A Little
Fresh Water, Which We Had Saved From Our Allowance, Was Put In
Buckets, And With Soap And Towels, We Had What Sailors Call
A Fresh-Water Wash.
The same bucket, to be sure, had to go
through several hands, and was spoken for by one after
Another,
but as we rinsed off in salt water, pure from the ocean, and the
fresh was used only to start the accumulated grime and blackness
of five weeks, it was held of little consequence.
We soaped down and scrubbed one another with towels and pieces
of canvas, stripping to it; and then, getting into the head,
threw buckets of water upon each other. After this, came shaving,
and combing, and brushing; and when, having spent the first part of
the day in this way, we sat down on the forecastle, in the afternoon,
with clean duck trowsers, and shirts on, washed, shaved, and combed,
and looking a dozen shades lighter for it, reading, sewing, and
talking at our ease, with a clear sky and warm sun over our heads,
a steady breeze over the larboard quarter, studding-sails out alow
and aloft, and all the flying kites aboard; - we felt that we had
got back into the pleasantest part of a sailor's life. At sundown
the clothes were all taken down from the rigging - clean and dry - and
stowed neatly away in our chests; and our southwesters, thick boots,
guernsey frocks, and other accompaniments of bad weather, put out
of the way, we hoped, for the rest of the voyage, as we expected
to come upon the coast early in the autumn.
Notwithstanding all that has been said about the beauty of a
ship under full sail, there are very few who have ever seen
a ship, literally, under all her sail. A ship coming in or
going out of port, with her ordinary sails, and perhaps two of
three studding-sails, is commonly said to be under full sail;
but a ship never has all her sail upon her, except when she has
a light, steady breeze, very nearly, but not quite, dead aft,
and so regular that it can be trusted, and is likely to last
for some time. Then, with all her sails, light and heavy, and
studding-sails, on each side, alow and aloft, she is the most
glorious moving object in the world. Such a sight, very few,
even some who have been at sea a great deal, have ever beheld;
for from the deck of your own vessel you cannot see her, as you
would a separate object.
One night, while we were in these tropics, I went out to the end
of the flying-jib-boom, upon some duty, and, having finished it,
turned round, and lay over the boom for a long time, admiring the
beauty of the sight before me. Being so far out from the deck,
I could look at the ship, as at a separate vessel; - and there rose
up from the water, supported only by the small black hull, a pyramid
of canvas, spreading out far beyond the hull, and towering up almost,
as it seemed in the indistinct night air, to the clouds. The sea
was as still as an inland lake; the light trade-wind was gently and
steadily breathing from astern; the dark blue sky was studded with
the tropical stars; there was no sound but the rippling of the water
under the stem; and the sails were spread out, wide and high; - the
two lower studding-sails stretching, on each side, far beyond the deck;
the topmast studding-sails, like wings to the topsails; the top-gallant
studding-sails spreading fearlessly out above them; still higher,
the two royal studding-sails, looking like two kites flying from
the same string; and, highest of all, the little skysail, the apex
of the pyramid, seeming actually to touch the stars, and to be
out of reach of human hand. So quiet, too, was the sea, and so
steady the breeze, that if these sails had been sculptured marble,
they could not have been more motionless. Not a ripple upon the
surface of the canvas; not even a quivering of the extreme edges
of the sail - so perfectly were they distended by the breeze.
I was so lost in the sight, that I forgot the presence of the
man who came out with me, until he said, (for he, too, rough old
man-of-war's-man as he was, had been gazing at the show,) half to
himself, still looking at the marble sails - "How quietly they do
their work!"
The fine weather brought work with it; as the ship was to be put in
order for coming into port. This may give a landsman some notion
of what is done on board ship. - All the first part of a passage is
spent in getting a ship ready for sea, and the last part in getting
her ready for port. She is, as sailors say, like a lady's watch,
always out of repair. The new, strong sails, which we had up off
Cape Horn, were to be sent down, and the old set, which were still
serviceable in fine weather, to be bent in their place; all the
rigging to be set up, fore and aft; the masts stayed; the standing
rigging to be tarred down; lower and topmast rigging rattled down,
fore and aft; the ship scraped, inside and out, and painted;
decks varnished; new and neat knots, seizings and coverings
to be fitted; and every part put in order, to look well to the
owner's eye, on coming into Boston. This, of course, was a long
matter; and all hands were kept on deck at work for the whole of
each day, during the rest of the voyage. Sailors call this hard
usage; but the ship must be in crack order, and "we're homeward
bound" was the answer to everything.
We went on for several days, employed in this way, nothing remarkable
occurring; and, at the latter part of the week, fell in with the
south-east trades, blowing about east-south-east, which brought
them nearly two points abaft our beam.
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