served with.  An opportunity was often made so that the men might be put on their “whack,” or, to be strictly accurate, the phrase commonly used was “your pound and pint,” and as an addendum they were dramatically informed that they should have no fresh provisions in port.  The men, of course, naturally retaliated by measuring their work according to the food they got; and then it was seen that the game was to be too costly and too perilous.  The common-sense commander would find a judicious retreat from an untenable position, and the blockhead would persevere with it during a whole voyage, and boastfully retail a sickening story of meanness to an audience who, he cherished the idea, would regard him as a hero!  How much bitterness and loss was caused by this parochial-minded malignity can never be estimated.  It was undoubtedly a prolific factor in making sea-lawyers, and a greater evil than this could not be incubated.  The sea-lawyer always was and always will be a pest on land, and a source of mischief and danger on the sea.  But while so much can be said against the tactless, and, it may be, the vindictive captain, just as much can be said against some crews who ignored the duty of submitting to control.  They feasted on unjustifiable grumbling and discontent.  They loafed and plotted to destroy all legitimate authority, and very often made it a perplexity to know how to act towards them.  I do not class these men with the criminal class of which I have spoken; there is a very wide distinction between the two.  The men I am now speaking of, at their worst, never went beyond loafing, grumbling, and plotting to evade some technical obligation.

The wages of the mate aboard these south-going craft were L5 5s. per month, the second mate got a pound above the A.B.’s, who, on these voyages, were paid L2 10s. to L2 15s. per month.  The cook and steward (one man) got the same as the boatswain, the carpenter, and the second mate.  The scale of wages for officers and crew aboard a tea clipper was regulated on more aristocratic lines.  Their hands were carefully picked, and, as a rule, they carried double crews, exclusive of officers and petty officers.  Both pay and food were vastly better in the clippers than that of the average trader.  The statutory scale of provisions was, however, the same for all.  A copy of it appears on the opposite page.

SCALE OF PROVISIONS

NOTE.—­There is no scale fixed by the Board of Trade.  The quantity and nature of the Provisions are a matter for agreement between Master and Crew.

Scale of Provisions to be allowed and served out to the Crew during the Voyage, in addition to the daily issue of Lime and Lemon Juice and Sugar, or other Anti-Scorbutics in any case required by the Act.

PROVISIONS.  QUANTITY SUN.  MON.  TUE.  WED. THUR.  FRI.  SAT.  WEEKLY