CHAPTER SIX.
LIFE ON SHIPBOARD.
Mr Charlton had been appointed as first lieutenant of the Ajax, athirty-six gun frigate, fitting-out for the Pacific station. On hisarrival at Portsmouth, he at once repaired on board, taking Ben withhim. As they pulled up the harbour in a shore boat towards the frigate,which lay lashed alongside a hulk, Ben was astonished at the number ofships he saw, and the vast size of many of them. It seemed to him as ifthe wind could never affect such monstrous constructions, even to movethem along through the water; and as to the sea tossing them about as itdid the boats to which he was accustomed, that seemed impossible.Several of them carried a hundred huge iron guns, and others even alarger number. He saw many more on the stocks in the dockyard, andothers moored up the harbour, and he thought to himself, "Now, if peopleof different nations would but live at peace with each other, and try todo each other all the good in the world they can, instead of as muchharm as possible, and employ their time in building merchant vessels andother works for the advantage of their fellow-creatures, how very muchbetter it would be!"--Many wise and good men think as did little Ben,and yet they have to acknowledge that, while nations continue wickedlyambitious, and jealous of each other's wealth and power, it is the dutyof governments to be armed and prepared to resist aggression.
Ben felt very much astonished, and almost frightened, when he foundhimself on board the frigate, at the din and bustle which was goingforward, and the seeming confusion--the shrill whistle of the boatswain,and the hoarse shouting of his mates, as yards were swayed up, and coilsof rope and stores of all sorts were hoisted on board. Ben could notunderstand one-half that he heard, so many strange expressions wereused--indeed, there seemed to be a complete Babel of tongues, with,unhappily, much swearing and abuse. Ben thought that the work wouldhave gone on much more satisfactorily without it. He observed, after atime, that which appeared confusion was in reality order. Each gang ofmen was working under a petty officer, who received his orders fromsuperior officers, of whom there were three or four stationed indifferent parts of the ship; and they, again, were all under the commandof the officer in charge. Each man attended only to his own business,and, let all the petty officers bawl as loud as they might, he was deafto the voice of every one of them except to that of the officer placedover him. As Ben was left standing by himself alone, he had anopportunity of making observations on what was going forward. He wouldhave naturally formed a very unfavourable opinion of a man-of-war, hadhe seen her only thus in all the hurry of fitting-out. He was beginningto think that he was forgotten, when a boy of about his own age, neatlydressed in white trousers, and shirt with a broad worked collar, came upto him, and said--
"The first lieutenant wants you: come with me."
Ben was very glad to move.
"What's your name?" asked the boy.
Ben told him.
"Mine is Tom Martin," said his companion; "I'm the boatswain's son. MrCharlton says I'm to look after you, and tell you what you want to know.But you've been to sea before, haven't you?"
"Only in fishing-boats," answered Ben; "and I shall be much obliged toyou for telling me what I ought to know."
"As to that, you'll soon pick it up; for you don't look like one ofthose chaps who come aboard with the hay-seed still in their hair," saidTom. "Here we are at the gun-room door."
Mr Charlton's voice and eye were as kind as ever, though he spoke inrather a stiffer manner than was his custom on shore. He told Ben thathe had had his name entered on the ship's books, and that the boatswainwould look after him, and give him instruction with his own son; besidesthis, that he was to be one of the boys employed in attending on thegun-room officers, which was an advantage, as it would give him plentyto do, and some little pay besides.
"You may go forward now," said Mr Charlton. "The gun-room steward willtell you what to do when he comes on board. And remember, Martin, Ishall depend on you to show Hadden everything he ought to know, and allabout the ship."
"Ay, ay, sir," said Tom, pulling a lock of his hair, as of course heheld his hat in his hand. Then he gave Ben a nudge, to signify that hewas to come away with him.
"You are a lucky chap to have the first lieutenant for your friend,"observed Tom, as they went forward.
"Yes, he's a kind, good gentleman as ever lived," answered Ben warmly.
"That may be; but what I mean is, if you keep wide awake, and try to winhis favour, you'll have a comfortable time of it, and get a good ratingbefore the ship is paid off," observed Tom.
Ben, resolved as he was to keep to his principles, and to be ready toown them on all fit occasions, looked at his companion, and said, "Iknow, Martin, there's one thing I have to do, and that is, to do rightwhatever comes of it. If I do right, I need have no fear but that, inthe long-run, I shall please the first lieutenant and all the officers;at any rate, I shall please God, and that's of more consequence thananything else."
"Oh, I see what sort of a chap you are!" observed Tom. "Well, don't goand talk like that to others--they mayn't take it as I do; for my part,I don't mind it." And Tom put on a very self-pleased, patronising air.
"I don't see that I have said anything out of the way," remarked Ben."It stands to reason that to do right is the only way to please God, andthat to please God is the wisest thing to do, as He gives us everythingwe have; and of course He will give more to those who try to please Himthan to those who do not. There are many other reasons, but that isone, is it not?"
"Yes, I suppose so; but I haven't thought much about such things," saidTom.
"Then do think about them. I know that it is a good thing to do," saidBen.
"I'll try," whispered Tom.
It must not be supposed that Ben and Tom often talked together like thisat first. There was too much bustle going forward for anything of thesort; they, as well as everybody in the ship, were kept hard at workfrom sunrise to sunset, and they were both so sleepy at night, when theyturned into their hammocks, that they instantly fell fast asleep.
Ben had thus an opportunity of observing the whole process offitting-out a ship. First he saw the huge, heavy guns hoisted on board,by means of tackles, with as much ease as an angler draws a big fish outof the water; then they were mounted on their carriages, and securedalong the sides. Tackles, he learned, are formed by reeving ropesseveral times backwards and forwards through blocks. Then the topmastsand yards were got on board, swayed up, and crossed. Next, stores ofall sorts were brought alongside--anchors, and chain-cables, and coilsof rope, and round shot, and sails, and canvas, and paint, and tools forthe various departments, and muskets, and cutlasses, and pistols, andbullets. No powder, however, came; and Ben learned that that would notbe brought on board till the ship was out at Spithead. This rule wasmade because of accidents which had occurred formerly, ships having beenblown up in the harbour, and been not only themselves destroyed, butcaused the destruction of others, and the lives of very many people.Ben, however, saw the place where it was to be kept--a room lined withiron, with two doors. Between the doors was a sort of anteroom, and theouter door had an iron grating in it. There were means of flooding themagazine, in case of the ship catching fire. Last of all, theprovisions and water were got on board--casks of beef and pork, andflour, and groceries, and spirits; and there were candles, and clothing,and (more necessary than most other things) water came alongside inlighters, and was pumped up into large iron tanks at the bottom of theship. These tanks were large enough to allow a person to get into themto clean them out. They were in the inside coated with lime, and Benwas told that the water was kept in them fresh and pure for years.
The tools and stores were under the charge of three differentwarrant-officers--the gunner, the boatswain, and the carpenter. Thefirst had everything connected with the guns, the shot, and powder; theboatswain had charge of all the ropes, sails, anchors, and cables; andthe last of all, the woodwork, and spars, and pumps.
The provisions and clothing were under charge of the
purser, who was anofficer of superior rank, living with the lieutenants and surgeon.There was another officer, called the master, who also ranked with thelieutenants. He had charge of the navigation of the ship.
When the ship was completely fitted out, a body of soldiers calledmarines, under the command of a lieutenant, came on board. There wasalso one cabin full of young gentlemen, called midshipmen, their agesvarying from thirteen up to five or six-and-twenty; with them, however,were the captain's and purser's clerks, and master's assistants, andassistant surgeons. They had two or three boys to attend on them. Benwas very glad that he was not selected for the duty, as the younggentlemen were frequently somewhat thoughtless in the way they treatedthe boys.
Above all the rest was the captain, who was answerable to no one onboard; but he was bound by certain laws laid down for his guidance, and,if he broke any of them, would have to explain the reason to theGovernment at home, administered by the Board of Admiralty.
Ben soon understood that all these people could not live together inharmony, nor the ship be properly managed, without prompt and exactobedience to all laws and orders. The captain must obey the laws--thearticles of war, as they are called--and the rules and regulations ofthe service, and all the officers and men the orders issued by thoseabove them.
One of the last things done was to bend the sails, that is, to stretchthem out on the yards; and the men were then exercised in furling them,which means, rolling them up; in again loosing them; and in reefing,that is, reducing their size by rolling up only a portion of each sail.At length, the ship being ready for sea, she sailed out to Spithead. AsBen, who was on the forecastle with Tom Martin, saw her gliding throughthe water for the first time, like a stately swan, he felt very proud ofbelonging to her, though he was nearly the youngest boy on board, and ofthe least consequence. "So I am," he said to himself, recollectingthis; "but still, though I am but small, I can do as well as I am ablewhatever I am set to do; that, at all events, will be doing right." Benthought rightly that no one is too young or too insignificant to do hisbest in whatever he is set to do, never mind what that doing may be.
The powder was received on board, and until it was stowed carefully awayin the magazine, all lights were extinguished. If people were ascareful to avoid sin and its consequences as sailors are to avoidblowing up their ship, how different would be the world from what it is!Yet how far more sad are the consequences of sin!
A few more stores and provisions came off; so did the captain. BluePeter was hoisted [see note 1]; all visitors were ordered out of theship; despatches and letters for many distant places she was expected tovisit were received; the anchor was hove up to the merry sound of thefife as the seamen tramped round and round the capstan, and, her canvasbeing spread to the wind, she glided majestically onward, her voyage nowfairly commenced.
The wind was fair, and the frigate quickly ran down Channel, and tookher departure from the Lizard, one of the south-western points ofEngland. She had a wide extent of ocean before her to traverse, andmany weeks would pass before land would be again sighted. Still, themaster, with the aid of the compass, his sextant, and chronometer, wasable to steer his course with as much certainty as if land had been allthe time in sight.
Martin told Ben, jokingly, that the object of the sextant was to shootthe stars and the sun; but Ben found that it was to measure the heightof the sun above the horizon, and the distance of certain stars fromeach other. The chronometer, he learned, was a large watch made to keepexact time, so that the time in London was known wherever the ship went.Ben saw another instrument, a reel with a long line and a triangularpiece of board at the end of it. The line was divided into twelve ormore parts; the end with the board attached was thrown overboard, and,as the line ran out, a seaman held up a little sand-glass shaped like anhour-glass. By it the number of knots or divisions run out were easilymeasured, and the number of miles the ship sailed over in one hour wasascertained, and the distance made good each day calculated. Ben lookedat the compass with the greatest respect, and was much pleased when MrMartin, the boatswain, could take him and Tom aft to explain its use tothem, and to show them how the ship was steered. As they were notofficers, they could not go when they liked to that part of the ship,only when they were sent to perform some piece of duty.
Ben seldom exchanged a word with Mr Charlton, who, however, neverfailed when he passed to give him a kind glance of the eye, to show himthat he was not forgotten. This made him feel happy and contented.People of all ages feel thus when they know that a kind friend islooking after them. How much more, then, should Christians feel happyand contented when they know that their Father in heaven, the kindest offriends, and at the same time the most powerful, who never slumbers norsleeps, is ever watching over them to guard them from all evil; and thatif He allows what the world calls a misfortune to overtake them, it isfor their real good.
Ben soon learned all about a ship, for, having been from his childhoodon the water, things were not so strange to him as they are to a boy whohad come from some inland place with, as Tom said, the hay-seed in hishair. He was as active and intelligent and daring as any of the boys inthe ship, not only of his own size, but of those much bigger and older.Though also he had his duties in the gun-room to attend to, he learnedto go aloft, and to furl and reef sails, and to knot and splice, and toperform many other tasks required of sailors. He made many friends,too, among the best men and the petty officers, for he was alwaysobliging and ready to serve any one he could in a lawful way; but anyone who had asked Ben to do what he knew to be wrong would have foundhim very far from obliging.
Day after day the frigate sailed on over a smooth ocean, it beingscarcely necessary to alter a sail, but the crew were not idle; the shiphad to be got into perfect order below, and there was much painting, andcleaning, and scrubbing; then the men were exercised in reefing andfurling sails, and going through all the operations necessary to bringthe ship to an anchor. Though no gale threatened, topgallant masts andtheir yards were sent down on deck, and everything was made snug, sothat they might quickly make the proper preparations when one shouldcome on. The men were also daily exercised at the guns. To each gun aparticular crew was attached, who cast it loose, went through all themovements of loading and firing over and over again, and then once moresecured it. Sometimes powder was fired, and, whenever there was a calm,an empty cask with a target on it was towed off some way from the ship,and shot were fired at it.
On several occasions, in the middle of the night perhaps, that dreadfulsound of the fire-bell was heard, and then the men sprang into theirclothes--each man going to his proper station; the fire-buckets werefilled, the pumps manned, and all stood ready to obey the orders oftheir officers to meet the danger. "Very well, my men; you were quicklyat your stations," cried the captain. "Pipe down." The men thenreturned to their hammocks. Really there was no fire, but they weresummoned to their posts that, in case a fire should take place, theymight be cool and collected, and know exactly what to do. This was verydifferent from "calling wolf," because a sailor _must_ obey whateversignal is made to him or order given by his superior, without stoppingto consider why it is issued. When the drum beats to quarters, he mustfly to his station, though he knows perfectly well that no enemy isnear.
One day Ben and Tom, with the gunner, the purser's steward, and thesergeant of marines, were seated in the boatswain's cabin to enjoy whathe called a little social and religious conversation. All the partywere above the average in intelligence. This was shown by their havingrisen from their original position. Various subjects had beendiscussed.
"To my mind, as I have often said, a ship is just like a little world,"observed Mr Martin, who had some clear notions on many matters. "Everyman in it has his duty to do, and if he doesn't do it, not only he, butothers, suffer. It is not his business to be saying, Why am I to dothis? Why am I to do that? It's the law in the articles of war, or therules and regulations of the service; that's enough. If you join theservice, you m
ust obey those rules. It's your business, though, tolearn what they are. Now, that's just the same when a man becomes aChristian. He mustn't do what he would like to do according to thenatural man; but he must learn Christ's laws, and try and obey them.Just see how the men on board a man-of-war are practised and exercisedin all sorts of ways to make them good seamen. Here they are, frommorning till night, exercising at the guns, shortening sail, reefingtopsails, drilling with the small-arms, mustering at divisions, going toquarters, and fifty other things; and though sometimes they don't likethe work, it's all for their good and the good of the service, and toenable them to support the honour and glory of our country. Just in thesame way, I've often thought, God manages us human creatures. We aresent into the world to fit us to become His subjects; we are exercisedand practised in all sorts of ways, and, though we often think the wayvery hard, we may be sure that it is for our good, and, what is more, tofit us to support His honour and glory."
"I never saw the matter in that light before," observed Mr Thomson, thegunner. "I've often thought how there came to be so much pain andsorrow in the world, and how so many things go wrong in it."
"Why, look ye here, Thomson, just for this cause, because men don't obeyGod's laws," exclaimed Mr Martin. "Adam and Eve broke them first, andtheir children have been breaking them ever since. Sin did it all.What would become of us aboard here, if the ship, however well-built shemight be, was badly fitted out at first, and if we all were constantlyneglecting our duty and disobeying orders? Why, we should pretty soonrun her ashore, or founder, or blow her up, or, if we met an enemy, haveto haul down our flag."
The sergeant and purser's steward, who were both serious-minded men,though not much enlightened, agreed heartily with Mr Martin; and Benlearned many an important lesson from listening from time to time totheir conversation.
Their example had also a very good effect on the ship's companygenerally; there was far less swearing and quarrelling and badconversation than in many ships; for even the best of men-of-war arevery far from what they should be. In course of time three or four ofthe men met together regularly for prayer, reading the Scriptures, andmutual instruction; and by degrees others joined them. As they werevery anxious to have a place where they could meet free frominterruption, Mr Martin allowed them the use of his storeroom, which,though the spot was dark and close, they considered a great privilege.He also occasionally united with them, and came oftener and oftener,until he always was present unless prevented by his duty. Ben gladlyaccompanied him, and he also took Tom with him; who, however, did notappear to value the advantage, for he was generally found fast asleep ina corner at the end of the meeting.
Altogether the Ajax was a happy ship. On one important point thewidow's prayers for her son were heard, and Ben was kept out of thetemptations and the influence of bad example to which poor sailor boysare so often exposed.
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Note 1. A blue flag so called; it gives notice that the ship is aboutto sail.