Honolulu Republican, Volume IV, Number 494, 11 January 1902 — IS DEMORALIZING TO DEEP WATER SAILORS [ARTICLE]

IS DEMORALIZING TO DEEP WATER SAILORS

NEW YORK THE WORST PORT. There Jack is Beaten and Robbed, Shanghaied and Sold for Gold — Portland and New York a Hell for Seamen. From the New York Sun. Foreign s**am*-n say that the port of New York is a hard and uncharita ble plare. and that its reputation extends "the seas over.” From Liverpool to Hong Kong, wherever there gather crews for the deep-sea merchantmen, one hears curs*?s on York, the gay town; York, the touch town, where Jack gets beaten and robbed, shanghaied and sold for gold. But though he may get as far away from Manhattan as is possible, he is always sure to turn about and come rolling back. In this be is never disappointed His American brother is amply protected by the Seamens union, the Legal Aid society, and the Marine | hospital, and the land sharks are forced towiepmd for their gam-* sole ly on “foreign bottoms.” The “game" may have deserted his ship, prompt ed by a curiosity to see things" in New York; he may be just out of a hospital, physically weak, but strong in his desire for dissipation; his ship may be waiting for a cargo, or he may be a tramp, “bumming' - his way [ home One may see these poor fellows along the river fronts—the most exposed places in the city in this weather —loafing in front of the grog , shops, or in some hallway sleeping off a night's orgy One may fiind samples of ill treat-. ••d sailors on almost any morning at the dispensaries of the little seamens mission and the lower East side, i What do you think of Sew York?” was asked of a young Englishman, who was having bis wounds dressed. I | one morning last week. The man ] had been drugg'd. beaten, and rob-• t bed the night before. “If ain't quite jas bad asi Portland, Ore.” was the; answer Portland, and not. as in old days. Port Said, is the seamen’s stan dard of comparison for the ports of - the world. Present day s-:amen come far from being the strong, rugged men -that romance and Action have made them out to be. Deepsea vessels that sail the world round pass thr*e and four 1 climatic changes in one cruise. The men are naturally improvident and • seldom carry sufficient clothing- At the Battery dispensary of the I'nited States Marine hospital. 500 “outdoor” - as, £ were attended to last month, and 05 at the hospital at Stapleton.' S I The sick of the foreign merhant vessels in the harbor are sent i to Long Island College hospital. ■ which, last month, cared fir not less than forty patients. This, in com parison to the American sick list and the large number of foreign seamen tn port, during th's cold, raw weather. is very small and leaves the impression that possibly there are ma ny who should g* that never do. Crews that come into the harbor aboard foreign ships are usually taken on in home waters, and that means that the crew signed papers wh ch were to hold them for three years, or until the ship entered a home port I again To these ships New York is » foreign port, and shipmasters who w*nt to keep their crews never give them shore leave Sickness is the only excuse that opens away for' Jack ashore, and consequently this plea .s used * arlv and often So. to protect himself fn m fakers, the master hires the first doctor taat tomes over the side He examines the m* n for sick leave, prescribes for • those he can treat board, and sends the others to the hospitals. The doctor often stretches a point in fav-r of the captain, and many a sailor has gone to sea wh-»n he should hare been sent ashore to a hospital.