Yet a sailor's life is at best but a mixture of a little good with
much evil, and a little pleasure with much pain. The beautiful is
linked with the revolting, the sublime with the commonplace, and the
solemn with the ludicrous.
We had hardly returned on board with our sad report, before an
auction was held of the poor man's clothes. The captain had first,
however, called all hands aft and asked them if they were satisfied
that everything had been done to save the man, and if they thought
there was any use in remaining there longer. The crew all said that it
was in vain, for the man did not know how to swim, and was very
heavily dressed. So we then filed away and kept her off to her course.
The laws regulating navigation make the captain answerable for the
effects of a sailor who dies during the voyage, and it is either a law
or a universal custom, established for convenience, that the captain
should immediately hold an auction of his things, in which they are
bid off by the sailors, and the sums which they give are deducted from
their wages at the end of the voyage. In this way the trouble and risk
of keeping his things through the voyage are avoided, and the
clothes are usually sold for more than they would be worth on shore.
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