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Chapter XXXVI
Chapter XXXVI
Soundings - Sights from Home - Boston Harbor - Leaving the Ship
Friday, Sept. 16th. Lat. 38 degrees N., long. 69 degrees 00` W. A fine
south-west wind; every hour carrying us nearer in toward land. All hands on
deck at the dog watch, and nothing talked about, but our getting in; where we
should make the land; whether we should arrive before Sunday; going to church;
how Boston would look; friends; wages paid; - and the like. Every one was in
the best of spirits; and, the voyage being nearly at an end, the strictness of
discipline was relaxed; for it was not necessary to order in a cross tone,
what every one was ready to do with a will. The little differences and
quarrels which a long voyage breeds on board a ship, were forgotten, and every
one was friendly; and two men, who had been on the eve of a battle half the
voyage, were laying out a plan together for a cruise on shore. When the mate
came forward, he talked to the men, and said we should be on George`s Bank
before to-morrow noon; and joked with the boys, promising to go and see
them, and to take them down to Marble-head in a coach.
Saturday, 17th. The wind was light all day, which kept us back somewhat;
but a fine breeze springing up at nightfall, we were running fast in toward
the land. At six o`clock we expected to have the ship hove-to for soundings,
as a thick fog, coming up showed we were near them; but no order was given,
and we kept on our way. Eight o`clock came, and the watch went below, and, for
the whole of the first hour, the ship was tearing on, with studding-sails out,
allow and aloft, and the night as dark as a pocket. At two bells the captain
came on deck, and said a word to the mate, when the studding sails were hauled
into the tops, or boom-ended, the after yards backed, the deep-sea-lead
carried forward, and everything got ready for sounding. A man on the spritsail
yard with the lead, another on the cat-head with a handful of the line
coiled up, another in the fore chains, another in the waist, and another in
the main chains, each with a quantity of the line coiled away in his hand.
"All ready there, forward?" - "Aye, aye, sir!" - "He-e-e-ave!" - "Watch! ho!
watch!" sings out the man on the spritsail yard, and the heavy lead drops into
the water. "Watch! ho! watch!" bawls the man on the cat-head, as the last
fake of the coil drops from his hand, and "Watch! ho! watch!" is shouted by
each one as the line falls from his hold; until it comes to the mate, who
tends the lead, and has the line in coils on the quarter-deck. Eighty
fathoms, and no bottom! A depth as great as the height of St. Peter`s! the
line is snatched in a block upon the swifter, and three or four men hault it
in and coil it away. The after yards are braced full, the studding-sails
hauled out again, and in a few minutes more the ship had her whole way upon
her. At four bells, backed again, hove the lead, and - soundings! at sixty
fathoms! Hurrah for Yankee land! Hand over hand, we hauled the lead in, and
the captain, taking it to the light, found black mud on the bottom.
studding-sails taken in; after yards filled, and ship kept on under easy sail
all night; the wind dying away.
The soundings on the American coast are so regular that a navigator knows
as well where he has made land, by the soundings, as he would by seeing the
land. Black mud is the soundings of Block Island. As you go toward Nantucket,
it changes to a dark sand; then, sand and white shells; and on George`s Banks,
white sand; and so on. Being off Block Island, our course was due east, to
Nantucket Shoals, and the South Channel; but the wind died away and left us
becalmed in a thick fog, in which we lay the whole of Sunday. At noon of
Sunday, 18th, Block Island bore, by calculation, N. W. 1-4 W. fifteen
miles; but the fog was so thick all day that we could see nothing.
Having got through the ship`s duty, and washed and shaved, we went below,
and had a fine time overhauling our chests, laying aside the clothes we meant
to go ashore in and throwing overboard all that were worn out and good for
nothing. Away went the woollen caps in which we had carried hides upon our
heads, for sixteen months, on the coast of California; the duck frocks, for
tarring down rigging; and the worn-out and darned mittens and patched
woollen trowsers which had stood the tug of Cape Horn. We hove them overboard
with a good will; for there is nothing like being quit of the very last
appendages and remnants of our evil fortune. We got our chests all ready for
going ashore, ate the last "duff" we expected to have on board the ship Alert;
and talked as confidently about matters on shore as though our anchor were on
the bottom.
"Who`ll go to church with me a week from to-day?"
"I will," says Jack: who said aye to everything.
"Go away, salt water!" says Tom. "As soon as I get both legs ashore, I`m
going to shoe my heels, and button my ears behind me, and start off into the
bush, a straight course, and not stop till I`m out of the sight of salt
water!"
"Oh! belay that! Spin that yarn where nobody knows your filling! If you
get once moored, stem and stern, in old B___`s grog-shop, with a coal fire
ahead and the bar under your lee, you won`t see daylight for three weeks!"
"No!" says Tom, "I`m going to knock off grog, and go and board at the
Home, and see if they won`t ship me for a deacon!"
"And I," says Bill, "am going to buy a quadrant and ship for navigator of
a Hingham packet!"
These and the like jokes served to pass the time while we were lying
waiting for a breeze to clear up the fog and send us on our way.
Toward night, a moderate breeze sprang up; the fog however continuing as
thick as before; and we kept on to the eastward. About the middle of the first
watch, a man on the forecastle sang out, in a tone which showed that there was
not a moment to be lost, - "Hard up the helm!" and a great ship loomed up out
of the fog, coming directly down upon us. She luffed at the same moment, and
we just passed one another; our spanker boom grazing over her quarter. The
officer of the deck had only time to hail, and she answered, as she went into
the fog again, something about Bristol - Probably, a whaleman from Bristol,
Rhode Island, bound out. The fog continued through the night, with a very
light breeze, before which we ran to the eastward, literally feeling our way
along. The lead was heaved every two hours, and the gradual change from black
mud to sand, showed that we were approaching Nantucket South Shoals. On Monday
morning, the increased depth and deep blue color of the water, and the mixture
of shells and white sand which we brought up, upon sounding, showed that we
were in the channel, and nearing George`s; accordingly, the ship`s head was
put directly to the northward, and we stood on, with perfect confidence in the
soundings, though we had not taken an observation for two days, nor seen land;
and the difference of an eighth of a mile out of the way might put us ashore.
Throughout the day a provokingly light wind prevailed, and at eight o`clock, a
small fishing schooner, which we passed, told us we were nearly abreast of
Chatham lights. Just before midnight, a light land-breeze sprang up, which
carried us well along; and at four o`clock, thinking ourselves to the
northward of Race Point, we hauled upon the wind and stood into the bay,
west-north-west, for Boston light, and commenced firing guns for a pilot. Our
watch went below at four o`clock, but could not sleep, for the watch on deck
were banging away at the guns every few minutes. And, indeed, we cared very
little about it, for we were in Boston Bay; and if fortune favored us, we
could all "sleep in" the next night, with nobody to call the watch every four
hours.
We turned out, of our own will, at daybreak, to get a sight of land. In
the grey of the morning, one or two small fishing smacks peered out of the
mist; and when the broad day broke upon us, there lay the low sand-hills of
Cape Cod, over our larboard quarter, and before us, the wide waters of
Massachusetts Bay, with here and there a sail gliding over its smooth surface.
As we drew in toward the mouth of the harbor, as toward a focus, the vessels
began to multiply until the bay seemed actually alive with sails gliding about
in every direction; some on the wind, and others before it, as they were bound
to or from the emporium of trade and centre of the bay. It was a stirring
sight for us, who had been months on the ocean without seeing anything but two
solitary sails; and over two years without seeing more than the three or four
traders on an almost desolate coast. There were the little coasters, bound to
and from the various towns along the south shore, down in the bight of the
bay, and to the eastward; here and there a square-rigged vessel standing out
to seaward; and, far in the distance, beyond Cape Ann, was the smoke of a
steamer, stretching along in a narrow, black cloud upon the water. Every sight
was full of beauty and interest. We were coming back to our homes; and the
signs of civilization, and prosperity, and happiness, from which we had been
so long banished, were multiplying about us. The high land of Cape Ann and the
rocks and shore of Cohasset were full in sight, the lighthouses, standing like
sentries in white before the harbors, and even the smoke from the chimney on
the plains of Hingham was seen rising slowly in the morning air. One of our
boys was the son of a bucket-maker; and his face lighted up as he saw the
tops of the well-known hills which surround his native place. About ten
o`clock a little boat came bobbing over the water, and put a pilot on board,
and sheered off in pursuit of other vessels bound in. Being now within the
scope of the telegraph stations, our signals were run up at the fore, and in
half an hour afterwards, the owner on `change, or in his counting-room, knew
that his ship was below; and the landlords, runners, and sharks in Ann street
learned that there was a rich prize for them down in the bay: a ship from
round the Horn, with a crew to be paid off with two years` wages.
The wind continuing very light, all hands were sent aloft to strip off
the chafing gear; and battens, parcellings, roundings, hoops, mats, and
leathers, came flying from aloft, and left the rigging neat and clean,
stripped of all its sea bandaging. The last touch was put to the vessel by
painting the skysail poles; and I was sent up to the fore, with a bucket of
white paint and a brush, and touched her off, from the truck to the eyes of
the royal rigging. At noon, we lay becalmed off the lower light-house; and
it being about slack water, we made little progress. A firing was heard in the
direction of Hingham, and the pilot said there was a review there. The Hingham
boy got wind of this, and said if the ship had been twelve hours sooner, he
should have been down among the soldiers, and in the booths, and having a
grand time. As it was, we had little prospect of getting in before night.
About two o`clock a breeze sprang up ahead, from the westward, and we began
beating up against it. A full-rigged brig was beating in at the same time,
and we passed one another, in our tacks, sometimes one and sometimes the
other, working to windward, as the wind and tide favored or opposed. It was my
trick at the wheel from two till four; and I stood my last helm, making
between nine hundred and a thousand hours which I had spent at the helms of
our two vessels. The tide beginning to set against us, we made slow work; and
the afternoon was nearly spent, before we got abreast of the inner light. In
the meantime, several vessels were coming down, outward bound; among which, a
fine, large ship, with yards squared, fair wind and fair tide, passed us like
a race-horse, the men running out upon her yards to rig out the studding -
sail booms. Toward sundown the wind came off in flaws, sometimes blowing very
stiff, so that the pilot took in the royals, and then it died away; when, in
order to get us in before the tide became too strong, the royals were set
again. As this kept us running up and down the rigging all the time, one hand
was sent aloft at each mast-head, to stand-by to loose and furl the sails,
at the moment of the order. I took my place at the fore, and loosed and furled
the royal five times between Rainsford Island and the Castle. At one tack we
ran so near to Rainsford Island, that, looking down from the royal yard, the
island, with its hospital buildings, nice gravelled walks, and green plats,
seemed to lie directly under our yard-arms. So close is the channel to some
of these islands, that we ran the end of our flying-jib-boom over one of
the out-works of the fortifications on George`s Island; and had an
opportunity of seeing the advantages of that point as a fortified place; for,
in working up the channel, we presented a fair stem and stern, for raking,
from the batteries, three or four times. One gun might have knocked us to
pieces.
We had all set our hearts upon getting up to town before night and going
ashore, but the tide beginning to run strong against us, and the wind, what
there was of it, being ahead, we made but little by weather-bowing the tide,
and the pilot gave orders to cock-bill the anchor and overhaul the chain.
Making two long stretches, which brought us into the roads, under the lee of
the castle, he clewed up the topsails, and let go the anchor; and for the
first time since leaving San Diego, - one hundred and thirty-five days - our
anchor was upon bottom. In half an hour more, we were lying snugly, with all
sails furled, safe in Boston harbor; our long voyage ended; the well-known
scene about us; the dome of the State House fading in the western sky; the
lights of the city starting into sight, as the darkness came on; and at nine
o`clock the clangor of the bells, ringing their accustomed peals; among which
the Boston boys tried to distinguish the well-known tone of the Old South.
We had just done furling the sails, when a beautiful little pleasure -
boat luffed up into the wind, under our quarter, and the junior partner of the
firm to which our ship belonged, jumped on board. I saw him from the mizen
topsail yard, and knew him well. He shook the captain by the hand, and went
down into the cabin, and in a few moments came up and inquired of the mate for
me. The last time I had seen him, I was in the uniform of an undergraduate of
Harvard College, and now, to his astonishment, there came down from aloft a
"rough alley" looking fellow, with duck trowsers and red shirt, long hair, and
face burnt as black as an Indian`s. He shook me by the hand, congratulated me
upon my return and my appearance of health and strength, and said my friends
were all well. I thanked him for telling me what I should not have dared to
ask; and if -
_____"the first bringer of unwelcome news
Hath but a losing office; and his tongue
Sounds ever after like a sullen bell -"
certainly I shall ever remember this man and his words with pleasure.
The captain went up to town in the boat with Mr. H___, and left us to
pass another night on board ship, and to come up with the morning`s tide under
command of the pilot.
So much did we feel ourselves to be already at home, in anticipation,
that our plain supper of hard bread and salt beef was barely touched; and many
on board, to whom this was the first voyage, could scarcely sleep. As for
myself, by one of those anomalous changes of feeling of which we are all the
subjects, I found that I was in a state of indifference, for which I could by
no means account. A year before, while carrying hides on the coast, the
assurance that in a twelvemonth we should see Boston, made me half wild; but
now that I was actually there, and in sight of home, the emotions which I had
so long anticipated feeling, I did not find, and in their place was a state of
very nearly entire apathy. Something of the same experience was related to me
by a sailor whose first voyage was one of five years upon the north-west
Coast. He had left home, a lad, and after several years of very hard and
trying experience, found himself homeward bound; and such was the excitement
of his feelings that, during the whole passage, he could talk and think of
nothing else but his arrival, and how and when he should jump from the vessel
and take his way directly home. Yet when the vessel was made fast to the wharf
and the crew dismissed, he seemed suddenly to lose all feeling about the
matter. He told me that he went below and changed his dress; took some water
from the scuttle-butt and washed himself leisurely; overhauled his chest,
and put his clothes all in order; took his pipe from its place, filled it, and
sitting down upon his chest, smoked it slowly for the last time. Here he
looked round upon the forecastle in which he had spent so many years, and
being alone and his shipments scattered, he began to feel actually unhappy.
Home became almost a dream; and it was not until his brother (who had heard of
the ship`s arrival) came down into the forecastle and told him of things at
home, and who were waiting there to see him, that he could realize where he
was, and feel interest enough to put him in motion toward that place for which
he had longed, and of which he had dreamed, for years. There is probably so
much of excitement in prolonged expectation, that the quiet realizing of it
produces a momentary stagnation of feeling as well as of effort. It was a good
deal so with me. The activity of preparation, the rapid progress of the ship,
the first making land, the coming up the harbor, and old scenes breaking upon
the view, produced a mental as well as bodily activity, from which the change
to a perfect stillness, when both expectation and the necessity of labor
failed, left a calmness, almost of indifference, from which I must be roused
by some new excitement. And the next morning, when all hands were called, and
we were busily at work, clearing the decks, and getting everything in
readiness for going up to the wharves, - loading the guns for a salute,
loosing the sails, and manning the windlass - mind and body seemed to wake
together.
About ten o`clock, a sea-breeze sprang up, and the pilot gave orders to
get the ship under weigh. All hands manned the windlass, and the long-drawn
"Yo, heave, ho!" which we had last heard dying away among the desolate hills
of San Diego, soon brought the anchor to the bows; and, with a fair wind and
tide, a bright sunny morning, royals and sky-sails set, ensign, streamer,
signals, and pennant, flying, and with our guns firing, we came swiftly and
handsomely up to the city. Off the end of the wharf, we rounded-to and let
go our anchor; and no sooner was it on the bottom, than the decks were filled
with people: custom-house officers; Topliff`s agent, to inquire for news;
others, inquiring for friends on board, or left upon the coast; dealers in
grease, besieging the galley to make a bargain with the cook for his slush;
"loafers" in general; and last and chief, boarding-house runners, to secure
their men. Nothing can exceed the obliging disposition of these runners, and
the interest they take in a sailor returned from a long voyage with a plenty
of money. Two or three of them, at different times, took me by the hand;
remembered me perfectly; were quite sure I had boarded with them before I
sailed; were delighted to see me back; gave me their cards; had a hand-cart
waiting on the wharf, on purpose to take my things up: would lend me a hand to
get my chest ashore; bring a bottle of grog on board if we did not haul in
immediately, - and the like. In fact, we could hardly get clear of them, to go
aloft and furl the sails. Sail after sail, for the hundredth time, in fair
weather and in foul, we furled now for the last time together, and came down
and took the warp ashore, manned the capstan, and with a chorus which waked up
half the North End, and rang among the buildings in the dock, we hauled her in
to the wharf. Here, too, the landlords and runners were active and ready,
taking a bar to the capstan, lending a hand at the ropes, laughing and talking
and telling the news. The city bells were just ringing one when the last turn
was made fast, and the crew dismissed; and in five minutes more, not a soul
was left on board the good ship Alert, but the old ship-keeper, who had come
down from the counting-house to take charge of her.
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