Fortunately, I
needed no help from any one, and no medicine; and if I had needed
help, I don't know where I should have found it. Sailors are willing
enough, but it is true, as is often said- No one ships for nurse on
board a vessel. Our merchant ships are always under-manned, and if one
man is lost by sickness, they cannot spare another to take care of
him. A sailor is always presumed to be well, and if he's sick, he's
a poor dog. One has to stand his wheel, and another his lookout, and
the sooner he gets on deck again, the better.
Accordingly, as soon as I could possibly go back to my duty, I put
on my thick clothes and boots and south-wester, and made my appearance
on deck. Though I had been but a few days below, yet everything looked
strangely enough. The ship was cased in ice,- decks, sides, masts,
yards, and rigging. Two close-reefed top-sails were all the sail she
had on, and every sail and rope was frozen so stiff in its place, that
it seemed as though it would be impossible to start anything. Reduced,
too, to her top-masts, she had altogether a most forlorn and
crippled appearance.
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