“ALL HANDS, MAKE SAIL!”
Supper comes at four o’clock, in the dog-watches: rather an early hour,
when it is remembered that Jack pipes to breakfast at eight bells,
or eight o’clock in the morning. The three meals are taken within
the space of eight hours; leaving sixteen hours between supper and
breakfast. Jack Somers did not like the arrangement very well; but
custom adapts us to every emergency, and he soon learned to lay in a
stock of grub which would last him two-thirds of a day.
“All hands make sail, ahoy!” shouted the boatswain, as his shrill
whistle rang through the ship after the men had concluded their evening
meal.
“Lay aloft, topmen!” was the first order given by Mr. Bankhead, which
was repeated by other officers at their stations. “Lower-yard men in
the chains!”
The topmen ran up the shrouds, while the lower-yard men placed
themselves in position to do so when the order should be given.
“Aloft, lower-yard men!” added the executive officer at the right time.
“Man the boom tricing-lines!”
The studding-sail booms are spars which extend out beyond the
yard-arms, when used; but, when the sails are furled, they lie upon the
top of them. The boom tricing-lines are attached to the inner ends of
these spars, by which they may be hauled up so as to get them out of
the way, and enable the men to work upon the sail.
“Trice up!” continued Mr. Bankhead; which order, as usual, was repeated
by the proper officers.
“Lay out!” he added, when the studding-sail booms were out of the men’s
way; and, in obedience to the command, they extended themselves along
the whole length of the several yards, standing upon the foot-ropes,
and holding on to the sail or ropes with the hands.
Jack Somers, as we have before stated, in loosing sails, belonged upon
the mizzen-top-gallant yard, which is the third cross-spar from the
deck; and, further, his place was at the starboard yard-arm, which
is the end of the spar, on the right-hand side of the ship, looking
forward. He was as much interested in the operation as though he had
been in command of the ship; for it was the first time he had performed
the duty when it really meant something.
“Loose!” said Mr. Bankhead; and, at the word, the men “passed the
gasket,” which is a rope wound round the sail, to confine it to the
yard when furled.
“All ready in the mizzen-top!” added the captain of the top, when the
operation was performed; and the men stood holding the sails in place
upon the yard.
The captains of the main-top and of the fore-top indicated, in like
manner, that they were all ready for the next order; and, when the
lieutenants upon deck had reported the fact to the executive officer,
he proceeded with the manœuvre.
“Let fall!” and, at the word, all the sails to be set were shaken out
at the same moment, and dropped down from the yards.
“Overhaul your rigging aloft!” proceeded Mr. Bankhead; and his order,
translated into the shore vernacular, meant that the men on the yards
were to arrange the sheets, buntlines, clewlines, and other ropes, so
that they would work freely, or not impede the progress of the sail
when it should be hoisted up.
“Man your sheets and halyards!” was the next command.
The sheets are the ropes on the topsails, by which they are hauled down
to the yards. For example,--the mizzen-top-gallant sail was fastened
to the mizzen-top-gallant yard, upon which our hero was stationed.
Attached to the lower corners of this sail were two ropes, passing over
a sheave, or pulley, in the mizzen-topsail yard. These two ropes were
the sheets; and, when the sail is set, they are drawn tight, to keep it
in place.
All the yards of the ship, except the lower one on each mast, slide up
and down. When the sails were loosed, the yards were _down_. The rope
attached to the yard, passing over a sheave set in the mast, by which
the spar is hoisted up, is called a halyard. Any rope by which a sail
is hoisted is called a halyard.
When the men appointed for the purpose had taken hold of the sheets and
halyards, the various officers reported that they were ready.
“Haul well taut!” said Mr. Bankhead.
The effect of the execution of this order was to bring everything to
its bearings.
“Let go, and overhaul your rigging aloft!” continued the
first-lieutenant.
“Sheet home, and hoist away!”
At this order the yards were hoisted up, and the sheets hauled down to
their places. The operation was thus completed; the ropes, with a whole
vocabulary of cabalistic names to designate them, were belayed and
flemished down; and everything was in apple-pie order.
At eight bells in the evening, the starboard watch went on duty; and
Jack, muffled up in his pea-jacket, came on deck. The wind was blowing
a stiff breeze; and the Harrisburg, under sail and steam, was driving
through the great waves of the Atlantic at the rate of twelve knots
an hour. On board a man-of-war, men are stationed at all times in the
tops; which are the platforms on the masts, just above the lower yards.
In large ships, they are capacious enough to hold quite a squad of men,
who are on duty there in readiness to perform any service that may be
required of them.
The topmen of the starboard and port watches are each divided into
first and second parts, called “quarter-watches,” one of which relieves
the other in the tops at the appointed time. When Jack came on deck
at eight bells,--as he belonged to the first part of the starboard
watch of mizzen-topmen,--his place was in this airy perch above the
deck. It was a very safe and comfortable position, notwithstanding any
prejudice which our shore friends might have against such an elevated
roosting-place, in a dark night, and in a rolling sea, when the ship
pitches so that a landsman would hardly be able to keep his feet on
deck, much less in the tops, where the motion of the vessel is more
sensibly experienced.
Jack Somers had his sea-legs on, and felt perfectly at home on the
topgallant yard-arm, in the tops, and in his close quarters on the
berth-deck. In fact, he had made up his mind to be a good seaman, and
to conduct himself like a true patriot. The honor and glory of the
American flag on board the Harrisburg had been intrusted to him, in
common with about a hundred and fifty others; and he was fully alive
to the responsibility which this trust imposed upon him. He had braced
himself up to endure any discomforts and hardships which this new
position might impose upon him; and he was not likely to be dismayed by
a gale of wind or a sharp set-to with a rebel battery, much less by the
ordinary life of a man-of-war’s man.
Jack took his place in the mizzen-top: and, as he ascended the rigging,
he began to think of home; for this was his first night at sea, and
his thoughts naturally reverted to his mother’s cottage in Pinchbrook.
He often thought, in his leisure moments, of the blessed associations
which cluster around the abiding-place of parents and brothers and
sisters. It was a blessed influence which these reflections exerted
upon his mind and heart. They preserved him pure and unsullied from the
contaminations which surrounded him; for, with many true and good men
in the ship, there were those of low and vile tastes, who lived only
for the joys of the present moment. Thus far, our sailor-boy had set
his face and his heart against the vices and sins of his more debased
shipmates.
Of the friends that Jack had made on board the receiving-ship, there
was only one among his top-mates,--Bob Rushington. All three of them
had been rated as petty-officers; for they were really superior hands.
Bob was a captain of the mizzen-top, Ben Blinks was a captain of the
main-top, and Tom Longstone was a quartermaster.
“What are you thinking about, Jack?” said Bob, when they had been in
the top about half an hour, during which time his companions had been
carrying on a conversation in a low tone.
“I was thinking of home,” replied Jack.
“Wishing you were there,” added Bob.
“No: not exactly.”
“You ought to brought your ma with you,” added Sam Becket with a low,
chuckling laugh.
“I’m not homesick,--I hope, not yet,” said Jack; “but it is pleasant to
think of home.”
“So it is--to babies,” sneered Sam. “You haven’t got larn’t yet, my
lad.”
“I never shall learn to forget my home.”
“Yes, you will; just clew down your ideas, and be a man-of-war’s man.
Milk for babies, rum for men, my lad. Have you got any coppers in your
pocket, my boy?”
“I have three,” answered Jack, thrusting his hand down into the depths
of his trousers-pocket. “Do you want them?”
“Perhaps I do: that will depend upon circumstances. Do you see my hand,
Jack,” said Sam Becket; “if you can’t, you can feel it: there it is.”
“Well, what of it?”
“Odd or even?” continued Sam.
“Odd,” replied Jack, not understanding the purpose of his companion.
“Odd it is: there are three of ’em, and they are yours;” and Sam took
Jack’s hand, and attempted to place the cents in it.
“What do you mean by that?” demanded our hero.
“What do I mean? Don’t you know a boom from a bobstay? You said odd,
and the coppers are yours. You won them.”
“Won them!” exclaimed Jack: “I don’t want to gamble.”
“Hush up! Do you want to tell the officer of the deck what we are
about!” protested Sam in an energetic whisper.
“I’m perfectly willing to tell him what I’m about.”
“Well, you young monkey, I should think you were hailing a frigate in
a nor’-wester. You are as green as a yaller squash-bug. Here take the
coppers: they belong to you; you won them.”
“I never gamble,” repeated Jack resolutely, but in a lower tone than
before.
“Take ’em, Jack, or you’re my enemy.”
“I cannot take them. I’d rather go into the brig for a week than gamble
for a single cent.”
“Silence in the mizzen-top!” said Mr. Midshipman Dickey, who had
been pacing the lee side of the quarter-deck, in the capacity of
aide-de-camp to Mr. Granger, the officer of the deck.
“There, you young milksop!” said Sam in an angry whisper. “Do you see
what you have done?”
“Avast there, Becket!” interposed the captain of the top. “Don’t get up
a quarrel with the lad. He means right.”
“I won’t have no quarrel with him; but he won the money, and he must
take it, or he is my enemy.”
“Friend or enemy, I won’t take your money,” added Jack firmly, as he
settled his back against the mizzen-top-mast rigging, and folded his
arms as if to prevent the coppers which he had inadvertently won from
being thrust upon him by force.
“Won’t take ’em: won’t ye, my hearty?”
“No, I will not: I did not mean to win them.”
“Didn’t meant to? Don’t you know what odd and even means?”
“I didn’t know it meant gambling.”
“All I got to say is, that I take it as an insult.”
“I did not mean to insult you.”
“Then take the coppers.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Take the coppers, and give me a chance to win ’em back, and then we’ll
call it square. After that, if you want to go about on the other tack,
all right.”
“I will not gamble to please you or any other man.”
“Very well, my hearty: I’ll sarve you out for this. There’s two ways
to insult a seaman: one is not to drink his grog when he axes you; and
t’other is not to take his money when you’ve won it. You insulted me,
Jack Somers; and I’ll sarve you out the first time the wind comes from
the right quarter. D’ye hear, ye little sniveling rat-catcher? Why
didn’t you bring your ma with you to keep you from falling overboard?”
“Because I can take care of myself, and because I want to keep my
mother out of bad company,” replied Jack sharply.
“Bad company! What do you mean by that, you little splatterbrains? Did
you mean me?”
“I didn’t mean anybody else in the mizzen-top,” answered Jack in a low
but stiff tone.
“Did ye? Then I’ll smash your top-lights!” said Sam, springing forward,
apparently with the intention of inflicting summary vengeance upon his
topmate.
“Avast there, Becket! Now, batten down your gabport, and don’t say
another word. The lad has the rights of it. If he don’t want to play,
he needn’t. It’s agin all orders to play on board. Now let him alone,”
interposed Bob Rushington, taking the angry seaman by the arm.
“I’ll be----”
“Belay all!” said the captain of the top firmly. “If you say another
word about it, I’ll report you to the officer of the deck.”
Becket, in the face of this threat, did not dare to pursue his
vindictive measures any further; and, during the remainder of the
watch in the top, Jack was permitted to consider without interruption
the enormity of the vice of gambling, and the results to which it
inevitably leads.