This stranger was walking up and down absorbed in the marked contemplation of the ship’s fore4 and aft trim; but when I saw him squat5 on his heels in the slush at the very edge of the quay to peer at the draught6 of water under her counter, I said to myself, “This is the captain.” And presently I descried7 his luggage coming along — a real sailor’s chest, carried by means of rope-beckets between two men, with a couple of leather portmanteaus and a roll of charts sheeted in canvas piled upon the lid. The sudden, spontaneous agility8 with which he bounded aboard right off the rail afforded me the first glimpse of his real character. Without further preliminaries than a friendly nod, he addressed me: “You have got her pretty well in her fore and aft trim. Now, what about your weights?”
I told him I had managed to keep the weight sufficiently9 well up, as I thought, one-third of the whole being in the upper part “above the beams,” as the technical expression has it. He whistled “Phew!” scrutinizing10 me from head to foot. A sort of smiling vexation was visible on his ruddy face.
“Well, we shall have a lively time of it this passage, I bet,” he said.
He knew. It turned out he had been chief mate of her for the two preceding voyages; and I was already familiar with his handwriting in the old log-books I had been perusing11 in my cabin with a natural curiosity, looking up the records of my new ship’s luck, of her behaviour, of the good times she had had, and of the troubles she had escaped.
He was right in his prophecy. On our passage from Amsterdam to Samarang with a general cargo12, of which, alas13! only one-third in weight was stowed “above the beams,” we had a lively time of it. It was lively, but not joyful14. There was not even a single moment of comfort in it, because no seaman15 can feel comfortable in body or mind when he has made his ship uneasy.
To travel along with a cranky ship for ninety days or so is no doubt a nerve-trying experience; but in this case what was wrong with our craft was this: that by my system of loading she had been made much too stable.
Neither before nor since have I felt a ship roll so abruptly16, so violently, so heavily. Once she began, you felt that she would never stop, and this hopeless sensation, characterizing the motion of ships whose centre of gravity is brought down too low in loading, made everyone on board weary of keeping on his feet. I remember once over-hearing one of the hands say: “By Heavens, Jack17! I feel as if I didn’t mind how soon I let myself go, and let the blamed hooker knock my brains out if she likes.” The captain used to remark frequently: “Ah, yes; I dare say one-third weight above beams would have been quite enough for most ships. But then, you see, there’s no two of them alike on the seas, and she’s an uncommonly18 ticklish19 jade20 to load.”
Down south, running before the gales22 of high latitudes23, she made our life a burden to us. There were days when nothing would keep even on the swing-tables, when there was no position where you could fix yourself so as not to feel a constant strain upon all the muscles of your body. She rolled and rolled with an awful dislodging jerk and that dizzily fast sweep of her masts on every swing. It was a wonder that the men sent aloft were not flung off the yards, the yards not flung off the masts, the masts not flung overboard. The captain in his armchair, holding on grimly at the head of the table, with the soup-tureen rolling on one side of the cabin and the steward24 sprawling26 on the other, would observe, looking at me: “That’s your one-third above the beams. The only thing that surprises me is that the sticks have stuck to her all this time.”
Ultimately some of the minor27 spars did go — nothing important: spanker-booms and such-like — because at times the frightful28 impetus29 of her rolling would part a fourfold tackle of new three-inch Manilla line as if it were weaker than pack-thread.
It was only poetic30 justice that the chief mate who had made a mistake — perhaps a half-excusable one — about the distribution of his ship’s cargo should pay the penalty. A piece of one of the minor spars that did carry away flew against the chief mate’s back, and sent him sliding on his face for quite a considerable distance along the main deck. Thereupon followed various and unpleasant consequences of a physical order — “queer symptoms,” as the captain, who treated them, used to say; inexplicable31 periods of powerlessness, sudden accesses of mysterious pain; and the patient agreed fully32 with the regretful mutters of his very attentive33 captain wishing that it had been a straightforward34 broken leg. Even the Dutch doctor who took the case up in Samarang offered no scientific explanation. All he said was: “Ah, friend, you are young yet; it may be very serious for your whole life. You must leave your ship; you must quite silent be for three months — quite silent.”
Of course, he meant the chief mate to keep quiet — to lay up, as a matter of fact. His manner was impressive enough, if his English was childishly imperfect when compared with the fluency35 of Mr. Hudig, the figure at the other end of that passage, and memorable36 enough in its way. In a great airy ward25 of a Far Eastern hospital, lying on my back, I had plenty of leisure to remember the dreadful cold and snow of Amsterdam, while looking at the fronds37 of the palm-trees tossing and rustling38 at the height of the window. I could remember the elated feeling and the soul-gripping cold of those tramway journeys taken into town to put what in diplomatic language is called pressure upon the good Hudig, with his warm fire, his armchair, his big cigar, and the never-failing suggestion in his good-natured voice: “I suppose in the end it is you they will appoint captain before the ship sails?” It may have been his extreme good-nature, the serious, unsmiling good-nature of a fat, swarthy man with coal-black moustache and steady eyes; but he might have been a bit of a diplomatist, too. His enticing39 suggestions I used to repel40 modestly by the assurance that it was extremely unlikely, as I had not enough experience. “You know very well how to go about business matters,” he used to say, with a sort of affected41 moodiness42 clouding his serene43 round face. I wonder whether he ever laughed to himself after I had left the office. I dare say he never did, because I understand that diplomatists, in and out of the career, take themselves and their tricks with an exemplary seriousness.
But he had nearly persuaded me that I was fit in every way to be trusted with a command. There came three months of mental worry, hard rolling, remorse44, and physical pain to drive home the lesson of insufficient45 experience.
Yes, your ship wants to be humoured with knowledge. You must treat with an understanding consideration the mysteries of her feminine nature, and then she will stand by you faithfully in the unceasing struggle with forces wherein defeat is no shame. It is a serious relation, that in which a man stands to his ship. She has her rights as though she could breathe and speak; and, indeed, there are ships that, for the right man, will do anything but speak, as the saying goes.
A ship is not a slave. You must make her easy in a seaway, you must never forget that you owe her the fullest share of your thought, of your skill, of your self-love. If you remember that obligation, naturally and without effort, as if it were an instinctive46 feeling of your inner life, she will sail, stay, run for you as long as she is able, or, like a sea-bird going to rest upon the angry waves, she will lay out the heaviest gale21 that ever made you doubt living long enough to see another sunrise.
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1
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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bowler
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| n.打保龄球的人，（板球的）投（球）手 | |
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fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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squat
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| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
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6
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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7
descried
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| adj.被注意到的，被发现的，被看到的 | |
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agility
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| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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scrutinizing
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的现在分词 ) | |
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perusing
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| v.读（某篇文字）( peruse的现在分词 )；（尤指）细阅；审阅；匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览（某篇文字） | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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seaman
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| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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18
uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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ticklish
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| adj.怕痒的；问题棘手的；adv.怕痒地；n.怕痒，小心处理 | |
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20
jade
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| n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠 | |
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gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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gales
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| 龙猫 | |
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latitudes
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| 纬度 | |
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steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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impetus
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| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
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poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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fluency
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| n.流畅，雄辩，善辩 | |
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memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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fronds
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| n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 ) | |
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38
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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enticing
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| adj.迷人的；诱人的 | |
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40
repel
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| v.击退，抵制，拒绝，排斥 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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42
moodiness
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| n.喜怒无常；喜怒无常，闷闷不乐；情绪 | |
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43
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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44
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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45
insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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46
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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