62 
VOYAGE OP THE POTOMAC. 
[November, 
winds and the M^aves caused the latter to mount up into vast and 
moving pyramids of angry foam. 
It is in such a moment as this that the profession of a sailor 
becomes really sublime ! It is a contest for mastery between the 
elements and the intellectual daring of man ! At such a moment 
all hands are called; and, fore and aft- — from the fore, main, and 
mizzentops — each officer and sailor stands in deathlike silence, to 
receive and execute v^^hatever orders the commander in a low and 
subdued tone, through the officer of the deck, may see fit to give. 
He is the master-spirit whose coolness, experience, and intellec- 
tual energies alone can control the demon of the tempest. 
" True to his trust, when sacred duty calls, 
No howhng storm the master's soul appals." 
Falconer. 
On the present occasion, every requisite order had been given^ 
and each of them had been executed with a prompt and fearless 
obedience. The gallant Potomac, recovering from the unexpected 
shock she had received in the sudden change of the wind, and 
raising herself with a graceful majesty from the sullen and involun- 
tary obeisance which she had paid to the blast, began to obey the 
impulse of her helm, when the appalling and terrific cry of " a 
man overboard !" resounded fore and aft. 
The usual orders in such an emergency are — "Hard down the; 
helm ! Cut away the life-buoy ! and stand by to lower the life- 
boat !" which is always suspended from the ship's quarters, with 
suitable and appropriate lashings. But the commodore very 
properly hesitated to give such orders on the present occasion ; 
for it was but too evident that no boat could live, for a single mo- 
ment, among the turbulent billows which were beating round and 
climbing up the sides of the frigate. The feeling that pervades- 
one at such a crisis is painfully intense ; — we know of no excite- 
ment on shore that can possibly be compared with it. It is in 
such emergencies that the thorough-bred sailor exhibits traits of 
character which should cover a multitude of sins. The fury of 
the storm — the tempest-tost ocean — the certainty of death before 
them, could not restrain the generous impetuosity of the crew. 
The}'' had gathered en masse on the ship's quarter, with hands upon 
the ratlins, ready to leap into the boats on either side, to rescue 
a shipmate from destruction, or share with him a watery grave. 
