Sailing Alone Around The World | Page 7

have broken an egg. Very leisurely I passed a rope
around the post, and she was moored. Then a cheer went up from the
little crowd on the wharf. "You couldn't 'a' done it better," cried an old
skipper, "if you weighed a ton!" Now, my weight was rather less than
the fifteenth part of a ton, but I said nothing, only putting on a look of
careless indifference to say for me, "Oh, that's nothing"; for some of the
ablest sailors in the world were looking at me, and my wish was not to
appear green, for I had a mind to stay in Gloucester several days. Had I
uttered a word it surely would have betrayed me, for I was still quite
nervous and short of breath.
I remained in Gloucester about two weeks, fitting out with the various
articles for the voyage most readily obtained there. The owners of the
wharf where I lay, and of many fishing-vessels, put on board dry cod
galore, also a barrel of oil to calm the waves. They were old skippers
themselves, and took a great interest in the voyage. They also made the
Spray a present of a "fisherman's own" lantern, which I found would
throw a light a great distance round. Indeed, a ship that would run
another down having such a good light aboard would be capable of
running into a light-ship. A gaff, a pugh, and a dip-net, all of which an
old fisherman declared I could not sail without, were also put aboard.
Then, top, from across the cove came a case of copper paint, a famous
antifouling article, which stood me in good stead long after. I slapped
two coats of this paint on the bottom of the Spray while she lay a tide
or so on the hard beach.
For a boat to take along, I made shift to cut a castaway dory in two
athwartships, boarding up the end where it was cut. This half-dory I
could hoist in and out by the nose easily enough, by hooking the
throat-halyards into a strop fitted for the purpose. A whole dory would

be heavy and awkward to handle alone. Manifestly there was not room
on deck for more than the half of a boat, which, after all, was better
than no boat at all, and was large enough for one man. I perceived,
moreover, that the newly arranged craft would answer for a
washing-machine when placed athwartships, and also for a bath-tub.
Indeed, for the former office my razeed dory gained such a reputation
on the voyage that my washerwoman at Samoa would not take no for
an answer. She could see with one eye that it was a new invention
which beat any Yankee notion ever brought by missionaries to the
islands, and she had to have it.
The want of a chronometer for the voyage was all that now worried me.
In our newfangled notions of navigation it is supposed that a mariner
cannot find his way without one; and I had myself drifted into this way
of thinking. My old chronometer, a good one, had been long in disuse.
It would cost fifteen dollars to clean and rate it. Fifteen dollars! For
sufficient reasons I left that timepiece at home, where the Dutchman
left his anchor. I had the great lantern, and a lady in Boston sent me the
price of a large two-burner cabin lamp, which lighted the cabin at night,
and by some small contriving served for a stove through the day.
Being thus refitted I was once more ready for sea, and on May 7 again
made sail. With little room in which to turn, the Spray, in gathering
headway, scratched the paint off an old, fine-weather craft in the
fairway, being puttied and painted for a summer voyage. "Who'll pay
for that?" growled the painters. "I will," said I. "With the main-sheet,"
echoed the captain of the Bluebird, close by, which was his way of
saying that I was off. There was nothing to pay for above five cents'
worth of paint, maybe, but such a din was raised between the old
"hooker" and the Bluebird, which now took up my case, that the first
cause of it was forgotten altogether. Anyhow, no bill was sent after me.
The weather was mild on the day of my departure from Gloucester. On
the point ahead, as the Spray stood out of the cove, was a lively picture,
for the front of a tall factory was a flutter of handkerchiefs and caps.
Pretty faces peered out of the windows from the top to the bottom of
the building, all smiling bon voyage. Some hailed me to know where

away and why alone. Why? When I made as if to stand in,