The Sun
Comes Out Once More, Hotter Than Ever, Dries Up The Decks And
The Sailors' Clothes; The Hatches Are
Taken off; the sail got up
and spread on the quarter-deck; spun-yarn winch set a whirling
again; rigging
Coiled up; captain goes below; and every sign of
an interruption is removed.
These scenes, with occasional dead calms, lasting for hours, and
sometimes for days, are fair specimens of the Atlantic tropics.
The nights were fine; and as we had all hands all day, the watch
were allowed to sleep on deck at night, except the man at the
wheel, and one look-out on the forecastle. This was not so much
expressly allowed, as winked at. We could do it if we did not
ask leave. If the look-out was caught napping, the whole watch
was kept awake.
We made the most of this permission, and stowed ourselves away
upon the rigging, under the weather rail, on the spars, under the
windlass, and in all the snug corners; and frequently slept out
the watch, unless we had a wheel or a look-out. And we were glad
enough to get this rest; for under the "all hands" system, out of
every other thirty-six hours, we had only four below; and even
an hour's sleep was a gain not to be neglected. One would have
thought so, to have seen our watch, some nights, sleeping through
a heavy rain. And often have we come on deck, and finding a
dead calm and a light, steady rain, and determined not to lose
our sleep, have laid a coil of rigging down so as to keep us out
of the water which was washing about decks, and stowed ourselves
away upon it, covering a jacket over us, and slept as soundly as
a Dutchman between two feather beds.
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