J. C. VAN DYKE 1 23 



Tritons and Nereids put in good humour with 

 promises and offerings. The ship of steel and 

 steam seems to care httle for the elements. The 

 tremendous power in the engines carries her 

 through wind and storm, through wave and 

 spray. Nothing halts or holds her for more 

 than a moment. As the waters come rushing at 

 her there is an easy bend and sway to the long 

 body ; she rises and falls, rolls quietly with a 

 broadside, pitches sharply with a head sea ; but 

 there is no pause, no stop. The steady thrust of 

 the screws keeps driving her ever on and on. Far 

 away at sea her motion is still apparent, and 

 finally when she is hull down beyond the rim, and 

 only the black banner of smoke trailing along the 

 horizon tells where she " blows," we still feel that 

 she is moving, shouldering the waves away, push- 

 ing on and on ; methodically, mechanically if you 

 will, but still resistlessly. 



The mechanism and the method become almost 

 human in their sluljborn perseverance when the 

 vessel is steaming in storm against fierce head 

 winds. There is the deep plunge of the bow in 

 the waves, the alternate lift of the stern out of 

 water, the swift racing of the exposed screws for a 

 few moments ; and then the settling down again 

 to a steady thump-thump, thump-thump, thump- 

 thump ! The waves may board her and break 



