The Corvette by Richard Woodman Page A

devil
    ‘
    Germaney described his agony and Singleton nodded. ‘You appear to be a good diagnostician, Mr Germaney. You are not a married man?’
    ‘Affianced, Singleton, affianced, God damn and blast it!’
     
    The deck of the Faithful presented a curious appearance to the uninitiated. Accompanied by Quilhampton, Gorton and Frey, Drinkwater was welcomed by Sawyers who introduced his son and chief mate. He directed his son to show the younger men the ship and tactfully took Drinkwater on a private tour.
    The Faithful gave an immediate impression of strength and utility, carrying five boats in high davits with three more stowed in her hold. Her decks were a mass of lines and breakers as her crew attended the final preparations for fishing and the filling of her water casks. The men worked steadily, with little noise and no attention paid to their commander and his guest as they picked their way round the cluttered deck.
    Sawyers pointed aloft. ‘First, Captain, the rig; it must be weatherly but easily handled. Barque rig with courses, top and t’gallant sails. Thou doubtless noticed the curious narrow-footed cut to our courses, well this clears the davits and allows me to rig the foot to a ‘thwartships boom. The boom is secured amidships to those eye-bolts on the deck and thus tacks and sheets are done away with. As thou see’st with course and topsail braces led thus, through that system of euphroes I can handle this ship, of three hundred and fifty tons burthen, with five men.’
    ‘Ingenious.’
    ‘Aye, ‘tis indeed, and indispensable when working after my boats in pursuit of fish running into the ice. Now come
    ‘ Sawyers clambered up onto the rail and leaned his elbows on the gunwhale of one of the carvel-built whaleboats. Drinkwater admired the lovely sheer and sharp ends of the boat and at his remark a man straightened up from the work of coiling a thin, white hemp line into a series of tubs beneath the thwarts.
    ‘Whale line,’ explained Sawyers, ‘six tubs per boat, totalling seven hundred and twenty fathoms. The inner end accessible to the boat steerer, so that the lines of another boat may be secured and thus extend the line. This is done in the event of a fish sounding deep or running under ice. The outer end at the bow is secured to the foreganger, a short line attaching it to the harpoon which is kept to hand here, on this rest.’ The instrument itself was not in place and Sawyers added, ‘This is Elijah Pucill, Captain, speksioneer and chief harpooner; a mighty hunter of mysticetus.’ The man grinned and Sawyers pointed to various items in the boat.
    ‘Five oars and a sixth for steering. We prefer the oar for steering as it doth not retard the speed of a boat like a rudder. By it the boat may be turned even when stopped. By sculling, a stealthy approach may be made to a fish caught sleeping or resting upon the surface of the ocean. Of course a whaleboat may, by the same method, be propelled through a narrow ice-lead where, by the lateral extension of her oars, she would otherwise be unable to go.’
    Drinkwater nodded. ‘The oars,’ Sawyer tapped an ash loom, ‘are secured by rope grommets to a single thole pin and may thus be trailed without loss, clearing the boat of obstruction and allowing a man two hands to attend to any other task.’
    ‘Who commands the boat?’
    ‘In our fishery the harpooner, although in America they are sufficiently democratic to prohibit the officer from pulling an oar and he combines the duties of mate and steersman. My boats are commanded by the chief and second mates and the speksioneer, here. They pick their boat-steerers and line managers and all are men with whom they have sailed for many seasons.
    ‘Remember, Captain, the harpooner is the man who places the harpoon, who must cut the fish adrift if danger threatens and who, having exhausted the fish, finally comes up with him and attacks with the lance.’ Sawyers pointed to half a dozen slim bladed,