Jack in the Forecastle; or, Incidents in the Early Life of Hawser MartingaleSleeper, John Sherburne
General
Jack in the Forecastle; or, Incidents in the Early Life of Hawser Martingale
Sleeper, John Sherburne
Seafaring life
Proceeding across the head of the North Sea, and running for the "Naze
of Norway," the weather being pleasant and the sea smooth, I persuaded
Mr. Bowen to throw a fishing-line over the stern and let it trail, with
the expectation of catching some mackerel. We succeeded in capturing
several of those excellent fish, and also two or three gar-fish; a kind
of fish I have never met with elsewhere excepting in the tropical seas.
These gar-fish of the North Sea were of comparatively small size, about
fifteen inches in length, but of most delicious flavor. Their long and
slim backbone being of a deep emerald green color, Captain Allen, with
characteristic sagacity, concluded that these fish were poisonous
and unwholesome, and banished them from the cabin. They were heartily
welcomed in the forecastle, however, their qualities fully tested, and
the skipper was pronounced the most verdant of the two!
Passing the Naze, a high bluff point at the south-western extremity
of Norway, and then losing sight of the rough, mountainous coast,
intersected by innumerable arms of the sea, called FIORDS, penetrating
inland for miles, we crossed the Skager-rack and entered the Cattegat
Sea, which divides the western shores of Sweden from the coast of
Jutland, and which is about a hundred miles in length and fifty miles in
breadth. We soon got sight of Wingo Beacon, a high pyramidal monument,
built on a rock at one of the entrances of the fiord on which the city
of Gottenburg is situated, and procured a pilot, who took us through a
narrow, winding channel among the rocks, into a snug haven surrounded by
barren islets, and brought the brig to anchor.
Here we were obliged to remain until visited the next morning by the
health officer; for the quarantine regulations of Sweden, although
not so vexatious and absurd as in many other ports of Europe, were
nevertheless very strict. A case of plague or yellow fever was never
known in Gottenburg, or in any other port in Sweden, yet it was the
universal belief among medical men that both diseases were contagious,
and could be imported in ships from the Mediterranean and the West
Indies. Therefore, an elaborate code of sanitary regulations was
established, and precautions of the most useless, yet annoying character
to persons engaged in commerce, were taken to prevent the introduction
of diseases, which could not exist an hour in that northern climate.
The health officer, a grave and dignified personage, with a formidable
posse, was rowed alongside the brig in an eight-oared barge. He asked
the question, "Are you all well on board?"
"Yes."
The crew were summoned to the side of the vessel, and their phizzes
critically examined by the doctor. We were then ordered up the rigging
as high as the tops, to exhibit our activity, and prove that our muscles
were in good working condition.
"Where is your roll of equipage?" asked the doctor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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