The White Squall: A Story of the Sargasso Sea

by John C. Hutcheson

This the two at once did, with much grinning and showing of their ivory teeth; and they then went away forwards again together on the most amicable terms, albeit arguing good-humouredly as to which of them had got the best of the fray. Jake believed that he had come off with flying colours, while Cuffee persisted that he was the conqueror, the upshot of the matter being that Jackson, to whom they referred the knotty question, decided that it was “six for one and half a dozen for the other.” With this Solomon-like settlement of the difficulty both were quite satisfied and were sworn chums ever after. I, indeed, was the only loser by the little difference between the two, having to go without my coffee until the proper breakfast hour, “eight bells,” when, possibly, I enjoyed my meal all the more from not getting anything before.

Towards mid-day, we had sunk the land entirely to the westwards, the ship being then on the wide-spreading ocean, with not a thing in sight but water—“water everywhere!”

In front, in rear, to right, to left, all around was one expanse of blue, like a rolling valley, as far as the eye could reach, while the sky above was cloudless and the wind blowing steadily, a little to the southward of east, right on our starboard beam as we steered north-eastwards.

We were not altogether alone, however, for the ubiquitous flying-fish were springing up every now and then from the azure deep, taking short flights from one wave crest to another, or else entangling themselves in the rigging of the ship, and then falling a gasping prey on the deck for Cuffee bye and bye to operate upon in his galley, whence they would emerge again fried into a savoury dish for the cabin table at dinner-time.

Bonitoes and albacore also played round our bows, and the many-hued dolphin could be seen disporting himself astern in our wake; while, at one time, a large grampus swam for some considerable period abreast of the vessel, as if showing how easily he could keep pace with us and outstrip us too when he pleased, for, later on in the afternoon, he darted away and was soon lost to sight. I had now got over all the effects of sea-sickness, a hearty breakfast having restored my equilibrium, thus enabling me to enjoy all that was going on around. The captain especially claimed my attention when he “took the sun” at noon, an operation which I watched with the most absorbed interest; and I found out afterwards the use of the sextant, and the way in which the difference between the ship’s mean time and that of the chronometer below in the cabin—which showed what the hour was at Greenwich—enabled Captain Miles to tell almost to a mile on the chart what was our position with regard to our longitude, our latitude being “worked out” in a different fashion.

Then, there was the heaving of the log at stated intervals to ascertain the speed of the ship through the water, and the constant trimming of the sails; for more canvas was piled on as the breeze fell light during the afternoon, as we wanted everything spread that could draw in order to catch the slightest breath of wind there was.

Oh, yes, there was plenty to see for a novice like me! The Josephine was fresh out of port, and there were lots of things that had to be done to make her ship-shape for the long voyage before her; and, besides, had there been nothing else for the hands to do beyond taking their trick at the wheel and attending to the braces—the ordinary routine of their duty with a fair wind such as we had—the captain and first mate would have felt bound to find them something to keep their minds from mischief. Sailors are never allowed a minute to be idle on a vessel at sea save on Sundays, and then they find work for themselves, as a rule, in the way of mending their clothes and putting their chests in order.

I noticed this device on Captain Miles’s part to provide employment for the men when he came on deck after luncheon; when, seeing some of the seamen lounging about in the waist, he immediately set them to pump out the bilge. This, however, did not occupy them very long, the ship being pretty dry; for, after a thick dirty stream of ill-smelling water, mixed with a portion of molasses, leakage from the casks of sugar below, had poured into the scuppers for a few minutes, the pumps sucked, thus showing that the hold was clear down to the well bottom.

A second washing-down decks followed, to efface the traces of the nasty bilge-water; and then, Captain Miles looked about for another task to keep the hands busy.

“How is she going?” he asked Mr Marline, who had just seen to the heaving of the log, the man assisting him having not quite yet reeled in the line.