The old sailors who grew up in the days of tall-ships never got used to the transition to steamships. On steamships they felt more like passengers rather than real sailors. Here's the way that Bill Adams puts it:


From WIND IN THE TOPSAILS, edited by Bill Adams, published by George G. Harrap & Co., London, UK, © 1931, pp. 78-79.


OLD LIMEJUICER

She'd carried coal on her last voyage,
So she was thick wi' fleas;
An' there was cockroaches in every crevice,
An' them small bitin' brown things in her bunk-board groves;
She was carryin' barley now, an' her rats was big as rabbits —
You'd wake to see old missis rat a-washin' of her face beside your pillow,
An' underneath it you'd likely find
Her nest o' squirmin' babies, pink an' blind.
The old hooker was a bad sea boat; she'd ship them in the waist
Clear level with her bulwarks with topgallants set;
And even under skysails she was wet;
She was a "hungry ship" — hard-tack, salt pork, an' horse;
At dinner time on Saturday o' course the usual thing,
Black-strap molasses an' a little rice; we called that "Strike me blind."
At every noon they served each man a gill o' limejuice;
That's the limejuice way; (in limejuice ships they says that if
A Yankee sailor don't get pie three times a day he mutinies.)
The old ship's spars were warped; her main topmast was sprung;
Her sails were patched; she only had two suits;
(Law says as ships must carry three.)
Her crew were God-knows-whats from everywhere;
Her skipper was a Blue Nose,
Her mate a Portygee; her second was a monkey on a stick; her boatswain me!
She took eight months from Puget Sound to Falmouth; overdue; posted missin'.
The owner collected insurance on her; he was a Liverpool Jew;
She was the last o' the West Coast grain fleet; an' I've never been to sea since;
This? This is a steamer. Yes, sir, I'm quartermaster.
A good job, quartermaster? Yes, sir. But this ain't goin' to sea;
I quit the sea an' went in steam, sir.

Slang: "her second was a monkey on a stick"; I'm not sure which of several interpretations of this slang holds true here but it's probably unrelated to Thai food and it's probably not a compliment.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble