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Forms to be Filled out for Each Interview
FORMA
Circumstances of Interview
STATE New York
NAME OF WORKER William Wood
MNOWSS 7012 67th Place, Glendale, e
L I
L.
DATE November 14, 1938
SUBJECT Starbuck Perry, Hard-boiled Mate
1. Date and time of interview
Oct. 31, 1938 1 P. M. Nov. 1, 1938 11 A. M.
Nov. 2, 1938 11 A. M. Nov. 3, 1938 11 A. M.
2. Place of interview
The Sailors' Snug Harbor, Staten Island, N. Y.
3. Name and address of informant
Henry Perry, The Sailors' Snug Harbor, L. I. N. Y.
4. Name and address of person, if any, who put you in
touch with informant.
Captain W. F. Flynn, Governor, Sailors' Snug Harbor.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
None
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
6. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
The interviews took place in an anteroom of Hospital Ward 2; on
the hospital balcony; and at the bedside of Mr. Perry. The
anteroom is unfurnished, except with chairs in which sit a few
of the inmates of the ward who are able to take recreation
without assistance.. A door leads to the balcony, which overlooks
the beautiful grounds.
(more)
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, for any of the forms, each
bearing the proper heading and the number to' which the material refers.)
.‘,..•C
_
FORM A CONTINUED
The Sailors' Snug Harbor, a home for aged aid disabled
mariners, stands on the north shore of Staten Island, New York.
It is situated on the banks of the Kill Von Kull, a narrow channel
connecting Newark Bay with the Upper Bay of New York Harbor. The
grounds cover an area of one hundred acres, and are entirely enclosed.
About sixty acres are laid out in lawns, flower beds, and shade trees.
More than fifty buildings stand on this portion of estate, and
represent expenditures of several millions of dollars.
Eight main buildings, used as dormitories and mess- halls,
are connected by corridors of brick and stone, thus obviating the
necessity of the Home's guests walking outside during inclement
weather. The term guests is used advisedly; for while this is a
benevolent institution, it does not conform to the general conception
of a place of charity. The old sailors are treated with due respect
and receive every care and consideration. They are provided with
all reasonable comforts. The rooms are btight and cheerful, and
reflect that scrupulous neatness and cleanliness which is characteristic
of seamen, ashore or afloat. Most of the sleeping -rooms have but
two occupants. A generous table is maintained and food of excellent
quality furnished; in testimony whereof the unstinted praise of the
residents themselves is heard by all who choose to mention the
subject of cuisine.
The guests of Sailors' Snug Harbor are not bound by any
drastic rules or regulations, nor are any of them obliged to perform
any labor except the work of keeping clean their quarters. Even this
slight requirement is imposed only on the men who are in good physical
condition. Men in poor health or suffering under the infirmities of
age are exempt. The dormitories are rigidly inspected daily by the
FORM A CONTINUED -2-
matron and her watchful -eyed assistants. The immense kitchens, with
their shining apparatus, are presided over by a chef; and a number
of excellent cooks take pride in preparing nice meals. The menus
are arranged by an expert dietician.
Residents of this Institution are allowed the fullest
liberty compatible with good order and their own peace and comfort.
Subject to minor restrictions, they may go and come at their please,
between the hours of 7 A. M. and 9 P. M. Should a guest desire to
remain away later than nine O'clock, or if he wishes to absent
himself over night, or longer, he must anticipate his procedure
and get special permission and a pass, which maybe obtained almost
for the asking.
Situated within its large acreage, the name has its own
bakery, dairy, storage warehouse, laundry, power plant, hospital
and dispensary. A church, modelled after S. Pads of London,
and one -sixteenth the size of that famous cathedral, holds religious
services on Sundays. There is also a chapel, where prayer -meetings
are conducted on certain week -nights and where the members of the
church choir meet to practice. A commodious auditorium with a
large seating capacity provides entertainment in the way of moving
pictures and occasional concerts. Many stage -plays have been
presented here, too; and, incidentally, the old mariners still
sing the praises of the W. P. A. Theatre Project and Ve histrionic
ability of its members who, until recently, have been giving,
performances for their benefit. Much regret is expressed of the
discontinuance of these shows.
A considerable part of the domain is under cultivation,
and most of the vegetables consumed are grown upon this land. Cattle
stables and piggeries are situated within the grounds. The animals
FORM A CONTINUED -4-
Although the will was made in 1801, litigation and other
causes delayed the purchase of the site for the Home on Staten
Island until thirty years later. The first building was erected in
1831-32, and during the year following, fifty seamen were admitted
to the Institution. Since that time, it has provided for nearly gli.ite.*)
sailors. It's present guests are ex -mariners of various
ranks. Among them are a great many former masters of all tjpe of
housand
_
vessels that sail the seas.
FORM !a
Personal History of Informant
STATE New York
NAIVE OF VIORKER William Wood
Amcgss 7012 -67th Place, Glendale, L. I.
DATE November 14, 1938
Sip3JECT STARBUCK PERRY, HARD-BOILED MATE
1. Ancestry
Colonial
2. Place and date of birth Brooklyn, N. Y. 1853
3. Family He has no living relatives
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
4. Places lived in, lth datee
Has lived, temporarily, in various
u
seaport towns in the U. S. and in 'AvIsher countries.
5. Education, with dates
Scholastic education, extremely limited;
education of experience, profound.
6. 03cupations and accomplishments, with dates
ocean trip in 1874.
7. Special skills and interests
8. Community and religious activities
Mariner. He made his first
Unquestionably, a skillful seaman
and old-time navigator.
None
9. Description of informant See Form D, (Extra Comment) this date.
10. Other Points gained in interview
FORM C
Text of Interview ‘Unediv..e:.1)
sluaE New York
NAN.X OF WORKER William Wood
AmuSs 7012 67th Place, Glendale, L. I.
DATE
SUBJECT
November 14, 1938
STARBUCK PERRY, HARD-BOILED MATE
HIS NARRATIVE AS TOLD TO WILLIAM WOOD
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
Sailing -ships ard a thing of the past. Of all the
thousands of wind -jammers that have sailed the seas, only about
a dozen deep -water vessels are in commission today. A few of these
are in the grain trade, running from Australia to some of the
European ports, and I understand that they are owned by one man.
Even now there are a few schooners in the coastwise trade, here
and in other parts of the world; but these don't count.- What I'm
talking about are the square-riggers: barques, four -masted barques,
barquentines, brigs, and full-rigged ships, three, four and five
masted. They're gone. And it won't be many years until the
last of the men who used to sail in them will be gone too. The
fine old wooden vessels were gradually replaced, first by iron
and then by steel ships; later on by steamers.
Son, I'm eighty-five years old. From the time I was ten
until I got to be about twenty-one I knocked around the water front
and sailed in coast vessels. Sixty-four years ago I made my first
passage in an ocean-going ship, The Chief*. She was a Britisher
and had been a full-rigged ship one time, although she was changed
-2
to a barque before I sailed .in her. Since then, until I quit
going to sea, a few years ago, I've been in nearly every kind
of vessel that floats. I've sailed the seven seas and been in all
the principal ports of the world. Yes, and dozens of smaller ports
that are rarely visited by ocean-going ships. I used to sign on
chiefly in the capacity of mate, or second mate, or boatswain, or
able seaman; according to how good shipping was and how badly I
needed a ship.
I was considered a tough, rugged man and always was a
hard drinker when ashore. I have had every blanky blank bone
in my body broken& My left ribs and right ribs have been smashed.
My right arm has been broken. My right leg has been broken three
times, my left leg once. The last smash-up that I had was only
a few years ago, shortly after I quit the sea. A 1:;lanky blank
automobile ran me down and broke both legs above the ankles. Waitl
I'm going to take down my trousers. It's allright with me if it's
allright with you. I want to show you the holes in my thigh.
That's where I broke my leg when I fell from the main yard and
landed on deck. I'll tell you ubout that, later. They spliced the
thigh -bone in a London hospital, and did a mighty good job. Those
dents that you see are where the silver tubes came through; after
the operation they left them there to carry off the discharge. They
made a groove in one part of the thigh -bone and laid the other
part in it, fastening the two together with three ivory pegs, and
leaving a drain so that the marrow could circulate from one part of
the bone to the other. Well, they saved the leg, but it was
shortened by a couple of inches. It had to be either that or
amputation.
Now look at my skull! Ever see a hole like that in a man's
-4
Nova Scotia ships were among the worst. They used to work
the Hell out of their crews. English sailors hated the sight of
a "Blue Nose", as Nova Scotiamen were called. They would never ship
aboard one of them unless dead drunk or dead broke. Boarding masters
used to reap a harvest. They collected a month's wages in advance
from the captain for every man they put aboard his ship. It often
happened that a part of this money was owed by the seamen for board;
but no matter how little was actually due the boarding-house master,
he always kept the whole month's advance. Sometimes he would furnish
his departing boarders with a few minor articles of clothing; a
couple of pairs of "lox, maybe, and some soap and matches. Occasionally,
if the man was only slightly in debt, he would receive a bottle of
liquor.
Well, I'm getting a little tired, Soh. I'll tell you
some more when you come out to -morrow. I like to talk to a fellow
like you. You seem to know something about a ship. What did you say
your name was? Oh, yes. I remember.
111•115
Good morning! Why I'm feeling pretty good. Yes, I had
a good night's sleep. Are you the young fellow I was talking to
the other day? Yesterday, was it? Oh, yes, So it was! What did
you tell me your name was Yes, yes; I remember. What was I
telling you about? When I got shanghaied on the Nova Scotia barque
John Peacock, at Liverpool? Oh, yes.
Well, when we got to Rio Janeiro, the yellow fever was
raging. The people were dying like flies, ashore. We lost two or
three of our crew, and most of the others had narrow escapes, As
for me, I never had a day's sickness. Some of those South American
-5
ports were dangerous places to go to in them days. Rio Janeiro
and Santos were among the worst. It was very hard for a ship to
get a crew of men in the United States or in England, if they knew
she was bound for either one of these places. That's one of the
reasons so many men got shanghaied.
We left Rio
hundred miles up the
There we loaded rice
and went to Bassein, in British Burma, a
Irawadi River, to Bullock Sons' rice plantations.
for Europe, and sailed for Queenstown for orders.
Cargoes were sometimes sold a dozen times over from the day of loading
till the day of discharge. You never knew what was to be your
unloading port until you reached Queenstown or Falmouth, or whatever
place you were sent to for orders. In this case it was Queenstown;
but we never got there.
From the time we left the Indian Ocean until we arrived in
British waters I experienced one of the hardest passages I had in
my whole travels at sea. Nothing but head winds and bad weather.
To make matters worse we ran short of provisions and water, and
ninety days after leaving Bassein all hands were put on short rations.
All hands except the skipper got the scurvy. And he would have got
it himself, only that he had a good supply of whiskey in his cabin.
That's how he spent a lot of the money that should have been used
for provisions for the crew. By the time we sighted Cape Finisterre,
on the North-west coast of Spain, most of the men were so weak from
sickness and privation that we could hardly work the ship. The
distance to Queenstown was then about six hundred miles, and we still
had head winds. For the next few days we ran into dark, hazy
weather, with never a sight of the sun by day, nor the stars at night.
The skipper couldn't take an observation, and we had to sail by dead
reckoning. The men were so exhausted that they hardly had strength
-6
enough to brace the yards around when we tacked ship. We were
hoping to make the Fastnet Lighthouse, near Cape Clear, on the
Irish coast, and run on in to Queenstown; but we got away to the
westward of our course, and the first day the sunq.,ame out and let
the Old Man get his correct positioniwe found ourselves about a
hundred miles to westward of the north coast of Ireland.
This was the last straw. We were a hundred and sixty-five
days out from Burma, and for two solid weeks we had been living on a
small ration of maggoty biscuit and a half pint of the rotten dregs
of the fresh watertLydk. The harness casks (beceptacles in which
were kept the salt beef .00W4.414) had been empty for more than a month.
The supply of coffee and sugar had run out long ago* So had the
dried peas and beans.
We could see the smoke of a steamer to westward. She was
coming in our direction. Just as she was about to cross our bow,
one of our men hoisted the flag of distress, the Union Jack upside
down. The skipper yelled, at us to haul it down again, but no one
paid any attention to him, and when he saw the determined look on our
faces I guess he hadn't the nerve to make a move to haul it dolur
himself.
The steamer slowed down and stopped her engines when she got
within hailing distance, and her captain called out through a megaphone:
"What's the matter?" Our skipper made nouply. The question was
repeated, and one of our sailors said: "Captain, answer that steam-
boatl If you don't, we willI"
Well, our Old Man could see there was nothing else could
be done, so he up and hollered out that we were bound for Queenstown,
out of our course, out of provisions and water, all hands half starved
-7
and sick with the scurvy. So then, when the steamer's captain said
he was bound for Belfast, and offered to take us in t091, the Old Man
had to consent. He'd have had a mutiny on his hands if he'd refused.
The steamer got our tow -line aboard, and she sent some of her crew
aboard of us to help make our sails fast. Most of our men were too
weak to go aloft. The boat that brought them alongside carried
enough provisions and water to last us till we got to Belfast, where
we arrived about thirty-six hours later. We were taken to the
Royal Infirmary where most ot us had to stay for treatment.
I don't know what happened to the John Peacock after that,
but her agents in Liverpool sent a man to Belfast to pay off the
crew, and after I left the infirmary I came home to New York as a
passenger. I'll tell you some more to -morrow. No, I'm not so
awful tired. Yes, I'm feeling fine. I guess I'll lie down aid
rest awhile.
MID
elm
MEI
Good Morningl No, I'm not sick. I was just lying down
to pass the time away. What was I telling you about yesterday?
When I left the John Peacock, and came home a passenger to New York?
Oh, yes. After that, I shipped in the William F. Babcock, an American
vessel with three skysail yards. A fine ship she was, and I spent three
years in her, first as A. B. and later as boatswain. I left her in
New York.
Sometime in 1879 I signed on in the American ship, John T.
Berry,, of Thomaston, Maine. I joined her in New York. We were bound
for London. We made a smart passage across the Atlantic, and were
within about sixty miles of the Scilly Islands, off the south-west
-8
coast of England, running before the wind, which was blowing up
stronger all the time. We'd already taken in the to' gallantsails,
brailed in the spanker, and made the cross -jack fast. Our skipper,
Captain Newell Jordaniordered us to clew up the mainsail and lay
aloft to make it fast.
This job was completed, and most of the men were on their
way down to the deck. Three of us were still on the yard when the
main lower -topsail sheet carried away, without the slightest warning.
The three of us were knocked off the foot rope and sent sprawling to
the deck. Our fall was broken by some of the running gear, or we
should have been killed on the spot. The other two fellows landed.
clear on the deck. They were pretty badly bruised up. One brokeA an
arm, and the other one knocked some of his teeth out. But I struck
my head on the edge of the pump, fracturing my skull and breaking
my thigh. That's how I got this hole in my head, and that's how
I came to have this leg spliced.
Since we were only about forty-eight hourst-run from London,
with a strong, fair wind, Captain Jordan decided not to attempt to put
us ashore at a nearer port, but to take us right on to the Thames.
My own case was by far the worst of the three, and the Captain fixed
up a bunk for me in the cabin, so he could give me what treatment he
could. When we dropped anchor in the river we were sent ashore in a
tug boat. I was on a stretcher, and unconscious. When I came to in
the Poplar Hospital, I heard the doctors figuring out how long I
could live. Someone had given them my pedigree and told them what a
with
fighter I was, and what a tough bird, aid how I used to butt my head
in many a free-for-all fight in the saloons of Liverpool and New York.
-9.-
I heard one doctor say: "This fellow is a butter, but he won't
butt any more." But I fooled 'em, Son; I fooled fem. Some hole
in my head, aint It?
I left the hospital several months later, and went to stay
at a boarding house kept by an American fellow named Louis Nathan.
It was located in Grace's Alley, across the street from the Well Street
Sailors' Home. Louis kept a saloon in connection with his boarding
house. He had a couple of very pretty daughters who acted as bar-
maids. They were clever and refined girls, too, and many a sailor
Man got stuck on them ladies. Nathan was a pretty good sort of a
fellow. His house was well kept and he served good meals to his
boarders. Of course, he took their advance notes when they shipped
away, the same as any other boarding -master would; but he tried to
make them comfortable while they were in port.
I got to drinking pretty heavily while I was still receiving
hospital treatment, and the doctor advised me to move into the Sailors'
Home, where there was no liquor and where the rules and regulations
were more strict. So I took his advice; and when I was well enough
to go home, the American Consul paid my passage to New York.
After a few months ashore I went as boatswain on an iron
vessel, a full-rigged ship, called the Tillie E. Starbuck built
on the Delaware. We went out to San Francisco. Half of h6r crew
were hoboes, aid I had a Hell of a time making them fly around and
trying to make sailors out of them. Maybe those birds weren't
happy when we reached the Golden Gatet I knew that some of them
would remember me for a long time.
I made three or four voyages with Captain Curtis in the
Starbuck running around the Horn, between New York and ports on
the Pacific Coast. At the end of the first. trip he made me second
-10
mate, and later I was first mate. You didn't have to have a ticket
(certificate) to ship as mate or second mate of an American vessel
in those days. The master was the only man that had to have a
Government License. British laws were stricter; and both mates
and second mates had to pass examinations before the Board of Trade
in order to get their tickets. American captains of merchantmen
used to hire their mates on their reputation as seamen and their
ability to handle a crew. And if there were some hard-boiled. mates
and bullying sldppers and no doubt there were plenty of them,
especially in the Cape Horn trade you can bet your life they
were needed to handle some of the crews we used to get.
Some skippers and mates went to extremes and turned their
ships into floating Hells. Many a sailor has been driven to desperation
by being constantly picked on and bullied around by SOMB mate that
took a dislike to him; and many a victim of this kind of hazing
has "accidentally" dropped a marling -spike from aloft on to the
head of a mate that was making his life miserable. And many a mate has
"fallen" over the ship's side on a dark night, and nobody has known
how it happened when he came to be missed at the change of the
watches. A good many of these fellows got too handy with a belaying
pin. And that's the reason why some ships had such a bad reputation
that they couldn't get crews. As a usual thing, the man that understood
his work and was willing to do his duty got along all right, but many
of those fellows that the boarding-house keepers used to dump aboard
of a ship must have thought they were going on a picnic. They didn't
know their work, and they were too damned lazy to try to learn.
There used to be a saying: "He that goes to sea for pleasure might
as well go to Hell for pastime." Some of those fellows found it to
be true.
-11
Some time after I quit the Tille E. Starbuck, I was mate
of another ship, and we were lying at anchor off Astoria, at the
mouth of the Columbia River. The skipper was down at Portland,
Oregon, visiting some friends, and I was left in charge. We were
short of several men, and I sent word to a boarding-house ashore to
send me five sailors. After they came aboard I noticed that there
were two hoodlums among them who had been with me on the Tillie E.
Starbuck and as soon as they found out that I was the mate they
wanted to go ashore again. They didn't have a stitch of clothing
except the dungarees they stood up in. I told them they could
get rigged out later on, from the Slop chest; but they still didn't
want to stay, and when I went to put them to work they jumped over-
board and swam ashore. They went to the United States Marshall
and brought charges against me, saying that I drove them over the
side. They told him that I had t errorized them and that my name
was Henry Starbuck. When I went ashore to appear and answer the
charges, and when I told the magistrate that my name was Henry Perry
and not Starbuck he decided that the men were lying. He held that
if they hadn't been aboard long enough to know my name, it was very
unlikely that I terroriged them or drove them overboard. That was
how I got the nickname of Starbuck Perry.
Good morningl Pretty good, thanks. My ankles are bothering
me a little, that's all. They've never been the same since that blanky
blank automobile ran me down. But I'm feeling fine. What did you
tell me your name was?
San Francisco used to be a wild place in the 'eighties,
especially along the Barbary Coast. All kinds tough joints and dives
-12
of every description. Every second place was a beer and whiskey joint
or a rough dance -hall. I was on the beach there in 1883. There was
a brand new ship in port called the William H. Smith, an American vessel,
loaded with grain for Europe. I was drinking with her second mate
one night, in a saloon on Pacific Street. There was another fellow, who
seemed to know him pretty well, drinking with us, and we had quite a
few rounds. This other chap was a foreigner of some sort, and he spoke
in broken English. He had a bad look in his eyes. I could stand a
lot of booze in them days without it's taking much effect on me, but
I noticed that the other two were getting pretty well loaded, and from
scraps of conversation I made out that the foreigner had some kind of
grudge against the second mate. He had just enough in him to loosen up
his tongue. After a while, the second mate says: "We'll have one
more drink, and then I'm going to go down aboard."
While the bartender was serving us I heard the foreigner say,
half out loud and half to himself: "You'll never get aboareihat ship,
you blanky blank so and sol" And I noticed his face looked uglier than
ever; he must have thought he had the other fellow where he wanted him.
I says to myself, "I'm going to watch this hoodlum."
The second mate bought the last round of drinks, and as soon as
he emptied his glass he said good -night and started out through the door
of the saloon nearest the street that led down towards the wharf where
the William H. Smith lay. He hadn't been gone but a couple of minutes
when this other blanker swallowed the rest of his drink, and out he goes
through the same door. I wasn't quite sure whether he'd been bluffing,
or what, when he'd passed the remark about the second mate never going
to get .aboard of his ship; but anyway, I called for another whisky,
and when I'd gulped it down I went outside and walked at a pretty quick
-13
stride towards the docks. I wished, afterwards, that I'd started a
little sooner.
It was dark now, late at night, and the road to the ship was
poorly lighted. When I got to within a few hundred yards of the wharf
I could hear someone hollering, and I could see under one of the lamp
lights a couple of figures rolling on the ground. I knew something was
wrong and I put on speed until I came up alongside of them. There
was the second mate of the William H. Smith, down on his back on.the
flagstones, and this foreign so-and-so knifing the Hell out of him. I
grabbed him by both shoulders and pulled him off, throwing him down at
the same time. But he jumps to his feet like a cat and makes a lunge
at me with the knife. I tried to catch a -hold of his wrist and he caught
me right in the palm of the hand...Did I show you the scar? Here it is/
I came near getting the lockjaw.
The second mate was moaning and hollering on the flags, and my
hand was bleeding like a stuck pig. But I didn't pay much attention to
it at the time; I was too mad to feel the pain. I pulls out my own
knife and opens it up...no, it wasn't a sheath knife, it was a jack-
knife; I never carried my sheath knife on me, ashore. Well, I made
for the murderous blanker and bore down on him with all myw eight. I
had him on the ground in two seconds. He still had the hand free with
the knife in it, and he tried to hack at me, but I put my blade in him
first;stuck it into his groin.
Someone must have heard the commotion and spread the alarm, and
it wasn't long before the police were on the scene and rushing the three
of us off to a hospital. I lay there for about a month, and the doctors
thought sure I was going to get lockjaw and go the voyage. The second
mate was in there longer; he had several wounds. The foreigner whoEd
started the trouble died three weeks after he got to the hospital.
-15
Jim Murphy was master and owner of her. She was the first American
ship to have screw rigging, the shrouds and stays being made fast
with turn -buckles instead of deadeyes and lanyards. She also had
a spike boom, instead of the usual bowsprit and jibboon in two different
pieces. She afterwards became famous for her quick passages; no doubt
you have seen pictures, aad maybe models of her. There(were plenty of
them made.
Little did I think, as I stood admiring the Shenandoah, and.
wondering at her fine lines and her modern equipment, as she was waiting
to take on a cargo for her first voyage, that I myself should sail in
her, twenty-one years later, on her last assage- from San Francisco
around the Horn to Bath, Maine. I guess I'll tell you about that when
you call to -morrow.
Good morning, Mister...what's your name again? Ain't it funny
how well I can remember the names of so many of the ships I sailed in,
and the names of their skippers, and the year I was in thev, and the
ports we went to? And yet I can't seem to remember your name from one
day to another, and it's an easy name to think of, too. I guess I must
be getting oldl well, eighty-five isn't a bad age for a man that has
been knocked uround the world like I have been and has had his bones
all broken like I have. I'm feeling pretty good. I'd be fine if I could
get the ache out of these ankles of mine. Oh, yes. You want me to tell
you about how I came to sail in the Shenandoah when she made her last
passage around the Horn. That was in 1911, twenty-one years after she
was built.
Early in 1911, I was in Philadelphia, staying at Mother
Lanagan's boarding house, waiting to get a ship. She had two sons;
one was a runner for the house and the .other (one was a politician. Every
-16
sailors' boarding house had its runner in those days. Sometimes the
proprietor himself acted in that capacity; but if he was too busy, or
if he had a separate business to attend to, such as a saloon or a
grocery or a sailors' clothing establishment, he had to hire someone
to act as a runner. This fellow had plenty of work on his hands. He
had to board all the in -coming ships --the homeward -bound vessels -and
mingle with the sailors, present his card and tell them about the merits
of the boarding house he worked for; what good, clean rooms it had,
what nice grub was served at the table, and how well the boarders
were taken care of in general. Then the runner had to build up a
good following for his house, among the captains and mates. A sailors'
boarding house was like an employment agency. When a skipper or a
mate wanted to hire a man or a whole crew of men he knew that a
good, reliable boarding -master would find ways and means to supply him.
So it was part of the runner's job to make himself popular with the
officet rs as well as with the crew.
When sailors got paid off after a long voyage, they usually
had a pretty good time ashore while their money lasted. Sailors were
never very good hands at saving money; although some of course were
more careful than others. I've known of men coming ashore after a
long voyage, and having a pay day of four or five hundred dollars; and
then going through it all in two or three days, and not having the
price of even a shirt or a pair of socks to show for all the hardships
they had experienced at sea. Some men just threw their money away,
squandered it; bought drinks for everyone in the house, round after
round. Other men were more careful and had sense enough to rig them-
selves out with some good clothing before they started on a spree.
Then there were some fellows who drank in moderation. They had a good tetf
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ashore, and their money lasted a long while. Some few others were
teetotalers.
The men who spent their money quickest were the first to have
to go to sea again. If a fellow hadn't had sense enought to pay his
boarding -master for a few weeks in advance before spending his voyage's
earnings, he didn't stay ashore very long. It w as the runner's job to
see to it that he got shipped out before his board bill ate up the
advance note that he got from the skipper when he signed on for another
trip. Fellows like that didn't have much choice of vessels, they had
to take almost any ship that they were offerred, whether she was old
or uncomfortable or leaky, or had a bad reputation for working the Hell
out of her crew.
Some sailors steered clear of boarding houses. They went to
Sailors' Homes, where the officials had a watchful eye for the welfare
of seamen and tried to persuade them to keep their money in a bank and
draw out just a little at a time as they needed it. These Sailors'
Homes usually were located near the principal shipping offices, and
they had their own special agent or employment officer who helped the
guests find a ship when they were ready to go to sea. There are good
Sailors! Homes to -day in all the principal port of the world. There is
one in connection with the Seamen's Institute, at 25 South Street.
There still are sailors' boarding houses, but not the old
kind that I used to know when I went to sea for a living. They have
passed away along with sailing ships, deep -water seamen and long voyages.
Coming back to Mother Lanagan's house in Philadelphia: I was
doing a little work for her one day, hanging a door, when her son who
was runner for the house comes in and says: "Perry, go down to the
William P. Fry, four -masted barque, and see Captain Jim Murphy; he
wants a second mate." Well, I was so anxious to ship out that I
-18
didn't wait even to put my coat on. I hurried to the pier where she
was lying, and climbed aboard.
Captain Murphy sat in the after companionway, reading a news-
paper, and he looked up as I walked along the quarterdeck. "Hello,
Perry" he says, "what are you doing here?"
"Captain Murphy," says I, "I hear you want a second mate,
and that's the reason I hurried over to see you, without waiting to
put a coat on."
"Listen, Perry,It he says, "I'm not taking this m-shi/3 to sea.
There's another skipper coming to take charge of her. I'm going home
to Bath, Maine, to rest up for three or four months, and then I'm
going overland to 'Friscc to bring back the Shenandoah. She's pretty
well worn-out and strained after twenty years of the Cape Horn trade,
so I'm going to fetch her home kind turn her into a barge. Meanwhile,
I'll tell you what you do. I'll give you a note to Captain Townsend,
of the four -masted barque, the Mangareva. He wants a second mate,
and the ship is loading for San Francisco. You take the job he'll
give it to you on my recommendation. When you get out there, watch for
me; I'll take you home with me on the Shenandoah."
Well, I went out to the coast on the Melgareva. We made the
passage in a,hundred and twenty days, which wasn't so bad, considering
the hard time we had beating around the Horn that trip. I stayed with
Captain Townsend while the vessel was unloading, aid just about the
time the last of her cargo was out, Captain Murphy arrived from. the
East and took me back with him as second mate of the old Shenandoah.
When we got home he dismantled her and turned her into a barge; and
that ended the career of one of the finest American ships that ever
sailed on salt water. Tha was twenty-seven years ago, and since then
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all that were left of the fine old ships have been turned into barges
or have been broken up. What do we need with sailors to -day? There
ailA no vessels. Nothing but steamboats.
Yesl I'd like to go to sea again if I wasn't so damned
old. COMB and see me again sometime. I like to tal4 to a man who
knows something about a ship. What did you say your name was?
FORK
FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
EY: tr:), Comment
STATE NEW YORK
NAME OF wortma William Wood
MMNTSS 7012 -67th Place Glendale, L. I. New York
DATE
November 14, 1938
SUBJECT STARBUCK PERRY, HARD*BOILED MATE
"I remember the black wharves and the slips*
And the sea -tides tossing free;
And the beauty and mystery of the ships,
And the magic of the sea."
My Lost Youth.
How aptly befitting are these words of Longfellow to the
recollections of Henry Perry Starbuck Perry once a hard-boiled
mate of the wind ships; intrepid seafarer of a day gone by. Even now
clutched in the inexorable grip of Father Time, his sturdy frame bowed
by the ponderous weight of eighty-five years; racked in body by the
cumulative effects of a host of misadventures; weather-beaten and
tempest -worn by the buffetings of many a Cape Horn gale; he rests
among his memories, in the tranquil serenity of The Sailors' Snug
Harbor, on Staten Island; *strong of heaAt'and unbroken in spirit.
Henry Perry has been in so many ships thati/s astonishing
how he can recall their names, the names of their captains, and the
ports visited. His faculty for remembering dates and places is almost
uncanny; but this mental attribute of his applies only to the years of
long ago, and is in keen contrast to his forgetfulness of current affairs
FORM D CONTINUED -2-
And recent happenings. Despite his age, the old fellow's muscular
frame still bears witness to what once must have been a very powerful
physique. Nature has endowed him with a magnificent constitution;
and although he is receiving medical treatment at the present time,
In one of the infirmary wards in the hospital at Sailors' Snug Harbor,
los is by no means as enfeebled or decrepit as are many of his fellow
inmates who are several years his junior.
He seems to dmrive a peculiar and almost morbid pleasurd
in displaying the many physical evidences he has of his numerous
encounters with the elements. Who shall say that the old man is not
entitled to this melancholy satisfaction? The circumstances in which
ha fractured his skull were harrowing enough to kill an ordinary
human being. The miserable stabbing affray on the Barbary Coast, as
a result of which he narrowly escaped death from lockjaw; and the
aftermath, his imprisonment in Folsom Penitentiary: these gruelling
experiences might have broken many a less courageous spirit; might have
embittered, eternally, a less resolute and philosophic mind.
This old votary of Neptune received little or no school
training. He attended only the lower grades. H4s high school was
a skysail yard; his university, the deck of a wind -jammer. At ten
he was rustling freight on the wharves of Brooklyn. Two years later
he was sailing in fishing smacks and coastal schooners. At twenty-one
he was battling with the "rolling forties" in mid -Atlantic. But none
lobo have met and conversed with him, and heard his narratives, could
dare to say that Henry Perry is not a well educated man. None could
accuse him of being in, -articulate, nor of poverty of vocabulary.
He rambles, at times, into the vernacular, and his
SOmmmar is by no means faultless: he is a seaman, not a college
professor. Hp stories are savored with a delightful sprinkling of
FORM D CONTINUED
01 profanity; just enough to add zest and give emphasis to some of his
assertions. He is cheerful friendly and congenial; and his general manner
and bearing convey the impression that, in former days, he probably
observed all those unwritten laws of hospitality which ever have governed
the men who go down to the sea in ships.
Sheltered at last, from all the perils of the mighty deep,
safe at anchor in the peaceful haven of The Sailors' Snug Harbor,
Starbuck Perry waits and watches, undismayed, while the sun gradually
dips toward the western horizon.