Shipboard

“ INTERESTING as the ocean fleet is from the point of view of the passenger who crosses the seas on business or pleasure bent, the part that steamships play in the commerce of the world is even more worthy of consideration. There is a vast region between decks and down in the lower hold of which the ordinary traveller knows little. And yet the ship’s cargo brings to the owners a large portion of their revenue, and makes possible the magnificent steamships of to-day. ”

“ We midshipmen are upon watch every night for four hours together; we do nothing but walk the quarter-deck, if the ship [Pg 52] is not sailing. There is always half the crew upon deck when the ship is sailing, and we and the lieutenants order them to do so and so about the ropes and sails. All the men’s hammocks are brought upon deck, and laid in places at the side for the purpose, both to give room for the men to work under the decks, and to give them air. All the decks are washed and well scrubbed every morning, which is very right, as they are often dirtied. ”

“ Thus, the fore-braces run to the top of the forecastle, the main-braces to the top of the 'midship-house, and the mizzen-braces to the poop. It is evident that they expect our main deck frequently to be filled with water. So evident is it that a laden ship when in big seas is like a log awash, that fore and aft, on both sides, along the deck, shoulder-high, life-lines have been rigged. Also, the two iron doors, on port and starboard, that open from the cabin directly upon the main deck, have been barricaded and caulked. ”

“ You can see from the portion of the deck given in the picture that the whole ship must be of an enormous size.
The scene on the deck is a busy one, for the vessel is being prepared for a voyage; the workmen are putting on the finishing touches in the way of carpenter-work and painting; and the sailors are busy with the sails and rigging. Hundreds of people are employed with steam engines, hoisting cranes, and various machines, and yet there is plenty of room for them to do their work without confusion. ”

“ At the foot of a flight of broad stone steps leading to the water from a wharf on the quay near one of the bridges, a superior sort of ship’s boat was moored, where her crew, some resting on the benches, some lounging on the steps, were grouped in conversation, evidently directing their attention to a beautiful ship of small tonnage but perfect symmetry that lay at anchor at a short distance, easily distinguished from the numerous vessels in her neighbourhood by the smartness of her rigging and the elegance of her build. ”

“ While the ship is lying in the docks, waiting for the appointed day of sailing to arrive, they can pass their time very pleasantly, sitting upon the decks, reading, writing, or sewing; but as soon as the voyage has fairly commenced, all these enjoyments are at once at an end; for even if the wind is fair, and the water is tolerably smooth, they are at first nearly all sick, and are confined to their berths below; so that, even when there are hundreds of people on board, the deck of the ship looks very solitary. ”

“ I wish that I could make those who have never seen a ship understand what one is like. Sailors call a ship she, and often speak of her as the old girl. Our ship was built of wood, longer than most houses, and covered in by what we call a deck. At the fore end there was a place for the crew to live in, called the fore-peak, and at the after-end rooms or cabins for the captain and officers. All the rest of the ship was filled with cargo and stores. To the masts were hung across spars, or poles, as big as large larches, and on these were stretched the sails, made of stout canvas. ”

“ If the cargo exceeds 36 ton and half, the ship will sink; if just 73,000 pounds, she will swim, though very deep in the water, and on the very point of sinking. And though she may float at sea, she will sink on entering the mouth of a river; fresh water being specifically lighter than sea-water, and in the proportion of about 63 to 73.
Previous to the voyage, therefore, the ship’s burthen ought to be more carefully ascertained than, perhaps, raw inexperienced navigators have hitherto imagined.
The ship’s pumps. 6. ”

“ When a ship wishes to gammon another, or, as it is pronounced at sea, gam’, the second syllable being dispensed with, the lee ship hauls aback her mainyard, or sets a signal signifying her wish, the weather craft squares her yards, puts her helm up, runs across the other’s stern and speaks her. Then the captain of one lowers away and boards the other, the mate returns in the boat with a fresh crew, the officers resort to the cabin, the boatsteerers to the steerage, and the crew to the forecastle. ”

“ I shall presently find means to smuggle you out of here into the sail-locker, which communicates with the lobby. But there is an opening, a sort of square for hauling the sails out, which gives straight on the quarter-deck and which is never closed in fine weather, so as to give air to the sails. When the ship’s way is deadened in stays and all the hands are aft at the main-braces you shall have a clear road to slip out and get overboard through the open quarter-deck port. ”

“ The port watch is commanded by the first mate, and the starboard by the second. [The port side of a ship is the left-hand side, the starboard the right.] While the starboard watch worked most energetically at the pumps, the port watch went aft with the captain and first mate, and proceeded to heave cargo overboard.
All that was cared for now was to save our lives, and to do that, the ship must be kept afloat. What cared we now for stores of wealth! The wealth of the whole world would not have been more highly regarded than an old rusty nail! ”

“ Still there remain many sailing ships, particularly in the fishing fleets and the coasting trade, and occasionally, but with less and less frequency, one sees a fine old square-rigged ship driving through the great green swells of mid-ocean, but they are few—and for the person who is drawn by the drama and adventure of the sea, painfully few. ”

“ All a fish has to do is to carry himself through the water; but a boat or vessel has to carry cargo, and [46] bear sail. A vessel made after that model wouldn’t stand up in the harbor with her spars in, and a boat made like it would have to be filled so full of ballast, to keep her on her legs, that she would be almost sunk; and the moment you put sail on her, in anything of a working breeze, her after-sail would jam her stern down, and she would fill over the quarter. ”

“ If a ship goes aground where there is no help, the old method of using small boats to carry an anchor out to seaward and of hauling the ship off by means of a cable made fast to the anchor, is seldom enough in these days of large ships to accomplish the task. The unfortunate ship is either beyond help, save for her crew, or needs a sea-going tug or two and a crew of professional salvagers. ”

“ On board ship, in a small world of our own, we seem to be contained by the boundaries of the bulwarks, to be sailing beyond the influences of the land and of other ships. The sea is the same we have known for so long. Every item of our ship fitment—the trim arrangement of the decks, the set and rake of mast and funnel, even the furnishings of our cabins—has the power of impressing a stable feeling of custom, normal ship life, safety. It requires an effort of thought to recall that in their homely presence we are endangered. ”

“ For all of this giant mechanism is to perform just one thing—and that is to whirl and whirl and whirl an insignificant-looking steel rod, which is called a shaft, and at the end of which, in the sea behind the ship, is the screw—a thing so small that one stands in148 amazement, half doubting that this is the instrument which sends a ten-thousand-ton ship and ten thousand tons of cargo through the sea at twelve miles an hour!
After this first day of exploration, the real joyous life of the ship comes to one. Every hour of every day is one of pleasure. ”

“ It is doubtful if a ship ever sailed the seas with more beautiful deck fittings. They were all of the finest teak, fashioned as if by a cabinetmaker and lavishly carved. In her midship house, in addition to the galley, carpenter’s shop, petty officer’s quarters, donkey engine and condenser, she had accommodation for 30 passengers. ”

“ These ferries are powerful vessels, and are capable of getting quickly under way. They have no bows or sterns—or, if you prefer, each end is bow or stern, depending on the direction the boat is travelling at the moment. The two ends, to make it plain, are identical. Each is round on deck. Each has a sharp “cut water” over which the round-ended deck projects. Each has a rudder, and each a propeller, save the old-fashioned ones—of which there are a few still in existence—that are driven by side paddle-wheels. ”

“ Landsmen generally think that most watches aboard a wind-jammer are passed in yarns and smoking. But this is far from being the case. The mates and skipper keep everybody busy with the hundred-and-one things required to keep a vessel shipshape: painting, graining, brightening, overhauling the weak spots in the rigging, working the 'bear' to clean the deck with fine wet sand, helping whomever is acting as 'Chips' the carpenter, or the equally busy 'Sails' ”

“ A ship is said to careen when she inclines to one side, or lies over when sailing on a wind; off her keel or carina.
CAREENING. The operation of heaving the ship down on one side, by arranging the ballast, or the application of a strong purchase to her masts, which require to be expressly supported for the occasion to prevent their springing; by these means one side of the bottom, elevated above the surface of the water, may be cleansed or repaired. (See Breaming.) But this operation is now nearly superseded by sheathing ships with copper, whereby they keep a clean bottom for several years. ”

“ All over the world, in every sea, are thousands upon thousands of ships of every kind and description, night and day speeding onward, each to its destined port. Lines of Passenger-ships regularly plough the main, starting on fixed days, and seldom failing to arrive on fixed days. Merchant ships innumerable follow certain routes, going from country to country over the Ocean, carrying the world’s produce. ”

“ The Beach of la Brea
Trinidad
This ship at the pier was the first full-rigged merchant ship we had seen during the cruise—most merchantmen seeming now to be rigged as barks or barkentines—and was, even in spite of its black cargo, a beautiful sight. There is something in the look of a ship—its mass of rigging, its straight yard-arms, well set up, its black, drooping sails, half-furled, its inexplicable riddle of shrouds and stays and braces and halliards and sheets—that always stirs my soul mysteriously. ”

“ Yet in these days of steam and coal, of grimy stokers and machines called ships, there still remains, to gladden the eye of the white-haired men who sailed the clipper ships a half a century and more ago, a type of sailing ship that has proved to be so handy, so capable and efficient, that all the machines of a machine-mad world have not been able to drive them from the sea. ”

“ See that necessary lines, fenders, ladders, etc., are handy.
Prepare to do the work that is necessary on board ship, and best done while the vessel is dry, viz.,
Paint scuppers; hose reels. Range cables on floor of dock, overhaul same. Clean and paint or bitumastic the chain lockers. Have windlass overhauled. Paint funnels; cargo booms, king posts, etc. Paint and overhaul boats.
As the crew of a merchantman is not any too large, only work that can be thoroughly done while in dock should be attempted. ”

“ I had wandered one day down to the docks to indulge myself in the sight of the shipping, contemplating the possibility of obtaining a berth on board one of the fine vessels I saw fitting out, and had been standing for some time on the quay, when I observed a tall good-looking man, in the dress of a merchantman’s captain, step out of a boat which had apparently come from a black rakish looking brigantine lying a short distance out in the stream. ”

“ One will often see at a glance as much as might occupy some pages to even briefly describe. In a few turns of the eye I had taken in these two men and their little ship. The boat seemed to me a very fine specimen of the Deal lugger. Her forepeak consisted of a forecastle, the deck of which was carried in the shape of a platform several feet abaft the bulkhead, which limited the sleeping compartment, and under this pent-house or break were stored the anchors, cables, and other gear belonging to the little vessel. ”

“ The manner of arranging the boats in a ship of this character, is as follows: Three boats, ready fitted, are kept swinging in the cranes alongside the ship; these are called the starboard, larboard and waist boats. Each is manned by six men, including the officer, and each has its regular crew. The captain commands the starboard, the first mate the larboard, and the second mate the [Pg 113] waist boat. The third mate commands the captain’s boat, when the latter does not go. ”

“ Not only does every sailing ship have its own character as regards its stability, but its character often changes with age, etc., and no tables can give the exact way in which its cargo should be loaded as regards weights and trim. The hand125 books on the subject give rough, general rules, but the captain of a ship, from his own first hand knowledge of his ship’s peculiarities, would always give careful instructions to the stevedore as to how he wanted the weights of the cargo placed or distributed. ”