Stories of the ShipsFreeman, Lewis R. (Lewis Ransome)
History
Stories of the Ships
Freeman, Lewis R. (Lewis Ransome)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Naval operations
Working with neatness and dispatch, "Joe" and his half-dozen assistants
made rapid progress with their clean-up. "Pick-uppy" as the job was,
everything was really in admirable order. Bones, papers, tins, bottles
and grease--each had its separate receptacle. The grease was already
hardening in large cans: the other refuse was in boxes or tubs. In each
mess was one small tub with a few sad bits of assorted food in the
bottom. Unable to classify this, I asked "Joe" what orphan asylum these
crumbs were intended for.
"Not for no orphan 'sylum, sir," he replied with an appreciative grin;
"only for the piggery. We don't keep no pigs oursel's, sir, but the
A'miral on the 'X. Y. Z.' does, an' we all 'elps wi' wot we kin spare.
They sends round a drifter tu pick up the leavin's ev'ry day or two, but
Lor' bless yu', ther' ain't no leavin's since we got our by-producks
macheen a-workin'. If the rest o' the ships don't dish out no more pig
feed an' what we does, the 'X. Y. Z.'s' live stock'll be gettin' so thin
they'll blow away one o' these days. This ain't really no place fer pigs
and gulls no more, sir."
Considerable as the accumulation was, it was loosely sacked in a few
minutes, after which it was carried forward to the hold where the
repacking for shipment was carried on. This consisted largely of
protecting the bottles with straw, forcing small tins inside of large
ones, pouring the grease into larger cans and putting the bones into
stronger sacks. "Joe" said that he called the place his "bonatorium"
partly because bones formed the largest and most valuable item of
shipment, but principally because they were his "favrut produck,"
the one he took the most pride in collecting. Even the few days'
accumulation of refuse on hand was of huge bulk. I saw at once how
important a work was being carried on, and had no envy for the pig or
the gull whose lot it was to live on what is now thrown away by the
Grand Fleet.
Mr. C---- was called away at this juncture, and, left cock of his own
dunghill, "Boney Joe" became at once his own natural self. The sailorly
man-o'-war's-man disappeared in an instant, and only one of the drollest
characters in the British Navy remained behind.
"I'll be showin' yu 'ow I goes out tu drum up me bone trade," he
said, throwing an empty sack over his shoulder and replacing his
beribboned cap with a crumpled velour of the Hombourg type. "Found
it in me pickin's; spose it kum from one o' the orficers," he added
parenthetically, giving the queer headpiece a proprietary pat with his
free hand. "Now 'ere's wot I sing tu 'em. Made it up mysel', too."
With a quick double-shuffle he began footing it up and down the
junk-cluttered deck of the "bonatorium," singing in a voice which cut
the air like the whine of the wind through the radio aerials.
"'Eave out all yer dead an' dyin',
'Eave out all yer bones an' fat,
'Eave out the stiff o' 'Littl' Willie,'
An' I'll give yu my 'at."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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