The Glass, Which Had Dropped Very Fast All Day, And
Fallen Lower Than The Captain Had Ever Seen It In The Southern
Hemisphere, Had Given Him Warning What Was Coming, And He Had Prepared
For It.
That night we ran away before the wind to the north, next day
we lay hove-to till evening, and two days afterwards the gale was
repeated, but with still greater violence.
The captain was all ready
for it, and a ship, if she is a good sea-boat, may laugh at any winds or
any waves provided she be prepared. The danger is when a ship has got
all sail set and one of these bursts of wind is shot out at her; then
her masts go overboard in no time. Sailors generally estimate a gale of
wind by the amount of damage it does, if they don't lose a mast or get
their bulwarks washed away, or at any rate carry away a few sails, they
don't call it a gale, but a stiff breeze; if, however, they are caught
even by comparatively a very inferior squall, and lose something, they
call it a gale.
The captain assured us that the sea never assumes a much grander or more
imposing aspect than that which it wore on this occasion. He called me
to look at it between two and three in the morning when it was at its
worst; it was certainly very grand, and made a tremendous noise, and the
wind would scarcely let one stand, and made such a roaring in the
rigging as I never heard, but there was not that terrific appearance
that I had expected.
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