Boat Club; or, The Bunkers of Rippleton

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER VII

  GIVE WAY TOGETHER

  "No hurry, boys; we've got the whole arternoon afore us," said the oldsalt, when he had cooled them off. "You've got some things to larn. Youcan't row yet no more'n a codfish can go up a ladder. You don't knowhow."

  "I think we can row, Uncle Ben," said Charles uneasily.

  "I know you can't. If you don't want to larn, say so, and I'll make theboat fast to the stake again," added the old boatman sharply, as thoughhe meant what he said.

  "We do! We do!" protested the boys with one voice.

  "Then be quiet, and keep your ear-ports wide open. The boy next to thebow is the bowman. The stroke oarsman is the one farthest aft, ornearest the starn. Each on 'em has a boat-hook. Now take 'em, and shoveher off."

  The two boys obeyed, and placing the point of the boat-hooks againstthe rock, shoved off with all their might; and the Zephyr receded fromthe shore till the wind took her, and drove her out under the lee ofCentre Island. Here he directed Tony to throw the grapnel, a smallanchor with four flukes, overboard, as much to assure the impatientoarsmen that there was to be no rowing at present, as to hold the boatwhere she was.

  "Now, boys, I want you to larn somethin', so as to know where you are.Some on you better write it down; and don't forgit it."

  Several of them took paper and pencils from their pockets, and wereready to write down what was said.

  "The for'd part of the boat is the bow; also the fore-sheets,"continued the old sailor. "The after part, where the coxswain sets, isthe starn-sheets. The middle of the boat is the waist. Enough of thatfor now. Do you know what an oar is?"

  "Of course we do, Uncle Ben!" shouted the crew.

  "An oar has three parts," said the instructor.

  "It is all in one piece," added one of the boys.

  "So is your head all in one piece; but haven't you got any nose, ears,and chin. An oar has three parts,--the blade, the loom, and the handle.The blade is the part you put in the water. The handle is the part youtake hold of. The loom is the round part between the blade and thehandle. Can you remember that if you haven't writ it down?"

  "We know all that like a book," replied Fred Harper.

  "This is a carvel-built boat; that is, her planking runs fore and aft,"Uncle Ben explained, using gestures to indicate the direction."Planking may mean boards or thinner stuff. The planks are jointed atthe edges so as to fit close, and the spaces between are stuffed withoakum, which is called calking. A clinker-built boat is put together inthe same way, but one plank laps over another; and we generally callthis kind of boat a lap-streak. Now, youngsters, we are going to takethe oars--not yet, till you know how to do it. The first command of thecoxswain will be 'Up oars!' They lay now across the thwarts."

  "Across what?" asked one of them.

  "The thwarts: lubbers call them the seats," replied the old seaman,laughing. "You set backwards when you row, all facing the coxswain.Them as is on the starboard side has the oars on their left. Those onthe port has 'em on their right, just where you will put them when youboat your oars after you have done using them. Now, Frank, you willgive the first command; but not one of you will obey it, for you don'tknow how."

  "Up oars!" said the coxswain in a commanding tone.

  "At this order, you will pick up your oars, and hold them up straight,with the blades athwartships, or across the boat," the instructorexplained. "If the boat were at a landing, or alongside another boat,the two bowmen and the two stroke oarsmen would not do as the othersdo; for it would be their duty to shove off, and get the boat underway. Now you may try it; but don't hurry. Give the order again, Frank.Stand up this time, so that you can see the whole length of the boat."

  The coxswain rose from his seat; and having no little natural dignity,he did it very gracefully, and was not at all flurried.

  "Up oars!" said he very slowly, pausing between the words.

  All hands made a dive, as it were, at the oars, and stood them up asrequired. But they hit each other in the back, rapped others on thehead, elevated the oars so that there was neither order nor symmetry inthe movement, and they were straggling as many different ways as therewere boys.

  "Avast there! That won't do at all!" shouted Uncle Ben. "You are allsnarled up, and we must have it done shipshape."

  He seated himself on the after thwart, after he had required them toboat their oars, and proceeded to show them how to pick them up. Hewent forward, and repeated the movement. Then he made several of themdo it alone. Next four of them did it together. At last he believed hehad them in condition to execute the manoeuvre properly. Then hecalled upon Frank to give the order again, and this time they did it aswell as could be expected. He was not satisfied, and compelled theoarsmen to go through it repeatedly for half an hour.

  "Now we will begin again," said Uncle Ben. "If you do it well, we willgo on. Give the order, Frank."

  They did it better than at any time before; and while the crew sat withthe oars elevated, the old sailor proceeded to explain the nextmovement.

  "If we were at a landing, or alongside the sailboat, you would remainas you be now, till the boat was clear of everything, before the nextorder would come. That command will be 'Let fall!' Then you will letyour oars drop upon the water all at once, striking it at just the sameinstant. But you will not let the loom of the oar touch the gunwale."

  "Where is the gunwale?" asked one of the boys.

  "The rail along the top of the boat in which the rowlocks are set. Youmustn't let an oar touch that. Keep hold of the handle with the bladeon the water. Then, without any command, you will ship the oar; inother words, drop the loom into the rowlock. Now go through that again.Steady, and don't hurry. Do it in about the time the stroke oarsmangives you."

  Frank gave the commands again, beginning with "Up oars!" till theoarsmen had shipped their oars; and it was very well done, and UncleBen actually praised the crew.

  "The next command is 'Give way together!'" said the old sailor. "Youwill take the time from the stroke oar, and pull with it all the time."

  Fred Harper was the aftermost rower; and the instructor asked him tovacate his seat, which Ben took himself, with the oar in his hands.

  "Now carry the handle of the oar forward to easy arm's length towardsthe starn," continued Ben, suiting the action to the word; and allfollowed his example. "Drop the end of the oar into the water till theblade is just covered, no deeper. Then pause a bit, and pull thehandle towards you to your breasts, or very nearly there."

  The crew followed the instructions, and imitated the old seaman tillthey had taken their first stroke. These movements were repeatedseveral times, till they could do them well. Then they began again withFrank giving the commands, and they went through the whole till theycould do everything to the satisfaction of the teacher.

  "Now, bowman, you may weigh the anchor," said Uncle Ben; and the heartsof the boys beat rapidly, for the time for actual rowing had come.

  Tony Weston hauled in the grapnel, and stowed it in the fore-sheets.

  "Up oars!" commanded Frank, rising from his seat; and all the oars wereelevated in good order, though not quite perfect. "Let fall!" hecontinued; and this movement was very well done, and all shipped theiroars. "Give way together!"

  The boat began to move, and the motion seemed to perplex some of theoarsmen. A few of them appeared to be trying to touch bottom, and onthe second stroke they were in a snarl.

  "Avast, all!" shouted Uncle Ben. "This won't do! Some of you act asthough you were spearing eels. You are not to bury your oar in thewater above the blade at any time. You must keep the flat part of theoar up and down in the water always. If you turn it in pulling, theblade will shoot up into the air, or dive down towards the bottom."

  Then he practised them for a full half-hour on this step, and finallybrought them up to a very handsome stroke. Then Frank gave the commandsagain, and they pulled passably well. Directing the coxswain to headthe Zephyr up the lake, Ben gave his attention to individuals, pointingout the
ir faults, and correcting them. The boat seemed to be as lightas a feather; and even with the indifferent rowing, she made tremendousheadway, as the boys thought. She was soon at the head of the lake.

  "Now, boys, we have to stop as well as start her," said the teacher,some time before the boat reached the head of the lake, where the riverflowed into it; "and the command will be, 'Stand by to lay on youroars!' But that order is only for you to be ready to do it. The nextcommand will be 'Oars!' The last order, Frank, must be given at thebeginning of a stroke, the oars being in the water. Then, boys, youwill level your oars, all in a straight line, not one above or belowthe others; and you will turn, or feather them, as it is called, sothat they would lie flat on the water if dropped down; but they mustnot be dropped down, not one of them. Now give the command, Frank. Youneed not stand up to do it, unless there's an emergency."

  "Stand by to lay on your oars!" called the coxswain. "Oars!" he addedafter a short pause.

  This movement, like the others, required to be done several times; butthe Zephyr lost her headway at the mouth of the river. On the return,the young oarsmen were instructed in feathering their oars. They weretold precisely how to turn the hands so as to bring the oar up flatwiseas it came out of the water, and how to reverse the motion when it wasdipped for the stroke. They had become somewhat accustomed to handlingthe oars, and Uncle Ben warmly commended the proficiency they made.Frank had headed the boat for Centre Island; and when she was abreastof it, Ben called his attention to the fact that his father and motherwere both on the beach, observing the movements of the Zephyr and hercrew.

  It was nearly time to go ashore; but the old sailor gave them two morelessons,--one from laying on the oars to holding water when it wasdesirable to check the headway, and the other to back the craft inorder to stop the headway at once.

  Ben declared that the club had done exceedingly well for the first dayafloat, and now they must go to the spot where Captain and Mrs. Sedleywere looking at them. Frank was directed to run for the cottage of thewidow Weston.

  "Now we must give the captain the compliment of tossing oars to him,"said Ben on the way over. "When a boat in the navy is to meet or passone containing a superior officer, it is the fashion to salute him witha toss of the oars exactly as you have learned to do it to-day."

  The teacher explained it more in detail; and the boat headed down thelake, keeping as close to the shore as it was prudent to go.

  "Stand by to toss!" said Frank, prompted by the old sailor. "Toss!"

  The oars all went up to a perpendicular, with no straggling ones amongthem; and the Zephyr had headway enough to keep her moving a quarter ofa mile. Captain Sedley took off his hat, acknowledging the salute,while Mrs. Sedley waved her handkerchief very vigorously. Then the oarswere trailed in due form, and the boat went up to the flat rock wherethey had embarked. Frank's father and mother came over to congratulatethe boys upon the proficiency they had made in a single afternoon. Thelady then invited all the crew and Uncle Ben to visit the mansion,where they found a nice collation awaiting them. They had been on thelake all the afternoon, and the air and exercise had given themexcellent appetites. Neither the captain nor his wife preached to them,but talked very pleasantly about the boat and the rowing. They tooktheir leave before dark, and a dozen families knew all about theexcursion before bedtime.