diff options
Diffstat (limited to '44629-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 44629-0.txt | 712 |
1 files changed, 712 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/44629-0.txt b/44629-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bc8ec6 --- /dev/null +++ b/44629-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,712 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44629 *** + + =By E. Boyd Smith= + + + THE EARLY LIFE OF MR. MAN. Illustrated in color. + + THE STORY OF NOAH'S ARK. Illustrated in color. + + THE STORY OF POCAHONTAS AND CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. Illustrated in color. + + THE RAILROAD BOOK. Illustrated in color. + + THE SEASHORE BOOK. Illustrated in color. + + THE FARM BOOK. Illustrated in color. + + + Books specially illustrated in color by E. Boyd Smith + + IVANHOE. By Sir Walter Scott. + + TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST. By Richard Henry Dana, Jr. + + ROBINSON CRUSOE. By Daniel Defoe. + + + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + + + + + THE SEASHORE BOOK + + BOB AND BETTY'S SUMMER WITH + CAPTAIN HAWES + + STORY AND PICTURES BY E. BOYD SMITH + + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + + + [Illustration] + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY E. BOYD SMITH + + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE + + THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM + + _Published September 1912_ + + + The Riverside Press + + CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS + + PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. + + + + + THE SEASHORE BOOK + + [Illustration] + + + + + THE FIRST ROW + + +Now I will tell you how Bob and Betty spent the summer at the seashore +with Captain Ben Hawes. Captain Hawes was an old sailor. After forty +years' service on the high seas he had settled down ashore at Quohaug. + +[Illustration] + +Bluff and hearty, and with no end of sea yarns and stories of strange +adventures, and of foreign ports and peoples, he was more interesting +to the children than the most fascinating fairy book. + +His home was a little museum of odds and ends brought from different +far-away lands, with everything arranged in shipshape order. The big +green parrot, who could call "Ship ahoy!" "All aboard!" delighted the +boy and girl. And the seashells, which gave the murmuring echo of the +ocean when you put them to your ear. And the curiosities of strange +sorts and shapes, from outlandish countries. + +As their first day was fine and the bay smooth, Captain Hawes took +the children out for a row in his "sharpey." How delightful it was, +skimming so easily over the shining water. The shore, the docks, and +the vessels at the wharves were all so interesting from this view. + +[Illustration] + +He told them all about the different craft they passed, the fishermen, +the coal barges, the tramp steamers, how they sailed and where they +went to, and now, finding them such good listeners, for the Captain +liked to tell about ships and the sea, he launched forth into a general +history of things connected with sea life, from the first men, long, +long ago, who began poling about on rafts, to the coracle, and the +dugout. The dugouts were canoes hollowed out of tree trunks. + +"Down in the South Seas the savages still make them; I've seen them +many a time," he explained; "and of course you've heard of our Indians' +birchbark canoes." + +By and by the use of sails had developed, and boats and ships grew +bigger, and now the day of the steamboat had come. + +"Now, I want you to know all about boats and ships," he added; "I'll +take you to the yards to-morrow, if it's fine, and show you how they +make them, so that when you go back home, where they don't know much +about such things, you can just tell them." + +[Illustration] + + + + + THE SHIPYARD + + +The next day Captain Ben, true to his promise, took the children around +to Stewart's Boat Shop where a fishing-boat was being built, and showed +them just how the frame was made, the keel, the ribs, the stem, and +sternpost, and how the planking was laid on. How everything was made as +stiff and strong as possible so that the boat could stand the strain of +being tossed about by heavy seas. + +Bob followed it all with enthusiasm, for he was fond of carpentering +and working with tools. He made up his mind that he would build a boat +some day. + +And now the Captain, having made everything clear with this small +example which they could readily understand, proposed a visit to the +shipyard, where a real life-sized ship was being built. + +Here they found a busy gang of men hard at work, some with "broad axes" +cutting down the planks to a line, "scoring" and "beating off"; others +with "adzes" "dubbing," and even whipsawyers ripping logs. + +[Illustration] + +On stagings about the great ship, which towered up as high as a house, +more men were at work planking. The planks, hot from the steam boxes, +carried up the "brow" staging on men's shoulders, to be clamped into +place and bolted fast. + +[Illustration] + +And how big it all was! This made the children open their eyes in +wonder. They had already seen such vessels in the water, but had never +appreciated how huge the hulls were, almost like a block of houses, or +so it seemed to them. + +Captain Hawes then showed them how this great ship was built on the +same principle as the small boat they had just seen. And now if the +children didn't really understand everything it wasn't the Captain's +fault; the subject was rather a big one for beginners. But it was a +great sight, and it wasn't everybody who had seen a ship being built, +they knew that. + +On the way home they rowed past sloops with a strange contrivance +out on the end of the bowsprit; this Captain Hawes said was called a +"pulpit." These boats went sword-fishing, and in the pulpit a man was +stationed with lance in hand, while aloft in the rigging a "lookout" +sighted the fish. When the boat was near enough, the man with the lance +stood ready, and speared the fish as it passed. He promised to show +them these big fish the next time a catch was brought in. + +[Illustration] + + + + + DIGGING CLAMS + + +Though there were so many interesting things to see and learn by the +seashore, it was also an ideal place for play, and just now it seemed +to our boy and girl as though nothing else could compare with it. + +Clam-digging was such sport. Captain Hawes took them down at low tide +to the soft mud and showed them how to dig the clams. And then the fun +of roasting them in the driftwood fire, and the picnic clam-bakes, with +the delicious chowder! + +It was here the children met a future playmate, Patsey Quinn. Captain +Hawes jokingly called him a little water-rat, for Patsey had been +brought up along the shore and knew all about things. He proved to be a +most valuable companion to Bob and Betty, and the Captain could trust +him to look after them, for of course he knew just what was safe and +what wasn't. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +He took them on many expeditions along the beach, knew just where the +best clams and mussels were to be found, and where the crabs lived, +and how to catch them. Wading among the seaweed-covered rocks they had +lively times, occasionally getting their toes or fingers nipped, for +crabs object to being caught. + +Patsey taught his new friends how to fish, though they never got to be +as good fishermen as he was. They seemed to catch more sculpins than +anything else, and though sculpins were wonderful looking creatures +they were not, Patsey explained, very good eating; flounders and eels +were better. But Betty was afraid of eels. They squirmed so. + +The seaweeds and shells interested the children, and the many-colored +pebbles, so nice and round, from being rolled by the sea, Patsey +knowingly explained. + +He showed them how to throw flat stones along the surface of the water, +until they, too, could make them skip a number of times before sinking. + +There was no end to the variety of amusements; every day seemed to +bring forth new ones, and the sunburned, healthy children enjoyed it +all to the full. + +[Illustration] + + + + + THE SAIL LOFT + + +Nights, especially dark nights, the children watched with unfailing +interest the great flash-light from the lighthouse out on the point. +Captain Hawes had explained the uses of lighthouses, how they showed +the way to ships at night, like signs on street corners or crossroads, +and also warned them to keep away from the rocks. One day he rowed them +out, and the light-keeper took them up in the tower and proudly showed +them the powerful lamp with its complicated reflectors, and explained +it all. Betty admired the bright, shining appearance of things, and was +surprised to learn that the man himself looked after all this: she had +thought that only a housekeeper could keep up such a polish. + +[Illustration] + +Another time Captain Hawes took the children to Barry's sail loft, +where the sails for the new ship were being made. He had already told +them something about sailmaking, but knew they would understand better +by seeing the real things. The sail loft, like everything connected +with ships, proved interesting,--the broad clean floor, the men on +their low benches sewing the seams of the heavy canvas, forcing the +needles through with the stout leather "palms," instead of thimbles. +And all their neat tools, the "heavers," "stickers," "fids," "grummet +stamps," and such odd-named things. + +[Illustration] + +On the wall in one corner of the loft was a varied collection of bright +"clew irons" and "rings," "thimbles" and "cringles," which aroused the +children's curiosity. These, it was explained, were to be sewed into +the corners of the sails to hold the ropes for rigging. Here and there +compact, heavy rolls of canvas, sails completed, were lying by, ready +to be taken away and rigged to the tall masts and broad yards of the +ship; sails which later would look so light and graceful when carrying +the ship along. + +The summer days were passing quickly to the children, and Captain Hawes +insisted that they must hurry and learn to swim, and with Patsey's help +they were at it daily. After the first cautious wadings and splashing +they enjoyed it immensely, and before the summer was really over +they had learned to keep their heads above water: not to swim far, +that would come with time and greater strength, but they had made a +beginning, and felt justly proud of the accomplishment. + +[Illustration] + + + + + THE LOG BOOM + + +The two children, under the Captain's instruction, learned to row, +after a fashion, though the oars of the sharpey were rather heavy +for them, and sometimes would catch in the water with disconcerting +results. The Captain called it "catching a crab." But it was all great +fun, in spite of this. + +Often Captain Hawes took them sailing in his catboat, the Mary Ann, and +one day ran up close to the log "boom" which belonged to the shipyard, +and showed them where the lumber came from, for the building of the +ship. He explained how it had been cut far up in the back forests and +rafted down the rivers to the sea. The great raft was now held in place +by a frame of logs outside the others fastened together with "dogs" +and chains. Here the children saw the men picking out the special +logs they needed, and doing various stunts, paddling and balancing +with boathooks. Some would even paddle off to the shipyard on a log, +balancing much like a tight-rope walker. But once in a while accidents +would happen, and they would get more than wet feet, to the great glee +of their comrades. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +When the logs reached the shipyard they were sawed into planks by the +"whipsawyers," or the machine saws, cut into shape, as they had already +seen, by axes and adzes, and fitted to their places in the building of +the ship. + +You may be sure the children had to try this game of logging, and +they built themselves a raft, of loose boards lying along the beach, +and while Betty was the passenger Bob vigorously poled his raft about +in the shallows. Patsey Quinn, more ambitious, and used to frequent +wettings, boldly imitated the log-men in their balancing feats, not +without coming to grief occasionally, though it worried him but little; +being in the water to him was much the same as being out of it. + +These were busy, happy days for the children; there was always plenty +to see or do. Patsey was curious to know about the things of the city, +but Bob and Betty felt perfectly sure, at least just now, that the +seashore was a much more interesting place. + +[Illustration] + + + + + THE LAUNCHING + + +The children were always hearing about lobster fishing, for that was +an important industry at Quohaug, so Captain Hawes took them out in +his boat to see the fishermen at work hauling in their traps. The +fishing-beds were dotted with little buoys, each fisherman having his +own, with his private mark. To each buoy a trap was attached by a long +line. Down on the bottom the lobsters would crawl into the traps after +the bait, and then could not get out. + +But Bob and Betty were disappointed to find these lobsters as they came +out of the water a dull green instead of the beautiful bright red they +expected. Captain Hawes explained that they would come out red after +they were boiled. + +To-day was the day set for the launching of one of the new ships the +children had seen almost finished in the shipyard on their first visit. +High tide was the time set, and the whole village turned out to see the +event. Captain Hawes had told them that they would soon see the ship +floating out in the bay; but this was hard to believe; how would it be +possible to move that big mass? "Just you wait and you'll see," the +Captain assured them. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +At the yard everybody was eager and excited. Captain Hawes put the +children up on a tall wooden "horse" where they could get a good view. + +The ship, all decked with gay, fluttering flags, had been wedged into +her "cradle." The ways down which she was to slide were well greased, +and the builder was waiting for the tide to be at its highest. + +At last the moment had come. The signal was given. Busy workmen with +sledges, under the ship struck blow on blow, setting up the lifting +wedges, and knocking away the few remaining props; then scampered back +out of danger. + +Slowly at first, the great ship "came to life," then began to move. +Slowly but steadily gaining speed, she began to slide down the ways. +Fast and faster, gaining momentum, she rushed, as though really +alive, gracefully sliding, into the sea. Then sped far out into the +deep water, where she floated on an even keel. From being a mass of +planks and beams she now seemed to be a great living creature, and +the lookers-on cheered her and waved their hats, as she proudly took +her place on the sea, where she would pass the rest of her life. Bob +and Betty were so impressed that even the yacht race they saw that +afternoon, though a fine sight, seemed tame after the launching. + +[Illustration] + + + + + THE WRECK + + +To the children the restless sea with its many changes was a new sight. +One day it would be flat and calm and shiny, like a big mirror. Again +quickly changing with a breeze to blues of various shades. Again it +would be broken with white-caps and spray, as the wind grew stronger. + +And it was so big! And Captain Hawes assured them that it was even +bigger than it looked, telling them that if they went away out there to +the distant edge by the sky, they would still see another just as far +off, and so on for many, many days before they would get to the other +side of the ocean. + +When the winds blew high and the waves dashed against the rocks and +tossed up the white spray, he would take them down to the beach to +watch the storm, and see the surf roll in. Of course this was a time +for rubber boots, "oilskins," and "sou'westers," such as the seafaring +people wear. + +[Illustration] + +One day during a gale, a "nor'easter," when they could hardly stand +alone, they saw a schooner wrecked out on the rocks. Everybody on +shore was greatly excited. And the life-boat with its hardy crew +put off to the rescue of the sailors, who could be seen clinging to +the rigging, waiting for help. They were all saved, but the vessel was +lost, and dashed high up against the rocks. + +[Illustration] + +A few days later, when the storm had passed and the sea became calm +again, Captain Hawes rowed the children out to the rocky point to see +the wreck. Here the stranded schooner lay firmly wedged among the +rocks. Her masts were gone, her back was broken, and her bow splintered +in pieces, rigging and tatters of sails hung about in confusion. And +the good craft, which such a short time before had been sailing so +proudly, was now but a worthless hulk. + +Such was often the end of a good many stout vessels, the Captain told +the children; this was the chance of the sea. And then, once started, +he told them long and thrilling tales of his different voyages and +adventures, and the wrecks he had known, and been in. + +[Illustration] + + + + + THE RIGGERS + + +This life by the sea made an endless appeal to the children's +imagination, and offered a never-failing amount of wonderful things to +see and learn about. + +"Now," said Captain Hawes one day, "we'll go over to the wharf and see +the riggers fitting up the new ship we saw launched." + +You may be sure the children were willing. Captain Hawes, who knew +everybody and was welcome everywhere, took them on board and showed +them everything, from the bow to the stern. And all about the ship was +so neat and well made it was a constant marvel to the children. High up +in the rigging men were swarming, "reeving" on "stays" and "shrouds," +and no end of "running" rigging, doing the most wonderful circus stunts +in the most matter-of-fact way, far up on dizzy heights. The children +fairly held their breath to watch them. + +[Illustration] + +Out on the yards sailors were "bending on" the new sails, the sails +Bob and Betty had seen being made at the sail loft. The whole work +seemed to them a wonderful confusion of lines and ropes and pulleys and +tackle. Captain Hawes tried to explain what each rope meant and how it +was used. But there were too many; it was all too confusing. Each +rope, he told them, had its own name; every sailor had to know them to +be able to do his work. + +[Illustration] + +The riggers built trim little rope ladders from the rail to the +crosstrees by lashing small "ratlines" to the heavy "shrouds." The +"stays" and "shrouds," of course, were to hold the great masts +in place. The children wondered at it all, but didn't pretend to +understand it, though Bob was especially interested, for climbing he +understood, and such climbing was far ahead of anything the biggest boy +in his school could do. + +They delighted in the cook's kitchen, the "galley." Such a compact, +neat little room, where the most ingenious shelves and lockers were +arranged, in which to hold everything needed in the way of dishes and +pots and pans. The stove was chained down solidly so that no storm +might upset it and cause fire, the cook explained. + +To Betty, the "galley" was the most interesting thing about the ship; +it pleased her housekeeping instincts, though it did seem strange to +see a sailor cook. + +[Illustration] + + + + + WHALING + + +The city children never wearied of Captain Hawes's stories of his +voyages, and the Captain, with such good listeners, never wearied +telling of them,--a perfect combination. + +He told of how when a young man he used to go whaling. "Of course you +know what whales are, big sea animals, you couldn't call them fish, +often sixty or seventy feet long, 'as long as a big house,' huge +creatures who lived in the northern or southern seas, though once in a +while a stray one had been known to come into the Sound, not far from +here." + +Now the children were really excited. "Oh, if only one should happen to +come this summer!" The Captain said that would be just a chance; it was +hardly a thing you could count on. + +[Illustration] + +When the ship reached the far-away seas where whales were to be found, +"lookouts" were stationed aloft at the masthead to watch for them. +When one was sighted the lookout shouted, "There she blows"; for the +whales have a habit of blowing up spray when they come to the surface +to breathe, then the boats were lowered and away the sailors went +after the whale. When they came up with him they rowed as close as they +dared, and the harpooner in the bow of the boat hurled his harpoon into +the big creature's side. + +[Illustration] + +The whale at once made a great commotion, slashing about and beating +up the water, then diving deep down. The sailors "paid out" the rope +attached to the harpoon as the whale went down. Sometimes they had to +cut it to keep from being dragged under. But when this didn't happen +the whale would come up after a while and start away dragging the boat +along at a terrific speed. In time he would get tired and the boat +would again be rowed near, and a lance thrust into his side until he +was quite dead. + +It was all exciting and dangerous work, for sometimes the whale would +attack the boat and splinter it to pieces with a blow of his tail, and +the men, often badly hurt, be thrown into the sea, and sometimes lost. +The dead whale was towed off to the ship, here he was moored to the +side, and the body cut up. The great pieces of fat blubber "tried out," +that is, melted in pots over the fire on the deck, and the oil run off +into barrels and stowed away in the hold. + +[Illustration] + + + + + LOADING THE SHIP + + +Captain Hawes made the children a little toy schooner which they +sailed in the coves along the beach. He showed them just how to "trim" +the sails and set the rudder, so that the boat would "tack" and sail +against the wind, "on the wind," he called it. + +About this time they heard that the new ship, now all rigged and with +all sails in place, had been taken to the neighboring port and was +taking on her cargo for a long voyage. As they wanted to see the ship +again, the Captain took them on this little journey to see the work +being done at the docks. + +Loading a ship is always a strenuous and hurly-burly affair, with much +bustle, shouting, hauling, pushing, and pulling. The children, under +Patsey's lead, found a good point of vantage on top of some boxes, and +watched the work. + +[Illustration] + +Busy "stevedores," who had charge, were hurrying the "longshoremen," +who rolled barrels, and carried bags up the gangplank into the ship, to +be snugly stowed away between decks. Bales and boxes were being hoisted +over the rail, to be lowered through the hatches into the hold. The +donkey engine buzzed, the mate shouted orders, and everything, to +the children, seemed confusion, but it was orderly confusion, for the +work was rapidly going ahead. The great quantity of goods which went +aboard astonished Bob and Betty; they had never seen so many boxes, +barrels, bales, and bags before. And yet this was only the beginning, +for the Captain told them that even at this rate it would still take +many days to load the ship. + +[Illustration] + +When the first of the cargo went aboard, the vessel sat high out of +the water, but when all should be in and stowed safely away, she +would settle deep down to her "water line." This was where the green +and black paint met. All this had been planned before she was built, +Captain Hawes explained; the ship designer knew just how she should sit +in the water when loaded; there was no guesswork about it. + +The ship was to go on an Eastern voyage. He had often been out there, +away off in the China seas, where strange craft came about you: junks +with their odd, high sails, their yellow sailors with "pigtails" down +their backs, everything so different from our part of the world. + +[Illustration] + + + + + BURNED AT SEA + + +In the evenings, as Captain Hawes sat smoking his pipe, he would tell +the children of strange lands he had visited in his voyages, and then +suggest that they look up these places in their geographies, and this +study, which before was a task, took on a new interest for Bob and +Betty. China and Greenland now meant so much more. + +Telling about Iceland and Greenland, he said that up there in those +parts, where almost everything that wasn't snow was ice, certain +animals lived which couldn't be found anywhere else, like the big white +polar bear, and the walrus. + +"Why, we know a polar bear," Betty broke in. Why, of course, he was an +old acquaintance. They had often seen him in Central Park. + +"Well, now, that's good," said the Captain; "now you'll remember where +he came from. I've been up his way more than once." + +Often whalers chased the "right" whale away up there; dangerous seas to +work in, as icebergs were plenty and the risk of striking them in the +fog was great. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +But the thing which sailors dreaded most was fire at sea. This seldom +happened, but when it did it was bad. Once his ship was burned at night +among the icebergs. There was nothing to do but take to the boats and +escape to shore, which luckily was near. They lost everything but the +clothes they wore, and a small amount of provisions. And there, while +they looked on, the ship went up in a sheet of flame, and that was +the last of her. The Captain said they felt pretty blue and lonely +out there far away from the rest of the world, with no means to get +away but the small boats. Fortunately they soon managed to reach an +Eskimo village. These Eskimos are the natives who live there always, +short people, dressed all in heavy, warm furs, who build themselves +snow houses, where in the coldest weather they keep comfortably warm. +They live by hunting and fishing. They spear seals from their skin +canoes,--"kayaks,"--and fish through holes in the ice. These are the +people you hear the explorers tell about when they go on expeditions to +the North Pole. Captain Hawes thought they were the strangest people he +had ever met. As whalers often put in up in these parts, the Captain +and his mates did not have too hard a time, and were picked up by a +passing ship and brought home. + +[Illustration] + + + + + THE SHIP SAILS AWAY + + +Summer was passing quickly now, and it would soon be time for the "long +vacation" to come to an end. + +Before they had to go the Sachem--that was the name of the new +ship--was ready to put to sea. The children had admired her +"figure-head," an Indian chief, gilded and painted in bright colors. +The ship had taken on her whole cargo, the hatches were closed, and +everything made tight and taut for her long voyage. She was bound for +the Far East, the Captain told them. First she would touch at some +South American ports, then go across the ocean to Africa, stopping at +Cape Town, and other less important ports, then around the Cape and +up the Indian Ocean to India; then to China and Japan. With the goods +she had taken aboard she would trade with the different ports, either +selling or exchanging what she had for the things made or raised in +those far-away countries, which she would bring back home to sell in +our markets. This was the way, Captain Hawes explained, that we got +many good things that we couldn't raise in our own country. + +[Illustration] + +The day the ship sailed, everybody turned out to wish her a good +voyage. + +[Illustration] + +With all sails set she was a beautiful sight; a gentle land breeze +filled her sails and slowly and gracefully she drew away, headed for +the open sea. The steamers and the tugs in the bay whistled salutes. + +Captain Hawes, with a sigh, told the children that probably that was +the last square-rigged ship they were likely to see leaving this +port, as the old-style ship was now almost a thing of the past. The +"fore-and-aft" rig was more practical and generally used where sailing +vessels were still employed. But even they were all giving way before +steam. Nowadays steamers, freighters, did nearly all the carrying trade. + +They watched the ship till far, far away, as the sun was setting, she +showed as a small black spot on the horizon. + +And now it was time to leave Quohaug, for this summer vacation was +ended. At home again they were just in time to see the review of the +country's war fleet on the Hudson. This was the latest development +of sea power, great, massive steel vessels, with no sails, driven by +steam. They were grandly impressive, but just wait till you hear Bob +and Betty tell of Quohaug and then you will know what ships with sails +mean. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seashore Book, by E. Boyd Smith + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44629 *** |