Rollo on the Atlantic

Chapter V.

On Deck

As soon as Rollo and Jane found themselves thus established in their state rooms, they began to examine the furniture and fixtures around them with great curiosity. They were particularly interested in observing the precautions which had been taken in securing every thing which the state rooms contained, from the danger of being thrown about by the motion of the ship. The wash basin was made of marble, and was firmly set in its place, so as to be absolutely immovable. There was a hole in the bottom of it, with a plug in it, so that, by drawing out the plug, the water could be let off into a pipe which conveyed it away. There was a small chain attached to this plug, by means of which it could be drawn up when any one wished to let the water off. The pitcher was made broad and flat at the bottom, and very heavy, so that it could not be easily upset; and then there was a socket for it in the lower part of the wash stand, which confined it effectually, and prevented its sliding about when the ship was rolling in a heavy sea.

The tumbler was secured in a more curious manner still. It was placed in a brass ring, which projected from the wall in a corner over the wash stand, and which was made just large enough to receive it. The soap dish and the brush tray were also placed in sockets cut to receive them in the marble slab, which formed the upper part of the wash stand. The looking glass was round, and was screwed to the wall by means of a stem and a ball or socket joint, in such a manner that it could be set in any position required, according to the height of the observer, and yet it could not by any possibility fall from its place. There were very few pegs or pins for hanging clothes upon, because, when clothes are thus hung, they are found to swing back and forth whenever the ship is rolling in a heavy sea, in a manner that is very tiresome and disagreeable for sick passengers to see. Nor were there many shelves about the state room; for if there had been, the passengers would be likely to put various articles upon them when the sea was smooth; and then, when the ship came to pitch and roll in gales of wind, the things would all slide off upon the floor. So instead of shelves there were pockets made of canvas or duck, several together, one above another. These pockets formed very convenient receptacles for such loose articles as the passengers might have in their state rooms, and were, of course, perfectly secure.

There were two shelves, it is true, in Jennie's state room,—one over each of the two wash stands,—but they were protected by a ledge about the edges of them, which would effectually prevent such things as might be placed upon them from sliding off.

By the time that Rollo and Jane had examined these things, a porter came into the state room, bringing their trunk upon his shoulder. Maria told the children that they had better open the trunk and take out all that they would be likely to require while on board, and then stow the trunk itself away under the lower berth, in one of the state rooms.

"Because," said she, "as soon as we get out upon the heavy seas we shall all be sick, and then we shall not wish to move to do the least thing."

"When will that be?" asked Jane.

"I don't know," replied Maria. "Sometimes we have it smooth for a good many days, and then there comes a head wind and makes it rough, and all the passengers get sick and very wretched."

"I don't think that I shall be sick," said Rollo.

"You can't tell," said Maria. "Nobody can tell any thing about it beforehand."

In obedience to Maria's directions, Rollo opened the trunk and took out from it all the clothing, both for day and night, which he thought that he and Jennie would require during the voyage. The night dresses he put under the pillows in the berths. The cloaks, and coats, and shawls which might be required on deck in the day he placed on the couches. Those which belonged to him he put in his state room, and those that belonged to Jennie in hers. While engaged in these operations, he pulled up from one of the lower corners of his trunk a small leather purse or bag full of money.

"What shall I do with this?" he asked, holding it up to Maria.

"What is it?" asked Maria.

"Money," said Rollo.

"How much is there?" said Maria.

"I don't know," replied Rollo. "Uncle George put it in here. He said I ought to have some money to carry with me, in case of accidents. I don't suppose it is much."

"You had better count it, then," said Maria, "so as to ascertain how much it is. You and Jane may count it together."

So Rollo and Jane sat down upon the couch, and Rollo poured out the money into Jennie's lap. It was all gold. Maria said that the coins were sovereigns and half sovereigns. The large ones were sovereigns, and the small ones were half sovereigns. Rollo proposed that he should count the sovereigns, and that Jennie might count the half sovereigns. It proved, when the counting was completed, that there were thirty sovereigns and twenty half sovereigns.

"That makes forty sovereigns in all," said Maria. "That is a great deal of money."

"How much is it?" asked Rollo.

"Why, in American money," said Maria, "it makes about two hundred dollars."

"Two hundred dollars!" repeated Rollo, with astonishment. "What could uncle George think I could want of all this money?"

"It was in case of accidents," said Maria. "For example, suppose this ship should be cast away on the coast of Nova Scotia, and all the passengers and baggage be saved, what could you do there without any money."

"Why, I should think that somebody there would take care of us," replied Rollo.

"Yes," said Maria, "I suppose they would; but it is a great deal better to have money of your own. Besides, suppose that when you get to Liverpool, for some reason or other, your father should not be there. Then, having plenty of money, you could go to a hotel and stay there till your father comes. Or you could ask some one of the passengers who is going to London to let you go with him, and you could tell him that you had plenty of money to pay the expenses."

"Yes," said Rollo, "though I don't think there is any doubt that my father will be in Liverpool when we arrive."

"I hope he will be, I am sure," said Maria. "But now, put up the money again in the purse, tie it up securely, and replace it in the trunk. Then you must keep the trunk locked all the time, and keep the key in your pocket."

Rollo felt quite proud of being intrusted with so much money; so he replaced the bag in the trunk with great care, and locked it safely.

"Now," said Maria, "this is your home while you are on board this ship. When you choose, you can come here and be alone; and you can lie down and rest here whenever you are tired. At other times you can ramble about the ship, in all proper places."

"How shall I know what the proper places are?" asked Rollo.

"Why, you will see where the other passengers go," replied Maria; "and wherever you see them go, you can go yourself. That is as good a rule as you can have."

"Well," said Rollo. "And now, Jane, let us go up on deck and see what we can see."

Jane was pleased with this proposal; so she followed Rollo to the deck. Maria said that she would come by and by, but for the present she wished to go and see her brother. She said that she had a brother on board who was quite out of health. He was going to Europe in hopes that the voyage would restore him. At present, however, he was very unwell, and was confined to his berth, and she must go and see him.

So Rollo and Jane went to see if they could find their way up on deck alone. Rollo went before, and Jane followed. They ascended the steep stairs where they had gone up at first, and then walked aft upon the deck until they came to the settees where they had been sitting before the luncheon. They sat down upon one of these settees, where they had a fine view, not only of the wide expanse of sea on every hand, but also of the whole extent of the decks of the ship. They remained here nearly two hours, observing what was going on around them, and they saw a great many things that interested them very much indeed.

The first thing that attracted their attention was the sound of a bell, which struck four strokes very distinctly, and in a very peculiar manner, near where the helmsman stood in steering the ship. This bell has already been mentioned. It hung directly before the helmsman's window, and it had a short rope attached to the clapper of it. The helmsman, or the man at the wheel, as he is sometimes called, from the fact that he steers the ship by means of a wheel, with handles all around the periphery of it, had opened his window just after Rollo and Jane had taken their seats, and had pulled this clapper so as to strike four strokes upon the bell, the strokes being in pairs, thus:—

Ding—ding! Ding—ding!

In a minute afterward, Rollo and Jane heard the sound repeated in precisely the same manner from another bell, that seemed to be far in the forward part of the ship.

Ding—ding! Ding—ding!

"I wonder what that means?" said Rollo.

"I expect it means that it is four o'clock," said Jane.

"I should not think it could be so late as four o'clock," said Rollo.

"I have a great mind to go and ask the helmsman what it means," he added, after a moment's pause.

"No," said Jane, "you must not go."

It is difficult to say precisely why Jane did not wish to have Rollo go and ask the helmsman about the bell, but she had an instinctive feeling that it was better not to do it. So Rollo sat still. His attention was very soon turned away from the bell by Jane's calling out to him to see some sailors go up the rigging. There were regular shrouds, as they are called, that is, ladders formed of ropes, which led up on each side of the masts part way to where the sailors seemed to wish to go. Above the top of the shrouds there were only single ropes, and Rollo wondered what the sailors would do when they came to these. They found no difficulty, however, for when they reached the top of the shrouds they continued to mount by the ropes with very little apparent effort. They would take hold of two of the ropes that were a little distance apart with their hands, and then, curling their legs round them in a peculiar manner below, they would mount up very easily. They thus reached the yard, as it is called, which is a long, round beam, extending along the upper edge of the sail, and, spreading themselves out upon it in a row, they proceeded to do the work required upon the sail, leaning over upon the yard above, and standing upon a rope, which was stretched for the purpose along the whole length of it below.

"I wonder if I could climb up there," said Rollo. "Do you suppose they would let me try?"

"No, indeed!" said Jane, very earnestly; "you must not try, by any means."

"I believe that I could climb up there," said Rollo; "that is, if the vessel would stop rocking to and fro, and hold still."

Presently, however, a boy, who appeared to be about eighteen or nineteen years of age, and who was upon another mast, accomplished a feat which even Rollo himself admitted that he should not dare to undertake. It seemed that he had some operation to perform upon a part of the rigging down some fifteen feet from where he was; so, with a rope hung over his shoulder, he came down hand over hand, by a single rope or cable called a stay, until he reached the place where the work was to be performed. Here he stopped, and, clinging to the rope that he had come down upon with his legs and one hand, he contrived with the other hand to fasten one end of the short rope which he had brought with him to the stay, and then, carrying the other end across, he fastened it to another cable which was near. He then seated himself upon this cross rope as upon a seat, and clinging to his place by his legs, he had his hands free for his work. When he had finished his work he untied the cross rope, and then went up the cable hand over hand a he had come down.

"I am sure I could not do that," said Rollo. "And I should not think that any body but a monkey could do it, or a spider."

In fact, the lines of rigging, as seen from the place where Rollo and Jane were seated, looked so fine, and the men appeared so small, that the whole spectacle naturally reminded one of a gigantic spider's web, with black spiders of curious forms ascending and descending upon them, so easily and adroitly did the men pass to and fro and up and down, attaching new lines to new points, and then running off with them, as a spider would do with her thread, wherever they were required. But after all, in respect to the power of running about among lines and rigging, the spider is superior to man. She can not only run up and down far more easily and readily wherever she wishes to go, but she can make new attachments with a touch, and make them strong enough to bear her own weight and all other strains that come upon them; while the sailor, as Rollo and Jane observed on this occasion, was obliged in his fastenings to wind his ropes round and round, and tie them into complicated knots, and then secure the ends with "spun yarn."

While Rollo and Jane were watching the sailors, they saw them unfurl one after another of the sails, and spread them to the wind; for the wind was now fair, and it was fresh enough to assist the engines considerably in propelling the ship through the water. Still, as the ship was going the same way with the wind, the breeze was scarcely felt upon the deck. The air was mild and balmy, and the surface of the sea was comparatively smooth, so that the voyage was beginning very prosperously. Rollo looked all around the horizon, but he could see no land in any direction. There was not even a ship in sight; nothing but one wide and boundless waste of waters.

"I should think that there would be some other ships going to England to-day," he said, "besides ours."

Jane did not know what to think on such a subject, and so she did not reply.

"Let us watch for whales," said Rollo. "Perhaps we shall see a whale. You watch the water all along on that side, and I will on this side; and if you see any whale spout, tell me."

So they both kept watch for some time, but neither of them saw any spouting. Jane gave one alarm, having seen some large, black-looking monsters rise to the surface not far from them on one side of the ship. She called out eagerly to Rollo to look. He did so, but he said that they were not whales; they were porpoises. He had seen porpoises often before, in bays and harbors.

Just then the bell near the helmsman's window struck again, though in a manner a little different from before; for after the two pairs of strokes which had been heard before there came a single stroke, making five in all, thus:—

Ding—ding! Ding—ding! Ding.

Immediately afterward the sound was repeated in the forward part of the ship, as it had been before.

Ding—ding! Ding—ding! Ding,

"I wonder what that means," said Rollo.

Just then an officer of the ship, in his walk up and down the deck, passed near to where Rollo was sitting, and Rollo instinctively determined to ask him.

"Will you please tell me, sir, what that striking means?"

"It's five bells," said the man; and so walked on.

Chapter VI.

A Conversation

Rollo at first felt quite disappointed that the officer seemed so little disposed to give him information; but immediately after the officer had gone another man came by, one of the passengers, as Rollo supposed, who proved to be more communicative. He wore a glazed cap and a very shaggy greatcoat. He sat down by the side of Jennie, Rollo being on the other side, and said,—

"He does not seem inclined to tell you much about the bells, does he, Rollo?"

"No, sir," replied Rollo; "but how did you know that my name was Rollo?"

"O, I heard about you down in the cabin," replied the stranger; "and about you too, Jennie, and your beautiful little kitten. But I will explain the meaning of the bells to you. I know all about them. I belong on board this ship. I am the surgeon."

"Are you?" said Rollo. "I did not know that there was any surgeon in the ship."

"Yes," replied the gentleman. "It is quite necessary to have a surgeon. Sometimes the seamen get hurt, and require attendance; and then sometimes there are cases of sickness among the passengers. I have got quite a little apothecary's shop in my state room. I will show it to you by and by. But now about the bells.

"You must know," continued the surgeon, "that people strike the time at sea in a very different manner from that which is customary on land. In the first place, they have a man to strike it; they cannot have a clock."

"I do not see why not," said Rollo.

"Because at sea," rejoined the surgeon, "the time changes every day, and no clock going regularly can keep it. Time depends upon the sun, and when the ship is going east she goes to meet the sun; and it becomes noon, that is, midday, earlier. When the ship is going west, she goes away from the sun, and then it becomes noon later. Thus noon has to be fixed every day anew, and a clock going regularly all the time would be continually getting wrong. Then, besides the rolling and pitching of the ship would derange the motion of the weights and pendulum of the clock. In fact, I don't believe that a clock could be made to go at all—unless, indeed, it were hung on gimbals."

"What are gimbals?" asked Rollo.

"They are a pair of rings," replied the surgeon, "one within the other, and each mounted on pivots in such a manner that any thing hung within the inner ring will swing any way freely. The lamps down in the cabin are hung on gimbals."

"Yes," said Rollo, "I saw them."

"Then, besides," continued the surgeon, "if the men strike the bells themselves, the sound, coming regularly every half hour, proves that they are at their posts and attending to their duties. So that, even if a machine could be invented to strike the time on board ship ever so truly, I do not think they would like to adopt it.

"Another difference in striking the time on board ship," continued the surgeon, "is, that they strike it by half hours instead of by hours. Scarcely any of the ship's company have watches. In fact, watches are of very little use at sea, the time is so continually changing from day to day. The sailors, therefore, and nearly all on board, depend wholly on the bells; and it is necessary, accordingly, that they should be struck often. Every two bells, therefore, means an hour; and a single bell at the end means half an hour. Now, I will strike the bells for you, and you may tell me what o'clock it is. We begin after twelve o'clock.

"Ding!"

"Half past twelve," said Rollo.

"Ding—ding!" said the surgeon again, imitating the sound of the bell with his voice.

"One o'clock," said Rollo.

"Ding—ding! Ding!" said the surgeon.

"Half past one o'clock."

"Ding—ding! Ding—ding!"

"Two o'clock!"

"Ding—ding! Ding—ding! Ding!"

"Half past two."

"Ding—ding! Ding—ding! Ding—ding!"

"Three!"

"Ding—ding! Ding—ding! Ding-ding! Ding!"

"Half past three."

"Ding—ding! Ding—ding! Ding—ding! Ding—ding!"

"Four o'clock."

"Yes," said the surgeon, "that is eight bells, and that is the end. Now they stop and begin again with one bell, which means half past four; and so they go on to eight bells again, which makes it eight o'clock. The next eight bells is twelve o'clock at night, and the next is at four o'clock in the morning, and the next at eight o'clock. So that eight bells means four o'clock, and eight o'clock, and twelve o'clock, by day; and four o'clock, and eight o'clock, and twelve o'clock, by night."

"Yes," said Rollo, "now I understand it."

"Eight bells is a very important striking," continued the surgeon. "It is a curious fact, that almost every thing important that is done at sea is done at some eight bells or other."

"How is that?" asked Rollo.

"Why, in the first place," replied the surgeon, "at eight bells in the morning, the gong sounds to wake the passengers up. Then the watch changes, too; that is, the set of men that have been on deck and had care of the ship and the sails since midnight go below, and a new watch, that is, a new set of men that have been asleep since midnight, take their places. Then the next eight bells, which is twelve, is luncheon time. At this time, too, the captain finds out from the sun whereabouts we are on the ocean, and also determines the ship's time for the next twenty-four hours. The next eight bells is at four o'clock, and that is dinner time. The next eight bells is at eight o'clock, and that is tea time. At all these times the watches change too; and so they do at the eight bells, which sound at midnight."

"Yes," said Rollo, "now I understand it. I wished to know very much what it meant, and I had a great mind to go and ask the helmsman."

"It was well that you did not go and ask him," said the surgeon.

"Why?" asked Rollo.

"Because the officers and seamen on board ships," replied the surgeon, "don't like to be troubled with questions from landsmen while they are engaged in their duties. Even the sensible questions of landsmen appear very foolish to seamen; and then, besides, they commonly ask a great many that are absolutely very foolish. They ask the captain when he thinks they will get to the end of the voyage; or, if the wind is ahead, they ask him when he thinks it will change, and all such foolish questions; as if the captain or any body else could tell when the wind would change. Sailors have all sorts of queer answers to give to these questions, to quiz the passengers who ask them, and amuse themselves. For instance, if the passengers ask when any thing is going to happen, the sailors say, 'The first of the month.' That is a sort of proverb among them, and is meant only in fun. But if it happens to be near the end of the month, the passenger, supposing the answer is in earnest, goes away quite satisfied, while the sailors wink at each other and laugh."

"Yes," said Rollo. "I heard a lady ask the captain, a short time since, when he thought we should get to Liverpool."

"And what did the captain say?" asked the surgeon.

"He said," replied Rollo, "that she must go and ask Boreas and Neptune, and some of those fellows, for they could tell a great deal better than he could."

"The captain does not like to be asked any such questions," continued the surgeon. "He cannot possibly know how the wind and sea are going to be during the voyage, and he does not like to be teased with foolish inquiries on the subject. There is no end to the foolishness of the questions which landsmen ask when they are at sea. Once I heard a man stop a sailor, as he was going up the shrouds, to inquire of him whether he thought they would see any whales on that voyage."