purpose of suitably receiving the wretched,
drink-sodden, semi-delirious creatures who were to
constitute part of the crew. They were carted to the vessel,
accompanied by animals opprobriously called "crimps," whose
unrestrained appetite for plunder was a scandal to the
public authority who permitted their existence. After these
noxious gentry had sucked the blood of their victims, the
latter were handed over to the officers who awaited their
arrival at the gangway. Having arrived late, and in a
condition contrary to the orthodox opinions of their
officer, they were asked in strong nasal language why they
did not turn up at 6 a.m.

"Do you know," the slap-dashing mate would say, "that you
have committed a breach of discipline that cannot be
overlooked on this craft?"

The half-drunken, whiskey-soaked creature would reply in an
incoherent, semi-insolent way, whereupon the mate would haul
out a belaying pin and belabour him with it. Many a criminal
act of this kind was committed, and if the men as a body
retaliated, they were shot at, or knuckle-dustered, until
their faces and bodies were beaten into a pulp. This was
called mutiny; so in addition to being brutally maltreated,
there could be found, both at home and abroad, gentlemen in
authority who had them sent to prison, and who confiscated
their pay. Many of them were punished until they agreed to
sign the entry in the official log against themselves.

It may be thought that these officers were justified in the
initial stages of the voyage in striking terror into the
minds of these men, so that their criminal instincts might
be kept in check. I am well aware of the risks and
responsibilities attending the control of a terrible class
of persons such as the American "packet rat," and it is
difficult to write of them with calmness of judgment. They
were undoubtedly collections of incorrigible ruffians such
as could not have been easily employed in any other class of
British or American vessel. At the same time, it must be
remembered that the officers of these crafts were not
selected because of their pre-disposition to piety. It was
because of their predilection for living in a chronic
atmosphere of "Almighty Hell." They were trained to it, and
were apt pupils. They saw a glory in the continuity of
combat that raged from the beginning until the end of a
voyage. It is worthy of note that, with few exceptions, they
never allowed themselves to be overcome, though ma