Much has been said of
the sun-rise at sea; but it will not compare with the sun-rise on
shore. It wants the accompaniments of the songs of birds, the
awakening hum of men, and the glancing of the first beams upon
trees, hills, spires, and house-tops, to give it life and spirit.
But though the actual rise of the sun at sea is not so beautiful,
yet nothing will compare with the early breaking of day upon the
wide ocean.
There is something in the first grey streaks stretching along the
eastern horizon and throwing an indistinct light upon the face of
the deep, which combines with the boundlessness and unknown depth of
the sea around you, and gives one a feeling of loneliness, of dread,
and of melancholy foreboding, which nothing else in nature can give.
This gradually passes away as the light grows brighter, and when the
sun comes up, the ordinary monotonous sea day begins.
From such reflections as these, I was aroused by the order from
the officer, "Forward there! rig the head-pump!" I found that no
time was allowed for day-dreaming, but that we must "turn to" at the
first light. Having called up the "idlers," namely, carpenter, cook,
steward, etc.
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