AT SEA: ON PASSAGE 133 



spoiled. Amazing statements were made regarding the rav- 

 ages of worms in the bread. One writer declared that it was 

 a common practice to soak the bread in hot tea or coffee, sweet- 

 ened with molasses, in order to scald out the worms, which 

 were then skimmed from the top of the cup before drinking. 

 And even such treatment yielded bread which was "water- 

 bewitched, coffee-begrudged, and molasses-wasted." ^^ An- 

 other described an attempt to check the increase of the worms 

 by knocking the bungs out of the bread-casks and pouring 

 half-a-pint of rum into each. The condition of butter which 

 had spent weeks and months in the torrid zone without re- 

 frigeration may be imagined. The fresh water, kept in casks 

 for long periods under the same conditions, developed a brack- 

 ish taste and a disgusting odor. Even "duff," the traditional 

 delicacy for whaling crews, was not always satisfying; for 

 "often this substitute for pudding" was "so hard that it" was 

 "not only indigestible, but difficult to masticate, and more fit 

 to be used as shot for storming forts or towns, than to be 

 eaten." ^^ 



In addition to these normal and more or less unavoidable 

 circumstances there were innumerable cases in which accidents 

 and stress of weather necessitated a short allowance of even 

 worse food. In all too many instances, too, the niggardliness 

 of owners or masters resulted in the serving of matter which 

 was all but poisonous in its state of advanced decay. 



The etiquette observed at meal-time varied directly with 

 the rank of the diners. The captain and mates ate at a table 

 in the cabin, and enjoyed the luxuries of heavy chinaware and 

 a butler disguised as a steward. They were punctilious in 

 seating themselves in order of rank, and in arising in inverse 

 order. As a result the fourth mate was often compelled to 

 eat with prodigious rapidity, in order to satisfy his appetite be- 

 fore the others became impatient. When the officers had 

 finished, the boatsteerers were admitted to the cabin, but only 

 after such articles as sugar and butter had been safely re- 



10 See "Scraps From the Log Book of George Lightcraft, Who Was More 

 Than Twenty Years a Sailor; an Account of The Whale Fishery, With Many 

 Thrilling Incidents in the Life of the Author," pp. 24 and 80. 



11 Ibid. 



