Naval Stories (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Excerpt from Naval Stories

The crew were disposed in variousgroups about the deck, some idling away in listless ease the inter val of calm; some, with their clothes-bags beside them, turning it to account in overhauling their dun nage; while others moved fidgety about, on the forecastle and in the waist, eyeing, ever and anon, the horizon round, as-if already weary of their short holiday on the ocean, and impatiently watching for some sign of a breeze. To a true sailor there are few circumstances more annoying than a perfect calm. The same principle of our nature which makes the traveller on land, though journeying with. Out any definite object, desire the postilion to whip up his horses and hasten to the end of his stage, is rrrariifestetl in a striking degree an r 1g seamen. The end of one voyage is but the beginning of another, and their life is a constant succession of hard ships and perils; yet thev cannot abide that the elements should grant them a moment's respite. As the wind dies away their spirits flag; they move heavily and sluggishly about while the calm con tinnes; but rouse at the first whisper of the breeze, and are never gayer or more' animated than when their canvass swells out to its utmost tension in the gale.

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