The Ancient Mariner
That was about the end of the first day's climbing. Right now I forget whether I went up again or not, but the first time was the most thrilling, anyway. I talked for a while with two of the sailors; then the captain took us about the ship, showing us the galley, the fo'c'sle, the engine-room, the after cabin. The latter is a very ample, seemingly luxurious place: two moderately large rooms, one used for dining room, which has a massive table hooked up to the wall to prevent its rolling about; the rest of it divided into five small compartments, each containing a bunk. Of these the captain, mate, bo's'n, and cook had four, and the other was a spare bunk. In the fo'c'sle there are bunks for four, but there were only three men there, then. On asking one of the men if that wasn't quite a small crew to handle the schooner, they answered very definitely in the negative.
The captain is a most delightful old fellow, a true sea captain. He will talk for hours at a time. I think he can say as many words in an hour as another man in a day. He told us about various experiences of his in his many schooners—storms, losing deck loads, and so on. He says:
"I'm not boasting, but, folks, I've never lost a ship in my life, and only one deck load. Now, that's a good record for a man that's been at sea forty year. An' I'll tell you, folks, how I lost that deck load. It was in that gale we had last October—on a Friday,
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