Sunk at Sea | Page 6

Irishman." Moreover, the affections of long Mr Cupples (as the
first mate was styled by the men) were quite won by the way in which
he laboured to understand the use of the sextant, and other matters
connected with the mysteries of navigation; and stout Jonathan Dall,
the captain, was overjoyed when he discovered that he was a good
player on the violin, of which instrument he was passionately fond. In
short, Will Osten became a general favourite on board the Foam, and
the regard of all, from the cabin-boy to the captain, deepened into
respect when they found that, although only an advanced student and,
"not quite a doctor," he treated their few ailments with success, and
acted his part with much self-possession, gentleness, and precision.
Larry O'Hale was particularly eloquent in his praises of him ever after
the drawing of a tooth which had been the source of much annoyance to
the worthy cook. "Why, messmates," he was wont to say, "it bait
everything the way he tuk it out. `Open yer mouth,' says he, an' sure I
opened it, an' before I cud wink, off wint my head--so I thought--but
faix it wor only my tuth--a real grinder wi' three fangs no less--och!
he's a cliver lad intirely."
But Will did not confine his inquiries to the objects contained within
his wooden home. The various phases and phenomena of the weather,
the aspects of the sky, and the wonders of the deep, claimed his earnest
attention. To know the reason of everything was with him a species of
mania, and in pursuit of this knowledge he stuck at nothing. "Never
venture never win," became with him as favourite a motto as it had
been with his father, and he acted on it more vigorously than his father
had ever done.

One calm evening, as he was leaning over the side of the ship near the
bow, gazing contemplatively down into the unfathomable sea, he
overheard a conversation between the cook and one of the sailors
named Muggins. They were smoking their pipes seated on the heel of
the bowsprit.
"Larry," said Muggins, "I think we have got into the doldrums."
"Ye're out there, boy," said Larry, "for I heerd the capting say we wos
past 'em a long way."
The men relapsed into silence for a time.
Then Muggins removed his pipe and said--
"Wot ever caused the doldrums?"
"That's more nor I can tell," said Larry; "all I know about them is, that
it's aisy to git into them, but uncommon hard to git out again. If my
ould grandmother was here, she'd be able to tell us, I make no doubt,
but she's in Erin, poor thing, 'mong the pigs and the taties."
"Wot could she tell about the doldrums?" said Muggins, with a look of
contempt.
"More nor ye think, boy; sure there isn't nothin' in the univarse but she
can spaik about, just like a book, an' though she niver was in the
doldrums as far as I knows, she's been in the dumps often enough;
maybe it's cousins they are. Anyhow she's not here, an' so we must be
contint with spekilation."
"What's that you say, Larry?" inquired the captain, who walked towards
the bow at the moment.
The cook explained his difficulty.
"Why, there's no mystery about the doldrums," said Captain Dall. "I've
read a book by an officer in the United States navy which explains it all,
and the Gulf Stream, and the currents, an' everything. Come, I'll spin

you a yarn about it."
Saying this, the captain filled and lighted his pipe, and seating himself
on the shank of the anchor, said--
"You know the cause of ocean currents, I dare say?"
"Niver a taste," said Larry. "It's meself is as innocent about 'em as the
babe unborn; an' as for Muggins there, he don't know more about 'em
than my ould shoes--"
"Or your old grandmother," growled Muggins.
"Don't be irriverent, ye spalpeen," said Larry.
"I ax her reverence's pardon, but I didn't know she wos a priest," said
Muggins.--"Go on, Cap'n Dall."
"Well," continued the captain, "you know, at all events, that there's salt
in the sea, and I may tell you that there is lime also, besides other
things. At the equator, the heat bein' great, water is evaporated faster
than anywhere else, so that there the sea is salter and has more lime in
it than elsewhere. Besides that it is hotter. Of course, that being the case,
its weight is different from the waters of the cold polar seas, so it is
bound to move away an' get itself freshened and cooled. In like manner,
the cold water round the poles feels obliged to flow to the equator to
get itself salted and warmed. This state