In order to eat the biscuits, they put them into a canvas bag and pounded them with an iron pin. Then they mixed the crumbs with whatever water could be spared from the daily ration and ate them that way. On the odd days that marmalade or jam was given out, it was mixed in. That was the sailors' breakfast at about 7.30 a.m. along with a mug of coffee. Sometimes they baked the mashed biscuit and water; this was known as 'dandyfunk’. Each Friday a sailor was given either a pound of butter or a pound of marmalade but not both.
For dinner at 12.30 each man got half a pound of boiled corned beef or corned pork. This menu alternated and on pork days pea soup was added. In the early days of a voyage potatoes would be served at dinner but when they ran out, which was quite rapidly, only the remains from the pound of blahs was eaten with the meat.
On 'Rooty Days' , each Tuesday and Thursday, every man got a half-pound of flour with which the cook baked him a small loaf. At 5 p.m. a cup of tea or coffee was served to accompany the remains of the blahs.
Water was strictly rationed, each man getting 2 quarts per day. All except a pint of this had to be handed on to the cook for breakfast, dinner and tea. The remaining pint was kept in a bottle strapped to the waist and was never left out of the sailor's sight for fear of it being stolen. As may be imagined washing in such meagre rations posed a problem. To overcome this, each man put a small measure into a basin until it was half full and then lots were drawn to decide in which order they would queue for a turn at washing.
Heavy rain in the 'Doldrums' was like heaven. The scuppers would be plugged and the deck allowed to fill with water as the torrential rain without wind cascaded down. Then the sailors would strip and cavort like children in the water. The opportunity was taken to have a good wash and to scrub all the clothes.
The other side of the coin was sailing in bad weather outside the 'doldrums.' Then weeks might be spent without taking off even the oilskins.
Cargo had priority on the ships and the crew quarters were usually cramped spaces in the bow of the vessel with tiers of bunks. Another romantic view of the tall ships was that of the men hoisting sails to the echo of lusty sea shanties. Mr. Delaney speaks of this practice also:
"For heavy halyards it took a lot of pulling, sea shanties were used to aid the men to pull together.
'Whiskey Johnny' was a halyard shanty and the heavy pull would come on the words. Whiskey Johnny, the stress being on the first syllable of 'whiskey' which was very long, drawn out, and the stress again and the pull on the rope were on the first syllable of ‘Johnny’, which was long drawn in a similar way. One of the shanties sung as sails were hoisted on the schooners in Wexford Bay was 'We're outward bound for Cardiff Town'."
The harsh conditions on some ships caused men to desert or 'jump ship'. In such cases the sailor forfeited all wages and clothes and effects left on board and was liable for any excess wages paid to his replacement. Harbouring a deserter was punishable by a fine of £10. The deserter was liable to be sentenced to 10 weeks imprisonment.
Among the desertions recorded for Wexford ships are:
Patrick Kelly aged 24 arrested in Malta on May 20th, 1864 for attempted desertion. He had sailed on the
'Glenmore' owned by Richard Devereux and captained by Luke Sheils of New Street (now Parnell Street).
James Wilson a Londoner deserted from 'Emerald' a Wexford ship captained by Laurence English at New York in 1852.
New York was a favourite desertion point at that time: there are records of James Roche deserting there May 31st 1852 and Pat Nyland and John Kavanagh doing likewise..
Sailors often died at sea and there were regulations to be followed in such cases. Upon death the master took charge of all money and clothing left on board. If the man had no relatives his belongings could be auctioned on board ship or on land and all of his earnings were given to the Trustees for the Relief of Seamen. All clothes etc. were entered into the ships log. One such entry for a Wexford sailor went as follows:
"'James Edwards drowned while furling the top main sail, despite all efforts to save him"
2 flannel shirts
1 pair stockings
1 singlet
1 pipe
2 caps
1 Blanket
2 pair trousers
1 bed box
2 pocket handkerchiefs
Tin box with 5 pictures
Signed, Luke Sheils (Master) Thomas Rowe, Mate (1-8-1864).”
James Edwards was 20 years old and was an Ordinary Seaman. He died, as logged, on the return voyage from Malta by Richard Devereux's ship 'Glenmore' captained by Luke Shiels of New Street, Wexford.
Among the recorded masters of Wexford ships in 1835 we find
Edward Rowe aged 24 on the 'Rambler'
Francis Larkin aged 26 on the 'Mayflower'
John Kehoe aged 45 mastering the 'Rover'
Thomas Wickham aged 27 on the 'Seafarer'
Michael Sheils aged 40 on the 'William Whitty'
Many of these family names crop up again and again in connection with Wexford shipping. One wonders if the last ship mentioned was owned or named after William Whitty,
