As the deeper water of Delaware Bay is reached the speed is increased to its maximum, which is only about nine knots an hour, and the captain, after hours on the bridge, is relieved by the first mate and goes below.
The ship, having been loaded with coal, at a “coal pocket,” where tons and tons have roared down into her holds through great chutes, is covered with a thick layer of coal dust, and looks like an unfit habitation for men. The deck hands are set to work cleaning the deck amidships, but one wonders if the ship will ever be clean again. And then the first of the swells from the Atlantic raises her bow gently. Another follows and another, and then one climbs straight over the blunt bow, cascades over the forecastle, and one begins to realize that the tumbling waves are already at work cleaning the dust from the grimy ship.
Dusk has fallen, and the Fourteen-Foot-Bank Lighthouse and the one on Cape May gleam mysteriously, and as darkness hides the restless sea the lights still gleam. A steamer passes us, her running lights and range lights clear green and red and white, and then we are alone, bound outward to the heaving bosom of the great Atlantic. The light on Cape May fades from sight, and only the fading ray from the Fourteen-Foot-Bank Lighthouse is left to bind us to the busy world of North America—and finally that, too, is gone, and we are alone upon the dark and pathless sea beneath a clouded sky, dependent for our directions upon a swaying compass card lighted by a dim lamp mounted in the side of the brass binnacle.
As we passed the Fourteen-Foot-Bank Lighthouse, and were able accurately to check our position on the chart, the log, a sort of nautical odometer that tells with a fair degree of accuracy the mileage travelled, was set in motion by heaving the rotator over the stern at the end of the log line. This rotator, set in motion by the passage of the water, twists the line to which it is attached, and the line, in turn, rotates the mechanism that records the mileage. It is very similar to the speedometer on the dash of the automobile except that it shows only the mileage.
If we visit the bridge we may learn from the mate on duty that the barometer has fallen a little, and that we probably will have a touch of heavy weather by morning.
We turn in in a comfortable stateroom situated in the deck house just aft the bridge, and, leaving the port open, for ventilation, go almost instantly to sleep, forgetful of the man at the wheel, who stands with his eyes fixed on the slightly moving compass card, turning the wheel first this way and then that, absolutely confident in the unerring compass.
Outside, pacing back and forth on the bridge, is a mate, who went on watch at eight and will be relieved at twelve. As he leans over the port rail for a moment, the red rays from the port running light palely illuminate his tanned face. He is confident of his ship, confident of the engineers and firemen below, confident of the man at the wheel, and is calm and contented.
THE RIGGING OF A THREE-MASTED SHIP
(1) Foremast; (2) Mainmast; (3) Mizzenmast; (4) Fore, main, and mizzen-topmasts; (5) Fore, main, and mizzen topgallant masts; (6) Fore, main, and mizzen royal and skysail masts; (7) Fore yard; (8) Main yard; (9) Crossjack yard; (10) Fore, main, and mizzen lower topsail yards; (11) Fore, main, and mizzen upper topsail yards; (12) Fore, main, and mizzen lower topgallant yards; (13) Fore, main, and mizzen upper topgallant yards; (14) Fore, main, and mizzen royal yards; (15) Fore, main, and mizzen skysail yards; (16) Spanker gaff; (17) Fore and main trysail gaffs; (18) Lower shrouds; (19) Topmast shrouds; (20) Back stays; (21) Fore skysail stay; (22) Fore royal stay; (23) Flying jib stay; (24) Fore topgallant stay; (25) Jib stay; (26) Fore topmast stays; (27) Fore stays; (28) Main skysail stay; (29) Main topgallant stay; (30) Main topmast stay; (31) Mizzen skysail stay; (32) Fore and main lifts; (33) Topsail lifts; (34) Topgallant lifts; (35) Spanker boom; (36) Bowsprit; (37) Jib boom; (38) Flying jib-boom; (39) Martingale or dolphin striker; (40) Braces (named from the yard to which they are attached); (41) Bobstays; (42) Martingale stays.