bonnet de forçat, 'woollen cap worn by convicts and also by fishermen.'
chiffon: used colloquially for a child, especially for a little girl.
PLEINE MER.
Analysis. The vision of a gigantic derelict vessel on a boundless sea. This is the old world, the past of grandeur and horror.
In the nineteenth century a monster warship was built on the Thames, type of the spirit of that age. It carried two thousand guns; its topmast was higher than St. Paul's; now it has become this derelict.
The old world was subject to many plagues and scourges. Its moving spirit was Hatred, its characteristic, Division. Race strove with race; vice, ignorance, superstition, cruelty prevailed.
Now the old world has vanished, the ship is deserted. What has become of man? Look upwards!
cachalot. The cachalot or sperm-whale is one of the largest cetaceans, often attaining a length of more than 80 ft.
le grand mât, the mainmast.
déferle (of a wave), 'breaks.'