THE OCEAX VOYAGE 101 



■were able to refresh ourselves, if only for a short while. 

 Our eyes also were henceforth treated to daily changes, 

 as we could now observe many passing vessels. 



To him who has never made a sea voyage it seems to 

 be almost impossible for ships to change position in time 

 of complete calm. But so it is and it does not take much 

 mental effort to account for it. One can plainly see ves- 

 sels on a bright day at a distance of about six German 

 miles and even further away if they lie within the observ- 

 er's clear horizon, turning the shady side of their sails 

 toward him or, the contrary, if they show the sunny side 

 of their sails on a darker horizon. However, a given 

 vessel will remain invisible to the eye of a keen observer 

 if even on a bright day and at half the distance men- 

 tioned nothing be offered but the narrow edge of its 

 sails. Now as at the time of a complete calm the vessels 

 keep revolving very slowly but constantly, which, in sea- 

 inan's parlance, is often called a "falling off," it will 

 become plain that one can speak truly of seeing and 

 losing sight of a vessel at comparatively short intervals, 

 according to their position relatively to the sun's rays. 

 Aside from all this it will sometimes really happen that 

 ships which have not been within one's horizon will ap- 

 pear and disappear. Even a "dead calm" on the Atlan- 

 tic must not be thought of as indicating that one cannot 

 notice the least little breeze; such an occurrence is Aery 

 rare, however, and of short duration. One generally 

 notices a slight breath of wind, now from one, then from 

 another direction, lasting sometimes a quarter of an hour, 

 at other times longer, even for hours, before it dies away. 

 These little currents are, of course, utilized as much as 

 possible, though the actual progress may be exceedingly 

 slow T , as was for instance the case from noon of the 13th 

 to the evening of the 14th, during which time our ship 

 gained only five miles, it nevertheless shows that the 

 distance between the different vessels will vary from 

 time to time. The current of the waters cuts likewise a 

 great figure, which was particularly the case during the 

 calm just, mentioned, when the currenl was so strong that 



