The Sandman: His Ship Stories  by Willliam J. Hopkins

The Cape Horn Story

NCE upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, and beside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where great ships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steep hill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to go down the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come to that wharf for a great many years, and all the sailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with the ships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made the sidewalks were much worn. That was a great many years ago.

The river and the ocean are there yet, as they always have been and always will be; and the city is there, but it is a different kind of a city from what it used to be. And the wharf is slowly falling down, for it is not used now; and the narrow road down the steep hill is all grown up with weeds and grass.

Once, in the long ago, when Captain Solomon was the captain of the Industry, she had got all loaded at that wharf, and the things to eat had been put aboard of her and the water that they would drink. And Captain Solomon had got his crew and the Industry  had sailed away from that wharf, down the wide river and out into the great ocean. She was not going the regular way that she generally took, around the end of the country where the monkeys lived, but she was going by a strange way, around Cape Horn. For Captain Jacob thought that there were cities on that way where the things that the Industry  carried could be sold for a great deal of money, and he thought that Captain Solomon was just the man to do it. So he had told him to stop at any cities where he thought there was a good chance for him, and then to sail on to the far country through the South Seas, and to come back by the regular way. And if Captain Solomon did that, by the time he had got home again, he would have sailed around the world. So he was glad, for he wanted to sail around the world.

And the Industry  sailed far out into the ocean, and then she turned southward. For the winds are almost always from the west at the place Captain Solomon started from, but when a ship gets far out into the ocean, the winds are always from the northeast. And they blow so steadily that they are called Trade Winds because they can be depended upon to blow a vessel like the Industry  on her course to far countries; and they are fair winds for ships, if the ships go in the right part of the ocean. So the Industry  got her sails set the right way for these winds, and then the sailors didn't have to touch a rope for many days, until they got to that part of the ocean where it is very apt to be calm and where it rains a great deal. This part of the ocean is called the Doldrums.

They were a long time in the Doldrums, but at last they got through them, and they set the sails the right way for the winds that blew, and they came to a very wide river, so wide that it looked like a great bay that reached up into the land for many, many miles. And here was a city on the shore, and Captain Solomon thought that he would see what he could do in the way of trade. So he told the sailors to let down the great anchor to the bottom of the river. And the sailors let down the anchor and took down the sails, and Captain Solomon went ashore in his rowboat, with two sailors rowing.

In that city Captain Solomon sold a part of the things that the Industry  had brought and he bought some other things; but not many, for he would have to carry the things that he bought a long way, and he thought he could get better things for his money in India. And the Industry  stayed there two days, getting out the things that Captain Solomon had sold and getting aboard the things he had bought. And, when the sailors had all the things stowed away in the hold of the ship, they got up the anchor again and hoisted the sails and they sailed away out of that river.

Then the Industry  turned southward again. And in a little while they came to another city, and Captain Solomon went ashore again and he sold a few more of the things that the Industry  had brought but he didn't buy anything, and when the sailors had got out the things that he had sold, they got up the anchor and they sailed away, southward. And Captain Solomon had made up his mind that he would stop at no more cities on that coast.

So the ship kept on sailing southward, and the winds kept getting stronger and more uncertain as they got farther south, and it kept getting colder, so that the sailors had to put on all the thickest clothes they had. And the clouds came up, thick and gray, and the sea was the color of lead, and the waves rose until the Industry  pitched and rolled a great deal. And the waves kept on getting higher, so that the vessel no longer pitched and rolled, for the seas were too long for that, but she rose to the oncoming wave as if she was going up to the sky; and when that wave was past, she went sliding down the other side as if she would go straight down to the bottom of the ocean. Anybody but a sailor would have been frightened. And, with the lead-colored clouds and the lead-colored ocean and the great waves that raced past and the bitter cold, it was as dismal as anything you can imagine. And then they turned toward the west, for they had come to Cape Horn.

It blew so hard that Captain Solomon had the sailors take in all the sails but two, and those two were reefed. Reefing a sail is tying up a part of it, so that it is smaller. And the wind was coming out of the west, which was just the way they wanted to go. And because the wind was dead ahead, they couldn't go the way they wanted to, and after they had tried it for a day, they had to give it up and go back again, to try it again when the wind was less. And it began to snow, and the ship began to be covered with ice, where the waves had splashed, and they were all very uncomfortable.

The ship began to be covered with ice.

At last the wind was less and they could try again to go past the Cape. And Captain Solomon told the sailors to hoist the topsails; but it was still snowing and the waves were still high and racing past, and the ocean was gray and dull, and the waves kept coming on to the ship, so that the decks were covered with the ice-cold water. And the sky was lead-colored and oily-looking and there were some sea-birds flying about the ship and screaming. So it was no wonder that the sailors, as they hoisted the topsails, sang that mournful chanty:

And Captain Solomon didn't stop them that time, for he felt mournful, too, because of the bad weather and because they still had the Cape to pass. And the wind kept getting less, but it was dead ahead, so that they were a long time in getting past the Cape. And, before they were quite past, it began to blow again, and it blew harder than it had before, and the waves were higher than they had been. And Captain Solomon was walking the quarter-deck and he was very angry, as he was apt to be when things didn't go to suit him.

"I won't go back now," he said to the mate. "We'll stick it out until we get by. Under reefed topsails, mind you. And tell the men to get out the oil bags and rig them."

So the sailors took in all the sails except the topsails, and they reefed the topsails. And some sailors went to a barrel of oil, and filled buckets from it. And other sailors were clinging to the bowsprit and tying canvas bags there. These bags were filled with pieces of old rope, and they each had a small hole in the bottom. And when they were tied firmly under the end of the bowsprit, the sailors poured the oil from the buckets into the bags, and got back on the deck as quickly as they could. They were all wet, from neck to heel; for they had dipped into the waves with every plunge of the ship.

And Captain Solomon watched the oil bags and he saw that the oil dripped from them in little bits of fine streams, and that, as soon as it touched the water, it spread out over the water, and that the waves did not break wherever the oil was on them, but all the little crests were smoothed off. So the ship sailed through a smooth sea because of that dripping oil, and no water came on the deck because the waves didn't break and splash. And that oil lasted until the Industry  was all past the Cape and had turned northward again. By that time the wind was beginning to be less.

So Captain Solomon was well pleased and he wasn't angry any more. And as the ship got further north, it got warmer, so that the sailors didn't need to wear the warmest clothes they had, but they put on the next warmest. And the wind died down, until it was no more than a good sailing breeze for the Industry  with all her sails up. So the sailors hoisted all the sails, but they didn't sing "Hanging Johnny" while they did it, for they all felt cheerful again. And the sun came out, and they wondered what sort of a city they would come to next.

And that's all.