ship" for a sea- man on board of one of our East-Indiamen, and be sub- jected to the same treatment that his shipmates receive, and, if a year's voyage does not convince him that a sailor's life is what many have termed it, a "dog's life" then we must conclude that such a person cannot be in his right mind, or else he must be a subject of total depravity if there is such a thing. 85. Yes : let any man with a correct taste be forced to live like a common sailor ; let him have the same food, served up in the same manner, the same sleeping accom- modations, and the same abuse from day to day ; add to this the swearing, the obscene and foul language, and all the loathsome habits of his companions, and it would be nearly enough to drive him crazy. He would feel far worse than Livingstone felt in the Valley of the Leeambye, away from all signs of Christian civilization, and in the midst of heathenish savages. Those savages were gener- ally friendly to him ; but such is not always the case with the savages on board of a ship. 86. No: there is but little fear that the picture will be overdrawn. The plain facts are, that, in the most of our ships, men are compelled to submit to a great amount of profane and abusive language from their officers ; that they have to work a third longer than almost any other class of A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 81 men, when there is no occasion for it ; that they generally have food given them of the poorest quality, and served up in a manner that ought to make swine blush; that they are unnecessarily restricted in the quantity of fresh water allowed them ; that they are compelled to work Sundays, more or less ; that they receive but little respect from their officers, and give as little as they can help in return; that their pay is so low, and they are so often out of employment, that it takes a very large share of what they can get to pay the boarding-master; that they can have no female society but the worst kind; that they are obliged to pay a large hospital-fee, for which the most deserving get no adequate return ; that they have to fee shipping-agents in many cases; that they are robbed and abused by each other; that they are compelled to hear each other's fearful lan- guage ; that they are sometimes compelled to sleep to- gether; that they are tempted to do wrong by nearly every one they come in contact with ; that they cannot have any families for the want of means ; and, consequently, they can- not have any wives, sons, daughters, nor property. They must drag out a miserable existence between their voyages, their boarding-houses, and the brothel ; and, if the sharks and dissecters do not get their shattered hulks before they have lived half the allotted time of man upon the earth, they must spend a cheerless old age in some almshouse or sailors' snug-harbor, with, perhaps, not one that they can really call a friend upon the earth. 87. No : sailors cannot look ahead to any encouraging prospect in this life. Every thing looks dark and gloomy in the future. A sailors' snug-harbor and an almshouse are the most cheering objects on the mental horizon of the sailor. Where shall we look for a bright side to this pic- ture ? Is it not enough to cover the whole canvas ? Are not the outlines bad enough, without rubbing on paint and 82 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. varnish ? And yet the half is not told. We have in our mind's eye, to illustrate some of the horrors we have but faintly alluded to, a story, which we will not repeat, from motives of delicacy, but to which some of the words of Shakspeare are very applicable : " I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul." 88. It may be said, however, that there can be no help for sailors, unless they will help themselves. People have so many affairs of their own to attend to, that they cannot be expected to take much interest in the concerns of oth- ers. There are hardships to be borne by every one ; and it is the lot of all men to toil. How, then, can seamen, except by their own efforts, expect to be elevated, and "car- ried to the skies on flowery beds of ease " ? Such reason- ing may appear plausible to the thoughtless and unre- flecting ; but it will never do. " I am my brother's keep- er" is a law of God founded in the nature of things; and woe betide the man who does not obey it to the letter ! We are not to think, that, because we may be subjected to a few trilling annoyances ourselves, it is, therefore, no business of ours if others are in distress and perishing, it may be afar off. We must hunt up the lost sheep, and relieve their distresses. We must do our Best to banish sin and sorrow from the world, else we practise gross hypocrisy when we pray for the advancement of the Master's king- dom. 89. But is it not an old maxim and a true one, that " charity begins at home " ? How can we devote our attention to evils afar off, when so many real or imaginary distresses exist all around us ? How can sailors get a hearing, when so many politicians, lecturers, and philan- thropists are rending the air with tales of lamentation and A VOICE FEOM THE DEEP. 83 mourning and woe? The complaints on file for a hear- ing at the bar of public opinion are so numerous, that it almost seems like effrontery to burden the calendar with any more ; but still they come. Some petition that women shall be encouraged to vote ; others are clamoring for an eight (not a fifteen) hour law; some are worried about the Ku-Klux, and want government to investigate matters in the South ; and a thousand other things, all home-affairs, and some of them very important too. 90. What need is there, then, for going abroad to find objects of sympathy and distress, when so many exist all around us, even at our doors ? There is need for it. The wrongs of seamen affect society at large, and even the state and nation. Perhaps it is not too much to say, that they, directly or indirectly, cause more misery and distress than any one evil that has existed for a hundred years, if we except war, intemperance, and professed slavery. We say professed slavery, for the sailor is but little better than a slave, and, in many respects, worse situated. That is a pretty broad statement, we acknowledge ; but we have seen and shall see how it is verified by facts. We have already glanced at some of the principal ones; but it will be impos- sible to give them all. 'The ramifications of evil are so various, that we can hardly mention one that is not, in some way, connected with all others. 91. The effects of good actions are likewise as diffusive as the light, and as enduring as truth. "As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake," so a marked improvement in the character, condition, and circumstances of any one class of men belonging to a community, would infallibly benefit all the others. If a man otherwise warmly clothed should be compelled to walk barefooted on the frozen ground, not only his feet, but his whole physical and men- tal nature, would suffer; and, if not speedily relieved, he 84 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. might take cold and die. But, if he was timely supplied with good warm shoes and stockings, his feet would soon get comfortable ; and all of his other members would rejoice with sympathy, and again perform their functions with ease and pleasure. So it would be with the sailor if he was placed on an equal footing with other men. He would not only be happy himself, but his elevation must neces- sarily effect a favorable change through all the circles of society. Thousands must rise or fall with him ; for it should ever be remembered, that, whatever is done for the sailor, his connections in business-affairs will remain nearly the same. 92. The elevation of seamen would also assist powerfully to solve many of the questions which have hitherto per- plexed legislators and philanthropists, as we shall see by the following illustration : The advocates for woman-suf- frage tell us, that, if women could have the ballot, it would tend to inaugurate a state of things which would do much towards removing the " social evil," which is acknowledged to be the ruin of thousands of the female sex every year. Without intending to say a word either for or against woman-suffrage, we must affirm that we think there is a remedy for the "social evil" far more speedy, effectual, and practicable than any which that movement contem- plates, a remedy which will be thorough and durable, and equally beneficial to both sexes. We will just men- tion it now, and discuss it more at length in the succeeding chapters. 93. The rule for the suppression of the " social evil " can be laid down with mathematical precision, and is derived from the old axiom that it takes an ounce to balance an ounce. Here it is : Provide the one or two hundred thou- sand seamen who navigate the vessels of the United States, and the millions that navigate those of other countries, A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 85 with the means to support families, and the temptation for an equal number of women to become public prostitutes will be diminished in nearly an equal ratio. A hundred thousand women in the United States might thus not only be saved from being exposed to lives of sin and shame, but be transformed into wives and mothers ; positions which all well-constituted and unperverted girls of twenty would rather fill than have all the ballots in creation. Those women would not only thus be saved, but their hus- bands, in like manner, would be rescued from nearly as bad a fate, and transformed into respectable and happy men. 94. From the ranks of such men we could hope, in time, to be able to select officers that would be skilful and capa- ble; and the number of casualties at sea, involving the loss of lives and property, would thereby be very nnich dimin- ished. Thousands of native-born Americans would thus be added to our seafaring population, which would be a source of national pride; whereas now there is not one-half of them even naturalized. By diminishing the number of houses of prostitution in this way, it would be easier to deal with intemperance ; for lewdness is always his best customer. Improve the condition of seamen in this man- ner, and we should be less concerned about our sons, many of whom may have a preference for a seafaring life. It is useless to say, that, if they go out with good principles, they will do well enough. They cannot. One bad apple in a barrel would infect all the rest in some degree. What, then, can we expect when all are bad but one? would it be likely to keep sound long ? about as sound as Lot's family kept in Sodom. "Evil communications corrupt good manners ; " and it therefore becomes us to see to it that our children are not unnecessarily exposed. Very few of them, going to sea under present circumstances, would 86 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. entirely escape contagion; and the great majority would contract vices which make us shudder to contemplate. 95. We have now enumerated a few of the principal blessings which might result from giving the sailor means to support a family; and what avast difference there is between the actual state of things as revealed on some of the preceding pages, and what might be if sailors were paid as well for their work as the humblest artisan, or even the -day-laborer ! We have seen, also, how it helps to solve one of the problems which the advocates for woman-suf- frage hold up as a reason why woman should have the ballot. We have already intimated that we have no desire to discuss the woman's rights question ; but we will ven- ture it as our opinion, that the very best thing which can be done for a young woman is to provide her with a hus- band : and, when all the soldiers and sailors in the country are furnished with the means to support families, a very large percentage of the single women will have one of their dearest and most important " rights " accorded them ; and the few poor seamstresses that remain will have more fami- lies to work for, and less competition. It is from woman that we expect the most efficient help in our efforts to bless the sailor. Not until she goes to him with words and deeds of sympathy and love, will he ever have courage to reclaim his manhood, and break the chains which his adver- saries have forged. Woman must yet be his angel of deliv- erance ; but we hope and trust, that, in the end, she will receive a hundred-fold more blessings than he. 96. We have assumed that there is really no bright side to a sailor's life ; but perhaps that statement requires a little explanation. We do not mean to say that sailors are never mirthful, or that they never indulge in the pleasures of hope the same as other men. They are proverbially a philosophical set of fellows, and generally regard almost A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 87 every passing event as something out of which they can manufacture amusement. What we do mean to say is this : There is but little, if any thing, in the condition and circumstances of the sailor, that has any tendency to ele- vate him ; and his mirth and hilarity are nothing but the ephemeral pleasures which all people of happy dispositions derive from the effect which various passing events have upon their natures, and must not be confounded with hap- piness in the highest signification of that word. An out- cast from society, a slave to lust and intemperance, a victim to fraud and oppression, a sufferer from shipwrecks and misfortunes, with scarcely any of the hopes to animate him which other men are wont to cherish, he now comes before a great, prosperous, and comparatively happy peo- ple, earnestly desiring to be fed with some of the crumbs which fall from the public table of God's bounties to the nation : and who can say him nay ? Something has been done for him already, done by noble men and women whose hearts God has evidently touched, and who are worthy of the lasting love and gratitude of all who love our Lord Jesus Christ. We will now notice some of the works they have done, which is neces- sary to a complete understanding of the subject before us. CHAPTER III. BETHEL INFLUENCES ; LIBRARIES AT SAILORS' HOMES. 97. IT would seem that the moral and spiritual condi- tion of seamen has not attracted the attention of the reli- gious world until within a comparatively recent period. The biographical and historical accounts of matters in which sailors bore a part during the last century indicate that a worse state of things existed then than now. Even the traditions that came down to us from our grandparents go to show that sailors in their day were regarded as a peculiar sort of genii by themselves, more allied to sea- monsters than to the human species. Most of the special efforts which have been made to reclaim seamen from their state of heathenish ignorance and moral degradation have originated within the last half-century. The Seaman's Friend Society is probably the largest enterprise of the kind in America; but there are many others, all working with the same object in view, which is to give to seamen the glorious gospel of the Son of God, and save them, as much as possible, from unhallowed influences. 98. In these enterprises, as well as in all others of a similar nature, men are from time to time raised up, and seemingly have their education controlled by particular dispensations of Providence, so that they shall be qualified to fill positions which require uncommon abilities, and which are often fraught with trials, perplexities, and dis- couragements, positions where the prejudices of men are 88 A VOICE FBOM THE DEEP. 89 to be overcome, and the standard of truth planted amid the strongholds of error. 99. The seaman's cause has developed a few of these peculiarly gifted ones, men of unflinching courage, which no discouragements could abate ; and having faithfully ac- complished their mission, and served their day and genera- tion, many of them have now gone home to receive their final reward : but the results of their labors still remain with us, and will continue to bear fruit until the end of time. Two or three of these men we now propose to introduce in order to exemplify our subject. Their names are still well known in commercial circles, and on every sea where the American flag is unfolded to the breeze. 100. One of these mighty men, who has but just now gone over the " river of death," was the Rev. E. T. Taylor of Boston, better known to seamen by the more endearing and familiar appellative of " Father Taylor." He was born in Richmond, Va., near the close of the last century ; but the beginning of his life is so much enveloped in mystery, that the date of his birth cannot be fixed with precision ; and it is even uncertain who his parents were. His ear- liest recollections placed him among the seafaring men that were attached to the small vessels navigating the waters of the Chesapeake; and from thence he increased the length of his voyages as his years increased, until, at length, we find him in a privateer which was operating against Brit- ish commerce during the last war with England. He was taken prisoner on one occasion, and carried into Halifax, where he met with a kind old lady who acted like a mother to him, and gave him a Bible. Some time after this event, he happened to be in Boston ; and, while strolling down Bromfield Street, his attention chanced to be attracted by some people going to the Methodist chapel there, and he made bold to go in with them. He was there converted 8* 90 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. under the ministry of the Rev. Elijah Hedding; and, al- though an illiterate and uneducated man, he soon com- menced his missionary labors among seamen, and met with remarkable success. Hundreds crowded to hear the sailor- preacher; and at length the merchants of Boston, and some other benevolent individuals, were prevailed upon to build him a church, where he continued to preach and labor with great zeal and success until near the end of his days. His beloved wife died but a short time before him, and he probably felt the blow severely. She was a very remarka- ble woman, and every way worthy to be the wife of such a man as Father Taylor. She entered heart and hand into all of his undertakings, and was herself the honored means of accomplishing an incalculable amount of good, being a wife and "a mother in Israel" in the fullest sense of those significant and delightful words. 101. Father Taylor's church was composed of but few members, and they were usually men from some of the low- est walks in life ; but they were generally all earnest work- ers, and, however deficient they might be in this world's goods, they were rich in faith, and valiant for the truth upon the earth. They formed a nucleus, around which clustered thousands that waited to hear their testimony concerning the new life, which they declared that God was willing to infuse into every soul that might be longing for deliverance from sin, and for hopes that would reach be- yond the grave. We say thousands ; but we do not mean that any thing like that number ever attended on his min- istrations at one time. His congregations were largely composed of seamen, who were constantly coming and going; so that, in the course of a few years, the number of different individuals might not only be reckoned by thousands, but by tens of thousands. 102. Before Boston was as strictly governed as it now A VOICE FROM TEE DEEP. 91 is, these bethel churches, situated, as they generally are, in bad localities, were subject to great annoyances from bad boys and other malicious persons, who would throw stones against the windows, and shout and scream, during the services. Father Taylor was well qualified to deal with such disturbances ; and he frequently made capital of them to illustrate his discourses. Once, when the shout- ing from an adjoining alley was almost deafening, he stopped in his sermon, and suddenly exclaimed, " There ! you see the Devil is jealous ! He knows there is good going on here, and he is very mad about it." And then he proceeded with his discourse as if nothing had hap- pened. Sometimes a bevy of abandoned females would come mincing up one of the aisles, bare-headed, and with their arms and neck naked, hoping to disturb the meet- ing ; but he would generally nonplus them with some obser- vation of Solomon's about the strange woman, interspersed with a few quaint remarks of his own. Indeed, Father Taylor was just the man to deal with rough natures, and conquer the innumerable difficulties with which he was beset in his day. His nautical experience in early life enabled him to appreciate a sailor's wants and necessities ; and his iron will and resolute bearing gave him a command over men which was truly marvellous. The sailor, always accustomed to render implicit obedience to authority, could hardly resist the impassioned appeals of the lion-visaged old man, who almost commanded him, in the name of the Lord, to become a Christian. Nor was it sailors alone that came from afar to hear him. Men and women of scholarly attainments often made their way thither, drawn by the magnetic influences of a man whose eloquent reasoning could affect the understanding at the same time that his resistless sympathy melted the heart. 103. The good man has now gone to his last resting- 92 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. place, and his mantle has fallen upon a most excellent young man named George S. Noyes, who was for some time Father Taylor's assistant. He is hardly like his predecessor in belligerent propensities, and may not be quite so well qualified as Father Taylor was to wage an offensive warfare against the Prince of Darkness on his own grounds ; but in goodness of heart, earnestness of purpose, and zeal for the cause of truth, he is quite up to the mark, and will probably succeed as well as Taylor. The times are changing; and it may be that the young man is better adapted for what is coming than one more like the revered man who has just left us would be. When sailors come to respect themselves, and have families the same as other men, an amiable, cultivated man for a sailor's minister would doubtless be preferable to one who had always been accustomed to sleep with his armor on in the enemy's coun- try, "fighting the Devil with fire," as the saying is. 104. Another excellent man died a few years ago in Boston, who spent the most of his life and talents in the same good cause as Taylor. His name was Phineas Stowe ; and he originally came from the vicinity of Plart- ford, in the State of Connecticut. He also received from sailors the honored and revered name of " Father." There was but very little about him that was humorous or tri- fling; but in solemn earnestness he worked as though the salvation of the world depended on his own individual exer- tions. He preached and prayed and worked and begged for the benefit of sailors. He was not a sea-faring man like Taylor ; but, on the whole, he got along very well with sailors ; and much sorrow was felt and expressed for him when he died. In a fearful gale on the north coast of Ireland, Father Stowe lost his only child and daughter, who was married to a sea-captain. He was often heard to allude to the touching event iu his discourses, and always A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 93 manifested the deepest feeling. It is said that poor old Father Taylor was seen at his funeral weeping like a child. 105. There are other men in Boston, New York, and elsewhere, that deserve more than a passing notice in con- nection with the great movement which has been made in favor of seamen ; but it would take too much time and space to mention them all. Those we have already named were as prominent as any; and the little sketch concerning them will serve to show how God has been working through human agency to accomplish his purposes, and cause the "abundance of the sea" to be converted to himself; so that sailors, in their turn, can join in proclaiming his gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. 106. There are bethels now in almost all the large sea- port towns in the United States ; and they are also quite numerous in other countries. There is no doubt but that they all do an immense amount of good ; but after all, like the little loaves and the few fishes, what are they among so many ? Out of a thousand seamen in the port of Boston at one time (and that is probably not too large an esti- mate), it is safe to say that not one-fifth part attend divine services anywhere ; and, as Boston is ahead of most other large towns in its facilities for public religious worship among the lowly, we can easily conjecture that there are ports where not more than one-fiftieth parlr of the seamen ever go to church. There is little fear, therefore, that sailor missionaries will crowd each other for some time to come. 107. In order to secure a fair attendance at the little churches which are already organized, colportors and mis- sionaries have to be employed to go on board the vessels, and frequent the boarding-houses, and even the haunts of vice, to gain any thing like a respectable number. These 94 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. missionaries have a very difficult work to perform, for they are frequently treated with the greatest disrespect, as if they were engaged in a very disreputable piece of busi- ness ; and but very few can be found who are willing to do it. 108. Besides the numerous bethels which have been erected for the worship of God and the spiritual improve- ment of the sailor, there are a number of boarding-houses established in many of our seaport towns, which are de- signed to secure to seamen some of the advantages of a good Christian home. To illustrate some of the benefits which seamen receive from these excellent institutions, we will give a short account of the way things are conducted at the Mariners' House, situated on the west side of North Square in Boston. This house is under the fostering care of the Boston Port and the Seaman's Aid Societies, and is conducted by Mr. Nathaniel Hamilton, assisted by his excellent wife. Their administration of affairs has always been attended with a remarkable degree of success. In the first place, they adopted the policy that there should be no countenance given to wickedness and vice in a place which was professedly designed to shield the sons of the deep from temptation. Every regulation and by-law for the maintenance of good order was therefore rigidly enforced, and those that would not conform promptly expelled. The result has been beneficial to all parties. All boarders that have a natural disposition to indulge in bacchanal and lewd revels have to go elsewhere; and those only are encouraged to patronize the house who are friends to good order, so-, briety, and respectability. All such find a hearty wel- come. A large amount of charity is sometimes exercised towards those who sin through weakness; but even then, while the individuals have been leniently dealt with, their sins have received no quarter. A promise of repentance A VOICE FEOM THE DEEP. 95 has always been necessary to prevent even the weak ones from being promptly expelled. The result of such dealing has been to secure a good class of boarders for this house ; and every shipmaster who is fortunate enough to get a part of his crew from it can be reasonably sure that they will be well-behaved men. In the first place, they will not come on board drunk, which is a very important item in their favor ; and then, if they are well used, they will be pretty sure to behave well during the voyage. 109. Iirthe Mariners' House, the sleeping-apartments are spacious, commodious, and well ventilated, and the halls, office, and reading-room kept scrupulously clean and neat. There is also an elegant dining-room, and a good parlor and chapel-room. In the latter, religious worship is con- ducted by the superintendent mornings and evenings, and a prayer-meeting is held every Wednesday evening. The institution is designed to be self-supporting, or nearly so; and the strictest economy is therefore practised, so that as many advantages as possible shall accrue to the sailor. 110. It can readily be seen that such a house must be an immejase benefit to the sailor. He has so many incentives to respect himself, and so many real and substantial bless- ings are given him for the money he expends, that it is no wonder so many are prevailed upon to go from such a house to the bethel ; and so it proves for the Church a most effi- cient ally. In all attempts to elevate ignorant and de- praved men, a due regard should be had for their physical well-being in the first place. They cannot, of course, have any just idea of what is meant by the salvation of the soul : but if it can be made to appear to them that the results of Christianity are good in this life ; that good principles and virtuous conduct will secure to mankind (including sailors) peace, respectability, and bread . and butter, then their attention can easily be gained ; and, by follow- 96 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. ing on after the loaves and the fishes, they may at last be led to see Christ beyond, and the glories of his king- dom. It is thus that good, clean bricks and mortar preach many an efficacious gospel sermon ; and so clean clothing and a clean person frequently furnish quite a satisfactory evidence that something is striving within to make the heart clean also. 111. It can readily be imagined, therefore, that a lack of physical and moral culture in the sailor is one of the most difficult things with which a bethel minister has to deal. It is sometimes easy to awaken the instinctive reli- gious element in the soul to a sense of the spiritual pres- ence of God; but to infuse into it the vital principles of true pietj r is quite another affair. It is often that poor, de- graded beings are coaxed into a prayer-meeting, and while there their religious instinct gets excited to such a degree, when they hear Christians telling what God has done for them, that they, also, become constrained to take a part in the exercises, like Saul of old ; but their subsequent con- duct often shows most conclusive!}' that they never had any just notion of the requirements of the Christian reli- gion, or much else in connection with the subject. They hear Christians in the prayer-meetings tell about being happy ; and certainly happiness is a very desirable thing, and what all are seeking after ; but such persons generally have but a very vague, notion of what it is that makes intel- ligent Christians happy. They love to be excited, but not instructed ; and if abstinence from whiskey, tobacco, un- profitable conversation, or any thing else that they have an unnatural liking for, is enjoined upon them, they are very apt to say, as Pliable said to Christian, " Go and possess the brave country alone for me; " and then they will set their faces again towards the City of Destruction. In some in- stances these people go forward for prayers, and are A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 97 accepted as converts ; but alas ! when they get where other influences prevail, they are just as ready to drift with the wind and tide as they were in the prayer-meeting, and sometimes only for the want of a good deep keel of self- respect to hold them to windward. 112. It is easy enough to have the feelings acted upon ; and it is also easy to resolve to he a Christian : hut to go through all the campaigns, and fight all the terrible battles, of life, is quite another affair. It is here that we can see the importance of faithfully imparting religious instruction to children. Their pliant and susceptible natures can easily be moulded to good or to evil ; and, if they are brought along in the right track in youth, they will not be likely to deviate much from it as they grow older. But, when a man is arrested by pungent convictions in the midst of a life of sin, it is an extremely hard matter for him to conquer all of his bad habits; and the conflict, at times, seems so likely to crush him, that he is sometimes tempted to abandon a course of life which obliges him to carry a heavy cross continually. Overcoming bad habits late in life is, indeed, like cutting off a right hand, or pluck- ing out a right eye. It is like taming and making useful a wild horse which has always been accustomed to gallop over the plains at his pleasure, and is altogether unused to the harness and bridle. We hope, that, in the next generation, sailors will grow up Christians from childhood ; and then their ministers' labors will be, at least, much pleasanter. Now they have to do principally with grown-up, wayward, and vicious men ; then they will have in their congregations a due proportion of women and children, the same as other pastors. 113. If a young minister that never had much experi- ence should hear that several of his converts had indulged in improper conversation, or in any manner given occasion 9 98 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. to the enemy to speak reproachfully, it would doubtless make him think that he might be laboring in the wrong field, where rocks and thorns and stumps would not suffer any thing to be brought to perfection : but let such a one never despair; for a field is seldom thoroughly cleared up in the beginning. It takes years for the stumps to rot ; and, every time the soil is turned up, there will be a fresh crop of stones. It is the minister's business only to sow the seed faithfully ; and his heavenly reward will be the same, whether the land produce ten, a hundred, or a thou- sand fold. 114. A minister settled over a congregation of landsmen has many things to make his life pass pleasantly away. Young people, and even children, as they come to the years of understanding, are constantly being converted, and re- ceived into the Church, where they can be watched over and instructed by older Christians until they are grounded so strongly in the faith, that it is next to impossible to re- move them. Their education, their marriage, and, indeed, almost every important event of their lives, furnishes an object of interest to the pastor, who must, at times, almost feel as if they were his own. The elder portion of his flock maintain the even tenor of their way, and assist him every way that they can. Besides taking a part in the evening meetings, they have social gatherings, where the people meet to get better acquainted with each other. Good feel- ing abounds on all sides; and the minister finds every thing to encourage him, and make his heart glad. Not so with the bethel minister. His congregations are largely com- posed of full-grown males, who are strangers to each other; for sometimes they do not get a chance to go to the same church half a dozen times in a year; and some of them may never visit the same port again in their lives. As the congregations are constantly changing, the results of A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 99 preaching and other means of grace are traced with great difficulty ; and some of the words spoken, and thought to be lost on poor ground because no signs of germination could be detected immediately, may yet, under the influ- ence of some favorable experience, spring up, and bear fruit unto life eternal. 115. Notwithstanding all the discouragements and draw- backs which have hitherto always attended the efforts of philanthropical individuals and societies to promote reli- gion, happiness, and Christian virtue among seamen, they have achieved a remarkable degree of success. They not only confer blessings on those sailors they come in contact with ; but those men, in turn, exert good influences wher- ever they go, and carry, in many instances, godly lives and conversation right into the strongholds of sin. Some of them get to be officers of vessels : and then their sphere of usefulness is very much increased ; for then they can re- strain wickedness by their authority, as well as encourage virtue by their example. The converts to Christianity from among seamen, even with the limited means employed, can probably be num- bered by thousands ; and, if we take into the account the Bible estimate of the comparative value of the soul, surely no one can say that the ocean has proved to be an unfruit- ful field of labor: and still this work is but just begun. What a glorious consummation of love's labor it would be to have all the noble men who are engaged in constant conflicts with the elements disciples of Him whose voice can instantly still the raging tempest, and who is not willing that any of his loved ones shall perish, or even be uncomfortable ! A Saviour's love is now working in the hearts of thousands of noble men and women, prompt- ing them to furnish the same blessings that they enjoy to every son and daughter of Adam ; and even the sailor is to be no longer left out of the account. 100 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 116. Choice libraries of valuable reading-matter have been furnished to many vessels for the use of the sailor; and there is no doubt but that they also have done much good. The books are usually all selected with a view to improve the moral and spiritual conditiqn of seamen ; and so all irrelevant matter is carefully excluded. These libra- ries have been mostly furnished by the Seaman's Friend Society ; and we will now quote a paragraph from one of their reports, dated 1870: "The society has shipped, during the past twelve years, 3,387 libraries, composed of about 150,000 volumes. The reshipments, as near as can be ascertained, have been 2,095. These libraries, including the reshipments, have been accessible to crews numbering 150 to 250 men, many of whom have read every book in the library of 40 or 50 volumes. Since 1861, 761 of these libraries have been shipped in the United-States navy, accessible, at different times, to crews numbering 85,600 men. Of these libraries, 240 have been returned, leaving now in the navy, or unaccounted for, 521. The shipments and reshipments for the past year, including 359 new, and 425 returned and refitted, are 784. As a library often remains in a ship three or four voyages, each voyage hav- ing different crews, a much larger number of seamen are reached in this way than the above figures indicate." 117. It can easily be imagined, that a hundred and fifty thousand volumes of good, substantial reading-mat- ter must have a powerful effect on the minds and hearts of men whose daily livee and circumstances are favorable to habits of contemplation and reflection. In the mid- night watch, when the stars are shining brightly above him, like so many pure and heavenly gems of sacred truth, the sailor's mind can reflect upon the lives of those good people he has been reading about until the Spirit of truth shall make it apparent to him, that there is a A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 101 central figure which gives light, beauty, and brilliancy to human character, as well as to the stars which adorn the nocturnal firmament. The red harbinger of approach- ing twilight in the east teaches him that the Sun of righteousness will soon appear above his mental hori- zon, before whose face the moon shall withdraw her shin- ing ; and the stars, which were his late companions, shall not give their light ; but Christ shall be all, and in all. Where can rest be found, rest for the weary soul ? That is the momentous question which agitates his mind, and affects his heart. The testimony of a dozen biographies teaches him that there is a better way than he is now pursu- ing; that there are hopes which reach beyond the grave; and that he can participate in them, too, if he will. He longs for liberty. He longs to be freed from the tyranny of sin. His mind reverts, perhaps, to his early years, when a pious mother prayed, in his hearing, that he might be kept, unspotted from the world. Indecision holds him no longer. He resolves to be a Christian, and soon finds the way through some of God's appointed means, which humble and contrite hearts only can appreciate and successfully use. 118. It is true, that many of those books are read by the thoughtless and the unreflecting: but, even in their case, we may anticipate some good results ; for although such men may never become thoroughly reformed themselves, still, in whatever degree they can be restrained from actual wickedness, so much will be gained for the cause of truth ; so much will the sailor's temptations, and the aggregate amount of evil to which he is exposed, be necessarily dimin- ished. We are naturally constituted sympathetic creatures, and sympathy we must have at some rate, even if we have to get it from exceptional sources; but, if all we receive comes from bad people, it cannot fail to affect us injuriously. Their influence may be almost imperceptible at first, for it 9 102 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. will act inwardly ; but, if it is continued, it can hardly fail to eat the vital part of Christianity effectually out of us, leaving nothing but a fair outside, which can be easily crushed through when any combination of circumstances operates to remove the earthly hopes which conceal for a time the dreadful ravages of contagious disease. 119. Another cause which operates favorably to dispose the minds and hearts of seamen to receive moral and reli- gious truth is the presence of females and children on board of a ship. A great many shipmasters now carry their wives with them on some of their voyages ; and those among them that happen to be devoted Christians can ex- ert an influence for good among seamen that could hardly be exceeded by a minister of the gospel. The ship then seems more like a home ; and the profound respect which the feelings of seamen almost always cause them to enter- tain for virtuous females is heightened by the fact that the captain's wife seems to be something to them. They seem to be, in a manner, members of the same family ; and all of her actions and words are noted with as much interest as if she were the dearest creature in the world to them ; and, doubtless, many of them actually feel so. Poor souls ! nine-tenths of them can never have any female society excepting that of those poor, degraded wretches whose souls and bodies are even now in the lowest hell of the destroyer. Even when a woman has no claims to being considered any thing more than merely respectable, her presence is always a blessing. Order is much easier maintained where a woman is at hand to hear of and witness all ungracious conduct and evil deeds. There are but very few seafaring men who would not desire to be thought well of by an intelligent, well-behaved woman : indeed, any man that could be so hardened as to be wholly insensible to a virtu- ous woman's good or bad opinion would be a fit candidate for Blackwell's Island or Botany Bay. A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 103 120. The effect which little children have upon the minds and hearts of seamen is likewise pleasing and salutary. Who that has lived a life of sin and shame can behold a little child, full of innocent glee, and perfectly unconscious that he is living in a wicked world, and not feel a desire to be young again, so as to correct in a second edition, as Franklin said, the errors of the first? Doubtless many a weather-worn and vicious sailor has had such thoughts course through his heart 'when circumstances have been favorable ; and every such thing tends to soften a hardened nature, and prepare the ground to receive the seeds of truth with some prospect of a hopeful result. The stupid prejudice entertained by some merchants against allowing their captains to take their families with them, on the ground, that, in order to allay their fears, a less amount of sail will be carried, is without any founda- tion in fact. Women are just as likely to take happily to a seafaring life as men ; but there are those of both sexes who think they could not go to sea under any circum- stances. It is to be feared, however, that some people have no better excuse for the repugnance which they mani- fest towards a seafaring life than a natural and selfish dis- taste for any thing that looks like hardship, inconvenience, or danger. Any shipmaster possessed of the moral ele- ments of manhood would redouble his exertions (if such a thing were possible), if his wife and children were with him to witness his conduct, and be exposed to all the dangers that his delinquencies might bring upon them. An intelli- gent lady in a vessel's cabin may often prove a great assist- ance to her husband on many trying occasions; and any owner that objects to their heavenly presence must be not only blind to his own interests, but hostile, or at least apathetic, to the cause of virtue and religion. With the exception of their board, which is but a small trifle, there 104 A VOICE PROM THE DEEP. is no other-objection worth mentioning, unless it he on account of character. The moral effect which a woman's prescin-" always inspires on board of a ship ought to have weight with any ship-owner; but some of them, as we have already had occasion to notice, cannot see any thing of the kind, if they can manage to get a dollar before their avaricious eyes. 121. In reviewing the efforts which have recently been made to elevate seamen from a worse than brutal state of sin and misery to a place among men where they can re- spect themselves, we have thus far seen the most encoura- ging results. We have said, that, after making due allowance for those that fall away after professing better things, still the converts to Christianity from among sailors, even with the limited means employed, can probably be num- bered by thousands. That fact is certainly encouraging; and if so many have been benefited, even though their number bears but a small proportion to those who are still in the lowest depths of. degradation and misery, why may we not hope, that, by using the same means faithfully, all will at length be converted, and come to a knowledge of the truth ? Is not the good work among seamen progressing as fast as it can under the circumstances ? and will not tin- glorious promise heralded by the prophet, that the "alum- dance of the sea shall be converted," soon be realized? It may be that it will soon be realized; but we think never wholly by the means at present employed. As we have said before, the plaster is not large enough for the wound ; and, before we speculate further on methods of improve- ment, let us see why it is that what are usually considered the ordinary means of grace cannot directly avail to effect eventually a thorough reformation in the character, circum- stances, and condition of all sailors. CHAPTER IV. EFFECTS OF EARLY INSTRUCTION. NECESSITY FOR FE- MALE SOCIETY. NECESSITY FOR HIGHER WAGES. APPEAL FOR SYMPATHY. 122. NOTWITHSTANDING all the efforts that have been made by benevolent societies and philanthropical individ- uals to improve the spiritual condition of seamen within the last half-century, the mass of them are about as badly off as ever. A thousand converts out of a hundred thou- sand does not certainly indicate a very favorable state of things. Let us now examine and see what the causes are which prevent those who are still debased and profli- gate from being benefited, as well as those who have already been the subjects of reformation. 123. In the first place, then, a reference to what has been said will show us that many seamen have had good surroundings in childhood. Many have had pious parents, and good moral and religious instruction when young. We have seen, also, that some of them have had good educational advantages; and, previous to their going to sea, they were, perhaps, well versed in the usages and pro- prieties of civilized life. Perhaps their first motive for leaving home was a desire to see something of the world, or to gratify a restless and adventurous disposition, intend- ing, at some future time, to quit a seafaring life, get mar- ried, and settle down, on shore. Their contact with seamen at such an early age was prejudicial to all their best inter- 105 106 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. csts; for their association with men addicted to vicious habits operated to hlunt their moral susceptibilities, and to undermine the fair fabric of virtue which parents, teachers, and guardians had striven so industriously to rear. "When men that have been thus situated in youth come in contact with Christian influences in advanced life, they are frequently powerfully affected by them ; and it is to be observed, that most of the converts from among seamen are men of .this description. In a great many such cases, the sailor, in relating his experience, will frequently mention the efforts made by a praying mother, or some other friend of his youth, for his salvation; and many other things go to show, that, in most cases, other agencies besides the bethel have primarily given the sailor some respect for divine things, and, in a manner, prepared his heart to be acted on by moral and spiritual motives, when presented under favorable circumstances. The work that the bethel, and similar agencies, does, is principally to reclaim those that have, in a greater or less degree, fallen; but it hardly touches that great mass of corruption, sin, and degrada- tion, which lies festering before our eyes, and which is incurable by all the means which have hitherto been employed. We see, therefore, that but few are permanently benefited by the most powerful means of grace, unless their minds and hearts have been, in some degree, prepared in youth. 124. We know, also, that it is one of the offices of the Christian religion to inspire men with a love of liberty, and a hatred of oppression and all kinds of lawless violence. Let us now see what inferences can be drawn from this proposition to exemplify our subject. When men are converted, the inspirations engendered by self-respect (another Christian virtue) prompt them to avoid foreign-going ships, in which they are liable to re- A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 107 ceive abusive treatment, and confine themselves to coasters and fishermen, where they can soon have a change if things do not go on to suit them. This exodus of religious seamen from large ships to little brigs and schooners leaves the mass of long-voyage sailors as badly off as ever, and reveals the undoubted fact, that tyranny and barbarous usage, under present arrangements, must always prove a powerful though secondary cause to prevent any wholesale improve- ment in the moral and spiritual condition of seamen. This defection of seamen from foreign-going ships to coasters is a great evil, and is severely felt by the few good shipmas- ters who deserve and are anxious to obtain good, efficient, and peaceable men for their crews. Sometimes it happens that there is hardly a steady man to be found in port ; and, in such cases, the best captains have to take up with ruffians, thugs, loafers, or any thing in the shape of men, to go with them on, perhaps, a year's voyage. Such men are bound to make trouble, and can seldom be governed at all except by the severest discipline, administered in the se- verest manner. It is apparent, therefore, that the conver- sion and consequent exodus of good seamen from sea-going ships renders the general character of most crews even worse than formerly ; and the testimony of almost all offi- cers who have had fifteen or twenty years' experience will verify the truth of this assertion. 125. We have noticed also, that in the Mariners' House in Boston, and perhaps in some of the sailors' homes, it often becomes necessary to promptly expel many boarders who will not conform to the rules. These expelled boarders find a welcome in the various seamen's boarding-houses, where they are considered just as good as any of their com- panions. This shows that the good which such houses do is, in a measure, limited to those, who, by early reli- gious influences and proper training, are measurably pre- 108 A VOICE? PROM THE DEEP. pared to appreciate an asylum from temptations and false- (Iraling. Such institutions may help to save a few well-disposed sailors; but they cannot redeem the sea- man's profession from dishonor. They are merely life- boats to prevent a few spiritually-shipwrecked and drown- ing seamen from losing eternal life; but they possess very little power to prevent, or even to diminish, the number of shipwrecks. 126. .It is a matter of observation, that a great majority of the seamen that compose the congregations in the differ- ent bethels are not what is called, in nautical parlance, "deep-water sailors." The greater part come from little schooners lying at the wharves, and from their own homes, and from some of the benevolent institutions we have already named. This fact shows the tendency of moral and religious seamen to cherish their self-respect by avoid- ing large ships, and serving where they can be assured of good moral treatment, if nothing more. Only those that hope to become officers, and a few inexperienced boys, and a small number of unintelligent but well-disposed foreign- ers, will still expose themselves to the evils and horrors of an ocean passage ; and, whenever we do see any ' deep- water sailors" in a bethel meeting, we can be reasonably assured that they are from some of these. The regular " ShellbacJcs," who constitute the rank and file of the class of men usually denominated sailors, are but seldom seen in a bethel. 127. There is another thing that not only draws our con- verted seamen out of foreign-going ships into coasters, but in many instances induces them to quit the sea alto- gether, and seek for something to do on shore to gain a livelihood: it is the want of female society. God said in the beginning, that "it was not good that man should be alone;" and all human experience has veri- A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 109 fied the truth of the assertion : it reveals a law of man's nature, which he is bound to respect, or the most ca- lamitous results will inevitably follow. It is founded in the nature of things, in the natural instincts which God, in infinite wisdom, has constitutionally ingrafted upon the human soul. It is said by many, that the sailor, in choosing the company of abandoned women, demonstrates to the world that he is naturally vile and depraved; that he is merely seeking to gratify the morbid cravings of a wicked heart that is wholly given up to licen- tiousness and vileness. Such a view of the case is by no means the true one. The instinctive law of God in the soul of the sailor prompts him to crave female society ; and, in desiring and striving to fulfil that law, he is, in the main sense, no more blameworthy than the minister of the gospel would be in desiring to have a wife and chil- dren. 128. No : but it is said that the minister of the gospel only desires a lawful wedded wife and legal children, which is regarded by all mankind as perfectly honorable ; but the sailor has "a wife in every port," and does not expect any children, nor any good to result from his practices. We reply, that the desire for female society must be equally laudable in both cases; and one may not be any more influenced by his animal appetites than the other. Both want female society from the same instinctive motives, and both take the best they can get. The education and out- ward circumstances of the minister are favorable to cause him to practise virtue, which is only strictly and intelli- gently obeying all the laws of God constitutionally estab- lished in his own nature and in the nature of things. The education and outward circumstances of the sailor and his transient companions of the other sex are nearly all unfa- vorable to cause them to practise virtue ; and so they per- 10 110 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. vert the laws which God has constitutionally established in the nature of things: and the results are, in both cases, inevitable, in the former case happiness, and in the latter misery the most intense ; for the violation of a law which was designed to secure to us the greatest blessings is sure to procure for us curses proportionally great. We see, therefore, that education and outward circumstances, more than natural inherent righteousness, cause people to appear amiable and lovely in this world of ours. The natural qualities of the clergyman's heart, and of the sailor's, in boyhood might have been nearly the same. The appetites and passions of one may have been of the same strength with those of the other. It was due to different circumstances, and to different modes of training, that one turned out to be a licentious vagabond, and the other a minister of the gospel. No, it is not true that the sailor generally prefers the society of lewd women. He secretly despises their con- duct, as well as his own, and only goes with them, because, in his degraded state, he can do no better. He would like a lovely wife and children the same as the clergyman ; but what virtuous woman would have any thing to do with him ? and how could he support one if she would ? How can he do much better than he is doing, with so many things against him ? and how can his transient companion of the other sex do much better than she is doing, with so many things against her? We repeat, that neither the sailor nor his companion may be any more the natural slave of lust than thousands of others in society that have the reputation of being virtuous and honest people. 129. But do not the foregoing remarks make it evident that all people marry from impure motives? If the cler- gyman has no purer instincts than the sailor, who has "a wife in every port," does it not argue that society rests on A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. Ill very rotten foundations ? By no means. Marriage is so far from being a consummation of impurity, that it is, prob- ably, the beginning of its death. Love is wholly spiritual; and where it exists in full strength, unalloyed by the baser passions, it will consume and destroy every thing that is opposed to it. Man's spiritual nature longs for female society far more than his animal ; and where it is in the ascendency, and rightly instructed, it will subdue all the animal instincts to the requirements of moral truth ; and perfect happiness will be the result. The clergyman, we have seen, was favorably situated in life. His physical, moral, and spiritual natures were all cared for ; and, fol- lowing the dictates of Nature, he married a virtuous wife, which a good reputation, correct habits, and many other favorable circumstances, enabled him to obtain. The sailor, on the other hand, was unfavorably situated. Exposure to physical and moral evils in early youth blunted his per- ceptive and even his reflective faculties. Oppression, t}Tanny, and outrageous violence broke his spirit ; and false dealing made him distrustful of human nature, and a dis- believer in God. By degrees he fell ; and, in his progress downward, he was only able to keep company with those of the other sex who were as far along on the road as him- self: but that fact in no measure proves that the sailor is more lustful, or any less susceptible of moral improvement, than other men. If a young man in society, that had always been surrounded with good religious influences, and had been duly instructed about all of his duties towards his Creator and his fellow-men, should voluntarily leave all heav- enly hopes and aspirations for the sake of frequenting houses of prostitution, merely to gratify his lusts, we might then, perhaps, have some cause to attach a stigma to his name, and say that he was a natural son of Belial. It is to be hoped there are but few such young men anywhere ; and it 112 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. is quite certain they are no more numerous among sailors than they are among other classes of men : the fact that many seamen go with abandoned women does not prove it in the least degree. 130. But why, it may be asked, does not the sailor try to reform himself? and why does he not marry, even though he may be compelled to take a wife from the lowest circles in society? We will reply to the first question by another. Why does not a child go to school of his own accord, and begin to read? or, if he is situated so that he cannot go to school, why does he not learn to read himself from a book ? We see men, women, and children of all ages, that are hon- ored, respected, and beloved by all ; but did they make themselves lovely? They might have been partially will- ing to be made lovely; and that is about all that can be said in favor of the best of them. Many people do but faintly realize how much they are indebted to the multi- plied means of grace which exist all around them for the excellent loveliness of their characters. And then people are not worthy of too much credit for even being willing to be Christians. In the first place, gentle force is used, as in the case of the child. He is restrained from evil by force, and encouraged, and even forced, to do good. He is forced to go to school, and forced to go to church, and forced to avoid the company of bad boys, and so on, until higher motives can be used to influence him for good. The forces which were exerted in his early youth finally find their consummation in the force of habit, which is nearly irresistible, and explains that observation of Solomon's, where he says, that, if we "train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not depart from it." 131. If people in virtuous communities cannot rise with- out assistance from others, when there is comparatively but little opposed to them, how can we expect the sailor to rise, A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 113 surrounded as he ever is by evil influences, and a slave to bad habits, which are just as strong as good ones? How can we expect him to rise, when almost every thing connected with him seems to be evil, and only evil ? It is not possible. In order to save the sailor, the evil influences we have described must be removed, and good ones substituted in their places ; and it is the bounden duty of every Chris- tian man and woman to give him a chance to obtain, as far as possible, all the blessings which they themselves enjoy ; and, if they fail to use their best efforts to do this, they must also forfeit their right to be called the children of God. 132. In regard to the other question that might be raised, Why does not a sailor marry ? we reply, that a cor- rect answer discovers at once the fountain-head of all the sailor's miseries and misfortunes. It lays bare the tap-root of the tree of sin, and shows us where we must strike to cut off the flow of deadly poison which nourishes the nox- ious plants of the Great Destroyer. Sailors do not marry, because their limited means ivill not allow them to support families, or even to think of such a thing. That is what's the matter. That is what renders teaching and preaching of little avail to the sailor. No amount of teaching and preaching can give him a wife and children ; and, until that is done, his noble profession will never be redeemed from reproach and dishonor. There is one of the most exacting of Nature's laws violated in his case ; and, until he is set right in that respect, the New Jerusalem, with its unfading flowers and golden streets, which we love to sing about, can be a matter of no great concern to him. He turns aside from the entreaties of men and women who profess to be Christians, with an incredulous smile, as if he should say, " What is heaven to me? It will do very well for you to talk of its glories, when you have every tiling 10 114 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. furnished to your minds in this fe ; but I must be put off with something apparently as unsubstantial as an Indian's ghost in the* spectre land. That will not do for me. I am in the valley now, and do not want to be lifted so high up all at once. Get me up to a position where I can have that which is not denied to the meanest slave, and perhaps I can see from thence the gate of the celestial city you have been telling me about." That is what's the matter. Sailors cannot be brought to believe that they are to be translated right into heaven. No. The poor, sim- ple souls want to go there the way other people do ; and who can blame them ? Surely no reasonable person. 133. But how is it that the few Christian sailors get along without families ? They do not get along at all without them. Show us a Christian sailor, and we will show you a man who will, in nine cases out of ten, have a family in less than five years. But does not that state- ment, if true, disprove the assertion that a sailor cannot support a family ? By no means. Those very men know that they cannot support families by going to sea; and so they are constantly on the watch for something to do on shore ; and, in time, they generally succeed ; and then they get married. Besides, it is only the most intelligent sea- men that are generally converted ; and those are the very ones who can best get a living on shore. The greater part of the old Tritons have never done any thing else but follow their calling; and it would be very difficult for them, ignorant and degraded as they are, to find employment on the land. 134. It is a great evil to have the best-behaved sailors quit a seafaring life because it will not afford them a living. Society suffers by it, and the nation likewise. How many calamitous accidents would be avoided, if the men of the sea were all what they should be ! T/tousands A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 115 of valuable lives are lost every year, and millions of prop- erty, through the carelessness, inefficiency, and misbehavior of many of the officers and seamen that now carry on the commerce of the world. Surely no right-minded person would be indifferent as to what kind of a crew might have his own life in charge, and perhaps the lives of his wife and children, on some rock-bound coast. But somebody's wives and children are constantly exposed to danger in that way ; and, we repeat, it is for the interest of all our citi- zens to provide means to secure competent and well-behaved men to navigate our vessels. 135. But perhaps it may be objected by some, that the foregoing statements do not present the highest class of motives to sailors to induce them to become Christians. God must be worshipped in spirit and in truth, and not for the loaves and the fishes. The Bible commands men to attend to the salvation of their souls before they think of any thing else ; for all are given to understand that their labors will be in vain, unless they " seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." Why is it, then, that sailors cannot be converted, and become good men, without getting married ? Why is it, that they cannot serve God in any circumstances, especially when he informs us that we must do so in order to be saved ? We must be willing to, indeed ; but the interesting question occurs, How shall we be made willing ? Does not God, in the first place, ap- peal to every faculty of our natures, by placing motives before us which affect not only our spiritual, but also our temporal well-being. Does he not give us "line upon line, and precept upon precept," repeatedly telling us that it is his will that we shall be saved from every form of sin and transgression here, for our own good? Does he not tell us that he is doing all that even a God can do, consistent with the truth and fitness of things, to make us happy and 116 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. comfortable even in this life? Our first motives for being Christians spring from self-love. We believe the change will do us good, else we should never attempt to make it. We do not like to look too far off for that good either, but we desire immediate good; and why should not the sailor ? Christianity is very good ; but she has never yet held out much to seamen which they could appreciate. Like the enslaved Jews in Egypt, they cannot hear the voice of spiritual deliverance for cruel bondage. They cannot be taught to love a religion full of abstractions. 136. The sailor knows as well as anybody, that he is pursuing a course which leads continually to sin and misery. He knows that he does wrong when he gets drunk, uses profane language, or goes to the " house of death." But what else shall he do ? There is a restless spirit within him, which ever prompts him to seek after happiness. He meets with no encouragement to seek for it in the exercise of the higher faculties of his nature ; and so he allows his appetites and passions to control him, in- stead of his controlling them ; and, as they are often under the influence of baneful stimulants, where else can they lead him, but to ruin and disgrace ? He knows that landsmen profess to have a religion -which gives them hopes of happi- ness and felicity in another life ; but that is nearly all he understands about the matter; and, to his mind, it might as well be the paradise of Mohammed as the "heaven with golden streets," which many professed Christians love to con- template. Whatever effect, therefore, the hopes of a state of bliss in another life may have on some people, to induce them to become converted, and teachable like little chil- dren, it is nevertheless certain such motives cannot avail much with the sailor. Present blessings are what he wants and needs; and, if he cannot get them of God's pro- fessed people, how can he be expected to have confidence in their God, or in the sincerity of their religion ? A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 117 137. It is to be feared that many of our professed Chris- tians are inclined to take more stock in a future life than is consistent with their present needs and obligations. We should think a man acted strangely, if we saw him invest- ing all his money in* bonds, mortgages, and banks, while his wife and children were starving, and clothed in rags. He should, at least, reserve enough to satisfy his present necessities, and pay all of his just debts. Speculations about a future life may be pleasing to the Christian at times, especially as we have every reason to believe that we shall be happier then than now ; happier, because the lapse of time, and a sanctified experience, will give us a greater measure of faith, love, and knowledge, and every other Christian attribute and grace whereby we can spiritually see, love, and comprehend God. It is not for a moment to be supposed that a material heaven, with golden streets and a thousand other fancied embellishments, can ever make an intelligent Christian happy. Such a place, with nothing to do, and a sufficient number of houries, might satisfy the spiritual cravings of such men as Mohammed, and Good Haroun Alraschid; but it could never fill the heart of a man who had once, tasted of Christ's love. The desjre expressed by St. Paul, "to depart and to be with Christ," cannot be construed into an ignominious wish to cease from doing good, or into a sensual longing for material pleasures. There are times in the life of every man when tired nature seeks a momentary respite from the active du- ties of life. When the shades of evening close around the man of toil and many cares, exhausted nature sometimes in- duces a temporary depression of spirits ; and for the moment he almost feels like Elijah when he made his impassioned appeal at the foot of Horeb ; but, after a few hours of sweet repose, he rises fresh and vigorous, ready to anoint Jehu, stand before Caesar, or do any thing, through Christ who lias engaged to strengthen him. 118 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 138. The fact is, when we talk about localities and mate- rial things as appertaining to a future state, we do it about as intelligent!}' as a man tbat has been blind from his birth can judge of colurs. We can know but very little about our status in the world of spirits, simply because we have no experiences to guide our judgment ; nor is it neces- sary that we should have, when our Saviour expressly de- clares that we should rather look for the kingdom of heaven within us than be speculating, as some of his disciples did, about a temporal kingdom which existed only in their imagination. Love is the essence of heaven ; and, like the rose, it does not depend altogether for its sweetness on the soil from which it derives its nourishment. Are young lovers always particular to choose daylight, splendid scenery, and publicity, for those seasons of soul-communion that so much resemble the sweet and immortal joys of heaven ? By no means. They prefer the subdued light of the moon, and the solitude of the ocean's foaming beach, where nought can be heard but the awful voice of Nature, making a ceaseless response to those sentiments of truth and love which " flutter in the heart," and " tremble on the tongue," of those faithful and guileless beings whom God designs to be one iu spirit and one in flesh. A great white throne and golden streets in the far-off future may be all well enough ; but, we repeat, such a heaven is above the comprehension of such creatures as seamen. Our con- templations of God enthroned in a material heaven must always be extremely vague. Christ enthroned in the hu- man heart we can all understand if we will. 139. What we now wish to make apparent is the uncon- trovertible fact, that sailors must be saved and brought into the kingdom of heaven here, through the instrumentality of human agents, be-fore it will be very profitable to talk to them much about their interests on the other side of the grave. A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 110 Our .Saviour said, that in his Father's house were many mansions ; and we presume it must be the design of Infi- nite Wisdom to have vicious and depraved men go first into the lowest room in the school of Divine Providence, where they can learn to conduct themselves properly in the departments above them. ggr The only part of the kingdom of heaven which the sailor can understand and appreciate at first will be a snug little place to live on shore between his voyages, presided over by a lovely and sympathizing wife, and an income sufficient to support her. Is that an unreasonable aspira- tion on his part ? Is it not what all good men seek after ? Is it not what all must have in order that holiness and righteousness and joy may prevail in this present world ? Give to the sailor these things, and we give him the alpha- bet of knowledge, and then good people can teach him how to make farther advances in the school of heavenly wis- dom. 140. Christ taught his disciples to pray. In the pat- tern which he gave them, the applicants were instructed to use the plural personal pronoun when petitioning for gen- eral blessings, and not say, " My Father which art in heaven," but " Our Father," meaning that they should ask for others as well as themselves. What, then, shall we ask for the sailor ? Shall we pray to our common Father to give him a contented mind and a generous heart, that shall feel willing that all other classes of men shall be secure in the possession of all earthly blessings, while he must serve them, and feed his soul on spirituality, and hopes that must find their consummation beyond the grave, and in the grave we had almost said? We ask God to give us blessings ; and he does so, not miraculously, but in the ordinary course of nature. A wife and children (the great- est of earthly, and not the least of spiritual blessings) are 120 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. his gift; but they come by natural means, through human agency, and not miraculously. It must be our business, therefore, to see that all are provided for; else our brethren of the sea cannot behold in our countenances the face of God (Gen. xxxiii. 10). 141. It is impossible for us to avoid our responsibility in these matters. The eye that never sleeps is upon us; and the heart that never ceases to beat with sympathy for the distresses of the wanderer and the outcast will not hold us guiltless, if we turn away, like the Levite, and walk on the other side. God has in his bounty given some of us far more blessings than we can use ; but somebody needs them. The world abounds in sin and suffering ; and, until it is completely renovated, our work in never done. People talk about leisure ; but there is no leisure. Love is an active being, who will hardly suffer her children to get their necessary sleep. Behold that loving mother watching beside her sick child ! How many hours does she spend in sleep? How, then, can the love of God allow his children to be idle ? Let them work " while it is day : the night cometh, when no man can work." Human wisdom points in the same direction ; for " there will be sleeping enough in the grave," as Poor Richard says. We are the almoners of God's blessings to mankind to the extent of our several abilities ; and is it not our business to answer our own prayers by our own individual exertions, as far as they can be answered in that way ? One thing is certain : God will never do for us what he has given us power to do for ourselves ; and he has often declared, that he not only wants, but needs, our services in his vineyard, where the fruits are not gathered for the lack of laborers. 142. It must, therefore, be obvious to every one that has any suitable regard for the dignity of man, that he is con- stituted the honored and intelligent- agent of most of the A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 121 moral and spiritual blessings which God designs to bestow upon the human race. It is the second great law of God established in the nature of things, that he shall love his brother-man as himself, and do all that lays in his power to secure for every human being the same blessings that he enjoys himself. The sailor must have a wife ; and Chris- tianity must furnish him with one. The poor, fallen, and friendless woman who is called an outcast by society must have a husband ; and Christianity must attend to her needs. The offspring of these suffering people will, in due time, furnish well-behaved, intelligent, and efficient crews for our ships; and they will be Americans, which will be one grand result of Christianity. Thousands, yes, hundreds of thousands, will be released from a worse than Egyptian bondage, and brought into a civilized condition as fast as circumstances will allow, which will, at the farthest, be in the next generation. Will not such facts as these give Christians and patriots cause for rejoicing? Americans will then be better respected abroad ; whereas now their ships are a disgrace to the country they hail from, at least in many instances. All, or nearly all, the troubles on board of vessels on account of having bad crews and offi- cers will quickly regulate themselves, which will be another great blessing. It will also operate to strengthen the hands of all good men in their benevolent enterprises, and assist powerfully in upholding every good cause. 143. Oh that society could feel its responsibility in this matter, and move in it without delay ! Thousands are suf- fering and perishing even while these lines are being penned; and the evil work is still going on. Oh that vir- tuous Christian families could realize that the tokens of their fearful responsibility are ever before their eyes ! They have furniture and carpets, and tea and coffee and sugar, and a thousand other necessaries and luxuries, furnished 11 122 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. them by commercial enterprise ; and how do they requite the sailor? Look into the bosom of a Christian family on a Thanksgiving or a Christmas Day, and see how it reflects the kingdom of heaven. The sire feels supremely happy, for he sees those around him that lie has blesaed, and we feel interested in and love those we work for. The mother is supremely happy in her husband's and in her children's love ; and the children are happy in the midst of present blessings and future hopes. But where is the sailor? He has no home. No children " Climb his knee The envied king to share." If he were passing through a snow-drift, benumbed with cold, at the door of the aforesaid Christian home, he would hardly be asked to come in and warm himself, and partake of their sumptuous repast. In the name of that Being who came into the world to befriend and save sinners, are such things right? Is it not enough to melt into tenderness a heart of stone, to reflect upon them ? Truly " whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer ; " for how can any man that calls himself a Christian coolly stand by and see his comrades drifting to destruction, without making some effort to save them? 144. Perhaps the public would like to know the reason why sailors cannot support families. Do they not receive as much compensation for their services as other trades- men ? and, if not, why ? It will be very easy to show how much they get ; and it may not be very difficult to explain why they get so little. Sailors, on an average, do not get work more than ten months in a year, and it is very doubtful if they much exceed nine. They have to go to boarding-houses at the close of every voyage, to await their A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 123 pay-days, and look for other chances; and as voyages, as now conducted, do not probably average in length over three months, it is easy to see where the time is consumed. Sailors probably average two or three weeks on shore; and four such breakages in a year would never give them over ten months' actual service ; while the time sometimes spent in hospitals, and in going to see their aged parents (if they are fortunate enough to have any), and many other things, would make their average time much nearer nine months than ten. Then they have to pay a dollar per day for their board while waiting, and eight or ten dollars, perhaps, in the course of a year to have their baggage transported; which, altogether, we will put down at the minimum sum of seventy dollars. They require more clothing than lands- men to keep them comfortable; and, as it is sometimes scarcely possible to keep any thing dry for weeks, their garments rot quickly, which makes it necessary to buy more or less new articles every time they come on shore. Then, again, they are charged enormous prices ; and, as the fabric of which their clothing is composed must be woollen in order to keep them as much as possible from rheumatism, it necessarily costs very dear without extra extortion. If we put the sailor's bill for clothing at seven- ty-five or eighty dollars per annum in these times, it will be about as low a figure as he can possibly use and make himself decent and comfortable. Then, again, he has to pay hospital money, which amounts to $4.80 per year ; and frequently he has to fee shipping-agents for chances; and his travelling-expenses, bills for washing, and a dozen other little items, amount to something; so that, putting every thing together, his own personal expenses cannot possibly amount to less than a hundred and seventy-five dollars a j r ear ; and probably two hundred would come much nearer the truth. Now let us see what he gets. The 124 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. highest wages now paid to seamen from the port of Boston are twenty-five dollars per month for short voyayes, and eighteen or twenty for long ones. Assuming the former figures as the basis of our calculations, and assuming, also, that seamen are never shipwrecked, driven ashore in for- eign ports, nor cheated in any way, and we have the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars for ten months' work ; but it is safe to say that sailors do not get as much as that one time in twenty. If, now, we subtract from this sum his necessary expenses, which we have reckoned at a hun- dred and seventy-five dollars, we shall have seventy-five dollars remaining, which would not pay the rent of two good rooms in the vicinity of such a place as Boston, and leaves no margin whatever which could be used for the support of a family. A common day-laborer along the wharves gets from thirty to fifty cents an hour ; and, if he cannot get work over half the time, we see that his earn- ings amount to more than double the sailor's. k A sailor's work, too, calls for skilled labor, and requires four years' service from a man of good abilities to master all of its mysteries. But no tradesman thinks of working for less than from thirty to fifty cents an hour, averaging, probably, nearly three-fourths of the time ; and then they declare they have to study economy to make both ends meet. If, therefore, a tradesman, with fewer personal expenses, and three times as much pay, as the sailor, finds it difficult to support a family decently and comfortably, it is, of course, useless for seamen to ever think of such a thing; and so the sanctified influences of love, and the divine institution of marriage, are forever debarred the sailor. 145. Well: it is demanded, How came things in such a state ? What is the reason sailors cannot resort to strikes, the same as other tradesmen, and get suitable wages ? We have already proved that the business of ship-owners will A VOICE FEOM THE DEEP. 125 not warrant striking. Merchants are clearly unable to give higher wages ; for, if they should attempt such a thing, they could not compete with foreigners, and the little ship- ping we have left us would speedily be driven from the deep. In order to find out how things came to be in such a miserable condition, we must go away back to the dark ages, when to be a poor man was to be but one degree re- moved from a slave. After the discovery of America by Columbus, and even before, a spirit of commercial enter- prise began to be felt in Europe ; and several nobles and other rich men fitted out small expeditions to go to the newly-discovered countries, and trade with the natives. These expeditions were generally commanded by rich and influential men, and the vessels, in the main, officered by those who were at home esteemed gentlemen ; but the crews in those days were slaves in the worst sense of the word. They were generally completely at the mercy of their officers, and might be tortured by the cat, triced up by the thumbs, flogged through the fleet, keel-hauled, or hung at the yard-arm, just as the will and caprices of their haughty and imperious commanders dictated. The commercial en- terprises, in those days, were seldom but little better than piratical expeditions, though people at that time did not so regard them. Most of the common sailors would serve in pirates and the so-called merchantmen alternately ; and they were treated about alike in both. The principal inducements for common sailors to go to sea in those adven- turous times were the same as those held out by Wallen- stein and Tilly to their barbarous troops ; namely, plunder and lust. In all slave and piratical expeditions, and, indeed, in most others, sailors were allowed every facility to de- bauch themselves with the savages of the foreign climes they visited ; and they might also rob, plunder, and even murder, at their pleasure, as long as they did not get the 11* 126 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. vessels into trouble with their proceedings. Wages for seamen were merely nominal up to within a very recent period ; and, as late as revolutionary times, they were not paid more than six or seven dollars a month on East-India voyages. In England, it was always customary to kidnap, not only sailors, but watermen, and many others who had the misfortune to be poor, and compel them to go and serve in the king's ships just as long as the king pleased. And, even in American ships, it is not long since a sailor could be whipped almost to death with the cat, to satisfy the drunken malice of almost any petty commander ; and there could be nothing done about it on shore that would give the least satisfaction to justice. The present status of seamen then took its departure from the most debasi//;/ form of slavery ; and, although some of tlie most repulsive features of the monster are measurably taken away, enough remains to disgrace any country or people that will tolerate such a relic of barbarism among them. 146. It is astonishing what changes have taken place in this and in almost every other country within the last cen- tury. A hundred years ago the appearance of a comet in the heavons was thought by the ignorant masses to portend the destruction of the universe; and the common people almost universally believed in witches, times, enchant- ments, and wizards. Those things have not all passed away yet : but still the sun has risen high enough in the heavens to peer down brightly through the fog ; and the foundations of society are being every day more securely laid. Error is now obliged to paint her face, and dress up in all kinds of shapes, to make her hideous form appear lovely ; and then she fails in many instances. In vain has she improved witchcraft to spiritualism, superstition to self- righteousness, and licentiousness to free-thinking: all will not do. Her enemies have found her out; and a thousand A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 127 printing-presses are daily and hourly exposing her deformi- ties. Men of nearly all classes and professions, in nearly all civilized countries, now know something of what it is to be really free. They are not entirely dependent on the rich for their living, or even for their rights ; and they are not obliged to hide their Bibles under their chair-cushions for fear of the malice of the informer. The rights, relations, and duties of all, are now quite clearly denned ; and it is supposed, that, in most instances, a man's wages correctly represent the services he has rendered to society. 147. Things have arrived at their present stage of per- fection by the slow but sure march of civilization and en- lightened ideas. Men have been constrained, from time to time, to renounce error, and make mutual concessions to each other. Sometimes they have been forced by strikes and the will of majorities, and sometimes benevolence has been the primal motive: but, in all cases, there has been a steady advance ; and many sanguine people are beginning to hope that the time is not far distant, when the " Adver- sary " will be entirely driven out of his intrenchments, and consigned to the " hole in the side of the hill," where Bun- yan used to delight to have him. We have seen, however, in the course of this work, that the enemy yet holds one advanced position on the battle-field, from which he has never yet been dislodged. He has deceived people during the last seventy-five years by telling them that freight is necessarily the mother of wages for the sailor; when facts prove that she is not. At any rate, if the present rates of wages are her offspring, they do not reflect much credit on their parent among mothers, who are generally observed to be anxious to have big babies. 148. No: Commerce should be the mother of wages, and Freight her handmaid ; and then the sailor could live. And it is plainly the duty of society to support Commerce in a 128 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. position where she can give all of her children as good a living, and as many advantages, as the other department* of national industry secure to theirs ; and if that cannot be done without paying a little more for tea, coffee, *;/