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The boats were then hove out , and all the sails , spare spars , the stores , the rigging not rove , and , in fact , everything which was not in daily use , sent ashore , and stowed away in the house . The first thought I had was , that it might be a boat , with the crew of some wrecked vessel , or perhaps the boat of some whaleship , out over night , and we had run them down in the darkness . This was very popular , and Jack was called upon every night to give them his " sentimental song . The shippingmaster answered him in a way which the boy did not understand , and advised him to ship . In obedience to the mate 's orders , I went back to my berth ; but a more miserable night I never wish to spend . Our merchant ships are always under-manned , and if one man is lost by sickness , they cannot spare another to take care of him . Every man had his station , and was not allowed to leave it ; and nothing happened to break the monotony of the night , except once setting the main topsails to run clear of a large island to leeward , which they were drifting fast upon . A regulation of the port forbids any ballast to be thrown overboard ; accordingly , our long-boat was lined inside with rough boards and brought alongside the gangway , but where one tub-full went into the boat , twenty went overboard . He was in this capacity when we saw him ; and though it was much better for him than the life in the forecastle , and the hard work , watching , and exposure , which his delicate frame could not have borne , yet , to be joined with a black fellow in waiting upon a man whom he probably looked upon as but little , in point of education and manners , above one of his father 's servants , was almost too much for his spirit to bear . Being so deep and heavy , she wanted the buoyancy which should have carried her over the seas , and she dropped heavily into them , the water washing over the decks ; and every now and then , when an unusually large sea met her fairly upon the bows , she struck it with a sound as dead and heavy as that with which a sledge-hammer falls upon the pile , and took the whole of it in upon the forecastle , and rising , carried it aft in the scuppers , washing the rigging off the pins , and carrying along with it everything which was loose on deck .