Vessel

“ Scarce air enough moved to give life to the topmost canvas; as the ship bowed upon the light swell the sails swung in and swung out with a rushing sound of many wings up in the gloom. Yet the vessel had steerage way in that hour. ”

“ The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
⁠But O heart! heart! heart! ”

“ At some distance they saw a dark vessel unlike any they had ever seen, for there seemed to be place neither for oars nor sails. It looked rather like the hull of a wrecked ship than a vessel prepared for a long journey. ”

“ All sailors are familiar with the appearance of a vessel high in the air, sailing, as it were, through the sky with her keel in the clouds, and the tops of her masts pointing downward. In these regions the refractive powers are even terrible to accustomed eyes, so wonderful are the sights presented to them. ”

“ All our school-books were extravagantly illustrated with drawings of every kind of sailing-vessel, and every boy owned some sort of craft whittled from a block of wood and trimmed with infinite pains,—sloops, schooners, brigs, and full-rigged ships, with their sails and string ropes properly adjusted and named for us by some old sailor. ”

“ WHOLE-MOULDING. The old method of forming the principal part of a vessel. Boats are now the only vessels in which this method is practised.
WHOLESOME SHIP. One that will try, hull, and ride well, without heavy labouring in the sea.
WHOODINGS. Those ends of planks which are let into the rabbets of the stem, the stern-posts, &c. (See Rabbet and Hood-ends.) ”

“ And this belief of the ancients that by means of these eyes the vessel could see her way was but one article in the general creed still shared by every sailor, amateur and professional alike, that a ship, of all the creations of man, is indeed a living thing. ”

“ Apart from the mystery of the sea, and the fact that those who went down to the sea in ships saw the wonders of the deep, the act of placing a vessel in the water appeals to us all strongly, because ships are freighted, not only with human lives, but with human interests. ”

“ The field breaks into thousands of fragments; huge masses of many hundred tons weight, and larger than his ship, are thrown up, one on the other, rising almost as if they had life, till they tower far above the sides of his vessel, and appear ready every instant to crush her, as she lies helplessly among this icy mass of a seeming ruined world. ”

“ As the fine ship lies opposite the piers of that beautiful town, she attracts visitors from everywhere, and is, indeed, a very remarkable curiosity. Seals were at once placed, and very properly, on the captain's book-cases, lockers, and drawers, and wherever private property might be injured by wanton curiosity, and two keepers are on duty on the vessel, till her destination is decided. But nothing is changed from what she was when she came into harbor. And, from stem to stern, every detail of her equipment is a curiosity, to the sailor or to the landsman. ”

“ Like a vessel that has a raw hand at the helm, you sometimes head one way, and then the puff of wind that fills your sails dies down, or the sails that were flat as a board belly out a little, or you are caught in some current, and round goes the bowsprit on another tack altogether. ”

“ LETTERS Every day brings a ship, Every ship brings a word; Well for those who have no fear. Looking seaward, well assured That the word the vessel brings Is the word they wish to hear. ”

“ The water vessel, taken as a vessel only, raises the question, "Why does it exist at all?" Through its fitness of construction, it offers the apology for its existence. But where it is a work of beauty it has no question to answer; it has nothing to do, but to be. ”

“ The largest class of vessel that floats upon the sea is the full-rigged ship, the distinctive peculiarity of which is, that its three masts are all square-rigged together, with the addition of one or two fore-and-aft sails. ”

“ As every sailor knows, no two ships are alike, even when built from the same moulds; and though this is the case with every water-borne vessel, it is specially noticeable with that almost living thing—the sailing ship. ”

“ We do truly make [Pg 101] the ship our home; we have no other thoughts of professional duty or of happiness but what are connected with the vessel in which we swim; we take a pride in her very looks, as we might in those of a daughter; and bring up her crew to honourable deeds, as we should wish to instruct our sons. The rate of sailing of each ship in a fleet, is a subject of never-ending discussion amongst all classes of the officers, midshipmen, and crews, every one of whom considers his own individual honour involved in all that his ship does, or is capable of doing. ”

“ RUNNING FOUL. A vessel, by accident or bad steerage, falling in contact with another under sail. (See Athwart Hawse.) The law and custom of the sea requires that the ship on the port tack shall bear up and give way to that on the starboard tack. Foreigners observe this general custom. Steamers however are always bound to give way to vessels under canvas, having the power to alter course without altering sails, or endangering the vessel. ”

“ A vessel in manner of a galley or galliotte to pass upon the seas and rivers without oars or sail, against wind and tide, swifter than any that ever hath been seen; of wonderful effect both for intelligence, and many other admirable exploits, almost beyond the expectation of man. ”

“ In the same way an observer who witnesses from the shore the arrival of a vessel begins by perceiving the tops of the masts, then the topsails, then the sails next below, and finally the hull of the vessel. ”

“ To bring the ship close to the wind.—Come to an anchor. To let go the anchor.—Come up! with a rope or tackle, is to slack it off.—Comes up, with the helm. A close-hauled ship comes up (to her course) as the wind changes in her favour. To come up with or overhaul a vessel chased.—Come up the capstan. ”

“ At the navy yard the great war vessels come in on purpose [332] to go into dry dock and have all their corporeal troubles removed. The most majestic object in nature is the awful face of the mountain. The most sublime picture in art is a great war vessel lifted from the water and placed on the land. ”

“ At first one is disturbed—sometimes quite so—by the motion of the vessel, but this passes away so completely that before many days the dipping of the ship is really enjoyable and one finds a pleasure in ascending the hills and descending the valleys into which the deck sometimes seems to be converted. ”

“ He at once resolved to accompany me to that island, ship aboard the same vessel, get into the same watch, the same boat, the same mess with me, in short to share my every hap; with both my hands in his, boldly dip into the Potluck of both worlds. ”

“ Mercator’s chart—The mariner’s compass—The spirit compass—Variation—Deviation—The log ship and line—The lead line.
As soon as the amateur leaves the bay or river with whose features he is well acquainted and ventures to take his vessel along a coast unknown to him, he must provide himself with the necessary instruments for finding his way and make himself familiar with their use. ”

“ Down where yon anchoring vessel spreads the sail, That idly waiting flaps with ev’ry gale, 400 Downward they move, a melancholy band, Pass from the shore, and darken all the strand. ”

“ A sailless vessel drops adown the stream, And like it, to a sea as wide and deep, Thou driftest gently down the tides of sleep. ”

“ When the vessel is thus started, as she advances on the sea, she leaves the shore behind; and the farther she departs from the land, the less labor is requisite in moving her forward. At length she begins to get gently under sail, and now proceeds so swiftly in her course, that the oars, which are become useless, are laid aside. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Many a green isle needs must be
In the deep wide sea of Misery,
Or the mariner, worn and wan,
Never thus could voyage on—
Day and night, and night and day, _5
Drifting on his dreary way,
With the solid darkness black
Closing round his vessel's track:
Whilst above the sunless sky,
Big with clouds, hangs heavily, _10
And behind the tempest fleet
Hurries on with lightning feet,
Riving sail, and cord, and plank,
Till the ship has almost drank
Death from the o'er-brimming deep; ”

“ Now merchants and pilots, and sailors and voyagers when they see clouds gathering up, or fierce winds rushing down upon them, or the breakers seething with an abundance of foam keep their vessels moored inside harbour; and if they chance to be tempest-tossed in the open sea they do their best, and devise every means to bring their ship to some anchorage, or island or shore. ”

“ Sailing vessels are so infinitely more beautiful and more poetical than steam vessels. On board the latter one never hears the song of the wind or the billows, because of the noise caused by the machinery, and one can enjoy no sea-air which is free from the fumes of the chimney or the kitchen. ”

“ And fast through the midnight dark and drear,
Through the whistling sleet and snow,
Like a sheeted ghost, the vessel swept
Towards the reef of Norman's Woe. ”

“ That our vessels are strong no one will deny who ever saw a teak-built ship with her heavy beams and prodigious wooden knees; that they are lasting follows as a matter of course, but this very qualification is at this moment our drawback to improvement. ”

“ LOADING A SHIP FROM A LIGHTER.
run over by moving cars or stumbled among the piles of goods that lay about. Vessels from all parts of the world were lying at the piers; at anchor in the bay were other vessels, steamers and sailing craft, likewise hailing from the four quarters of the globe. ”

“ Mediæval manuscripts both English and foreign have happily preserved to us not merely actual facts, but [130] exquisitely coloured illustrations of ships. We see the vessels in every conceivable way—in course of construction, ashore, afloat, with sails spread, with sails stowed. We see them on rivers and seas, embarking and disembarking. We see them in peace and in war, bound for the Crusades, or ramming each other, grappling, hurling darts and arrows from their elevated fore-castles and stern-castles, or casting destruction down on to one another’s decks from the fighting top above. ”

“ O Ye, who in some pretty little boat, Eager to listen, have been following Behind my ship, that singing sails along,
Turn back to look again upon your shores; Do not put out to sea, lest peradventure, In losing me, you might yourselves be lost.
The sea I sail has never yet been passed; Minerva breathes, and pilots me Apollo, And Muses nine point out to me the Bears.
Ye other few who have the neck uplifted Betimes to th' bread of Angels upon which One liveth here and grows not sated by it,
Well may you launch upon the deep salt-sea Your vessel, keeping still my wake before you Upon the water that grows smooth again. ”

“ The vessel, though her masts be firm, Beneath her copper bears a worm; ”

“ A vessel has the weather gage of another when she is to windward of her.
A weatherly ship, is one that works well to windward, making but little leeway.
Weather-bitt. To take an additional turn with a cable round the windlass-end.
Weather Roll. The roll which a ship makes to windward.
Weigh. To lift up; as, to weigh an anchor or a mast.
Wheel. The instrument by which a ship is steered; being a barrel, (round which the tiller-ropes go,) and a wheel with spokes.
Whip. (See page 54.) A purchase formed by a rope rove through a single block.
To whip, is to hoist by a whip. ”

“ In our illustration the vessel has set her fore studding-sail, her fore-topmast studding-sail and her fore-topgallant studding-sail—studding-sail being pronounced stu'nsail, just as topgallant-sail is telescoped into topgantsail.
A man-of-war sets her stu'nsails abaft the sail at their side; a merchantman sets hers "before all"—that is, in front of the adjacent sail, as shown in our illustration. ”

“ We are two stranger vessels that have met upon the highway of the lonely sea;—we are as two ships that, being long from port, have, sailing, met, and exchanged one with the other, what each has needed and what each could spare; we have bartered heart for heart. ”

“ I propose that we chase small vessels and capture them, send their crews adrift like those yonder, man each captured craft with a number of ourselves, every lot containing a proportion of those who are sailors or who have followed the sea. ”

“ They learn to love the passing boats and vessels, and it is a pleasure to know our lights cheer and gladden the hearts of the sailors as the waves run high and the wild winds blow on dark, stormy nights. ”