Out on the yards sailors were "bending on" the new sails, the sailsBob and Betty had seen being made at the sail loft. The whole workseemed to them a wonderful confusion of lines and ropes and pulleys andtackle. Captain Hawes tried to explain what each rope meant and how itwas used. But there were too many; it was all too confusing. Eachrope, he told them, had its own name; every sailor had to know them tobe able to do his work.
The riggers built trim little rope ladders from the rail to thecrosstrees by lashing small "ratlines" to the heavy "shrouds." The"stays" and "shrouds," of course, were to hold the great mastsin place. The children wondered at it all, but didn't pretend tounderstand it, though Bob was especially interested, for climbing heunderstood, and such climbing was far ahead of anything the biggest boyin his school could do.
They delighted in the cook's kitchen, the "galley." Such a compact,neat little room, where the most ingenious shelves and lockers werearranged, in which to hold everything needed in the way of dishes andpots and pans. The stove was chained down solidly so that no stormmight upset it and cause fire, the cook explained.
To Betty, the "galley" was the most interesting thing about the ship;it pleased her housekeeping instincts, though it did seem strange tosee a sailor cook.
WHALING
The city children never wearied of Captain Hawes's stories of hisvoyages, and the Captain, with such good listeners, never weariedtelling of them,--a perfect combination.
He told of how when a young man he used to go whaling. "Of course youknow what whales are, big sea animals, you couldn't call them fish,often sixty or seventy feet long, 'as long as a big house,' hugecreatures who lived in the northern or southern seas, though once in awhile a stray one had been known to come into the Sound, not far fromhere."
Now the children were really excited. "Oh, if only one should happen tocome this summer!" The Captain said that would be just a chance; it washardly a thing you could count on.
When the ship reached the far-away seas where whales were to be found,"lookouts" were stationed aloft at the masthead to watch for them.When one was sighted the lookout shouted, "There she blows"; for thewhales have a habit of blowing up spray when they come to the surfaceto breathe, then the boats were lowered and away the sailors wentafter the whale. When they came up with him they rowed as close as theydared, and the harpooner in the bow of the boat hurled his harpoon intothe big creature's side.
The whale at once made a great commotion, slashing about and beatingup the water, then diving deep down. The sailors "paid out" the ropeattached to the harpoon as the whale went down. Sometimes they had tocut it to keep from being dragged under. But when this didn't happenthe whale would come up after a while and start away dragging the boatalong at a terrific speed. In time he would get tired and the boatwould again be rowed near, and a lance thrust into his side until hewas quite dead.
It was all exciting and dangerous work, for sometimes the whale wouldattack the boat and splinter it to pieces with a blow of his tail, andthe men, often badly hurt, be thrown into the sea, and sometimes lost.The dead whale was towed off to the ship, here he was moored to theside, and the body cut up. The great pieces of fat blubber "tried out,"that is, melted in pots over the fire on the deck, and the oil run offinto barrels and stowed away in the hold.
LOADING THE SHIP
Captain Hawes made the children a little toy schooner which theysailed in the coves along the beach. He showed them just how to "trim"the sails and set the rudder, so that the boat would "tack" and sailagainst the wind, "on the wind," he called it.
About this time they heard that the new ship, now all rigged and withall sails in place, had been taken to the neighboring port and wastaking on her cargo for a long voyage. As they wanted to see the shipagain, the Captain took them on this little journey to see the workbeing done at the docks.
Loading a ship is always a strenuous and hurly-burly affair, with muchbustle, shouting, hauling, pushing, and pulling. The children, underPatsey's lead, found a good point of vantage on top of some boxes, andwatched the work.
Busy "stevedores," who had charge, were hurrying the "longshoremen,"who rolled barrels, and carried bags up the gangplank into the ship, tobe snugly stowed away between decks. Bales and boxes were being hoistedover the rail, to be lowered through the hatches into the hold. Thedonkey engine buzzed, the mate shouted orders, and everything, tothe children, seemed confusion, but it was orderly confusion, for thework was rapidly going ahead. The great quantity of goods which wentaboard astonished Bob and Betty; they had never seen so many boxes,barrels, bales, and bags before. And yet this was only the beginning,for the Captain told them that even at this rate it would still takemany days to load the ship.
When the first of the cargo went aboard, the vessel sat high out ofthe water, but when all should be in and stowed safely away, shewould settle deep down to her "water line." This was where the greenand black paint met. All this had been planned before she was built,Captain Hawes explained; the ship designer knew just how she should sitin the water when loaded; there was no guesswork about it.
The ship was to go on an Eastern voyage. He had often been out there,away off in the China seas, where strange craft came about you: junkswith their odd, high sails, their yellow sailors with "pigtails" downtheir backs, everything so different from our part of the world.
BURNED AT SEA
In the evenings, as Captain Hawes sat smoking his pipe, he would tellthe children of strange lands he had visited in his voyages, and thensuggest that they look up these places in their geographies, and thisstudy, which before was a task, took on a new interest for Bob andBetty. China and Greenland now meant so much more.
Telling about Iceland and Greenland, he said that up there in thoseparts, where almost everything that wasn't snow was ice, certainanimals lived which couldn't be found anywhere else, like the big whitepolar bear, and the walrus.
"Why, we know a polar bear," Betty broke in. Why, of course, he was anold acquaintance. They had often seen him in Central Park.
"Well, now, that's good," said the Captain; "now you'll remember wherehe came from. I've been up his way more than once."
Often whalers chased the "right" whale away up there; dangerous seas towork in, as icebergs were plenty and the risk of striking them in thefog was great.
But the thing which sailors dreaded most was fire at sea. This seldomhappened, but when it did it was bad. Once his ship was burned at nightamong the icebergs. There was nothing to do but take to the boats andescape to shore, which luckily was near. They lost everything but theclothes they wore, and a small amount of provisions. And there, whilethey looked on, the ship went up in a sheet of flame, and that wasthe last of her. The Captain said they felt pretty blue and lonelyout there far away from the rest of the world, with no means to getaway but the small boats. Fortunately they soon managed to reach anEskimo village. These Eskimos are the natives who live there always,short people, dressed all in heavy, warm furs, who build themselvessnow houses, where in the coldest weather they keep comfortably warm.They live by hunting and fishing. They spear seals from their skincanoes,--"kayaks,"--and fish through holes in the ice. These are thepeople you hear the explorers tell about when they go on expeditions tothe North Pole. Captain Hawes thought they were the strangest people hehad ever met. As whalers often put in up in these parts, the Captainand his mates did not have too hard a time, and were picked up by apassing ship and brought home.
THE SHIP SAILS AWAY
Summer was passing quickly now, and it would soon be time for the "longvacation" to come to an end.
Before they had to go the Sachem--that was the name of the newship--was ready to put to sea. The children had admired her"figure-head," an Indian chief, gilded and painted in bright colors.The ship had taken on her whole cargo, the hatches were closed, andeverything made tight and taut for her long voyage. She was bound forthe Far East, the Cap
tain told them. First she would touch at someSouth American ports, then go across the ocean to Africa, stopping atCape Town, and other less important ports, then around the Cape andup the Indian Ocean to India; then to China and Japan. With the goodsshe had taken aboard she would trade with the different ports, eitherselling or exchanging what she had for the things made or raised inthose far-away countries, which she would bring back home to sell inour markets. This was the way, Captain Hawes explained, that we gotmany good things that we couldn't raise in our own country.
The day the ship sailed, everybody turned out to wish her a goodvoyage.
With all sails set she was a beautiful sight; a gentle land breezefilled her sails and slowly and gracefully she drew away, headed forthe open sea. The steamers and the tugs in the bay whistled salutes.
Captain Hawes, with a sigh, told the children that probably that wasthe last square-rigged ship they were likely to see leaving thisport, as the old-style ship was now almost a thing of the past. The"fore-and-aft" rig was more practical and generally used where sailingvessels were still employed. But even they were all giving way beforesteam. Nowadays steamers, freighters, did nearly all the carrying trade.
They watched the ship till far, far away, as the sun was setting, sheshowed as a small black spot on the horizon.
And now it was time to leave Quohaug, for this summer vacation wasended. At home again they were just in time to see the review of thecountry's war fleet on the Hudson. This was the latest developmentof sea power, great, massive steel vessels, with no sails, driven bysteam. They were grandly impressive, but just wait till you hear Boband Betty tell of Quohaug and then you will know what ships with sailsmean.
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