So quiet, too, was the sea,
and so steady the breeze, that if these sails had been sculptured
marble, they could not have been more motionless. Not a ripple upon
the surface of the canvas; not even a quivering of the extreme edges
of the sail- so perfectly were they distended by the breeze. I was so
lost in the sight, that I forgot the presence of the man who came
out with me, until he said, (for he, too, rough old man-of-war's-man
as he was, had been gazing at the show,) half to himself, still
looking at the marble sails- "How quietly they do their work!"
The fine weather brought work with it, as the ship was to be put
in order for coming into port. This may give a landsman some notion of
what is done on board ship.- All the first part of a passage is spent
in getting a ship ready for sea, and the last part in getting her
ready for port. She is, as sailors say, like a lady's watch, always
out of repair. The new, strong sails, which we had up off Cape Horn,
were to be sent down, and the old set, which were still serviceable in
fine weather, to be bent in their place; all the rigging to be set up,
fore and aft; the masts stayed; the standing rigging to be tarred
down; lower and topmast rigging rattled down, fore and aft; the ship
scraped, inside and out, and painted; decks varnished; new and neat
knots, seizings and coverings to be fitted; and every part put in
order, to look well to the owner's eye, on coming into Boston.
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