The Inside Was Then
Painted, From The Skysail Truck To The Waterways - The Yards Black;
Mast-Heads And Tops, White; Monkey-Rail, Black, White, And Yellow;
Bulwarks, Green; Plank-Shear, White; Waterways, Lead Color, Etc.,
Etc.
The anchors and ring-bolts, and other iron work, were blackened
with coal-tar; and the steward kept at work, polishing the brass
of the wheel, bell, capstan, etc.
The cabin, too, was scraped,
varnished, and painted; and the forecastle scraped and scrubbed;
there being no need of paint and varnish for Jack's quarters.
The decks were then scraped and varnished, and everything useless
thrown overboard; among which the empty tar barrels were set on
fire and thrown overboard, on a dark night, and left blazing
astern, lighting up the ocean for miles. Add to all this labor,
the neat work upon the rigging; - the knots, flemish-eyes, splices,
seizings, coverings, pointings, and graftings, which show a ship in
crack order. The last preparation, and which looked still more
like coming into port, was getting the anchors over the bows,
bending the cables, rowsing the hawsers up from between decks,
and overhauling the deep-sea-lead-line.
Thursday, September 15th. This morning the temperature and
peculiar appearance of the water, the quantities of gulf-weed
floating about, and a bank of clouds lying directly before
us, showed that we were on the border of the Gulf Stream.
This remarkable current, running north-east, nearly across
the ocean, is almost constantly shrouded in clouds, and is the
region of storms and heavy seas.
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