“Ten men would build her,” said Charlie, “especially such men as Joe Griffin, Peterson, and Yelf. Peterson can use a broadaxe or whip-saw as well as a calking-iron. Uncle Isaac would work after haying, and Black Luce could cook for us.”
“What would you do for a blacksmith’s shop?”
“Build a log one,” said John, “and burn our own coal.”
“The hardest nip,” said Isaac, “will be the sails, rigging, and anchors.”
“I know that,” said Charlie; “but if I find the timber, and turn in my work on the vessel, John turns in his, Fred pays the men in part out of his store, then we shall economize what little money we have to pay the men, buy sails and rigging.”
“Mine will be all cash. I’ll leave what I’ve got in Captain Rhines’s hands, part of my two months’ advance, and I can leave a draw-bill on the owners.”
“How long will you be gone?”
“About two years. We shall trade out there, or perhaps go from there to Europe and back.”
“The iron will be a heavy bill,” said John, “for it will have to be imported.”
“If we make the timbers large, timber her close, put in plenty of knees and treenails, we can save on the iron,” said Charlie. “There’s a vast deal to be saved in a vessel if you don’t stand for looks, especially if you have time, and the vessel will answer the purpose just as well. If a man contracts to build a vessel for so much a ton, in so many days, he has got to work right through, short days as well as long, perhaps in bitter cold weather, when it will take a man one quarter of the time to thrash his hands, and another quarter to stamp his feet, and very often the timber has to be dug out of the snow; then, if iron, wages, or pitch goes up, he must pay the price; he can’t wait. But building as we shall, we can take advantage of all these things, and work in the long days, especially if we pay as we go along. I’ve known ship-builders who were afraid to discharge a man, lest he should ask for his money.”