We Had An Old Sow On Board, The Mother Of A
Numerous Progeny, Who Had Been Twice Round The Cape Of Good Hope,
And Once Round Cape Horn.
The last time going round, was very
nearly her death.
We heard her squealing and moaning one dark
night, after it had been snowing and hailing for several hours,
and getting into the sty, we found her nearly frozen to death.
We got some straw, an old sail, and other things, and wrapped her
up in a corner of the sty, where she staid until we got into fine
weather again.
Wednesday, May 18th. Lat. 9° 54' N., long. 113° 17' W. The north-
east trades had now left us, and we had the usual variable winds,
which prevail near the line, together with some rain. So long as
we were in these latitudes, we had but little rest in our watch on
deck at night, for, as the winds were light and variable, and we
could not lose a breath, we were all the watch bracing the yards,
and taking in and making sail, and "humbugging" with our flying
kites. A little puff of wind on the larboard quarter, and then
- "larboard fore braces!" and studding-booms were rigged out,
studding-sails set alow and aloft, the yards trimmed, and jibs and
spanker in; when it would come as calm as a duck-pond, and the man
at the wheel stand with the palm of his hand up, feeling for the
wind. "Keep her off a little!" "All aback forward, sir!" cries
a man from the forecastle. Down go the braces again; in come
the studding-sails, all in a mess, which half an hour won't set
right; yards braced sharp up; and she's on the starboard tack,
close hauled.
The studding-sails must now be cleared away, and set up in the
tops, and on the booms. By the time this is done, and you are
looking out for a soft plank for a nap, - "Lay aft here, and square
in the head yards!" and the studding-sails are all set again on
the starboard side. So it goes until it is eight bells, - call
the watch, - heave the log, - relieve the wheel, and go below
the larboard watch.
Sunday, May 22d. Lat. 5° 14' N., long. 166° 45' W. We were now
a fortnight out, and within five degrees of the line, to which two
days of good breeze would take us; but we had, for the most part,
what sailors call "an Irishman's hurricane, - right up and down."
This day it rained nearly all day, and being Sunday, and nothing
to do, we stopped up the scuppers and filled the decks with rain
water, and bringing all our clothes on deck, had a grand wash,
fore and aft. When this was through, we stripped to our drawers,
and taking pieces of soap and strips of canvas for towels,
we turned-to and soaped, washed, and scrubbed one another down,
to get off, as we said, the California dust; for the common wash
in salt water, which is all Jack can get, being on an allowance of
fresh, had little efficacy, and was more for taste than utility.
The captain was below all the afternoon, and we had something
nearer to a Saturnalia than anything we had yet seen; for the
mate came into the scuppers, with a couple of boys to scrub him,
and got into a battle with them in heaving water. By unplugging
the holes, we let the soap-suds off the decks, and in a short time
had a new supply of rain water, in which we had a grand rinsing.
It was surprising to see how much soap and fresh water did for
the complexions of many of us; how much of what we supposed to
be tan and sea-blacking, we got rid of. The next day, the sun
rising clear, the ship was covered, fore and aft, with clothes
of all sorts, hanging out to dry.
As we approached the line, the wind became more easterly, and
the weather clearer, and in twenty days from San Diego, -
Saturday, May 28th, at about three P. M., with a fine breeze from
the east-south-east, we crossed the equator. In twenty-four hours
after crossing the line, which was very unusual, we took the regular
south-east trades. These winds come a little from the eastward of
south-east, and, with us, they blew directly from the east-south-
east, which was fortunate for us, for our course was south-by-west,
and we could thus go one point free. The yards were braced so that
every sail drew, from the spanker to the flying-jib; and the upper
yards being squared in a little, the fore and main top-gallant
studding-sails were set, and just drew handsomely. For twelve
days this breeze blew steadily, not varying a point, and just so
fresh that we could carry our royals; and, during the whole time,
we hardly started a brace. Such progress did we make, that at the
end of seven days from the time we took the breeze, on
Sunday, June 5th, we were in lat. 19° 29' S., and long. 118° 01' W.,
having made twelve hundred miles in seven days, very nearly
upon a taught bowline. Our good ship was getting to be herself
again, had increased her rate of sailing more than one-third since
leaving San Diego. The crew ceased complaining of her, and the
officers hove the log every two hours with evident satisfaction.
This was glorious sailing. A steady breeze; the light trade-wind
clouds over our heads; the incomparable temperature of the Pacific,
- neither hot nor cold; a clear sun every day, and clear moon and
stars each night; and new constellations rising in the south, and
the familiar ones sinking in the north, as we went on our course,
- "stemming nightly toward the pole." Already we had sunk the north
star and the Great Bear in the northern horizon, and all hands
looked out sharp to the southward for the Magellan Clouds, which,
each succeeding night, we expected to make.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 116 of 167
Words from 117706 to 118741
of 170236
