Joseph Conrad, "The Nigger Of The "Narcissus: A Tale Of The Forecastle":
Donkin gulped greedily, glaring over the rim. Belfast made us laugh when with grimacing mouth he shouted:—“Pass it this way. We're all taytottlers here.”
So the sailors are passing the water to each other after the storm. And some of them are saying that it's better than rum.
I couldn't find the word on lexico.com or Merriam-Webster. When I googled it, it showed me the results with different versions of this same book and then another book in some strange English.
Any clues?
teetotalers
(people who abstain from alcohol - merriam-webster.com/dictionary/teetotaler) which may be the joke?