Outward Bound Or, Young America Afloat: A Story of Travel and Adventure

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER VIII.

  OUTWARD BOUND.

  Mr. Lowington read the merit roll, announcing the officers as heproceeded. The occupants of the after cabin, who were appointed for thesucceeding three months, during which time the ship crossed theAtlantic, and visited various European ports, were as follows:--

  CHARLES GORDON, _Captain._

  Joseph Haven, _First Lieutenant._Paul Kendall, _Second "_Samuel Goodwin, _Third "_Augustus Pelham, _Fourth "_

  William Foster, _First Master._Henry Martyn, _Second "_Thomas Ellis, _Third "_Joseph Leavitt, _Fourth "_

  Joseph O. Rogers, _First Purser._Edward Murray, _Second "_

  George W. Terrill, _First Midshipman._John Humphreys, _Second "_Mark Robinson, _Third "_Andrew Groom, _Fourth "_

  The students mentioned in the list made the required promise to behavethemselves like gentlemen, and faithfully discharge the duties of theirseveral offices, and were duly installed in their new positions in theafter cabin. Most of them had been officers before, but all of them werehigher in rank than at any former period. Richard Carnes had beencaptain four terms, for no one could get ahead of him.

  The new captain had been first lieutenant, during the preceding year,three terms out of four, and was certainly the best qualified student onboard for the command. He was a young man of high moral aims, with muchdignity of character and energy of purpose.

  The officers went to the after cabin, put on their uniforms, and assumedtheir proper places. The choice of berths in the steerage proceeded asusual, according to the merit roll, and the petty offices were given tothe highest in rank. The new boys took the unoccupied berths by lot. Theorganization of the ship was now completed, and the students weredirected to put their berths and lockers in order. The remainder of theday was fully occupied in preparing for the voyage. Great quantities ofice and fresh provisions were taken on board, and packed away in thestore rooms of the hold, and all was bustle and confusion.

  On Thursday morning the ship was put in order again. The vessel had beenduly cleared at the custom house, and every article required for thevoyage had been received. The boys were ordered to put on their bestsuits, and at nine o'clock a steamer came off, having on board a largenumber of the parents and friends of the students. The forenoon wasgiven up to this interesting occasion. It was a beautiful day, with agentle breeze from the westward, and at twelve o'clock, all hands weremustered on deck for religious services, to be performed by thechaplain, in the presence of the friends of the pupils.

  Mr. Lowington was a religious man, and the position of the Rev. Mr.Agneau, as chaplain on board, was by no means a sinecure. Services hadalways been held twice a day on Sunday. At five minutes before eight inthe morning, and at the same time in the evening, prayers were said ondeck, or in the steerage, in the presence of the entire ship's company.On the point of leaving the shores of the United States, it seemedhighly appropriate to invoke the blessing of God on the voyage and thevoyagers, and the principal had directed that the service should beconducted in the presence of the parents and friends.

  The prayer and the remarks of the chaplain were very solemn andimpressive, and even the roughest of the students were moved by them. Atthe conclusion of the religious service, Mr. Lowington addressed thevisitors, explaining the details of his plan more fully than he had donein his circulars, and saying what he could to inspire the parents withconfidence in regard to the safety of their sons. It need not be saidthat there were many tears shed on this occasion.

  At the close of the speech a collation was served to the visitors, inthe cabins and steerage, after which another hour was allowed for socialintercourse; and then the ship was cleared, the visitors going on boardthe steamer again, which was to accompany the Young America below thelighthouse. The boys were sent below to change their clothes again.

  "All hands, up anchor, ahoy!" piped the boatswain; and the crew sprangto their stations with more than usual alacrity.

  This was a greater event than they had ever known before. The anchor,which was now to be hauled up, was not to be dropped again for about amonth, and then in foreign waters. They were going out upon the waste ofthe ocean, to be driven and tossed by the storms of the Atlantic. Theywere bidding farewell to their native land, not again to look upon itsshores for many months. They were boys, and they were deeply impressedby the fact.

  The capstan was manned, and the cable hove up to a short stay. Thetopsails and top-gallant sails were set; then the anchor was hauled upto the hawse-hole, catted and fished. The Young America moved; she woreround, and her long voyage was commenced. The courses and the royalswere set, and she moved majestically down the bay. The steamer keptclose by her, and salutations by shouts, cheers, and the waving ofhandkerchiefs, were continually interchanged, till the ship was severalmiles outside of the lower light.

  The steamer whistled several times, to indicate that she was about toreturn. All hands were then ordered into the rigging of the ship; andcheer after cheer was given by the boys, and acknowledged by cheers onthe part of the gentlemen, and the waving of handkerchiefs by theladies. The steamer came about; the moment of parting had come, and shewas headed towards the city. Some of the students wept then; for,whatever charms there were in the voyage before them, the ties of homeand friends were still strong. As long as the steamer could be seen,signals continued to pass between her and the ship.

  "Captain Gordon, has the first master given the quartermaster the courseyet?" asked Mr. Lowington, when the steamer had disappeared among theislands of the bay.

  "No, sir; but Mr. Fluxion told him to make it east-north-east."

  "Very well; but the masters should do this duty," added Mr. Lowington,as he directed the instructor in mathematics to require the masters, towhom belonged the navigation of the ship, to indicate the course.

  William Foster was called, and sent into the after cabin with hisassociates, to obtain the necessary sailing directions. The masters hadbeen furnished with a supply of charts, which they had studied daily, asthey were instructed in the theory of laying down the ship's course.Foster unrolled the large chart of the North Atlantic Ocean upon thedinner table, and with parallel ruler, pencil, and compasses, proceededto perform his duty.

  "We want to go just south of Cape Sable," said he, placing his pencilpoint on that part of the chart.

  "How far south of it?" asked Harry Martyn.

  "Say twenty nautical miles."

  The first master dotted the point twenty miles south of Cape Sable,which is the southern point of Nova Scotia, and also the ship'sposition, with his pencil. He then placed one edge of the parallelruler on both of these points, thus connecting them with a straightline.

  A parallel ruler consists of two smaller rulers, each an inch in widthand a foot in length, connected together by two flat pieces of brass,riveted into each ruler, acting as a kind of hinge. The parts, whenseparated, are always parallel to each other.

  Foster placed the edge of the ruler on the two points made with thepencil, one indicating the ship's present position, the other theposition she was to obtain after sailing two or three days. Putting thefingers of his left hand on the brass knob of the ruler, by which theparts are moved, he pressed down and held its upper half, joining thetwo points, firmly in its place. With the fingers of the right hand hemoved the lower half down, which, in its turn, he kept firmly in place,while he slipped the upper half over the paper, thus preserving thedirection between the points. By this process the parallel ruler couldbe moved all over the chart without losing the course from one point tothe other.

  On every chart there are one or more diagrams of the compass, with linesdiverging from a centre, representing all the points. The parallel ruleris worked over the chart to one of these diagrams, where the directionto which it has been set nearly or exactly coincides with one of thelines representing a point of the compass.

  The first master of the Young America worked the ruler down to adiag
ram, and found that it coincided with the line indicating east bynorth; or one point north of east.

  "That's the course," said Thomas Ellis, the third master--"east bynorth."

  "I think not," added Foster. "If we steer that course, we should goforty or fifty miles south of Cape Sable, and thus run much farther thanwe need. What is the variation?"

  "About twelve degrees west," replied Martyn.

  The compass does not indicate the true north in all parts of the earth,the needle varying in the North Atlantic Ocean from thirty degrees eastto nearly thirty degrees west. There is an imaginary line, extending ina north-westerly direction, through a point in the vicinity of CapeLookout, called the magnetic meridian, on which there is no variation.East of this line the needle varies to the westward; and west of theline, to the eastward. These variations of the compass are marked on thechart, in different latitudes and longitudes, though they need to beoccasionally corrected by observations, for they change slightly fromyear to year.

  "Variation of twelve degrees,"[1] repeated Foster, verifying thestatement by an examination of the chart. That is equal to about onepoint, which, carried to the westward from east by north, will give thecourse east-north-east.

  [Footnote 1: These calculations are merely approximate, being intendedonly to illustrate the principle.]

  The process was repeated, and the same result being obtained, the firstmaster reported the course to Mr. Fluxion, who had made the calculationhimself, in the professors' cabin.

  "Quartermaster, make the course east-north-east," said the first master,when his work had been duly approved by the instructor.

  "East-north-east, sir!" replied the quartermaster, who was conning thewheel--that is, he was watching the compass, and seeing that the twowheelmen kept the ship on her course.

  There were two other compasses on deck, one on the quarter-deck, andanother forward of the mainmast which the officers on duty were requiredfrequently to consult, in order that any negligence in one place mightbe discovered in another. The after cabin and the professors' cabin werealso provided with "tell-tales," which are inverted compasses, suspendedunder the skylights, by which the officers and instructors below couldobserve the ship's course.

  The log indicated that the ship was making six knots an hour, the ratebeing ascertained every two hours, and entered on the log-slate, to beused in making up the "dead reckoning." The Young America had taken her"departure," that is, left the last land to be seen, at half past threeo'clock. At four, when the log was heaved, she had made three miles; atsix, fifteen miles; at eight, the wind diminishing and the logindicating but four knots, only eight miles were to be added for the twohours' run, making twenty-three miles in all. The first sea day wouldend at twelve o'clock on the morrow, when the log-slate would indicatethe total of nautical miles the ship had run after taking her departure.This is called her dead reckoning, which may be measured off on thechart, and should carry the vessel to the point indicated by theobservations for latitude and longitude.

  The wind was very light, and studding-sails were set alow and aloft. Theship only made her six knots as she pitched gently in the long swell ofthe ocean. The boys were still nominally under the order of "all handson deck," but there was nothing for them to do, with the exception ofthe wheelmen, and they were gazing at the receding land behind them.They were taking their last view of the shores of their native land.Doubtless some of them were inclined to be sentimental, but most of themwere thinking of the pleasant sights they were to see, and the excitingscenes in which they were to engage on the other side of the rollingocean, and were as jolly as though earth had no sorrows for them.

  The principal and the professors were pacing the quarter-deck, anddoubtless some of them were wondering whether boys like the crew of theYoung America could be induced to study and recite their lessons amidthe excitement of crossing the Atlantic, and the din of the greatcommercial cities of the old world. The teachers were energetic men, andthey were hopeful, at least, especially as study and discipline were theprincipal elements of the voyage, and each pupil's privileges were todepend upon his diligence and his good behavior. It would be almostimpossible for a boy who wanted to go to Paris while the ship was lyingat Havre, so far to neglect his duties as to forfeit the privilege ofgoing. As these gentlemen have not been formally introduced, the"faculty" of the ship is here presented:--

  Robert Lowington, _Principal_.Rev. Thomas Agneau, _Chaplain_.Dr. Edward B. Winstock, _Surgeon_.

  INSTRUCTORS.

  John Paradyme, A.M., _Greek and Latin_.Richard Modelle, _Reading and Grammar_.Charles C. Mapps, A.M., _Geography and History_.James E. Fluxion, _Mathematics_.Abraham Carboy, M.D., _Chemistry and Nat. Phil._Adolph Badois, _French and German_.

  These gentlemen were all highly accomplished teachers in their severaldepartments, as the progress of the students during the preceding yearfully proved. They were interested in their work, and in sympathy withthe boys, as well as with the principal.

  It was a very quiet time on board, and the crew were collected in littlegroups, generally talking of the sights they were to see. In the waistwere Shuffles, Monroe, and Wilton, all feuds among them having beenhealed. They appeared to be the best of friends, and it looked ominousfor the discipline of the ship to see them reunited. Shuffles waspowerful for good or evil, as he chose, and Mr. Lowington regretted thathe had fallen from his high position, fearing that the self-respectwhich had sustained him as an officer would desert him as a seaman, andpermit him to fall into excesses.

  Shuffles was more dissatisfied and discontented than he had ever beenbefore. He had desired to make the tour of Europe with his father, andhe was sorely disappointed when denied this privilege; for with thefamily he would be free from restraint, and free from hard study. Whenhe lost his rank as an officer, he became desperate and reckless. Tolive in the steerage and do seaman's duty for three months, after he hadenjoyed the luxuries of authority, and of a state-room in the aftercabin, were intolerable. After the cabin offices had been distributed,he told Monroe that he intended to run away that night; but he had foundno opportunity to do so; and it was unfortunate for his shipmates thathe did not.

  "This isn't bad--is it, Shuffles?" said Wilton, as the ship slowlyploughed her way through the billows.

  "I think it is. I had made up my mouth to cross the ocean in a steamer,and live high in London and Paris," replied Shuffles. "I don't relishthis thing, now."

  "Why not?" asked Wilton.

  "I don't feel at home here."

  "I do."

  "Because you never were anywhere else. I ought to be captain of thisship."

  "Well, you can be, if you have a mind to work for it," added Monroe.

  "Work for it! That's played out. I must stay in the steerage threemonths, at any rate; and that while the burden of the fun is going on.If we were going to lie in harbor, or cruise along the coast, I would goin for my old place."

  "But Carnes is out of the way now, and your chance is better this yearthan it was last," suggested Monroe.

  "I know that, but I can't think of straining every nerve for threemonths, two of them while we are going from port to port in Europe. Whenwe go ashore at Queenstown, I shall have to wear a short jacket, insteadof the frock coat of an officer; and I think the jacket would lookbetter on some younger fellow."

  "What are you going to do, Shuffles?" asked Wilton.

  "I'd rather be a king among hogs, than a hog among kings."

  "What do you mean by that?"

  "No matter; there's time enough to talk over these things."

  "Do you mean a mutiny?" laughed Wilton.

  "Haven't you forgotten that?"

  "No."

  "I wonder what Lowington would say, if he knew I had proposed such athing," added Shuffles, thoughtfully.

  "He did know it, at the time you captured the runaways, for I told him."

  "Did you?" demanded Shuffles, his brow contracting with anger.

  "I told you I would tell him, and I did," answered Wil
ton. "You were atraitor to our fellows, and got us into a scrape."

  "I was an officer then."

  "No matter for that. Do you suppose, if I were an officer, I wouldthrow myself in your way when you were up to anything?"

  "I don't know whether you would or not; but I wouldn't blow on you, ifyou had told me anything in confidence. What did Lowington say?"

  "Nothing; he wouldn't take any notice of what I said."

  "That was sensible on his part. One thing is certain, Wilton: you can'tbe trusted."

  "You mustn't make me mad, then."

  "I will keep things to myself hereafter," growled Shuffles.

  "Don't be savage. You served me a mean trick, and I paid you off for it;so we are square."

  "We will keep square then, and not open any new accounts."

  "But you will want me when anything is up," laughed Wilton. "What wouldyou do without me in getting up a mutiny?"

  "Who said anything about a mutiny?"

  "I know you are thinking over something, and you don't mean to submit tothe discipline of the ship, if you can help it."

  "Well, I can't help it."

  "There goes the boatswain's whistle, piping to muster," said Monroe.

  "Confound the boatswain's whistle!" growled Shuffles. "I don't like theidea of running every time he pipes."

  Very much to the surprise of his companions, Shuffles, his irritationincreased by the conduct of Wilton, took no notice of the call, and wentforward, instead of aft. His companions, more wise and prudent, walkedup to the hatch, which Mr. Lowington had just mounted.

  "Groom, tell Shuffles to come aft," said the principal to one of themidshipmen.

  The officer obeyed the order; Shuffles flatly refused to go aft. Mr.Lowington descended from his rostrum and went forward to enforceobedience. This event created a profound sensation among the students.

  "Shuffles," said Mr Lowington, sternly.

  "Sir," replied the malcontent, in a surly tone.

  "The boatswain piped the crew to muster."

  "I heard him."

  "You did not obey the call. I sent for you, and you refused to come."

  "I don't think I ought to obey the boatswain's call."

  "May I ask why not?"

  "I've been an officer three terms, and I should be now if we had hadfair play," growled Shuffles.

  "I am not disposed to argue this point in your present frame of mind. Iorder you to go aft."

  "And I won't go!" replied Shuffles, impudently.

  "Mr. Peaks," said the principal, calling the senior boatswain.

  "Here, sir," replied Peaks, touching his hat to the principal.

  "Mr. Leech," added Mr. Lowington.

  "Here, sir."

  "Walk this young gentleman aft."

  "Let me alone!" cried Shuffles, as Peaks placed his hand upon him.

  "Gently, my sweet lamb," said the boatswain, with affected tenderness.

  "Take your hands off me!" roared the mutinous pupil, as he struggled torelease himself from the grasp of the stalwart seaman.

  Peaks took him by the collar with one hand, and held his wrist with theother, on one side, while Leech did the same on the other side.

  "Walk him aft," repeated the principal.

  "Mr. Fluxion, may I trouble you to bring up the irons?" continued Mr.Lowington, when the boatswain and carpenter had "walked" the rebel aft,in spite of his struggling and kicking.

  "Irons!" gasped Shuffles, as he heard the request of the principal.

  He trembled with rage as he uttered the word. The irons seemed to piercehis soul. Probably he did not think that the son of a wealthy gentlemanwould be compelled to submit to such an indignity as being put in irons.

  Mr. Fluxion came on deck with a pair of handcuffs. It was the first timethey had been seen, and no student even knew there were any on board.The discipline of the ship had been as gentle as it was firm, and thiswas the first time such instruments were necessary.

  "Mr. Peaks, put the irons on him!" said Mr. Lowington, his usual dignityunruffled by angry emotions.

  "Don't put them on me!" cried Shuffles, making an effort to disengagehimself from the grasp of his captors.

  "Put them on at once!" added the principal.

  "You shall not put them on me! I will die first!" roared the rebel.

  It was easier to talk than to do, in the hands of two sturdy sailors,one of whom had used the cat in the navy, when its use was tolerated.Shuffles did not die, and he was ironed, in spite of his struggles andhis protest.