New things begin to happen as Jim’s ship nears port. He goes down into the forepeak under the deck in the bow. There, all around, are neat coils of hawser which is as thick as his arm. He and other sailors shove one end of a hawser up the ladder. Men on deck grab it and wrap it around a sort of spool called a winch head. Now the winch turns the spool and does the work of lifting out the heavy line. The deckhands lay it neatly on the decks ready to use when the ship ties up at a pier.
Next Jim goes up to the bow and helps Chips, the carpenter, break cement out of the hawse pipes. A hawse pipe is a hole in the ship’s side. An anchor chain runs through it. Whenever a ship raises, or weighs, its anchors and starts on a long trip, Chips plugs up the hawse pipes with cement. This keeps water from splashing up through the pipes in a storm.
On modern ships, a machine called a windlass raises and lowers the anchors. In the old days, when sailors had to raise anchors by turning the capstan by hand, they had a phrase for officers who worked their way up from being deckhands. They said these officers came up “through the hawse pipe.” Officers who got their knowledge from going to school and studying books were said to “come in through the cabin window.”
After the cement is out of the hawse pipe, Jim takes the devil’s claws off the anchor chains and releases the riding pawls. These are two brakes on the anchor chain which you can see in the picture. Now only the brake on the windlass holds the anchor chain in position over the wildcat, which is the wheel on the windlass.
The captain signals from the bridge to let go. Chips releases the windlass brake. The big chain rushes up out of the locker, over the wildcat and down the hawse pipe with a terrific roar. Soon the ship is safely anchored. The skipper can wait now until there is a vacant pier where he can tie up.
After the ship ties up, the captain orders watches broken. The men no longer work four hours and rest eight. Now most of them work eight hours during the day and have the remaining time off, just the way shoreside people do. There is no need for the routine of the sea. Egyptian longshoremen will unload the cargo.