The Life of a Ship

fancy how difficult it would be to drag such agreat thing into the water by main force. In order to make her slipmore easily, the "ways," down which she slides, are covered with grease.

  Very soon the crowds of people stood in silence, expecting the greatevent of the day; and, as the moment drew nigh, the band, which had beenplaying all morning, suddenly stopped. Davy became very anxious,because he was so little that he could not see in the crowd; but,observing a post near at hand, he struggled towards it and climbed tothe top of it. Here he saw famously. The workmen had begun to knockaway the props; there was just one remaining. At this moment a ladystepped forward with a bottle of wine in her hand to christen the ship.This she did by breaking the bottle against the cutwater; just at thatinstant she began to move. Another second and the _Fair Nancy_ rusheddown the incline, plunged heavily into the water like some awfulsea-monster, and floated out upon her ocean home amid the deafeningcheers of the people, especially of little Davy, who sat on the top ofthe post waving his red cap and shouting with delight.

  After the launch Davy and all the people returned home, and the _FairNancy_ was towed to the "shear-hulk" to have her masts put in. Theshear-hulk is a large ship in which is placed machinery for liftingmasts into other ships. Every one who has looked at the thick masts ofa large vessel, must see at a glance that they could never be put thereby any number of men. Machinery is used to do it, and the shear-hulkcontains that machinery; so that when a ship has to get her masts put upshe is dragged alongside of this vessel. In the meantime Davy renewedhis prayer to his father to let him go to sea, and at last the old manconsented. His mother cried a good deal at first, and hoped that Davywould not think of it; but his father said that it would do him good,and if he became tired of it after the first voyage he could give it up.Davy was overjoyed at this, and went immediately to his friend thefisherman, Ben Block, who was very much delighted too, and took him to ashop to buy clothes and a sea-chest for the voyage.

  "You see, lad," said Ben, "the ship is bound for Quebec with a mixedcargo, and is to come back loaded with timber; and as the season iscoming on, you'll need to get ready quick."

  "That I shall," replied Davy, as they entered a shop. "Ho! shopman,give me a straw hat, and a blue jacket, and a pair o' duck trousers,and--"

  "Stop! stop!" cried Ben, "you're sailing too fast. Take in a reef, mylad." Ben meant by this that he was to proceed a little slower."You'll want a `sou'-wester,'" (an oilskin hat), "and a `dread-nought,'"(a thick, heavy coat), "and things o' that sort."

  After Davy had bought all he wanted, and ordered a sea-chest, he wenthome to his mother, who was very sad at the thought of parting with him.When the day of departure came she gave him a great deal of goodadvice, which Davy promised, with tears in his eyes, to remember. Thenshe gave him a little Bible and a kiss, and sent him away. His fathertook him to the beach, where the ship's boat was waiting for him; and,as the old man took off his cap, and raising his eyes to heaven, prayedfor a blessing on his little son, Davy, with watery eyes, looked aroundat the big ships floating on the water, and, for the first time, wishedthat he was not going to sea.

  In a few minutes he was on board the "outward-bound" ship. This is whatwe say of ships when they are going out to sea; when they return from avoyage we say that they are "homeward-bound." The _Fair Nancy_ was anoble ship, and as she hoisted her snow-white sails to a strong wind, (astiff breeze, as Ben Block called it), she looked like a white cloud.The cloud seemed to grow smaller and smaller as Davy's father and motherwatched it from the shore; then it became like a little white spot onthe faraway sea; then it passed over the line where the water meets thesky, and they saw it no more!

  After Davy had cried a great deal, and wished very often that he had notbeen so determined to leave home, he dried his eyes and began to takegreat interest in the curious things he saw around him. What surprisedhim most of all was, that although he actually was at sea, he could notsee the sea at all! This was because the sides of the ship, which arecalled "bulwarks," were so high that they quite prevented the little boyfrom seeing overboard. Davy soon found an opening in the bulwarks,however, which his friend Ben called the "gang-way," through which hecould see the water and the ships and boats that were sailing there.And when he mounted the high part of the deck in front of the ship,which is called the "forecastle," or when he went upon the high deck atthe stern of the ship, which is called the "poop," then he could see allround. And what a wonderful and new sight it was to Davy! His cottagewas gone! The beach, and the pier where the nets used to hang, weregone. The trees and fields were all gone, and there was nothing butsea, sea, sea, all round, so that the _Fair Nancy_ seemed the only solidthing in the whole wide world! But poor Davy did not look or wonderlong at this, for the breeze freshened, and the waves rose, and the shipplunged, and Davy felt very queer about the stomach! There is a man inevery ship called the "steward," and everybody loves that man, becausehe goes about from morning till night trying to do people good and tomake them happy. He looks after breakfasts, dinners, teas, and suppers.He answers every one who calls, and gets for everybody anything thatthey want. He is never ill, never in a hurry, never in a bad temper; infact, he is a very charming man.

  Now, when the steward saw Davy with a pale face, and red eyes, andawfully seasick, he went up to him with a smile, and said, "Sick, mylad? you'll soon get used to it. Always sick when you first go to sea.Come below and I'll give you summat to do you good, and tumble you intoyour hammock." By going below the good steward meant going below thedeck into the cabin. A ship is just like a large house, divided into anumber of rooms--some of which are sitting rooms, some store andprovision rooms, some kitchens and pantries, closets and cupboards; andthere are two or three flats in some ships, so that you can go up ordown stairs at your pleasure. When Davy went down the ladder or stair,which is called the "companion," and followed the steward through manyrooms full of all kinds of things that seemed to be all in confusion,and saw the sailors sitting, and smoking, and laughing, and talking onchests and tables, he almost believed that he was in a house on shore;but then he remembered that houses on shore don't dance about and roll,first on one side and then on the other, and plunge forwards and thenbackwards; so he sighed and put his hands to his breast, which felt veryuncomfortable.

  "Here's your hammock," said the steward; "all the sailors sleep in thesethings, and this one is yours." So saying, he lifted Davy from theground and tossed him into bed. The "hammock" is a long piece of canvasdrawn in round an iron ring at each end. To this ring a number of cordsare attached, and the hammock is slung by them to the beams of the ship.In the bed thus formed the blankets are put; and a very snug bed it is,as it swings about with the ship. Davy soon fell asleep, but he wasquickly wakened again by the horrible noises on deck. Ropes were thrownabout, men's feet were stamping, pieces of wood were falling, doors werebanging, masts were creaking, the wind was howling; in short, Davythought it must be a terrible storm and that they should all be lost.But the steward said to him, in passing, "It's only a stiff breeze,youngster;" so he turned round and went to sleep again. For two daysand two nights did Davy lie there--very sick! On the morning of thethird day he awoke much refreshed, and felt strongly inclined to eat hisblankets! As he lay wondering how he was to get down out of his hammockwithout breaking his neck, he heard his friend Ben Block conversing witha man in another hammock who had never been to sea before and was very,very sick.

  "Oh! dear me," sighed the sick man, "where are we now?"

  "Don't know," answered Ben; "we've been drove pretty far out of ourcourse to the nor'ard, I guess. It's a dead calm."

  "A dead what?" said the sick man faintly.

  "Why, a dead calm," replied Ben. "When there's no wind it's a calm, andwhen there's no motion at all, either in the air or in the water, exceptthe swell o' the sea, it's a dead calm. D'ye understand?"

  "Is it fine weather, Ben?" cried Davy cheerfully.

  "Yes, lad, it is," replied the sailor.

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bsp; On hearing this Davy sprang, or, as the sailors call it, tumbled out ofbed. He tried to get out of it; but not being used to hammocks, he wasawkward and fell plump on the floor! However, he was not hurt; andthrowing on his jacket, he ran up on deck.

  Well might Davy's heart leap and his voice shout at the beautiful sightthat met his gaze when he reached the forecastle. The sea was like onewide beautiful mirror, in which all the clouds were clearly reflected.The sun shone brightly and glittered on the swell on which the shiprolled slowly; and the only sound that could be heard was the gentleflapping of the