Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume XVI Part 17

Now, though Geordie and I were baith keen to gang to sea, yet we wanted to choose oor ain ship; and, besides, we had resolved no to gang in ane o' the East India Company's ships; for the lads on board the smack, coming frae Leith, had tell't us to keep clear o' the Indiamen, for that they were manned wi' the sweepings o' Newgate, and that there was mair flogging on board o' them than in the navy.

"We're no for sailing in a Company's ship, sir," said I; "we'll choose for oursels."

"Very well, lads," said he; "but before we part, we must '_square yards_,' if you please. Pay me what you owe me." And, wi' that, he pulls oot a bill as lang's my airm, for sae muckle meat, sae lang lodging, and sae muckle for claithes.

"'Od, sir," said I, "did ye no treat us? Ye ken vera weel we haena a bodle to pay ye wi'."

"Then you must either tramp to prison, or go on board the Indiaman. What say you?"

"Weel, if we maun gang, we maun, and there's an end o't; but ye ha'ena behaved to us like a gentleman and a Christian."

"A gentleman and a Christian!" said he, girning; "why, you Scotch noodle, I'm a crimp!"

("And what, in the name of wonder, is a crimp?" said I, interrupting Tom in his long-winded story.

"A crimp, sir!" said Tom; "d'ye no ken what's a crimp? Why, sir, a crimp is, ye ken--a crimp _is_--hoot, he's just a crimp."[6]

"Very satisfactory, certainly," replied I. "However, go on with your story.")

[Footnote 6: A crimp is a person who receives a certain sum of money from shipowners for procuring sailors to man their vessels.]

Neist morning, Geordie and I, wi' mony ithers, were put into a Gravesend boat, and sent down tae a bit ca'ed Northfleet, whar the Indiaman was lying at the buoys. She was the first large ship I'd ever seen--and eh!

but I was astonished. I hae seen mony a ane since, and far bigger anes; but she aye seems to my min' the biggest o' them a'. She was ca'd the True Briton; and grand she did look, wi' her tall masts, and her colours a' fleeing abroad, and the muckle guns peeping out o' the holes in her sides they ca' ports. When we speeled up her sides, it was maist like munting a hill; and when we got on board, I was fairly 'mazed, and stood glowring frae the gangway as if I were bewitched, till a chiel, wi' a face like a foumart, and a siller pipe hanging round his neck wi' a black riband (he was a boatswain's mate), ca'd out to me--

"What are you staring at, you great fool? Come down from the gangway!"

And wi' that he gied me a pu' by the jacket, that maist garred me fa' on the deck. My bluid was up in a moment; and I was just gaun to gie him as guid's he brocht, when Geordie, wha was at my elbow, said--

"Haud yer hand, Tam! Never heed him. Do as ye see me do."

Wi' that he touched his hat to an officer who was walking the deck and tell't him that we wished to ship as seamen.

"Can you hand, reef, steer, and heave the lead, my man?" said he.

"Yes, sir," said George; "but this callant has never been to sea afore."

"Oh, then, he won't do for us; besides, he is too light a hand. How long have _you_ been at sea?"

"Six years, sir--three in a collier, and three in a Dumfries trader to America. But, if Tom here is not shipped, I'll no go either."

"Well, you are a smart, stout-looking fellow yourself; and, as we want a boy or two, we'll take Tom, too, as you call him. Midshipman, take these men to the doctor."

"Ay, ay, sir!" said a smart wee boy, wi' a gilt loop and c.o.c.kade in his hat--"follow me, my lads!"

"What in a' the yirth is the doctor gaun to do till us? He's no gaun to put a mark upon us, is he, Geordie?" whispered I.

"Whisht, ye great gowk!" was a' the answer I got; and I followed, as I thocht, like a lamb to the slaughter, doun a ladder, till anither flat deck, where a' the officers' cabins were.

'Od, sir, I never was sae astonished in a' my days! It was just like a street in a toun; the cabins, on each side, like raws o' houses; and, farder on, as far as ane could see, a raw o' muckle guns a' standing abreast. It was unco low o'erhead, and I maist brak my head twice or thrice or I won to the doctor's cabin. 'Od, I've aften laughed sin'

syne, to think how queer everything lookit to me then!

Weel, sir, the doctor felt our pulses, and lookit in our mouths, and punchit us in the ribs, and examined us just as a horse-dealer wad a beast, to see gin we war sound, wind and limb. And when he was satisfied--

"Mr Noodle," said he to the midshipman, "tell Mr Douglas these men will do."

And awa we gaed up the ladder again.

The ship was only waiting for men to mak up her complement; and, as we were the last, we signed the contract for the voyage, and received twa months' pay as arles. Our kind freend, the crimp, was waiting at the pay-table wi' his bill, and sune eased us o' maist o' our money. The morning after, two steamboats cam alangside, and were lashed to the ship; we cut from the buoy, and in a few minutes the ship was whirring doun the water wi' twa lang cluds o' smoke fleeing awa ahint, and the red ensign just glinting now and then through them in the sunshine. We cam to anchor at a place they ca' the Lower Hope; and in the afternoon the boatswain and his three mates went about chirping wi' their siller pipes, and ca'in, "All hands to muster, ahoy!" and the men a' cam skelping up frae below, and went on the quarterdeck, where the officers were a' standing on the ane side, and the men ranged themsels on the ither.

"All up, sir," said the third mate, touching his hat to the chief.

"Very well--go on, steward." And the ship's steward ca'd out the names o' a' the men, and they went round the capstan, touching their hats as they answered. The chief mate afterwards tell't them a' their stations, for reefing, furling, and tacking, and divided them into starboard and larboard watches. Geordie Gordon being an able seaman, and a smart, active chiel, was made a forecastle-man, and I was stationed in the mizzentop.

At daylight neist morning we were roused out o' our hammocks by the boatswain and his mates calling out on the upper-deck, "All hands up anchor, ahoy! Up all hammocks, ahoy!" And then they cam doun below, and made noise aneugh to wauken the dead or my auld deaf grannie, crying, "Tumble up! tumble up!--show a leg!--lash and carry!" (Meaning the hammocks.) Then the men jumpit out, and began hurrying on their claes, and lashing up their hammocks. I had never been in a hammock afore that nicht, and I had just been dreaming o' hame, when I was waukened by the noise as if a' the deevils had broken loose, and I started up and jumpit out o' my ain bed at hame, as I thocht, but I cam doun wi' sic a thud on the deck as maist brak my head.

As soon as the hammocks were a' up, and put awa in the nettings on deck, the capstan bars were shipped and manned, and the chief mate shouted down the hatchway--

"Are you all ready there below?"

"All ready, sir!" replied the third mate.

"Heave taut for unbitting!"

As soon as the cable was unbitted, "Heave round!" was the cry from the lower-deck.

"Heave round!" said the mate; "step out, my hearts!"

The fifes struck up "The girl I left behind me," the men stamped round the capstan with a cheerful, steady step, and in a very short time the cable was nearly up and doun.

"Up and down, sir!" shouted the boatswain from the forecastle.

"Heave and paul!" cried the chief mate. "Out bars, out bars! bear a hand, my lads!--Up there, topmen--loose sails! Send everybody up from below to make sail!"

"Ay, ay, sir!"

Eh! but I was dumfoundered to see the lads rinning up the rigging like sae mony monkeys. And while I was standing glowering at them, a young midshipman ca'd to me, "Holloa! you, Wilson!--don't you know you're a mizzentopman?--Spin up and loose the topsail!"

"Me gang up, sir!--I canna, sir, I'd tumble."

"Can't, sir! there's no such word on board ship. Up you go; and if you're afraid of falling, hold on with your teeth!"

"So I was obleeged to gang up; but I was a' in a tremble, and just was up to the top in time to creep doun again; for the sails were a' loose, and a' the lads coming doun. Eh! hoo the sailors did laugh at me! But, in a fortnight's time, there wasna ane amang them could lay saut on my tail.

But what's the use o' my fashing yer honour wi' a' thae idle clavers?

Nae doot ye're tired o' them already."

"Oh no, Tom!" said I, "go on; I am much amused, I a.s.sure you; but you'd better moisten your lips out of my flask before you go on."

"Thank ye, sir!"