02 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



a tolerably full account of the ship-building, navigation, and geo- 

 graphy of his time. The following passage from the Odyssey, as 

 rendered into English by Cowper, is regarded by antiquaries as 

 important, showing, as it does, the point at which the art of ship- 

 building had now arrived. Ulysses, having been wrecked upon an 

 island, is enabled to build a ship by the aid of the nymph Calypso. 



" She gave him, fitted to the grasp, an axe 

 Of iron, ponderous, double-edged, with haft 

 Of olive-wood inserted firm, and wrought 

 With curious art. Then, placing in his hand 

 A polish'd adze, she led herself the way 

 To her isle's utmost verge, where loftiest stood 

 The alder, poplar, and cloud-piercing fir, 

 Though sapless, sound, and fitted for his use 

 As buoyant most. To that once verdant grove 

 His steps the beauteous nymph Calypso led, 

 And sought her home again. Then slept not he, 

 But, swinging with both hands the axe, his task 

 Soon finish'd: trees full twenty to the ground 

 He cast, which dextrous with his adze he smoothed, 

 The knotted surface chipping by a line. 

 Meantime the lovely goddess to his aid 

 Sharp augers brought, with which he bored the beams, 

 Then placed them side by side, adapting each 

 To other, and the seams with wadding closed. 

 Broad as an artist skill' d in naval works 

 The bottom of a ship of burthen spreads, 

 Such breadth Ulysses to his raft assign'd. 

 He decked her over with long planks, upborne 

 On massy beams : he made the mast, to which 

 He added, suitable, the yard : he framed 

 Rudder and helm to regulate her course : 

 With wickerwork he border'd all the length 

 For safety, and much ballast stow'd within. 

 Meantime Calypso brought him, for a sail, 

 Fittest materials, which he also shaped, 

 And to it all due furniture annex' d 

 Of cordage strong, foot-ropes, and ropes aloft ; 

 Then heaved her down with levers to the deep." 



