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Chapter XXXV
Chapter XXXV
A Double Reef-top-sail Breeze - Scurvy - A Friend in Need - Preparing for
Port - The Gulf Stream
From the latitude of the West Indies, until we got inside the Bermudas,
where we took the westerly and south-westerly winds, which blow steadily off
the coast of the United States early in the autumn, we had every variety of
weather, and two or three moderate gales, or, as sailors call them,
double-reef-topsail breezes, which came on in the usual manner, and of which
one is a specimen of all. - A fine afternoon; all hands at work, some in the
rigging, and others on deck; a stiff breeze, and ship close upon the wind, and
skysails brailed down. - Latter part of the afternoon, breeze increases, ship
lies over to it, and clouds look windy. Spray begins to fly over the
forecastle, and wets the yarns the boys are knotting; - ball them up and put
them below. - Mate knocks off work and clears up decks earlier than usual, and
orders a man who has been employed aloft to send the royal halyards over to
windward, as he comes down. Breast backstays hauled taught, and tackle got
upon the martingale back-rope. - One of the boys furls the mizen royal. - Cook
thinks there is going to be "nasty work," and has supper ready early. - Mate
gives orders to get supper by the watch, instead of all hands, as usual. -
While eating supper, hear the watch on deck taking in the royals. - Coming on
deck, find it is blowing harder, and an ugly head sea is running. - Instead of
having all hands on the forecastle in the dog watch, smoking, singing, and
telling yarns, one watch goes be ow and turns-in, saying that it`s going to be
an ugly night, and two hours` sleep is not to be lost. Clouds look black and
wild; wind rising, and ship working hard against a heavy sea, which breaks
over the forecastle, and washes aft through the scuppers. Still, no more sail
is taken in, for the captain is a driver, and, like all drivers, very partial
to his top-gallant sails. A top-gallant sail, too, makes the difference
between a breeze and a gale. When a top-gallant sail is on a ship, it is only
a breeze, though I have seen ours set over a reefed topsail, when half the
bowsprit was under water, and it was up to a man`s knees in the scuppers. At
eight bells, nothing is said about reefing the topsails, and the watch go
below, with orders to "stand by for a call." We turn-in, growling at the "old
man" for not reefing the topsails when the watch was changed, but putting it
off so as to call all hands, and break up a whole watch below. turn-in "all
standing," and keep ourselves awake, saying there is no use in going asleep to
be waked up again. - Wind whistles on deck, and ship works hard, groaning and
creaking, and pitching into a heavy head sea, which strikes against the bows,
with a noise like knocking upon a rock. - The dim lamp in the forecastle
swings to and fro, and things "fetch away" and go over the leeward. - "Doesn`t
that booby of a second mate ever mean to take in his top-gallant sails? -
He`ll have the sticks out of her soon," says old Bill, who was always
growling, and, like most old sailors, did not like to see a ship abused. -
by-and-by an order is given - "Aye, aye, sir!" from the forecastle; - rigging
is heaved down on deck; - the noise of a sail is heard fluttering aloft, and
the short, quick cry which sailors make when hauling upon clewlines. - Here
comes his fore - top-gallant sail in!" - We are wide awake, and know all
that`s going on as well as if we were on deck. - A well-known voice is heard
from the mast-head singing out the officer of the watch to haul taught the
weather brace. - "Hallo! There`s S____ aloft to furl the sail!" - Next thing,
rigging is heaved down directly over our heads, and a long-drawn cry and a
rattling of hanks announce that the flying-jib has come in. - The second mate
holds on to the main top-gallant sail until a heavy sea is shipped, and washes
over the forecastle as though the whole ocean had come aboard; when a noise
further aft shows that that sail, too, is taking in. After this, the ship is
more easy for a time; two bells are struck, and we try to get a little sleep.
by-and-by, - bang, bang, bang, on the scuttle - "All ha-a-ands, a ho-o-y!" -
We spring out of our berths, clap on a monkey-jacket and south-wester, and
tumble up the ladder. - Mate up before us, and on the forecastle, singing out
like a roaring bull; the captain singing out on the quarter-deck, and the
second mate yelling, like a hyena, in the waist. The ship is lying over half
upon her beam-ends; lee scuppers under water, and forecastle all in a smother
of foam. - Rigging all let go, and washing about decks; topsail yards down
upon the caps, and sails flapping and beating against the masts; and starboard
watch hauling out the reff-tackles of the main topsail. Our watch haul out
the fore, and lay aloft and put two reefs into it, and reef the foresail, and
race with the starboard watch, to see which will mast-head its topsail first.
All hands tally-on to the main tack, and while some are furling the jib, and
hoisting the staysail, we mizen-topmen double-reef the mizen topsail and
hoist it up. All being made fast - "Go below, the watch!" and we turn-in to
sleep out the rest of the time, which is perhaps an hour and a half. During
all the middle, and for the first part of the morning watch, it blows as hard
as ever, but toward daybreak it moderates considerably, and we shake a reef
out of each topsail, and set the top-gallant sails over them and when the
watch come up, at seven bells, for breakfast, shake the other reefs out, turn
all hands to upon the halyards, get the watch-tackle upon the top-gallant
sheets and halyards, set the flying-jib, and crack on to her again.
Our captain had been married only a few weeks before he left Boston; and,
after an absence of over two years, it may be supposed he was not slow in
carrying sail. The mate, too, was not to be beaten by anybody; and the second
mate, though he was afraid to press sail, was afraid as death of the captain,
and being between two fears, sometimes carried on longer than any of them. We
snapped off three flying-jib booms in twenty-four hours, as fast as they
could be fitted and rigged out; sprung the spritsail yard; and made nothing of
studding-sail booms. Beside the natural desire to get home, we had another
reason for urging the ship on. The scurvy had begun to show itself on board.
One man had it so badly as to be disabled and off duty, and the English lad,
Ben, was in a dreadful state, and was daily growing worse. His legs swelled
and pained him so that he could not walk; his flesh lost its elasticity, so
that if it was pressed in, it would not return to its shape; and his gums
swelled until he could not open his mouth. His breath, too, became very
offensive; he lost all strength and spirit; could eat nothing; grew worse
every day; and, in fact, unless something was done for him, would be a dead
man in a week, at the rate at which he was sinking. The medicines were all, or
nearly all, gone; and if we had had a chest-full, they would have been of no
use; for nothing but fresh provisions and terra firma has any effect upon the
scurvy. This disease is not so common now as formerly; and is attributed
generally to salt provisions, want of cleanliness, the free use of grease and
fat (which is the reason of its prevalence among whalemen,) and, last of all,
to laziness. It never could have been from the latter cause on board our ship;
nor from the second, for we were a very cleanly crew, kept our forecastle in
neat order, and were more particular about washing and changing clothes than
many better-dressed people on shore. It was probably from having none but
salt provisions, and possibly from our having run very rapidly into hot
weather, after having been so long in the extremest cold.
Depending upon the westerly winds, which prevail off the coast in the
autumn, the captain stood well to the westward, to run inside of the Bermudas,
and in the hope of falling in with some vessel bound to the West Indies or the
Southern States. The scurvy had spread no farther among the crew, but there
was danger that it might; and these cases were bad ones.
Sunday, Sept. 11th. Lat. 30 degrees 04` N., long. 63 degrees 23` W.; the
Bermudas bearing north-north-west, distant one hundred and fifty miles.
The next morning, about ten o`clock, "Sail ho!" was cried on deck; and all
hands turned up to see the stranger. As she drew nearer, she proved to be an
ordinary-looking hermaphrodite brig, standing south-south-east; and
probably bound out, from the Northern States, to the West Indies; and was just
the thing we wished to see. She hove-to for us, seeing that we wished to
speak her; and we ran down to her; boom-ended our studding-sails; backed
our main topsail, and hailed her - "Brig, ahoy!" - "Hallo!" - "Where are you
from, pray?" - "From New York, bound to Curacoa." - "Have you any fresh
provisions to spare?" - "Aye, aye! plenty of them!" We lowered away the
quarter-boat, instantly; and the captain and four hands sprang in, and were
soon dancing over the water, and alongside the brig. In about half an hour,
they returned with half a boat-load of potatoes and onions, and each vessel
filled away, and kept on her course. She proved to be the brig Solon, of
Plymouth, from the Connecticut river, and last from New York, bound to the
Spanish Main, with a cargo of fresh provisions, mules, tin bake-pans, and
other notions. The onions were genuine and fresh; and the mate of the brig
told the men in the boat, as he passed the bunches over the side, that the
girls had strung them on purpose for us the day he sailed. We had supposed, on
board, that a new president had been chosen, the last winter, and, just as we
filled away, the captain hailed and asked who was president of the United
States. They answered, Andrew Jackson; but thinking that the old General could
not have been elected for a third time, we hailed again, and they answered -
Jack Downing; and left us to correct the mistake at our leisure.
It was just dinner-time when we filled away; and the steward, taking a
few bunches of onions for the cabin, gave the rest to us, with a bottle of
vinegar. We carried them forward, stowed them away in the forecastle, refusing
to have them cooked, and ate them raw, with our beef and bread. And a glorious
treat they were. The freshness and crispness of the raw onion, with the earthy
taste, give it a great relish to one who has been a long time on salt
provisions. We were perfectly ravenous after them. It was like a scent of
blood to a hound. We ate them at every meal, by the dozen; and filled our
pockets with them, to eat in our watch on deck; and the bunches, rising in the
form of a cone, from the largest at the bottom, to the smallest, no larger
than a strawberry, at the top, soon disappeared. The chief use, however, of
the fresh provisions, was for the men with the scurvy. One of them was able to
eat, and he soon brought himself to, by gnawing upon raw potatoes; but the
other, by this time, was hardly able to open his mouth; and the cook took the
potatoes raw, pounded them in a mortar, and gave him the juice to drink. This
he swallowed, by the tea-spoonful at a time, and rinsed it about his gums
and throat. The strong earthy taste and smell of this extract of the raw
potato at first produced a shuddering through his whole frame, and after
drinking it, an acute pain, which ran through all parts of his body; but
knowing, by this, that it was taking strong hold, he persevered, drinking a
spoonful every hour or so, and holding it a long time in his mouth; until, by
the effect of this drink, and of his own restored hope, (for he had nearly
given up, in despair) he became so well as to be able to move about, and open
his mouth enough to eat the raw potatoes and onions pounded into a soft pulp.
This course soon restored his appetite and strength; and in ten days after we
spoke the Solon, so rapid was his recovery, that, from lying helpless and
almost hopeless in his berth, he was at the mast-heId, furling a royal.
With a fine south-west wind, we passed inside of the Bermudas; and
notwithstanding the old couplet, which was quoted again and again by those who
thought we should have one more touch of a storm before our voyage was up, -
"If the Bermudas let you pass,
You must beware of Hatteras -"
we were to the northward of Hatteras, with good weather, and beginning to
count, not the days, but the hours, to the time when we should be at anchor in
Boston harbor.
Our ship was in fine order, all hands having been hard at work upon her
from daylight to dark, every day but Sunday, from the time we got into warm
weather on this side the Cape.
It is a common notion with landsmen that a ship is in her finest
condition when she leaves port to enter upon her voyage; and that she comes
homes, after a long absence,
"With over-weathered ribs and ragged sails;
Lean, rent and beggared by the strumpet wind."
But so far from that, unless a ship meets with some accident, or comes
upon the coast in the dead of winter, when work cannot be done upon the
rigging, she is in her finest order at the end of the voyage. When she sails
from port, her rigging is generally slack; the masts need staying; the decks
and sides are black and dirty from taking in cargo; riggers` seizings and
overhand knots in place of nice seamanlike work; and everything, to a sailor`s
eye, adrift. But on the passage home, the fine weather between the tropics is
spent in putting the ship into the neatest order. No merchant vessel looks
better than an Indiaman, or a Cape Horn-er, after a long voyage; and many
captains and mates will stake their reputation for seamanship upon the
appearance of their ship when she hauls into the dock. All our standing
rigging, fore and aft, was set up and tarred; the masts stayed; the lower and
top-mast rigging rattled down, (or up, as the fashion now is;) and so careful
were our officers to keep the rattlins taught and straight, that we were
obliged to go aloft upon the ropes and shearpoles with which the rigging was
swifted in; and these were used as jury rattlins until we got close upon the
coast. After this, the ship was scraped, inside and out, decks, masts, booms
and all; a stage being rigged outside, upon which we scraped her down to the
water-line; pounding the rust off the chains, bolts and fastenings. Then,
taking two days of calm under the line, we painted her on the outside, giving
her open ports in her streak, and finishing off the nice work upon the stern,
where sat Neptune in his car, holding his trident, drawn by sea-horses; and
re-touched the gilding and coloring of the cornucopia which ornamented her
billet-head. 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 graffings, 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. Vessels often run from a clear sky and light wind, with
all sail, at once into a heavy sea and cloudy sky, with double-reefed
topsails. A sailor told me that on a passage from Gibraltar to Boston, his
vessel neared the Gulf Stream with a light breeze, clear sky, and studding -
sails out, alow and aloft; while, before it, was a long line of heavy, black
clouds, lying like a bank upon the water, and a vessel coming out of it, under
double-reefed topsails, and with royal yards sent down. As they drew near,
they began to take in sail after sail, until they were reduced to the same
condition; and, after twelve or fourteen hours of rolling and pitching in a
heavy sea, before a smart gale, they ran out of the bank on the other side,
and were in fine weather again, and under their royals and skysails. As we
drew into it, the sky became cloudy, the sea high, and everything had the
appearance of the going off, or the coming on, of a storm. It was blowing no
more than a stiff breeze; yet the wind, being north-east, which is directly
against the course of the current, made an ugly, chopping sea, which heaved
and pitched the vessel about, so that we were obliged to send down the royal
yards, and to take in our light sails. At noon, the thermometer, which had
been repeatedly lowered into the water, showed the temperature to be seventy;
which was considerably above that of the air, - as is always the case in the
centre of the Stream. A lad who had been at work at the royal mast-head,
came down upon the deck, and took a turn round the long-boat; and looking
very pale, said he was so sick that he could stay aloft no longer, but was
ashamed to acknowledge it to the officer. He went up again, but soon gave out
and came down, and leaned over the rail, "as sick as a lady passenger." He had
been to sea several years, and had, he said, never been sick before. He was
made so by the irregular, pitching motion of the vessel, increased by the
height to which he had been above the hull, which is like the fulcrum of the
lever. An old sailor, who was at work on the top-gallant yard, said he felt
disagreeably all the time, and was glad, when his job was done, to get down
into the top, or upon the deck. Another hand was sent to the royal mast -
head, who staid nearly an hour, but gave up. The work must be done, and the
mate sent me. I did very well for sometime, but began at length to feel very
unpleasantly, though I had never been sick since the first two days from
Boston, and had been in all sorts of weather and situations. Still, I kept my
place, and did not come down, until I had got through my work, which was more
than two hours. The ship certainly never acted so badly before. She was
pitched and jerked about in all manner of ways; the sails seeming to have no
steadying power over her. The tapering points of the masts made various curves
and angles against the sky overhead, and sometimes, in one sweep of an
instant, described an arc of more than forty-five degrees, bringing up with
a sudden jerk which made it necessary to hold on with both hands, and then
sweeping off, in another long, irregular curve. I was not positively sick, and
came down with a look of indifference, yet was not unwilling to get upon the
comparative terra firma of the deck. A few hours more carried us through, and
when we saw the sun go down, upon our larboard beam, in the direction of the
continent of North America, we had left the bank of dark, stormy clouds
astern, in the twilight.
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