[□ | □]
[□=□ | □]
[□ | □ | □]
Few words were spoken between the watches as they shifted , the wheel was relieved , the mate took his place on the quarter-deck , the look-outs in the bows ; and each man had his narrow space to walk fore and aft in , or , rather , to swing himself forward and back in , from one belaying pin to another , - for the decks were too slippery with ice and water to allow of much walking . Some of them , as well as we could judge , at the distance at which we were , must have been as large as that , if not larger . Some of the boys got so sleepy and stupefied , that they actually fell asleep at their posts ; and the young third mate , whose station was the exposed one of standing on the fore scuttle , was so stiff , when he was relieved , that he could not bend his knees to get down . He looked round in vain , for some time , until the direction of so many laughing eyes showed him the fair offender . 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 . An oven , exposed to every wind and change of weather , is no place to take calomel ; but nothing else would do , and strong remedies must be used , or he was gone . " was what some said , and every one felt . A constant look-out was necessary ; for any of these pieces , coming with the heave of the sea , were large enough to have knocked a hole in the ship , and that would have been the end of us ; for no boat ( even if we could have got one out ) could have lived in such a sea ; and no man could have lived in a boat in such weather . My companion on the yard was a lad , who came out in the ship a weak , puny boy , from one of the Boston schools ; - " no larger than a spritsail sheet knot , " nor " heavier than a paper of lampblack , " and " not strong enough to haul a shad off a gridiron , " but who was now " as long as a spare topmast , strong enough to knock down an ox , and hearty enough to eat him . " - " Lay down , all hands but one on each yard ! Having gone through this , the next thing was to get into the head , - one on each side - with a bucket apiece , and duck one another , by drawing up water and heaving over each other , while we were stripped to a pair of trowsers . It was an interesting sight , too , to see our noble ship , dismantled of all her top-hamper of long tapering masts and yards , and boom pointed with spear-head , which ornamented her in port ; and all that canvas , which a few days before had covered her like a cloud , from the truck to the water 's edge , spreading far out beyond her hull on either side , now gone ; and she , stripped , like a wrestler for the fight . As I was known for a hide-curer , this post was assigned to me , and I continued at it for six or eight days , tossing , in that time , from eight to ten thousand hides , until my wrists became so lame that I gave in ; and was transferred to the gang that was employed in filling the boats , where I remained for the rest of the time . No one could tell whether she would be a ship the next morning . When we got down into the forecastle , Old Bill , who was somewhat of a croaker , - having met with a great many accidents at sea - said that if that was the way she was going to act , we might as well make our wills , and balance the books at once , and put on a clean shirt . Eight hours of the night , our watch was on deck , and during the whole of that time we kept a bright look-out : one man on each bow , another in the bunt of the fore yard , the third mate on the scuttle , one on each quarter , and a man always standing by the wheel . It was a contrast to much that we had lately seen , and a spectacle not only of beauty , but of life ; for it required but little fancy to imagine these islands to be animate masses which had broken loose from the " thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice , " and were working their way , by wind and current , some alone , and some in fleets , to milder climes . Twenty-three guns followed in regular succession , with an interval of fifteen seconds between each when the cloud cleared away , and the ship lay dressed in her colors , all day . " Nat tried to close with him , knowing his advantage , but the mate stopped that , saying there should be fair play , and no fingering . He turned fiercely upon me , and tried to look me down , and face me out of my statement ; but finding that that would n't do , and that I was entering upon my defence in such a way as would show to the other two that he was in the wrong , - he changed his ground , and pointed to the shipping papers of the Pilgrim , from which my name had never been erased , and said that there was my name , - that I belonged to her , - that he had an absolute discretionary power ; - and , in short , that I must be on board the Pilgrim by the next morning with my chest and hammock , or have some one ready to go in my place , and that he would not hear another word from me . The ship wore round fairly , the yards were steadied , and we stood off on the other tack , leaving behind us , directly under our larboard quarter , a large ice island , peering out of the mist , and reaching high above our tops , while astern ; and on either side of the island , large tracts of field-ice were dimly seen , heaving and rolling in the sea .