their braces. In this manœuvre the mate will see to the adjustment of the fore-yards, while the master usually trims the after-yards, guiding the men at the work by such exclamations as, "Well! the main yard;" "Topsail yard, a small pull on weather braces;" "Topgallant yard, well;" so that every sail may be trimmed up sharp to the wind.
Reefing topsails. In reefing topsails, the chief mate, except in small vessels, keeps his place forward, and looks out for the men on the yards. But he sometimes goes aloft with the men in vessels of 500 or 600 tons, and takes his place at the weather earring. If both topsails are reefed at once, his place is at the main; but if one sail is reefed at a time, he leads the men from one yard to the other, in all cases taking the weather earring,[1] acting in a similar manner when the courses require to be reefed; but he is not required, as a rule, to work with his hands, except in an emergency, like the second mate and the seamen, his time and attention being sufficiently taken up with superintending and giving orders.[2]
The law looks upon the chief mate as standing in a different relation to the master from that of the second mate or the men. He is considered a confi-*
- ↑ The "earrings" are small ropes to fasten the upper corners of the sail to the yard. The "courses" are the sails hanging from the lower yards of a ship, viz, the mainsail, foresail, and mizen. A ship is said to be "under her courses" when no other sails are set (Admiral W. H. Smyth, pp. 270 and 218).
- ↑ In a man-of-war there is always a lieutenant of the watch on the weather side of the quarter-deck, but it is not so in the merchant service. When the ordinary day's work is going forward the mates must be about the decks or aloft, like the petty officers of a ship of war; and it is only while the work is going forward, or in bad weather, on Sundays, or at night, that the officer of the watch, if the master is not there, keeps the quarter-deck.
