day or the voyage. I was soon to learn that there was plenty of
rebellious spirit forward, and shrewd, daring fellows eager to lead,
because of piratical greed. Also, she was a hell-ship. It was part of
a hell-ship's routine to thump the crew to the raw edge of mutiny, and
keep them there.

You must understand the _Golden Bough_, and to understand her you must
understand the knock-down-and-drag-out system in vogue on board a good
many American ships of that day, and later. A hell-ship was not just
the result of senseless brutality on the part of the officers. She was
the product of a system. The captain rode high in his owner's esteem
when he could point to the golden results of his stern rule at sea; the
bucko mates were specifically hired to haze the crew, and drew extra
large pay for the job.

It was, of course, a matter of dollars. If the owners did not have to
pay wages to the crew, they would save money, wouldn't they? I suppose
some sleek-jowled, comfortable pillar of church and society first
thought of it, and whispered it into his skipper's ear. And the
skipper whispered it to his mates, and they made that ship so hot the
crew cleared out at the first port or call, leaving their wages behind.
So was the hell-ship born.

For instance: We were thirty men before the mast in the _Golden Bough_,
signed on for the voyage at $25 a month. Of course, we didn't get any
of this wage until the voyage was completed, until the vessel returned
to an American port. Think of the saving to the owners if we deserted
in Hong Kong. They would have no labor bill, practically, for working
the ship from America to China, no labor bill during the months ere she
was ready for sea again. Then when ready to leave Hong Kong, Swope
would ship a new crew, haze them as we were being hazed, and they would
clear out at the next port.

That system worked. It was a money saver, and lasted till the
ascendency of steam, and the passage of tardy laws, ended it. Why,
some skippers--like Yankee Swope---boasted they never paid off a crew.
Talk about efficiency, and reducing overhead costs! Some of those old
windjammer skippers could swap yarns with these factory experts of
to-day, I tell you!

Of course, not all American ships, or even a majority of them, adopted
this system. But enough did to give American ships an evil name among
sailors that has endured to the present day.

And this evil name helped sustain the system. It co