OUTWARD-BOUND.
Something banging at the bulkhead close to my ear aroused me from a deep
sleep in great alarm. The hole in which I lay was so pitchy dark that,
even when I realised where I was, which took some little time, I fumbled
fruitlessly about for several minutes before I finally extricated
myself. When at last I stood upright on the cuddy-deck, I saw the
captain seated at the table writing. He looked up and growled, "Now
then, look lively! Didn't you hear, 'Man the windlass'?" Alas! I knew no
more what he meant than as if he had spoken in Hebrew; but I gathered
somehow that I ought to be on deck. Up I scrambled into a bitter,
snow-laden north-east wind and darkness that, but for the strange sheen
of the falling flakes, was almost Egyptian. Shivering as much with queer
apprehensions as with cold, I hurried forrard, where I found the mate
and Chips hard at work getting the hands out of the fo'lk'sle, and up on
top of it, to where the two gaunt levers of the windlass made a blacker
streak in the prevailing darkness. Tumbling up against Jem, the darky,
he said, as well as his chattering teeth would allow, "Specs yo gotter
haul back chain longer me, boy; yars a hook fer yer,"--putting into my
hand, as he spoke, a long iron hook with a cross-handle. Then, when at
last the half-dead sailors began to work the levers, and the great
clumsy windlass revolved, Jem and I hooked on to the massive links of
the cable, dragging it away from the barrel and ranging it in long
flakes beside the fore-hatch. Every few fathoms, when the chain had
worked its way right across the barrel, and the turns were beginning to
jam one another up against the bitt, Jem called out, "Fleet, oh!" Then a
couple of men descended from Mount Misery and hooked a mighty iron claw,
which was secured by a stout chain to the bitt, on to the cable before
the windlass. This held the whole weight while the turns of chain were
loosed and laboriously lifted back to the other end of the
windlass-barrel again. When thick with mud, so that each link was more
like a badly made raw brick than aught else, this primitive performance
was an uncouth job, and I could imagine many pleasanter occupations.
Two o'clock on a winter's morning, struggling with mud-besmeared masses
of iron, upon a footing so greasy that standing was a feat, hungry and
sleepy withal, there was little romance about this business. At last the
mate bawled, "She's short, sir!" and told the men to "'Vast heavin'."
Out of the gloom around the tug-boat emerged, coming close alongside to
receive her end of the big rope by which she was to drag us out to sea.
No sooner was it fast than a strange voice aft--the Channel
pilot's--roared out, "Heave right up, sir!" "Aye, aye, sir!" answered
the mate. "Heave 'way, boys!" The clatter of the pawls recommenced,
continuing until the anchor was as high as it would come. The subsequent
"catting" and "fishing" of the big "mud-hook" was all a confused dream
to me. All I knew was that I had to sit down and pull at a rope which
was wound round a capstan by the steady tramp of the crew, of whom one
would occasionally growl at me to mind my "surge," and I would feel a
jerk at my rope that shook me up dreadfully. It seemed an interminable
job; but, like everything else, came to an end at last. The mate now
walked aft, ordering Jem and my small self to coil ropes up and clear
away generally. But he called out almost immediately, "All hands lay aft
to muster!" The whole crowd slouched aft, grouping themselves at the
break of the poop, where a sort of elevated deck began just before the
mizzenmast. Each individual's name was now read out and answered to as
announced. I found that there were six able seamen, and the nigger-boy,
Jem, "foremast hands." The captain, mate, Chips, cook, and myself formed
the "afterguard."
The "crowd" were now divided into watches, the mate having first pick
for the port watch, and getting Jem over. This ceremony concluded, the
word was passed to "Pump ship." Several grumbling comments were made on
the "one-arm sailor" pumps: a mean, clumsy contrivance, only fit for the
smallest vessels, requiring twice the exertion for half the result
obtainable from any of the late patents. But the amazement and disgust
of the fellows can hardly be imagined when, after half an hour's
vigorous "Clankety, clankety, clankety, bang!"--three strokes and a
pause as the fashion is--there was no sign of a "suck." A burly
Yorkshireman, leaning up against the brake to mop his brow, said, "Well,
boys, if this ---- old scow ain't just sprung a leak, or bin left fur
'bout a month thout pumpin', we're in for a ---- fine thing ov it." There
was hardly any intelligible response, they all seemed choking with rage
and curses. However, they sucked her out, and then the big man asked
Chips quietly whether that "spell" was usual. Chips assured him that she
had not been baled out for a long time, and that she would certainly
"take up" in a day or two. Oil on the troubled waters, but very risky,
for he had only just joined himself; nor did he know anything of the old
tub's previous record.
Meanwhile the cook, or "doctor," as his sea-sobriquet is, had been busy
making coffee. Unlike any beverage called by that name ashore, even the
funny mixture sold at a halfpenny a cup at street corners being quite
luxurious in comparison with it, yet it was a godsend--boiling hot, with
plenty of sugar in it--to those poor wretches with the quenchless thirst
of many day's indulgence in the vilest liquor making their throats like
furred old drain-pipes. It calmed the rising storm, besides doing them a
vast amount of physical good. I was at once busy supplying the wants of
the officers, to whom the refreshment was heartily welcome. All the
time, we were ploughing steadily along behind the strenuous tug at a
greater rate than ever I saw the old barky go afterwards. (I have
omitted to mention that we were bound for Demerara with a general cargo,
but our subsequent destination was not settled yet.) All hands were
allowed a pretty long spell of rest, with the exception of the man at
the wheel, and one on the look-out, because, until we were well out,
sail would have been more hindrance than help. The wind increased as we
got farther down, until, as we passed out of the river, quite a sea was
rising, to which the old hooker began to bob and curtsey like a country
girl looking for a situation. The relentless tug, however, tore her
through the fast-rising waves, making them break over the bows in heavy
spray. This was uncomfortable, but the motion was far worse. All the
horrors of sea-sickness came suddenly upon me, and, like an ailing
animal, I crept into a corner on the main-hatch under the long-boat,
wishing for oblivion. Sea-sickness is a theme for jesting, no doubt, but
those who have suffered from it much, know how little room there is for
laughter at such suffering--suffering too for which, at the time, there
seems no hope of alleviation except the impossible one of the motion
ceasing.
From that morning for several days I remained in this miserable
condition, not caring a pin's point whether I lived or died, nor, with
the sole exception of the negro, Jem, did any one else on board seem to
give me one moment's thought. Not that I would lightly accuse them of
cruelty or callous indifference to suffering; but, being all fully
occupied with their work, they had little leisure to attend to a
sea-sick urchin that was of small use at his best. However, poor black
Jem never forgot me, and, although he had nothing likely to tempt my
appetite, he always brought his scanty meals to where I lay helpless
under the long-boat, trying in various quaint ways to coax me into a
returning interest in life. Fortunately for me, the wind held in a
quarter that enabled the ship to get out of the Channel fairly soon,
considering her limitations, and, once across the dreaded stretch of the
Bay of Biscay, she speedily ran into fine weather and smoother seas.
When I did eventually find my sea-legs, and resumed my duties in the
cabin, I was received with no good grace by my uncle or the doctor. The
latter had, indeed, special cause to feel himself aggrieved, since he
had borne the burden of double duty during my illness: a hardship which
he was a long time in forgetting. But she was an unhappy ship. The
skipper held aloof from everybody, hardly holding converse with the
mate. He even kept the ship's reckoning alone, not accepting the mate's
assistance in taking the sun for the longitude in the morning, but doing
it all himself after a fashion of his own, so that the chief officer was
as ignorant of the vessel's true position as I was. Then the food, both
forrard and aft, was, in addition to being strictly on the abominable
official scale which is a disgrace to a civilised country, of so
unspeakably vile a quality that it was hardly fit to give to well-reared
pigs. I have often seen the men break up a couple of biscuits into a pot
of coffee for their breakfast, and, after letting it stand a minute or
two, skim off the accumulated scum of vermin from the top--maggots,
weevils, etc.--to the extent of a couple of table-spoonfuls, before they
could shovel the mess into their craving stomachs. Enough, however, for
the present on the food-question, which, being one of the prime factors
in a sailor's life, must continually be cropping up.
The bleak, biting edge of the winter weather was now gone, the steady
north-easterly breeze blew mild and kindly, while from an almost
cloudless heaven the great sun beamed benignantly--his rays not yet so
fierce as to cause any discomfort. My sensations on first discovering
that no land was visible, that we seemed the solitary centre of an
immense blue circle, whose sharply defined circumference was exactly
joined to the vast azure dome overhead, were those of utter loneliness
and terror. For I knew nothing of the ways of navigators across this
pathless plain, nor realized any of the verities of the subject set
forth in the few books I had read. School learning I had none. Had there
been any one to whom I could have gone for information, without fearing
a brutal repulse, I should doubtless have felt less miserable; but, as
it was, use alone gradually reconciled me to the solemn silence of the
illimitable desert around. At rare intervals vessels appeared, tiny
flecks of white upon the mighty waste, which only served to emphasize
its immensity as the solitary light of a taper does the darkness of some
huge hall.
But the sea itself was full of interest. Of course I had little leisure;
but what I had was spent mostly in hanging spell-bound over the side,
gazing with ever-growing wonder and delight upon this marvellous world
of abounding life. This early acquired habit never left me, for, many
years afterwards, when second mate of one of our finest passenger
clippers, I enjoyed nothing so much as to pass an hour of my watch
below, seated far out ahead of the ship by the martingale, gazing down
into the same beautiful sea.
There were no books on board or reading matter of any kind, except the
necessary works on navigation on the captain's shelf; so it was just as
well that I could take some interest in our surroundings, if I was not
to die mentally as most of the sailors seemed to have done. As I got
better acquainted with them, even daring to pay stolen visits to their
darksome home in timorous defiance of the stern orders of my uncle, I
found to my amazement, that they could tell me nothing of what I wanted
to know. Their kindness often went the length of inventing fabulous
replies to my eager questions, but they seemed totally ignorant of
anything connected with the wonders of the ocean.
The days slipped rapidly away, until we entered the Sargasso Sea, that
strange vortex in the middle of the Atlantic. It was on a Sunday
morning, when, according to custom, no work was a-doing, except for the
doctor and me. Even our duties were less exacting than usual; so that I
was able to snatch many a short spell of gazing overside at the
constantly increasing masses of Gulf-weed that, in all its delicate
beauty of branch and bud, came brushing past our sides. That afternoon
the sea, as far as eye could reach, bore no bad resemblance to a ripe
hayfield, the weed covering the water in every direction, with hardly a
patch of blue amid the prevailing yellow. Before the light trade-wind we
were hardly able to make any headway through the investing vegetation,
which overlaid the waves so heavily that the surface was smooth as a
millpond. Through the bewildering mazes of that aquatic forest roved an
innumerable multitude of fish of every shape, size, and hue, while the
branches themselves swarmed with crustacea, so that a draw-bucket full
of weed would have furnished quite a large-sized aquarium with a
sufficiently varied population. I could have wished the day forty-eight
hours long; but I was the only one on board that derived any pleasure
from the snail-like progress we made. The captain's vexation showed
itself in many ways, but mostly in inciting Chips to order various quite
uncalled-for jobs of pulling and hauling, which provoked the watch so
much that there was a continual rumble of bad language and growling.
Even the twenty minutes' spell at the pumps, which, from its regularity
every two hours, now passed almost unnoticed, was this afternoon the
signal for a great deal of outspoken and unfavourable comment upon the
characters of ship, owner, and captain. The latter gentleman paced his
small domain with uncertain tread, as usual; but the glitter in his eye,
and the set of his heavily bearded lips, showed how sorely he was
tempted to retaliate. But he prudently forebore, well aware of his
helplessness in case of an outbreak, as well as being forced to admit
full justification for the bitter remarks that were so freely indulged
in.
Indeed, it was a serious question how long the present peace would last.
The rigging was dropping to pieces; so that a man never knew, when he
went aloft, whether he would not come crashing down by the run, from the
parting of a rotten footrope or a perished seizing. The sails were but
rags, worn almost to the thinness of muslin, every flap threatening to
strip them from the yards. There was no material for repairs, no new
rope, canvas, or "seizing-stuff;" half a barrel of Stockholm tar, and a
few pieces of old "junk" for sennit and spunyarn, representing all the
boatswain's stores on board. In fact, the absence of all those
necessaries, which are to be found on board the most poverty-stricken of
ships, for their bare preservation in serviceable condition, was a
never-failing theme of discussion in the fo'lk'sle. And one conclusion
was invariably arrived at, albeit the avenues of talk by which it was
reached were as tortuous and inconsequent as could well be. It was the
grim one that the _Arabella_ was never intended to return. This thought
tinctured all the men's ideas, embittered their lives, and made the most
ordinary everyday tasks seem a burden almost too grievous to be borne.
Had it not been for the overwhelming evidence that the condition of the
afterguard was almost as miserable as their own, the abject humility of
the mate, in spite of his really good seamanship, and the
hail-fellow-well-met way in which Chips confessed his utter ignorance of
all sailorizing whatever, I very much doubt whether there would not
have been a mutiny before we were a fortnight out. But as the villainous
food and incessant pumping were not aggravated by bullying and "working
up," matters jolted along without any outbreak. Born as I was under an
unlucky star, my insignificance nearly overthrew the peace that was so
precariously kept. The deadly dulness of the cabin was so stifling, that
I felt as if I should die there in the long, dreary evenings between
supper and bunk. Nothing to read, nobody to speak to, nothing to do, and
forbidden with threats to go forrard among the men--that I should
transgress sooner or later was a certainty. I took to creeping forrard
oftener and more openly, because no detection followed, until a sharp
rope's-ending from my uncle brought me up "with a round turn," as the
sailor says. By this time I had become rather a favourite forrard, as
well as something of a toy, being very small for my age and precocious
as might be expected from my antecedents. One man especially--Joe, the
big Yorkshireman--became strongly attached to me, endeavouring to teach
me thoroughly the rudiments of sailorizing. This was at considerable
sacrifice of his own time, which, as he was an ardent model-maker, was
sufficient proof of his liking for me.
Now I was almost destitute of clothing, and what little I did possess I
was rapidly growing out of. So the next day after my disciplinary
castigation, Joe walked aft in his watch below demanding audience of the
skipper. There was an unpleasant scowl on the old man's face, as he
came on deck to see the audacious man, that boded ill for the applicant
in any case. But when Joe boldly tackled him for a bit of light canvas
whereof he might make me a "Cunarder" (a sort of habergeon) and a pair
of trousers, the skipper's face grew black with rage. The insult, all
the grosser for its truth, was too obvious. When he found his tongue, he
burst into furious abuse of Joe for daring to come aft on such an
errand. Joe, being no lamb, replied with interest, to the delight of his
fellows, who strolled aft as far as the mainmast to hear the fun. This
unseemly wrangle, so subversive of all order or discipline, lasted for
about ten minutes, during which time I stood shivering at the foot of
the cabin ladder in dread of the sequel. Finally the old man, unable to
endure any more, roared, "Get forrard or I'll shoot ye, ye d--d ugly
thief of a sea-lawyer! I'll have ye by the heels yet, an' w'en I do
ye'll think Jemmy Smallback's gruppin' ye!" With this parting shot he
turned on his heel without waiting the retort discourteous that promptly
followed, descending abruptly into the cabin with the ironical cheers of
the delighted crew ringing unmelodiously in his ears.
Under such provocation it was little wonder that I paid for all. It must
have been balm to my relative's wounded pride to rope's-end me; at any
rate, he did so with a completeness that left nothing to be desired.
And, in order to avenge himself fully, he closed our interview by
kicking me forrard, daring me, at the same time, ever to defile his
cabin again with my mischief-making presence under pain of
neck-twisting.
Of course I was received in the fo'lk'sle with open arms. My reception
went far to mollify my sore back, for the seclusion of the cabin had
grown so hateful, that I would willingly have purchased my freedom from
it with several such coltings as I had endured, not to speak of the
honour of being welcomed as a sort of martyr. Before long I owned quite
a respectable rig-out, made up, by the dexterity of Joe, from all sorts
of odds and ends contributed by all hands at a tarpaulin muster. Now
each man vied with the other in teaching me all they knew of their
business, and I was such an apt pupil that, in a short time, they were
able to boast that there was no knot or splice known to seafarers, that
I was not capable of making in sailor fashion. Being no climbist, as
might be expected from an urchin born and bred in London streets,
getting used to the rigging was unpleasant at first; but that was
mastered in its turn, until nothing remained unlearned but the helm. The
one aim, apparently, of every man forrard was to so fit me for the work
I might be called upon to do, as that no excuse might be found for
cruelty of any sort. Whether I had the ability to meet his demands or
not, it did not seem prudent for the old man to try his hand on me again
in the colting line, and I went gaily enough on my progressive way.