THE CLOUDS AND WAVES 111 



it, and rapidly pushed along it withal. There are a 

 series of waves on the surface of the sheet, but the 

 fibres of the material do not progress. The simile 

 is correct enough ; but oh ! so feeble. For who on 

 beholding the majestic rush of the storm-wave, even 

 though he notes the breaking of its huge snowy crest 

 and the curdling stationary mass of foam where it 

 passed, can help believing against his better judgment 

 that the whole mass of water is hurrying on and about 

 to overwhelm him ? Moreover, the deadly fact remains, 

 that if the ship be not travelling at a sufficient rate 

 of speed the waves will overtake her, will break on 

 board instead of harmlessly astern, and deal death 

 and destruction all around them. As long as the ship 

 can " give " before the sea she is safe, but if she lies 

 sluggishly in its path she must be destroyed, unless 

 she be as powerfully built as a modern ironclad, one 

 of which I have seen with clean-swept decks braving 

 the impact of mighty Atlantic seas with apparently 

 as little prospect of damage as if she were a rock deep 

 rooted in the bowels of the earth. Until then I had 

 thought that nothing could withstand the shock of 

 a full-powered ocean wave, but now I have my doubts. 

 I know, of course, the feats performed upon break- 

 waters in course of construction, of the lifting of 

 immense masses of stone many tons in weight from 

 their resting-place below low-water mark, and hurling 

 them over the top of a pier ; but then, of course, a 

 ship, be she ever so massive, is not a structure built 

 into the solid earth ; she must have a certain amount 

 of "give" about her. 



But even then there are innumerable instances 

 where the vessel has not given quite soon enough, or 



