ALL HANDS, REEF TOPSAILS!
Augustus Pelham, the fourth lieutenant of the Young America, was almost
the only malcontent among the officers; the only one who persistently
declined to be reconciled to the new regulation. Others objected to it;
others criticised it, and even regarded the act as tyrannical; but the
good offices of Paul Kendall, who argued the question with them, as he
did with Shuffles, had in a measure conciliated them, and they were at
least disposed to submit gracefully to the order. But Pelham was not of
this number He was above the average age, and, like the chief
conspirator on board, expecting to leave the ship at the end of the
first year, had not exerted himself to the extent of his ability. He had
been first lieutenant and had now fallen to fourth. He was older than
the captain, and it galled him to be subject to one younger than
himself.
He was dissatisfied with his rank, and this had a tendency to make him a
grumbler. It needed only an appearance of tyranny or injustice to array
him in spirit against the authorities of the ship. Shuffles knew his
state of mind, and was prepared to take advantage of it, hoping through
him to gain other discontented spirits in the cabin.
When the first part of the port watch was relieved, the "Chain"
consisted of five links, and the conspirators were well satisfied with
the present success of the enterprise. Each of the new members of the
League was commissioned to obtain a recruit, whose name was given to
him, and he was required to report upon the case, to Shuffles, before
eight bells in the afternoon watch. As a measure of precaution, it was
required that no meetings should be held; that not more than three
members should assemble for business at any one time. The utmost care
and circumspection were urged, and it was agreed that not a word should
be said in the steerage, where it was possible for any of the professors
to overhear it.
The second part of the port watch, with Pelham as officer of the deck,
went on duty at ten o'clock. The wind had been freshening for the last
two hours, and it was now necessary to reduce sail. The royals were
first taken in, and then the top-gallant sails.
"We can't lay this course, sir," said Burchmore, the quartermaster, who
was conning the helm. "The wind is hauling to the eastward."
"Make the course east by north then," replied Pelham, without taking the
trouble to consult the captain or Mr. Fluxion, both of whom were on
deck.
"The wind is north-north-east, sir," reported the quartermaster, a short
time afterwards.
"Keep her east then."
At six bells the wind was north-east, and coming heavier and heavier
every moment. The ship was headed east-south-east, and it was evident
that she still had on more sail than she could easily carry.
"What's the course, Mr. Pelham?" asked Captain Gordon.
"East-south-east, sir," replied Pelham.
"The course given out was east-north-east."
"I have changed it three times within the last hour," answered the
fourth lieutenant, in rather surly tones.
"By whose order?" demanded the captain.
"By no one's order, sir."
"You know the regulation for the officer of the deck. He is not
permitted to alter the course of the ship, unless to avoid some sudden
danger, without informing the captain."
"I had to alter the course, or have the topsails thrown aback," replied
Pelham.
"Very likely it was proper to alter the course; but it was also proper
to inform me, especially when I was on deck."
"Very well, Captain Gordon. I will not alter the course again without
your order," added the fourth lieutenant, stiffly.
"The regulation is not mine, Mr. Pelham," continued the captain,
sternly.
As the wind increased, sail was reduced to topsails and courses, jib and
spanker; but at seven bells even these were found to be too much for
her.
"Captain Gordon, it is coming heavier," said Mr. Fluxion. "I think it
will be necessary to reef."
"I was thinking of that, sir. The wind is north-east, and blowing a
gale."
"You had better call all hands, and do it at once."
"Mr. Pelham, you will call all hands to reef topsails!"
"All hands, sir?"
"Certainly, Mr. Pelham; that was my order," replied the captain, more
sharply than usual, for there was something in the manner of the officer
of the deck which he did not like, and he found it necessary to maintain
the dignity of his position.
Pelham touched his cap; he felt the weight of authority upon him heavier
than ever before. Until recently he had always performed his duty
cheerfully, and was considered a first-rate officer. Since the new
regulation had been put in force, and he had been compelled to deliver
up ten sovereigns in his possession he had been rather disagreeable. In
the cabin he had used some language reflecting upon the principal, and
he was now regarded as a malcontent by the captain, and by those who
still sustained the discipline of the ship.
"Morrison," called he, as he went forward to the waist.
"Here, sir," replied the boatswain, who belonged in this quarter watch;
and there was a boatswain's mate in each of the others.
"Call all hands to reef topsails."
The shrill pipe of the boatswain's whistle soon rang above the howling
winds, which now sounded gloomily through the rigging. The call was
repeated in the steerage, and at the door of the after cabin, where it
could be heard by the officers, for no one on board is exempted when all
hands are called. This was the first taste of the hardships of a
seaman's life to which the students had been invited. It is not
pleasant, to say the least, to be turned out of a warm bed in a gale,
when the wind comes cold and furious, laden with the spray of the ocean,
and be sent aloft in the rigging of the ship, when she is rolling and
pitching, jumping and jerking, in the mad waves. But there is no excuse
at such a time, and nothing but positive physical disability can exempt
officer or seaman from duty.
It was the first time the boys had seen a gale at sea, and though it was
not yet what would be called a strong gale, it was sufficiently terrific
to produce a deep impression upon them. The ship was still close-hauled,
under topsails and courses, with jib and spanker. The wind came in heavy
blasts, and when they struck the sails, the Young America heeled over,
until her lee yard-arm seemed to be dipping the waves. Huge billows came
roaring down from the windward, crowned with white foam, and presenting
an awful aspect in the night, striking the ship, lifting her bow high in
the air, and breaking over the rail, pouring tons of water on the deck.
Before the whole crew had been called, every opening in the deck had
been secured, and the plank guards placed over the glass in the
skylights. Life lines had been stretched along the decks, and the
swinging ports, through which the water that came over the rail escaped,
were crossed with whale line by Peaks, to prevent any unlucky boy from
being washed through, if he happened to be thrown off his feet by a rush
of water to the scuppers.
The scene was wild and startling; it was even terrible to those who had
never seen anything of the kind before, though the old sailors regarded
it quite as a matter of course. Peaks had never been known to be so
jolly and excited since he came on board. He was full of jokes and witty
sayings; he seemed to be in his element now, and all his powers of body
and mind were in the keenest state of excitement.
The students were disposed to look upon it as a rough time, and
doubtless some of them thought the ship was in great peril. Not a few of
them pretended to enjoy the scene, and talked amazingly salt, as though
they had been used to this kind of thing all their lives. Mr. Lowington
came on deck, when all hands were called; and though, to his experienced
eye, there was no danger while the ship was well managed, he was
exceedingly anxious, for it was a time when accidents were prone to
happen, and the loss of a boy at such an hour, would endanger the
success of his great experiment. On deck, the students could not get
overboard without the grossest carelessness; but it was perilous to send
them aloft in the gloom of the howling tempest. He had hoped that he
might be permitted to meet the onslaught of the first gale the ship
encountered in the daytime; but as the "clerk of the weather" otherwise
ordained it, he was compelled to make the best of the circumstances.
Before the manoeuvre of reefing, in the gale, was begun, Mr. Fluxion was
sent forward. Bitts was placed in the fore rigging, Peaks in the main,
and Leach in the mizzen, to see that the young tars did not needlessly
expose themselves, and that they used all proper precautions to avoid
an accident. All the officers were at their stations.
"Man the topsail clewlines, and buntlines, and the weather topsail
braces," shouted Haven, the first lieutenant who always handled the ship
when all hands were called. "Stand by the lee braces, bowlines, and
halyards."
The clewlines are ropes fastened to the corners of the topsail, passing
through blocks on the topsail yard, and leading down to the deck through
the lubber's hole. They are used in hauling the corners of the sail up
when they are to be reefed or furled.
The buntlines are two ropes attached to cringles, or eyes, in the bottom
of the sail, which are used for hauling up the middle, or bunt, of the
topsail.
The braces are the ropes secured to the ends of the yards, leading down
to the deck, directly, or to a mast first, and thence below, by which
the yards and the sails attached to them are hauled round so as to take
the wind. They are distinguished by the terms "weather" and "lee," the
former being those on the side from which the wind comes, the latter on
the opposite side. They also have their specific names, as the "weather
fore-top-gallant brace," the "lee main brace."
The bowlines are ropes attached to the leeches of square sails to draw
the edge forward, so that they may take the wind better. They are
fastened to the bridles, which are loops like those of a kite, two or
three of them extending from the side of the sail.
The halyards are the ropes by which any sail is hoisted. For square
sails they are secured to the yards, which, with the exception of the
lower one on each mast slide up and down.
"Clear away the bowlines," said the first lieutenant when all hands were
reported ready for the manoeuvre which had been ordered.
At this command the bowlines on the topsails and courses were
unfastened.
"All clear, sir," reported the officers from their stations.
"Round in the weather braces, ease off the lee braces!" was the next
order. "Settle away the topsail halyards! Clew down!"
To round in the weather braces was simply to haul them up as the lee
braces were slacked, so that the yard was squared. As the command was
executed, the sail was "spilled," or the wind thrown out of it.
"Haul out the reef tackles! Haul up the buntlines!" continued the
executive officer.
To reef a sail is to tie up a portion of it, so as to present less
surface of canvas to the force of the wind. Topsails are reefed in the
upper part; a portion of the sail nearest to the yard from which it is
suspended being rolled up and secured by strings to the yard. Fore and
aft sails, like the spanker, the fore and main spencers, or the mainsail
of a schooner, are reefed at the foot, the lower part being tied down to
the boom.
The topsails of the Young America had three reef bands, or strips of
canvas sewed crosswise over them, in which were the reef points, or
strings by which the sail is tied up when reefed. When the first or
highest row of reef points was used, the sail was single reefed; when
the second was used, it was double reefed; and when the third row was
used, it was close reefed. On each side of the sail, at the end of each
reef band, was a cringle, or eye, in which the reef pendent was
fastened. The reef tackle consists of a rope passing from the eye, at
the end of the reef band, through a block at the extremity of the yard,
thence to the mast, and down to the deck. Hauling on this rope draws the
required portion of the sail up to the yard in readiness to be reefed.
The reef tackles were hauled out, and the buntlines hauled up to bring
the sail where it could be easily handled. When the sail is to be
reefed, the seamen have to a "lay out" on the yards, and tie up the
sail. To enable them to do this with safety, there are horses, or
foot-ropes, extending from the slings, or middle of the spar, to the
yard-arms. This rope hangs below the yard, the middle parts being
supported by stirrups. When a man is to "lay out," he throws his breast
across the yard with his feet on the horse. The man at the "weather
earing," or eye for the reef pendent, has to sit astride the yard, and
pull the sail towards him.
The foot-rope sometimes slips through the eyes in the stirrups when only
one hand goes out upon it, which does, or may, place him in a dangerous
position. During the preceding day, when the barometer indicated a
change of weather, Mr. Lowington had sent the old boatswain aloft to
"mouse the horses," in anticipation of the manoeuvre which the boys were
now compelled to perform at midnight, in a gale of wind. Mousing the
horses was merely fastening the foot-ropes to the eyes of the stirrups,
so that they could not slip through, and thus throw the entire slack of
the horse under one boy, by which he sank down so low that his neck was
even with the spar.
At the foot of each mast there is a contrivance for securing ropes,
called the fife-rail. It is full of belaying pins, to which are secured
the sheets, halyards, buntlines, clewlines, lifts, braces, reef tackle,
and other ropes leading down from aloft. Looking at the mast, it seems
to be surrounded by a perfect wilderness of ropes, without order or
arrangement, whose uses no ordinary mortal could comprehend. There were
other ropes leading down from aloft, which were fastened at the
sheer-poles and under the rail. Now, it is necessary that every sailor
should be able to put his hand on the right rope in the darkest night;
and when the order to haul out the buntlines was given in the gloom and
the gale, those to whom this duty was assigned could have closed their
eyes and found the right lines.
"Aloft, topman!" continued the first lieutenant, when the topsails were
in readiness for reefing.
At this order thirty of the young tars ran up the shrouds, over the
cat-harpings, and up the rigging, till they reached the fore, main, and
mizzen topsail yards. Twelve of them were stationed on the main, ten on
the fore, and eight on the mizzen topsail yard. The first, second, and
third midshipmen were aloft to superintend the work, and when the
studding-sail booms had been triced up, they gave the order to lay out,
and take two reefs.
When the hands were at their stations on the yard, the first lieutenant
ordered the quartermaster to "luff up;" that is, to put the helm down
so as to throw the ship up into the wind and spill the sail, or get the
wind out of it, that the young tars might handle it with the more ease.
The boys had been frequently trained in the manoeuvre which they were
now executing under trying circumstances, and all of them knew their
duty. If any one trembled as the mast swayed over when the ship rolled,
he was afraid to mention the fact, or to exhibit any signs of alarm.
Perhaps most of them would have been willing to acknowledge that it was
rather "ticklish" business to lay out on a topsail yard at midnight in a
gale of wind; and if their anxious mothers could have seen the boys at
that moment, some of them might have fainted, and all wished them in a
safer place.
The boom tricing-lines were manned again, and the studding-sail booms
restored to their places.
"Lay down from aloft!" shouted Haven, when the midshipman in charge
aloft had reported the work done; and he was obliged to roar at the top
of his lungs through the speaking trumpet, in order to be heard above
the piping of the gale and the dashing of the sea. "Man the topsail
halyards! stand by the braces."
"All ready, sir," reported the fourth lieutenant, after the others.
"Hoist away the topsails!"
The hands on deck walked away with the halyards, until the topsails were
hauled up to a taut leech.
The same operation was repeated on the fore and main course; the yards
were trimmed; the bowlines attached and hauled out, and then the ship
was under double-reefed topsails and courses.
"Boatswain, pipe down!" said the executive officer when the work was
done.
But the crew did not care to pipe down, just then. This was the first
time they had ever seen a gale at sea, and there was something grand and
sublime in the heaving ocean, and the wild winds that danced madly over
the white-crested waves. It was now after midnight, eight bells having
struck before the courses were reefed, and the first part of the
starboard watch were to have the deck. Mr. Lowington insisted that all
others should go below and turn in, assuring them that they would see
enough of the gale in the morning, or as soon as their quarter watches
were called.
The principal and Mr. Fluxion were earnest in their commendation of the
behavior of the Young America. She was not only a stiff and weatherly
ship, but she behaved most admirably, keeping well up to the wind, and
minding her helm. The four boys at the wheel handled it with perfect
ease.
The ship did not labor in the gale as she had before the sails were
reefed; and though she jumped, plunged, and rolled, making a terrific
roar as she went along, everything was ship-shape about her, and the
boys soon became accustomed to the exciting scene. She was making but
little headway, but she still kept within three points of her general
course. Mr. Lowington remained on deck the rest of the night, anxiously
watching the ship and her crew in the trying experience of the hour.
Augustus Pelham, the discontented lieutenant, went below when his
quarter watch was relieved. The little incident, before all hands were
called, between himself and the captain, had disturbed him more than he
would have been willing to acknowledge. He thought it was harsh of the
captain to say anything to him, though he had broken one of the rules of
the ship; and he regarded the gentle reproof he had received as a very
great indignity.
He went to his state room. The ship was rolling fearfully, and he could
not stand up without holding on at the front of his berth. Goodwin, the
third lieutenant who was his room-mate, had already turned in; but it
was impossible for him to sleep. Pelham took a match from his pocket and
lighted the lamp, which swung on gimbals in the room.
"What are you doing, Pelham?" demanded Goodwin "It is against the rule
to light a lamp after ten o'clock."
"I know it; but I'm not going to blunder round here, and have my brains
knocked out in the dark," growled Pelham.
"Put the light out; you will get into trouble," remonstrated his
room-mate.
"I won't do it."
"What are you going to do?"
"Go to sleep, Goodwin, and don't bother me."
"What's the matter, Pelham? What ails you? I never knew you to think of
breaking one of the rules before."
"I should like to break them all, as Moses did the ten commandments. I
have been insulted."
"Who insulted you?"
"The captain."
"Gordon?" asked Goodwin, in astonishment
"Yes."
"I never knew him to do such a thing as that. I think you didn't
understand him; or he must have been excited by the gale."
"It was before it came on to blow very hard," replied Pelham, seating
himself on a stool, and bracing his feet against the front of the berth
to prevent being thrown down.
"What did he do?"
"He snubbed me, told me I knew the rule, and was as overbearing as
though I had been his servant, instead of an officer of the ship."
"But what did you do? He wouldn't have done anything of the kind if you
hadn't given him some provocation."
"I told the quartermaster, when the wind was heading off the ship, to
alter the course."
"Didn't you tell the captain beforehand?"
"Not I."
"Then I don't blame him for snubbing you. What's the use of being
captain if the officers don't obey you?"
"If he had anything to say to me, he might have been a little more
gentle about it."
Pelham neglected to say that he was not particularly gentle himself.
"Put that light out, Pelham, for my sake, if not for your own," said
Goodwin, when he found that his companion was too much out of sorts to
be reasonable.
"Neither for yours nor my own will I put it out," replied Pelham, as he
took a cigar from its hiding-place, under the lower berth.
"What are you going to do, Pelham?" demanded Goodwin, filled with
astonishment, as he observed the conduct of his fellow-officer.
"I'm going to have a smoke."
"But you know that smoking is positively prohibited either on ship or
shore."
"I haven't had a smoke since vacation," replied Pelham, as he lighted
the cigar.
"See here, Pelham; I won't stand this!" exclaimed the third lieutenant,
rising up in his bed, in which act he was nearly pitched out of his
berth by a heavy roll of the ship. "The companion-way is closed."
"That's the very reason why I'm going to smoke," replied the malcontent,
coolly.
"But I shall be stifled here."
"Can't help it."
"I can," retorted Goodwin, as he leaped out on the floor.
"What are you going to do?"
"I am going to inform Mr. Lowington what you are doing."
"Are you such a fellow as that?" asked Pelham, indignantly.
"I am, if you are such a fellow as to attempt to stifle me with cigar
smoke in my own room. It would make me as sick as a horse in five
minutes."
"Seasick, you mean," sneered Pelham. "I'm going to have my smoke, if
there is a row about it."
Goodwin put on his pea-jacket, and left the room.