some Paradise of true seamen, where no amount of carrying on will
ever dismast a ship!



XIII.



There has been a time when a ship's chief mate, pocket-book in hand
and pencil behind his ear, kept one eye aloft upon his riggers and
the other down the hatchway on the stevedores, and watched the
disposition of his ship's cargo, knowing that even before she
started he was already doing his best to secure for her an easy and
quick passage.

The hurry of the times, the loading and discharging organization of
the docks, the use of hoisting machinery which works quickly and
will not wait, the cry for prompt despatch, the very size of his
ship, stand nowadays between the modern seaman and the thorough
knowledge of his craft.

There are profitable ships and unprofitable ships. The profitable
ship will carry a large load through all the hazards of the
weather, and, when at rest, will stand up in dock and shift from
berth to berth without ballast. There is a point of perfection in
a ship as a worker when she is spoken of as being able to SAIL
without ballast. I have never met that sort of paragon myself, but
I have seen these paragons advertised amongst ships for sale. Such
excess of virtue and good-nature on the part of a ship always