Notice of Sketches of Naval Life. 339 
every eye was fixed in expectations: - the Flag ship. At eight 
al, t nmoo w 
the din of whistles and calls, and oft repeated orde 
earnestly, I could place the whole scene before you; and give 
you, too, a heart light as we had, to enjoy it. The little Por- 
poise first dropped her white sails; glided gs the harbor ; 
rounded a high point and disappeared. The flag ship came 
she rested there a moment; her shrouds first, and then, 
simultaneous motion, her long yards were covered with men; 
the trumpet thundered ; she dropped her huge sails, that shook 
themselves a moment, rejoicing “ like a giant to run his course,” 
and then spreading out to the breeze, and throwing back the 
bright morning rays, gave motion to the dark proud mass below. 
You could almost think she had sensibility ; so & raceful, yet 
their actions. She swept by the point; but her upper sails, 
with the broad Seiten and its stars, were still seen far above it. 
he Ontario followed; and next came our own ship, with 
music and happy hearts. As we neared the Holland, a Dutc 
seventy-four, in port, her band struck up, “ Hail Columbia :” 
we protege with their national air: she gave us Yankee Doo- 
die, and we again replied. They also sent their boats to tow 
us, if ne should be occasion.—Vol I. pp. 110—11 
lacking depends on a nice adjustment of forces between 
wind and water, and is beautifully illustrated in the following 
passage, describing the tacking of the ship in the midst of 
the Turkish fleet. 
“¢ You may suppose our ship gliding on in quiet among them. 
She is close hauled to the wind: it isa light breeze, and all her 
sails are spread out, sada aloft sdiniale to a point. Thus she 
speeds on, when all at once her head begins to come gracefully 
round; the sails lose thelr fulness, and tasteful curve; shake in 
the breeze, and then swell back against the masts - thus t ey re- 
main a few moments; and then, on asudden, and by simultaneous 
motion, the two hinder sets, from skysail down, whirl speedily 
round, and again ey out to the breeze: thus again we resta 
n the head sails all take a similar motion, 
and the aes mass seat starts forward in its course: and in all 
this, sca a man is seen. You will recognize, in this, the 
apatite Z tacking ship: it was, to-day, a beautifal operation, 
