“Big as a ship, with arms a hundred feet long, eh?” He burst into another roar of laughter. “Been reading Melville? You have n’t, eh? Well, there may be such squid, but I ’ve never seen any of ’em, and I ’ve never seen anybody who had. All the squid I ’ve seen were little fellows, a foot or two long, with arms not over nine or ten feet, although Banks fishermen have got ’em up to thirty foot, they say. No, I did n’t call the captain for anything of the sort. You see that schooner over there, with yards at fore and main?” “Yes, sir.” “Well, that ’s it. She ’s the Annie Battles, and a very fast and able boat she is. Hails from Nantucket, Coffin, master. Maybe you ’ll have a chance to see her again before we get through, but just look at her lines, and then look at the lines of the Clearchus.” So I looked carefully at the lines of the Annie Battles. She was long, almost as long as the Clearchus, I judged, but she gave the impression of being quite a little smaller, because of her very different model. She had an easy entrance, easy, swelling lines, a full quarter and counter, but not too full. I could not see her beam, of course, from where we were, but it was evidently of that generous character which gives a vessel stability while not interfering with her speed. Altogether, the Annie Battles would {106} have been called at once powerful and able. That was the term that sprang at once to a sailor’s lips—an able boat, a very able boat. I heard it from many, and it was the first thing they said. I cannot think of any form of praise that I would rather have had if I had been her designer; it means so much, speed, seaworthiness, ability to carry sail with safety. It must have given Coffin, master, a great deal of sheer pleasure merely to contemplate his vessel, there was that beauty in her. She was rigged as a topsail schooner, with a topsail yard on each mast, a rig that I have not happened to see in any other instance. In fact, the Dobbin, a revenue cutter stationed at New Bedford a few years later, and the Eva are the only other topsail schooners I remember, and they had a topsail yard only on the foremast, according to my recollection. It was a very pretty rig, but was never much in fashion, and has gone out long ago. I was still looking at the Battles when I heard Captain Nelson’s step behind me. Mr. Baker and I were standing under the gallows just forward of the mizzenmast. There is no whaleboat there, as a boat would interfere with the use of the gangway. I was at the rail, but Mr. Baker stood behind me, well in the shadow and the captain stopped beside him. “Well, I ’m damned!” he said in tones of utter disgust. Then he began to laugh. “I am damned!” he said again. “How long’s he been there, Mr. Baker?” Mr. Baker shook his head. “He was there with the first streaks of daylight. I did n’t see him come.”