|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 94
"Sail ho!" shouted one of the crew on the top-gallant forecastle, after
the forenoon watch was set.
"Where away?" demanded the officer of the deck.
"Over the lee bow, sir," was the report which came through the officers
on duty.
The report created a sensation, as it always does When a sail is seen;
for one who has not spent days and weeks on the broad expanse of waters,
can form only an inadequate idea of the companionship which those in one
ship feel for those in another, even while they are miles apart. Though
the crew of the Young America had been shut out from society only about
three days, they had already begun to realize this craving for
association--this desire to see other people and be conscious of their
existence.
After the severe gale through which they had just passed, this sentiment
was stronger than it would have been under other circumstances. The
ocean had been lashed into unwonted fury by the mad winds. A fierce gale
had been raging for full twenty-four hours, and the tempest was
suggestive of what the sailor dreads most--shipwreck, with its long
train of disaster--suffering, privation, and death. It was hardly
possible that such a terrible storm had swept the sea without carrying
down some vessels with precious freights of human life.
The Young America had safely ridden out the gale, for all that human art
could do to make her safe and strong had been done without regard to
expense. No niggardly owners had built her of poor and insufficient
material, or sent her to sea weakly manned and with incompetent
officers. The ship was heavily manned; eighteen or twenty men would have
been deemed a sufficient crew to work her; and though her force
consisted of boys, they would average more than two thirds of the muscle
and skill of able-bodied seamen.
There were other ships abroad on the vast ocean, which could not compare
with her in strength and appointments, and which had not one third of
her working power on board. No ship can absolutely defy the elements,
and there is no such thing as absolute safety in a voyage across the
ocean; but there is far less peril than people who have had no
experience generally suppose. The Cunard steamers have been running more
than a quarter of a century, with the loss of only one ship, and no
lives in that one--a triumphant result achieved by strong ships, with
competent men to manage them. Poorly built ships, short manned, with
officers unfit for their positions, constitute the harvest of
destruction on the ocean.
Mr. Lowington believed that the students of the Academy Ship would be as
safe on board the Young America as they would on shore. He had taken a
great deal of pains to demonstrate his theory to parents, and though he
often failed, he often succeeded. The Young America had just passed
through one of the severest gales of the year, and in cruising for the
next three years, she would hardly encounter a more terrific storm. She
had safely weathered it; the boys had behaved splendidly, and not one of
them had been lost, or even injured, by the trying exposure. The
principal's theory was thus far vindicated.
The starboard watch piped to breakfast, when the sail was discovered,
too far off to make her out. The boys all manifested a deep interest in
the distant wanderer on the tempestuous sea, mingled with a desire to
know how the stranger had weathered the gale. Many of them went up the
shrouds into the tops, and the spy-glasses were in great demand.
"Do you make her out, Captain Gordon?" asked Mr. Fluxion, as he came up
from his breakfast, and discovered the commander watching the stranger
through the glass.
"Yes, sir; I can just make her out now. Her foremast and mainmast have
gone by the board, and she has the ensign, union down, hoisted at her
mizzen," replied the captain, with no little excitement in his manner.
"Indeed!" exclaimed the teacher of mathematics, as he took the glass.
"You are right, Captain Gordon, and you had better keep her away."
"Shall I speak to Mr. Lowington first, sir?" asked the captain.
"I think there is no need of it in the present instance. There can be
no doubt what he will do when a ship is in distress."
"Mr. Kendall, keep her away two points," said the captain to the officer
of the deck. "What is the ship's course now?"
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|