But the shipowners of Puritan New England not infrequently laid stress on the moral character of the men shipped.

Nathaniel Ames, a Harvard graduate who shipped before the mast, records that on his first vessel men seeking berths even in the forecastle were ordered to bring certificates of good character from the clergyman whose church they had last attended.

Beyond doubt, however, this was a most unusual requirement.

More often the majority of the crew were rough, illiterate fellows, often enticed into shipping while under the influence of liquor, and almost always coming aboard at the last moment, much the worse for long debauches.

The men of a better sort who occasionally found themselves unluckily shipped with such a crew, have left on record many curious stories of the way in which sailors, utterly unable to walk on shore or on deck for intoxication, would, at the word of command, spring into the rigging, clamber up the shrouds, shake out reefs, and perform the most difficult duties aloft.
[Illustration: THE BUG-EYE] Most of the things which go to make the sailor's lot at least tolerable nowadays, were at that time unknown.