In addition to this, it was "as
thick as muck," and the ice was all about us. The captain was on
deck nearly the whole night, and kept the cook in the galley, with a
roaring fire, to make coffee for him, which he took every few hours,
and once or twice gave a little to his officers; but not a drop of
anything was there for the crew. The captain, who sleeps all the
daytime, and comes and goes at night as he chooses, can have his
brandy and water in the cabin, and his hot coffee at the galley; while
Jack, who has to stand through everything, and work in wet and cold,
can have nothing to wet his lips or warm his stomach. This was a
"temperance ship," and, like too many such ships, the temperance was
all in the forecastle. The sailor, who only takes his one glass as
it is dealt out to him, is in danger of being drunk; while the
captain, who has all under his hand, and can drink as much as he
chooses, and upon whose self-possession and cool judgment the lives of
all depend, may be trusted with any amount, to drink at his will.
Sailors will never be convinced that rum is a dangerous thing, by
taking it away from them, and giving it to the officers; nor that,
that temperance is their friend, which takes from them what they
have always had, and gives them nothing in the place of it.
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