OFFICERS AND SEAMEN.
After dinner the organization of the crew was continued. All hands were
"piped to muster," and by this time most of those who had been
disaffected at the drawing of berths had recovered their natural
equanimity, and all were intensely interested in the arrangement of the
details. None of the boys knew what was coming, and their curiosity kept
them in a continuous state of excitement.
"All who have drawn even numbers will take the starboard side of the
ship," said Mr. Lowington from his perch on the hatch. "All who have
drawn odd numbers will take the port side."
"This is the starboard side, my lads," added Mr. Fluxion, the instructor
in mathematics--who, like the principal, had been a naval officer,--as
he pointed to the right, looking forward.
Some had already forgotten their numbers, and there was considerable
confusion before the order could be obeyed.
"Young gentlemen, the books will be opened to-day; and a student who
forgets his number again will lose a mark," said Mr. Lowington. "Are
they all in their places, Mr. Fluxion?"
"They are, sir," replied the instructor, who had just counted them.
"Young gentlemen, you are thus divided into two equal parts--the
starboard and the port watches. Now form a straight line, toe the crack,
and call your numbers in order, beginning with the starboard watch."
The boys eagerly followed this direction, though some assistance was
required from the instructors in repressing their superfluous
enthusiasm.
"Very well," continued Mr. Lowington, when the students were formed in
two lines. "Every boy in the starboard watch whose number is divisible
by four, step forward one pace. Number three in the port watch, do the
same. Mr. Mapps, oblige me by seeing that every alternate boy in the
line steps forward."
"The line is formed, sir," replied the instructor, when he had carried
out the direction of the principal.
"Each watch is now divided into two parts--the first and second parts,
as they will be called. Now, young gentlemen, the clothing will be
distributed, and each student will put on his uniform at once."
The four lines were then marched down into the steerage, each under the
charge of an instructor, to a particular locality, where the head
steward and his assistants had deposited the clothing for each watch and
quarter watch. The uniform consisted of blue seaman's pants and a heavy
flannel shirt or frock, such as is worn in the United States navy. To
each student the following articles were served out:--
1 pea-jacket.
1 blue cloth jacket.
1 pair blue cloth pants.
1 pair blue satinet pants.
1 blue cap.
1 straw hat, of coarse, sewed straw.
1 Panama hat, bound.
2 knit woollen shirts.
2 pair knit woollen drawers.
2 white frocks.
2 pair white duck pants.
4 pair socks.
2 pair shoes.
2 black silk neck-handkerchiefs.
These articles were given to the boys, and they were required to put on
the every-day uniform; after which they were directed to arrange the
rest of the clothing in the lockers belonging to them. The contractor
who had furnished the goods was present with four tailors, to attend to
the fitting of the clothes, which were all numbered according to the
size. In a short time the students began to come out of their rooms,
clothed in their new rig. They looked intensely "salt," and there was no
end to the jokes and smart things that were said on this interesting
occasion. Even Shuffles hardly knew himself in his new dress.
The frock had a broad rolling collar, in each corner of which was worked
an anchor in white. The black silk neck-handkerchief was worn under the
collar, and not many of the boys had acquired the art of tying the
regular sailor's knot. Boatswain Peaks not only stood up as a model for
them, but he adjusted the "neck gear" for many of them. Bitts, the
carpenter, and Leech, the sailmaker, who were also old sailors,
cheerfully rendered a valet's assistance to such as needed help.
Agreeably to the directions of Mr. Lowington, the shore suits of the
students were done up in bundles, each marked with the owner's name, and
the head steward took them to Mr. Lowington's house for storage.
Rigged out in their "sea togs," the students began to feel salt, as well
as to look salt. Some of them tried to imitate the rolling gait of the
boatswain when they walked, and some of them began to exhibit an
alarming tendency to indulge in sea slang.
"There, my hearty, you look like a sailor now," said Peaks, when he had
rolled over the collar and tied the square knot in the handkerchief of
Wilton.
"Shiver my timbers, but I feel like one," laughed the embryo seaman.
"What's that, young gentleman?" demanded Mr. Lowington, who happened to
be within hearing; "what did you say?"
"I said I felt like a sailor, sir."
"What was the expression you used?"
"I only said shiver my timbers, sir."
"You stole that expression from a yellow-covered novel. Did you ever
hear Mr. Peaks, who has been a sailor all his lifetime, use such
language?"
"I'll be bound he never did," added Peaks.
"No, sir. I don't know that I ever did."
"Some sailors do use such expressions; but it is gross affectation for
these young gentlemen, who never saw a blue wave, to indulge in them. If
you please, Wilton, you will not use such language. It is simply
ridiculous. Mr. Peaks, you will pipe all hands to muster again."
The shrill whistle of the boatswain sounded through the ship, and the
boys tumbled up the ladders, eager to learn what was to be done next. As
they formed in lines, they presented a novel and picturesque appearance
in their jaunty uniform. Most of them had already learned to wear their
caps canted over on one side, and not a few of them, perhaps as much
from necessity as because it was a sailor's habit, hitched up their
trousers, and thrust their hands deep down into the side pockets.
The students were again formed in watches and quarter watches, each of
which classes and sub-classes was indicated on the uniforms. All the
starboard watch wore a small silver star on the right arm, above the
elbow, and the port watch the same emblem on the left arm. The first
part of each watch had a figure 1, under the star, and the second part a
figure 2 in the same position.
The rest of the day was spent in the organization for ship's duty, which
was far from completed when the sun went down. The next day every boy
was kept so busy that he had no time to grumble. The instructors
attended to the lessons in the steerage with one watch, while the other
was on deck acquiring seamanship. In the course of the month, as the
boys learned their duties, and the capabilities of each were
ascertained, they were assigned to their stations in the various
evolutions required in working the vessel.
Boatswain Peaks had taught the boys, a few at a time, how to set a
sail, reef and furl it. They had been gradually accustomed to going
aloft, until the giddy height of the main royal did not appall them, and
they could lay out on the yards without thinking of the empty space
beneath them. By the first of June, all the petty officers had been
appointed, and every student had his station billet. When the order was
given to unmoor ship, to make sail, or to furl the sails, every one knew
where to go and what to do. The station billets were cards on which the
various evolutions of the ship had been printed in a column on the left,
while the particular duty of the owner of the card was written against
it. The card was kept by the student, and he was expected to learn its
contents so that he could take his place without stopping to consult it,
when an order was given. Here is a specimen of the cards:--
+---------------------------------------------------------+
|PORT WATCH, NO 21, WILLIAM FOSTER, |
|Second Part. _Captain of the Forecastle._ |
+----------------------+----------------------------------+
|REEFING. |Head Bowlines. |
|TACKING OR WEARING. |Forecastle. Let go head bowlines. |
| | Let go and shorten in foretack |
| | and belay it. |
|GETTING UNDER WAY. |Head Bowlines. Downhauls and |
| | head-sheets. |
|ANCHORING. |Head Bowlines, Sheets and Tacks. |
| | Downhauls. |
|LOOSING SAILS. |Foretopmast Staysail. |
|FURLING. |Head Bowlines and Downhauls, |
| | Staysail. |
|MOORING AND UNMOORING.|Forecastle. |
|BOAT. |Professor's Barge, stroke-oar. |
|MESS. |No. 11. |
+----------------------+----------------------------------+
The crew had been in training a month before an attempt was made to set
more than one sail at once; but by this time the officers knew the
orders, having practised every day since the organization. The petty
officers had been appointed, and had, to some extent, become familiar
with their duties.
The boys still continued to wonder when the Young America would go on a
cruise, for they were very anxious to see the blue water, and to roll on
the great waves of the Atlantic; but they were so constantly occupied
with ship's duty and their studies, that the time did not hang heavily
on their hands. Two months of constant practice had made tolerable
seamen of them, and the discipline of the ship went on regularly. The
young officers, as Mr. Lowington had promised, began to conduct the
evolutions and give the orders.
On the 1st day of June, after breakfast, the students were thrown into a
fever of excitement by an unusual order, and they ventured to hope that
the ship was to leave her moorings.
"Mr. Gordon, you will pipe all hands to muster," said Captain Carnes to
the first lieutenant.
"Pass the word for the boatswain," added Gordon to one of the
midshipmen, who stood near him.
This call was answered, not by Peaks, who no longer performed the duties
of boatswain, but by one of the students, who had been appointed to this
position.
"Pipe all hands to muster, boatswain," said the first lieutenant, as the
petty officer touched his cap to him.
"All hands on deck, ahoy!" shouted the boatswain, as he piped the call.
This was an unusual order for that time of day, the forenoon being
appropriated to study for each watch in turn; and those who were below
hastened on deck to ascertain what was to be done.
"All hands, stations for loosing sail!" piped the boatswain, when
ordered to do so by Gordon.
The first lieutenant was in charge of the ship, under the direction of
the captain. The second lieutenant stood on the forecastle, where he was
attended by the boatswain. The third lieutenant was in the waist, and
the fourth on the quarter deck, near the mizzenmast. These were the
stations of the officers whenever all hands were called. Mr. Lowington
and the instructors stood near the companion-way, watching with interest
this first attempt to make sail all over the ship.
"Lay aloft, sail-loosers!" shouted Gordon; and his order was repeated by
the officers at their several stations.
The little tars who belonged on the topsail and top-gallant yards sprang
up the rigging like so many cats, excited beyond measure by the scene of
activity around them.
"Lower yardmen in the chains!" continued Gordon and his order was
passed, along by the officers. "Aloft, lower yardmen!"
In a moment the crew were in their places; the studding-sail booms were
triced up with the usual system, so that the sails could be reached.
"Lay out!" continued the first lieutenant; and the boys walked out on
the foot-ropes to their stations on the yards. "Loose!"
The ropes by which the sails were secured to the yards were removed at
this order, and the topmen held the sails in their places.
"All ready on the forecastle, sir," reported Foster, who was captain of
that part of the ship.
"All ready in the foretop."
"All ready in the maintop."
"All ready in the mizzentop," reported the several captains of the tops,
in their proper order.
These reports were passed to the first lieutenant in charge of the deck,
by his subordinates.
"Let fall!" shouted Gordon, highly excited; and the sails dropped from
the yard. "Overhaul your rigging aloft! Man sheets and halyards! Sheets
home, and hoist away!"
These orders were passed from mouth to mouth among the officers, and
return reports made, according to the strict discipline of the navy.
They were promptly executed by the crew, though of course not without
some blunders; and the Young America was covered with her cloud of
canvas. Mr. Lowington commended the officers and crew for the promptness
and skill they had displayed in their first concerted attempt at making
sail. He then directed Captain Carnes to furl. Both evolutions were then
repeated, until a proficiency satisfactory for one day was attained.
"Not going to sea, after all," said Shuffles, when the crew were
dismissed from muster.
"No," replied Wilton. "I'm tired of lying here, and if we don't go to
sea soon, I shall take myself off."
"I'm with you."
"I thought we were going to have some fun on board, but we don't do
anything but study and shake out topsails."
"Do you know how you stand on marks, Wilton?" asked Shuffles.
"No; not very high, though."
"Don't you think you shall get into the cabin next term?"
"I know I shall not. I haven't tried for anything."
"On the first of next month, you know, new officers will be appointed,
and I suppose the crew will be messed over again."
"I don't care, I'm getting tired of this thing, I had a better time at
the Academy before we came on board."
"There isn't much chance for any sport. Hardly a fellow has been allowed
to go on shore since we joined the ship."
"Well get up a mutiny, if things don't improve."
"I was thinking of that very thing myself," said Shuffles, in a low
tone.
"A mutiny!" exclaimed Wilton, who had used the word in jest.
"Just for fum, you know," laughed Shuffles.
"You don't mean any such thing?"
"Not yet, of course."
"Do you at any time?"
"We want something more exciting than this kind of a life. Here we are,
kept down and treated like common sailors. We have to touch our caps and
make our manners to Dick Carnes and the rest of the flunkies in the
after cabin. My father pays as much for me as Dick Carnes' father does
for him, and I don't think it is fair that he should live in the cabin
and I in the steerage."
"If you get marks enough, you can have a berth in the cabin," replied
Wilton.
"Marks! Confound the marks! I'm not a baby. Do you think a fellow
seventeen years old is going to be put up or put down by marks?" said
Shuffles.
"I thought you had been working for a place in the cabin."
"So I have, but I don't expect to get it. I never studied so hard in my
life, and I believe I haven't had a bad mark since I came on board,
Lowington thinks I have reformed," laughed Shuffles. "And so I have."
"What do you want to get up a mutiny for, then?"
"I shall not, if I get a decent position; if I don't, I'm going in for
some fun."
"But do you really think of getting up a mutiny?" asked Wilton,
curiously.
"I was thinking the other day what a fine thing it would be if our
fellows had the ship all to themselves."
"What could we do with her?"
"Go on a cruise in her."
"We couldn't handle her; there is hardly a fellow on board that knows
anything about navigation."
"Of course, I don't mean to do anything yet a while; not this year,
perhaps. One of these days, if we stay on board, we shall know all about
a ship. Fifteen or twenty of the fellows are studying navigation. We are
going to Europe some time or other. When we do, we can take the ship,
and go it on our own hook."
"I don't believe you mean anything of the kind, Bob Shuffles."
"I've been thinking about it, anyhow. We can lock Lowington and the rest
of the old folks into their cabin while they are at dinner; and there
are enough of us to handle Peaks and Bitts."
"I think you are crazy, Shuffles."
"We should have a high old time if we could get possession of the ship.
We wont say a word about it yet."
"I think you had better not."
"We might go round Cape Horn into the Pacific, and have a splendid time
among the beautiful islands of the South Sea."
"Of course all the fellows wouldn't join you."
"We could put those ashore somewhere who did not agree with us."
"You know the penalty of mutiny on the high seas."
"Bah!" said Shuffles, contemptuously. "It would be nothing but it lark.
No one would think of hanging us, or even sending us to prison for it.
My father is rich enough to get me out of any scrape."
"So is mine; but I don't think it would be quite safe to go into a
mutiny."
"Not yet, my dear fellow. You can think it over."
"But I'm tired of this kind of a life. I liked it first rate in the
beginning. Do you think Lowington really intends to go to sea with the
ship?"
"I know he does."
"If he don't go pretty soon, I shall run away, and go to sea in
earnest."
"Don't say a word about the mutiny at present, Wilton. By and by, if
things go right, or if they don't go right, we may want to take some
stock in such an enterprise."
"I don't see it yet, but of course I shall keep still."
It is doubtful whether even so daring a young man as Shuffles, who had
the temerity to do almost anything, seriously contemplated getting up a
mutiny. Very likely his untamed and vicious imagination had revelled in
such an enterprise; had pictured the delights of the rover's life at
sea; but a boy of ordinary common sense could hardly think of engaging
in such a mad scheme.
The last week of June, with which month ended the first school term on
board of the Young America, was devoted to examinations and reviews in
all the studies for which extra marks were given. On the last day the
instructors made up the merit lists, and on the morning of the 1st of
July all hands were mustered, and the result declared. Most of the
officers, all of whom had studied with unremitting diligence in order to
retain their positions, were reinstated in their offices. The third
lieutenant, however, fell out, having failed in his reviews, and to the
astonishment of all, Robert Shuffles was found to be entitled to the
place. The first and second lieutenants exchanged ranks, and Paul
Kendall fell to the position of second master. Three of the tenants of
the after cabin were compelled to move into the steerage, and three of
the crew were transferred to the officers' quarters.
Many were disappointed, and perhaps some were disheartened, for the
competition had been a severe struggle; and as much depended upon
natural ability as upon energy and perseverance. But the Young America
was a world by herself. She had all the elements of society within her
wooden walls, and success and failure there followed the same rules as
in the great world of which she was an epitome.
After the officers had been duly installed in their positions, the petty
offices were given to those having the highest number of marks among the
crew. It was certainly democratic for the late third lieutenant to
become captain of the foretop, and for a second master to become
coxswain of the professors' barge; but these young gentlemen, though
disappointed, submitted with a good grace to their misfortune.
The student having the highest number of marks among the crew was
allowed to have the first choice of berths in the steerage; the one
having the next highest number had the second choice, and so on, until
all the numbers had been appropriated. At the conclusion of the
reorganization, Mr. Lowington made a speech, "comforting the mourners,"
and reminding all the students that, on the 1st of October, there would
be another distribution of the places of honor. He hoped those who had
failed to attain what they aspired to reach would not be discouraged,
for, after all, they had been gaining knowledge, and thus the real end
of the school had been reached.
"How about the mutiny?" said Wilton to the new third lieutenant, when
both were off duty in the evening.
"It won't pay just now," replied Shuffles, with great good humor.
"I suppose not," sneered Wilton, who had not even won a petty office.
"What would Lowington say if he knew the third lieutenant talked of
getting up a mutiny on board?"
"What would he say?" repeated Shuffles, who was as much surprised at the
high rank he had gained as his companion had been.
"Yes; what would he say if I should tell him of it?"
"He would say you were a mean pup for telling tales out of school; at
least, he ought to say so, and I think he would. Lowington is a pretty
good fellow, after all."
"No doubt he is, now you are third lieutenant."
"You needn't snuff at it, Wilton. If you want a place, why don't you
sail in, and get one. Just look out for your marks; that's all you have
to do."
"Marks! I thought a fellow seventeen years old was not to be put up or
put down by marks," said Wilton, bitterly.
"That depends somewhat upon whether you get in or out," laughed
Shuffles.
"I suppose you and Paul Kendall will be fast friends now," added the
discontented student.
"Kendall behaves very well, and has treated me first rate since I went
into the cabin."
"I suppose if I want to run away, you will stop me now."
"If you are going to do that, you musn't tell me of it, now I'm an
officer," replied Shuffles, as he turned on his heel, and walked aft.
Wilton was disgusted, and felt that he had lost his best friend, now
that Shuffles had worked his way into the cabin.