There were but two able and three ordinary seaman in the port watch. The others, like myself, were green hands, who had never stood at a wheel. The five seamen, therefore, would be obliged to do all the steering; and of course it put more of this duty upon them than the other watch had, in which there were three able and three ordinary seamen. Five men would have to do the work which properly belonged to six; and these men, in the common course of life on shipboard, would hate and annoy, to the best of their ability, the one who imposed this extra labor upon them.
I had never steered at a wheel, but I was perfectly at home at the helm of a yacht. I knew the compass, and understood when a sail was drawing properly. Perhaps it was presumptuous in me, but I made up my mind, when ordered to do it, that I could steer the bark. She was going free, with the wind a little abaft the beam, and this made it easy for a beginner. While I stood listening to the mate, I noticed that the helmsman steered very "small;" indeed, the bark seemed to take care of herself.
"South-east," said Ned Bilger, whom I relieved at the helm.
"South-east," I repeated, as I had heard the wheelman say when the course was given to him.
I placed myself on the weather side of the wheel, and grasped the spokes with a firm hand. Fixing my gaze upon the compass in the binnacle, I determined to make a success of my first attempt to steer. I was a mechanic, and I fully comprehended the working of the machinery of the compass. All I had to do was to keep the point south-east on the notch; or, in other words, to keep south-east in range with the bowsprit. I was cool and self-possessed, for I felt that I could do all that was required of me.
Waterford walked forward, as I took the helm, to look after the men. Doubtless he expected the bark would come up into the wind in a moment, and that he should have an opportunity to lay me out. I soon found that the vessel carried a weather helm; or, if left to herself, would throw her head tip into the wind. As the compass appeared to turn, though in reality it was the bark that varied, I met her with the helm. I steered small, thus avoiding the usual mistake of inexperienced helmsmen; and I found that a single spoke brought the compass back to its proper position. In five minutes I felt entirely at home; but I thanked my stars that the bark did not happen to be close-hauled, for, between laying a course and keeping all the sails drawing, I should have been badly bothered.
As soon as I understood the wheel, I rather liked the work. I was so interested in my occupation that I ceased to gape, and felt very much like an old sailor. The mate, who was evidently waiting for me to make a blunder, said nothing more to me. He occasionally walked aft and glanced at the compass; but I was very careful not to let the bark vary a hair from her course. As the mate said nothing, I imitated his example. It is not proper for any one to talk to the man at the wheel, and Waterford showed that he was a good officer by holding his tongue. I kept up a tremendous thinking; and, among other things, I tried to explain why, if the bark was bound up the Mediterranean, her course was to the south-east. I knew about the variation of the compass; but, as it was less than a point to the westward, it did not account for the present course. My theory was, that the vessel ought to be headed about east, in order to reach the Straits of Gibraltar. But I did not venture to express any opinion on this subject to the captain or the mate.
Waterford planked the deck, and I fancied that he was not at all pleased to find that I could steer the bark. While I congratulated myself that I was able to do so, I knew there were a hundred other things I could not do, and therefore his revenge was only deferred for a few hours. At four bells, Dick Baxter, one of the able seamen of our watch, came aft and relieved me.
"What do you mean, Phil?" demanded Jack Sanderson, when I went forward. "You said you wasn't a seaman."
"I never steered a square-rigged vessel before in my life," I replied. "I have been at the helm of a yacht."