his attention back to the Seraph. Already the crew’s ship-handling was improving with practice in these conditions, and the men seemed cheerful and willing, as well they should. Hal had offered good wages to secure the best, making up the difference over what the Company offered out of his own pocket.
At that moment the three boys came pelting up the companionway together, released by Master Walsh from their studies. They were excited and boisterous, showing not the least sign of seasickness after their time afloat in half a gale. Aboli had been able to outfit them with seagoing clothing in London, where there were numerous chandlers along the docks. They were better turned out than Hal had been when he sailed for the first time with his father. The old man had not believed in spoiling him, and he remembered the petticoats of rough canvas and the tar@ daubed pea-jacket, stiff with salt crystals, that had rubbed him raw under his arms and between his thighs. He smiled ruefully at the memory of how he had slept beside Aboli on a damp straw pallet on the open deck, with the other common seamen, had eaten his meals crouched behind the shelter of one of the guns, using his fingers and dirk to spoon the stew out of his pannikin and break the hard biscuit, had used the leather bucket in the heads for his private business, and never bathed from the beginning of a voyage to the end. It did me little harm, Hal recalled, but on the other hand it did me little good. A lad does not have to be reared like a pig to make him a better seaman.
Of course, the circumstances of his first voyages with his father had been different. The old Lady Edwina had been less than half the size of the Seraph, and even his father’s cabin had been a dog-kennel compared to the spacious stern cabin, which was now at Hal’s disposal.
Hal had ordered the workmen to partition off a small section of his own quarters, hardly larger than a cupboard, and build three narrow shelves to serve as bunks for the boys.
He had signed on Master Walsh as captain’s clerk, over the tutor’s protestations that he was no seaman. He would continue his instruction of the boys, using his own tiny cabin as a schoolroom.
Hal watched now with approval as Daniel seized the whooping skylarking boys as soon as they appeared on deck, and sternly sent them to the duties he had devised for them. He had separated the twins, placing Tom in the starboard watch and Guy in the other. They were always a bad influence on each other. Guy’s proximity encouraged Tom to show off, while Tom distracted Guy with his antics. Dorian was sent to the galley to help the cook bring up the breakfast.
Hal felt a pang of anxiety that Daniel might send the twins aloft to help handle sail, but he need not have worried: the time would come for that when their sea legs were hardened and they had learned to balance easily on the heeling, plunging deck. For the time being, Daniel kept them on the open deck, helping to handle the sheets.
Hal knew he could leave the boys under the big man’s watchful eye, and-turn his attention to the problems of his own seamanship. He paced up and down the quarterdeck, tuned now to the hull beneath him, the feel of how his ship responded to every alteration and trim of sail.
She’s down in the bows, he judged, as she took a green wave on board and the water streamed back down the deck and poured out through the scuppers. Over the last days he had been visualizing how he could reload the cargo in the hold, especially the heavy water-barrels, to achieve the trim he wanted. I can put two knots of speed on her, he estimated.
Childs was sending him on a warlike expedition but, nevertheless, the main concern of the East India Company was always profit and the Seraph’s hold was crammed with a variety of trade goods for delivery to the Company factories at Bombay.
While part of his mind was busy with the loading and trim, the other part was on his crew. He was still short of
At that moment the three boys came pelting up the companionway together, released by Master Walsh from their studies. They were excited and boisterous, showing not the least sign of seasickness after their time afloat in half a gale. Aboli had been able to outfit them with seagoing clothing in London, where there were numerous chandlers along the docks. They were better turned out than Hal had been when he sailed for the first time with his father. The old man had not believed in spoiling him, and he remembered the petticoats of rough canvas and the tar@ daubed pea-jacket, stiff with salt crystals, that had rubbed him raw under his arms and between his thighs. He smiled ruefully at the memory of how he had slept beside Aboli on a damp straw pallet on the open deck, with the other common seamen, had eaten his meals crouched behind the shelter of one of the guns, using his fingers and dirk to spoon the stew out of his pannikin and break the hard biscuit, had used the leather bucket in the heads for his private business, and never bathed from the beginning of a voyage to the end. It did me little harm, Hal recalled, but on the other hand it did me little good. A lad does not have to be reared like a pig to make him a better seaman.
Of course, the circumstances of his first voyages with his father had been different. The old Lady Edwina had been less than half the size of the Seraph, and even his father’s cabin had been a dog-kennel compared to the spacious stern cabin, which was now at Hal’s disposal.
Hal had ordered the workmen to partition off a small section of his own quarters, hardly larger than a cupboard, and build three narrow shelves to serve as bunks for the boys.
He had signed on Master Walsh as captain’s clerk, over the tutor’s protestations that he was no seaman. He would continue his instruction of the boys, using his own tiny cabin as a schoolroom.
Hal watched now with approval as Daniel seized the whooping skylarking boys as soon as they appeared on deck, and sternly sent them to the duties he had devised for them. He had separated the twins, placing Tom in the starboard watch and Guy in the other. They were always a bad influence on each other. Guy’s proximity encouraged Tom to show off, while Tom distracted Guy with his antics. Dorian was sent to the galley to help the cook bring up the breakfast.
Hal felt a pang of anxiety that Daniel might send the twins aloft to help handle sail, but he need not have worried: the time would come for that when their sea legs were hardened and they had learned to balance easily on the heeling, plunging deck. For the time being, Daniel kept them on the open deck, helping to handle the sheets.
Hal knew he could leave the boys under the big man’s watchful eye, and-turn his attention to the problems of his own seamanship. He paced up and down the quarterdeck, tuned now to the hull beneath him, the feel of how his ship responded to every alteration and trim of sail.
She’s down in the bows, he judged, as she took a green wave on board and the water streamed back down the deck and poured out through the scuppers. Over the last days he had been visualizing how he could reload the cargo in the hold, especially the heavy water-barrels, to achieve the trim he wanted. I can put two knots of speed on her, he estimated.
Childs was sending him on a warlike expedition but, nevertheless, the main concern of the East India Company was always profit and the Seraph’s hold was crammed with a variety of trade goods for delivery to the Company factories at Bombay.
While part of his mind was busy with the loading and trim, the other part was on his crew. He was still short of
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