SKETCHES OF SEA-LIFE/ 



" Tumble out here, men, and make sail. Be lively be lively 

 there." And forth from the " top-gallant forecastle " came reel- 

 ing and rollicking a score of drunken tars. " Come, bestir your- 

 selves, you old ruin-soakers. Lay aloft, some of ye, and turn out 

 that canvas." " Mr. Beattie, overhaul their chests, and bring aft 

 every drop of liquor you find. I'll know what cargo is aboard 

 there for'ard." A stirring tune this, captain, you first strike up. 

 But glad it sounds notwithstanding, for it tells us we soon will 

 be alone on our broad, free home. Already, from the steamboat 

 by our side, has been given the order, " Shoremen aboard." And 

 on her deck are seen many countenances saddened by recent 

 partings. The word comes to "cast off the lines," and now the 

 noble " St. Denis," for the first time let loose on an untried ele- 

 ment, rears its proud head on the waves, and haughtily turns 

 from its puffing, toiling companion, as in mockery of man's 

 power. There is a conscious pride in the power to subdue the 

 wild sport of winds, in which the very ship seems to participate. 

 And it has a lordly bearing, as it boldly careers through the 

 mingled battles of air and sea. Man may bolt in the pent-up 

 forces of steam to speed him on a joyless journey ; may outride, 

 if he please, old Boreas himself ; but give to me the craft that, 

 of its own kingly will, can peer into the " wind's eye," or before 

 a gale can fly untiring and majestic as the eagle. 



As the steamer paddled off on its return to port, we were 

 greeted from it by three long, loud cheers. Immediately work 

 was suspended, orders unheeded, and many a rope " went by the 



* Written in 1847, and published in the Yale College Literary Magazine. A 

 description of the author's first voyage (to Havre in France) as a sailor " before 

 the mast," during the summer of that year. 



