It was repeated by the second lieutenant on the forecastle, the third in the waist, and the fourth on the quarter-deck.
“All ready, sir!” reported the several officers.
“Lay aloft!”
At the command those whose duty it was to prepare the sails and rigging for the manœuvre sprang up the rigging, and in three minutes the midshipman aloft reported that all was ready.
“Lay aloft, sail-loosers!” continued the first lieutenant.
The seamen, who were arranged in proper order on deck, the royal yard men first, then those who belonged on the top-gallant yards, the topsail, and the lower yards, placed in succession, so that each could reach his station without passing others, leaped into the rigging, and went up like so many cats.
“Man the boom tricing-lines!”
These are ropes by which the studding-sail booms, which lie on the yards, are hauled up out of the way.
“Trice up!”