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Biographical Studies
Excerpt from Biographical Studies
An old shipmate has recorded his first appearance, when he came down to the Sterling under the care of a merchant, to look about him and Sign the articles. The next day he made his appearance in his sailor's dress; the ship was taken into the stream, and his new companions came tum bling on board, a medley of nations, agreeing only in what was then the almost universal characteristic of a sailor on shore, the being or having been drunk. Night, however, put them in sufficient working trim, and when all hands were called to get the ship under way, Cooper was sent aloft with another boy to loose the foretopsail. He set himself to his task with characteristic earnestness, and was tugging stoutly at the robins, when the second mate came up just in time to prevent him from dropping his half of the sail into the top. Fortunately the mate was too good natured to be harsh with a raw hand, and the men too busy with their own work to see what was going on aloft. But he soon found an old salt who taught him to knot and splice, very much as Long Tom taught Barnstable, and when they got on shore, Cooper repayed the debt by historical anecdotes of the places they visited together.
An old shipmate has recorded his first appearance, when he came down to the Sterling under the care of a merchant, to look about him and Sign the articles. The next day he made his appearance in his sailor's dress; the ship was taken into the stream, and his new companions came tum bling on board, a medley of nations, agreeing only in what was then the almost universal characteristic of a sailor on shore, the being or having been drunk. Night, however, put them in sufficient working trim, and when all hands were called to get the ship under way, Cooper was sent aloft with another boy to loose the foretopsail. He set himself to his task with characteristic earnestness, and was tugging stoutly at the robins, when the second mate came up just in time to prevent him from dropping his half of the sail into the top. Fortunately the mate was too good natured to be harsh with a raw hand, and the men too busy with their own work to see what was going on aloft. But he soon found an old salt who taught him to knot and splice, very much as Long Tom taught Barnstable, and when they got on shore, Cooper repayed the debt by historical anecdotes of the places they visited together.
235 pages, Paperback
First published February 22, 2012
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