Richard Henry Dana

Name: Two Years Before the Mast — Chapter XXXVI
Author: Richard Henry Dana

Two Years Before the Mast — Chapter XXXVI

Summary

“Two Years Before the Mast — Chapter XXXVI”, is a work by Richard Henry Dana. It explores elements such as sails, soundings and lead.

Quotes from Two Years Before the Mast — Chapter XXXVI (Richard Henry Dana)

Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before the Mast — Chapter XXXVI

“ About ten o’clock, a sea-breeze sprang up, and the pilot gave orders to get the ship under weigh. All hands manned the windlass, and the long-drawn “Yo, heave, ho!” which we had last heard dying away among the desolate hills of San Diego, soon brought the anchor to the bows; and, with a fair wind and tide, a bright sunny morning, royals and sky-sails set, ensign, streamer, signals, and pennant, flying, and with our guns firing, we came swiftly and handsomely up to the city. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before the Mast — Chapter XXXVI

“ The wind was light all day, which kept us back somewhat; but a fine breeze springing up at nightfall, we were running fast in toward the land. At six o’clock we expected to have the ship hove-to for soundings, as a thick fog, coming up showed we were near them; but no order was given, and we kept on our way. Eight o’clock came, and the watch went below, and, for the whole of the first hour, the ship was tearing on, with studding-sails out, allow and aloft, and the night as dark as a pocket. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before the Mast — Chapter XXXVI

“ The soundings on the American coast are so regular that a navigator knows as well where he has made land, by the soundings, as he would by seeing the land. Black mud is the soundings of Block Island. As you go toward Nantucket, it changes to a dark sand; then, sand and white shells; and on George’s Banks, white sand; and so on. Being off Block Island, our course was due east, to Nantucket Shoals, and the South Channel; but the wind died away and left us becalmed in a thick fog, in which we lay the whole of Sunday. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before the Mast — Chapter XXXVI

“ Peter’s! the line is snatched in a block upon the swifter, and three or four men hault it in and coil it away. The after yards are braced full, the studding-sails hauled out again, and in a few minutes more the ship had her whole way upon her. At four bells, backed again, hove the lead, and —soundings! at sixty fathoms! Hurrah for Yankee land! Hand over hand, we hauled the lead in, and the captain, taking it to the light, found black mud on the bottom. studding-sails taken in; after yards filled, and ship kept on under easy sail all night; the wind dying away. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before the Mast — Chapter XXXVI

“ Off the end of the wharf, we rounded-to and let go our anchor; and no sooner was it on the bottom, than the decks were filled with people: custom-house officers; Topliff’s agent, to inquire for news; others, inquiring for friends on board, or left upon the coast; dealers in grease, besieging the galley to make a bargain with the cook for his slush; “loafers” in general; and last and chief, boarding-house runners, to secure their men. Nothing can exceed the obliging disposition of these runners, and the interest they take in a sailor returned from a long voyage with a plenty of money. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before the Mast — Chapter XXXVI

“ At two bells the captain came on deck, and said a word to the mate, when the studding sails were hauled into the tops, or boom-ended, the after yards backed, the deep-sea-lead carried forward, and everything got ready for sounding. A man on the spritsail yard with the lead, another on the cat-head with a handful of the line coiled up, another in the fore chains, another in the waist, and another in the main chains, each with a quantity of the line coiled away in his hand. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before the Mast — Chapter XXXVI

“ The last time I had seen him, I was in the uniform of an undergraduate of Harvard College, and now, to his astonishment, there came down from aloft a “rough alley” looking fellow, with duck trowsers and red shirt, long hair, and face burnt as black as an Indian’s. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before the Mast — Chapter XXXVI

“ Soundings—Sights from Home—Boston Harbor—Leaving the Ship Friday, Sept. 16th. Lat. 38 degrees N., long. 69 degrees 00′ W. A fine south-west wind; every hour carrying us nearer in toward land. All hands on deck at the dog watch, and nothing talked about, but our getting in; where we should make the land; whether we should arrive before Sunday; going to church; how Boston would look; friends; wages paid;—and the like. Every one was in the best of spirits ”

Richard Henry Dana

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