203 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



would be modified could they have witnessed scenes in our 

 forecastle in the calm nights on our cruising-ground, when 

 the watch gathered about the windlass or main-hatch. Un- 

 der the starry sky hard, worn faces were upturned, as a 

 young comrade recited the stories, stranger than fiction, 

 about science. Let me say that a copy of St. Pierre's " Stud- 

 ies of Nature" was to us a book of religion; two old vol- 

 umes of the " New England Farmer " were a popular fund 

 of instruction; works on natural history, especially those 

 illustrated, were in great demand ; so were " Delano's Voy- 

 ages," and all works, not forgetting the Bible, which shed 

 positive light on the path of life. The biographies of strong, 

 self-made men had a great attraction, and the best novels 

 were appreciated. Such works as these should fill seamen's 

 libraries. 



At 1 P.M. we raised a large breach to leeward, and we ran 

 off for it; but as we came up the tall spout revealed the 

 finback. We then resumed our course south-west, with a 

 stiff breeze, and at sundown shortened sail and stood on 

 the wind. 



Sept. 23. The last two days the " C was ruf," as old Chips, 

 the carpenter, has it. He is the only one on board besides 

 myself who keeps a journal, and he is writing for the amuse- 

 ment of his " old woman." He says she delights in the beau- 

 ties of his spelling and language, and he swears that my 

 way lacks originality, as I always spell the same words the 

 same way, while he never spells it twice alike. Chips is a 

 remnant of the last war, having been in the very early part 

 of the battle of Plattsburg, but he retired soon after firing 

 commenced, badly wounded in his feeMngs. He had his 

 trained eye placed on the back-sight of a battery gun, aim- 

 ing at one of the British ships, when a shot from another 

 struck somewhere on the breech of his gun, within, he says, 

 " an inch of my nose, and, you see, the crash sounded as if 



