The smacksmen went for tobacco, which is a necessity of life to
them; but the clever Dutchmen soon contrived to introduce other wares.
Vile aniseed brandy--liquid fire--was sold cheap, and many a man who
began the day cool and sober ended it as a raving madman. Mr. Coper, the
Dutch trader, did not care a rush for ready money; ropes, nets, sails
were quite as much in his line, and a continual temptation was held out
to men who wanted to rob their owners. Jim Billings used to get drunk as
often as possible, and he himself told me of one ghastly expedient to
which he was reduced when he and his shipmates were parched and craving
for more poison. A dead man came past their vessel; they lowered the
boat, and proceeded to haul the clothes off the corpse. The putrid flesh
came away with the garments, but the drunkards never heeded. They
scrubbed the clothes, dried them in the rigging, and coped them away for
brandy.
Mr. Coper had other attractions for young and lusty fishermen. There are
certain hounds in France, Holland, and even in our own virtuous
country, who pick up a living by selling beastly pictures.
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