They drink their tea out
of tin pots, holding little less than a quart each.
These particulars are not looked upon as hardships, and, indeed, may
be considered matters of choice. Sailors, in our merchantmen,
furnish their own eating utensils, as they do many of the
instruments which they use in the ship's work, such as knives, palms
and needles, marline-spikes, rubbers, etc. And considering their
mode of life in other respects, the little time they would have for
laying and clearing away a table with its apparatus, and the room it
would take up in a forecastle, as well as the simple character of
their meals, consisting generally of only one piece of meat,- it is
certainly a convenient method, and, as the kid and pans are usually
kept perfectly clean, a neat and simple one. I had supposed these
things to be generally known, until I heard, a few months ago, a
lawyer of repute, who has had a good deal to do with marine cases, ask
a sailor upon the stand whether the crew had "got up from table"
when a certain thing happened.
As to their food and sleep, there are laws, with heavy penalties,
requiring a certain amount of stores to be on board, and safely
stowed; and, for depriving the crew unnecessarily of food or sleep,
the captain is liable at common law, as well as under the statute
before referred to.
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