A SHORT DIGRESSION 267 



Trinidad, British West Indies, loaded with 

 lumber, fish, etc. The passage up to the 

 latitude of the Island of Antigua had been 

 more than usually short and prosperous, 

 neither tack nor sheet, as seamen say, having 

 to be started from the time of leaving the 

 wharf. 



The trade winds, which had been bearing 

 us along so rapidly and agreeably, had died 

 out and we lay becalmed. The sky, which 

 had been so bright, began to assume a dull, 

 lowering appearance, and the atmosphere 

 became oppressive as the day advanced. Our 

 captain and mate were both men of large ex- 

 perience, the former having made a hundred 

 and forty-two trips to the West Indies, and 

 the latter upwards of a hundred experience 

 which did splendid service for us in the 

 approaching perilous hours. Every available 

 sail had been and was spread to the hitherto 

 propitious breezes, when the dog-watch from 

 four to six was called. To make this intelli- 

 gible to my ordinary readers, allow me a short 

 digression to explain. 



The twenty-four hours on board ship are 

 divided into watches of four hours each, called 



