The Young Ship Builders of Elm Island 7

The Young Ship Builders of Elm Island 7

When he had taken as much wood from the inside as he thought it prudent

to remove before shaping the outside, he began to prepare for that

all-important operation; but as he was afraid the clear March sun and

the north-west winds would cause her to crack, he built a brush roof

over her before commencing.

 

Now came the most difficult portion of the work, as it must be done

almost entirely by the eye, by looking at the model and then cutting;

but as the faculties in any given direction strengthen by exercise,

and we are unconsciously prepared by previous effort and application

for that which follows, thus Charlie experienced less difficulty here

than he had anticipated, and at length succeeded in making it resemble

the model, in Ben’s opinion, as nearly as one thing could another. Now

their efforts were directed to finish the inside; and, having used the

fire as long as they thought prudent, they resorted to other tools, as

they wished so to dig her out as to have the utmost room inside, and to

make her as light as possible. The risk was in striking through by some

inadvertent blow. Though it may seem strange to those not versed in

such things, yet Charlie could give a very near guess at the thickness

by pressing the points of his fingers on each side, and when he was

in doubt, he bored a hole through with a gimlet, and then plugged it

up. They at length left her a scant inch in thickness, except on the

bottom and at the stern and bow. There she was so sharp that the wood

for a long distance was cut directly across the grain.

 

“I wish,” said Charlie, “I had shaped the outside before digging her

out at all.”

 

“Why so?” said John.

 

“Because, in that case, I could have left more thickness at the bow;

but I couldn’t leave it outside and follow the model.”

 

In order to avoid taking the keel out of the log, and to have all the

depth possible, they put on a false keel of oak; as the edge was too

thin to put on row-locks, they fastened cleats on the inside, and put

flat thole-pins in between them and the side, which looked neat, and

were strong enough for so light, easy-going a craft, that was intended

for sailing rather than carrying; they also put on a cut-water, with a

billet-head scroll-shaped, and with mouldings on the edges.

 

As it was evident she would require a good deal of ballast, to enable

her to bear sail, they laid a platform forward and aft, raised but a

very little from the bottom, merely enough to make a level to step or

stand on; but amidships they left it higher, to give room for ballast.

 

Their intention was, at some future time, to put in head and

stern-boards, or, in other words, a little deck forward and aft, with

room beneath to put lines, luncheon, and powder, when they went on

fishing or sailing excursions; but they were too anxious to see her

afloat to stop for that now. They therefore primed her over with lead

color, to keep her from cracking, and the very moment she was dry, put

her in the water.

 

Never were boys in a state of greater excitement than they, when, upon

launching her into the water, with a hearty shove and hurrah, she went

clear across the harbor, and landed on the Great Bull. They got into

the Twilight, and brought her back, and found she sat as light as a

cork upon the water, on an even keel, and was much stiffer than they

expected to find her. She was eighteen feet long, and four feet in

width, eighteen inches deep.

 

Having persuaded Sally to get in and sit down on the bottom,--for as

yet they had no seats,--they rowed her around the harbor.

 

“Now we can go to Indian camp ground, or where we are a mind to,” said

Charlie.

 

“Yes,” replied John, “we can go to Boston; and if we want to go

anywhere, and the wind is ahead, we can beat: how I do want to get sail

on her!”

 

There was still much to be done--a rudder and tiller, bowsprit, thwarts

for the masts, and masts’ sprits, a boom and sails to make. They did

not, however, neglect their work; but now that they had succeeded in

their purpose, and the agony was over, though still very anxious to

finish and get her under sail, they tapped more trees, and only worked

on her in such intervals as their work afforded. In these intervals

Charlie made the rudder, and tiller, and thwarts for the masts.

 

We are sorry to say that he now manifested something like conceit,

which, being a development so strange in him, and so different from

the natural modesty of his disposition, can only be accounted for

by supposing that uniform success had somewhat turned his head, and

produced temporary hallucination.

 

From the time he made his own axe handle, when he first came on the

island, till now, he had always succeeded in whatever he undertook,

and been praised and petted; and even his well-balanced faculties and

native modesty were not entirely unaffected by such powerful influences.

 

Ben advised him to secure the mast thwarts with knees, as is always

done in boats, to put a breast-hook in the bow, and two knees in

the stern, to strengthen her, as she was dug out so thin, and the

wood forward and aft cut so much across the grain; but, flushed with

success, Charlie thought he knew as much about boat-building as

anybody, and, for the first time in his life, neglected his father’s

counsel. He thought knees would look clumsy, and that he could fasten

the thwarts with cleats of oak, and make them look neater; and thus he

did. They were now brought to a stand for lack of material, cloth for

sails, rudder-irons, and spars.

 

Elm Island, although it could furnish masts in abundance for ships of

the line, produced none of those straight, slim, spruce poles, that are

suitable for boat spars. It was very much to the credit of the boys,

that, although aching to see the boat under sail, and well aware that

Ben would not hesitate a moment, if requested, to let them leave their

work and go after the necessary articles, they determined to postpone

the completion of her till the sugar season was over. Meanwhile, they

painted her, and, after the paint was dry, rowed off in the bay: they

also put the Twilight’s sail in her; and, though it was not half large

enough, and they were obliged to steer with an oar, they could see that

she would come up to the wind, and was an entirely different affair

from the Twilight, promising great things.

 

They hugged themselves while witnessing and admiring her performance,

saying to each other,--

 

“Won’t she go through the water when she gets her own sails, spars, and

a rudder!”

 

It must be confessed, Charlie was not at all sorry to see the flow of

sap diminished; and no sooner was the last kettle full boiled, than off

they started for the main land.

 

Immediately on landing, Charlie bent his steps towards Uncle Isaac’s,

on whose land was a second growth of spruce, amongst which were

straight poles in abundance.

 

John, after bolting a hasty meal, hurried to Peter Brock’s shop; there,

with some assistance from Peter, he made the rudder-irons, a goose-neck

for the main-boom, another for the heel of the bowsprit, which was made

to unship, a clasp to confine it to the stem, and the necessary staples.

 

When Charlie returned the next night with his spars, they procured the

cloth for the sails, and went back to the island.

 

Ben cut and made the sails; and, in order that everything might be

in keeping, pointed and grafted the ends of the fore, main, and

jib-sheets, and also made a very neat fisherman’s anchor; but he

persisted in making the sails much smaller than suited their notions.

 

They had some large, flat pieces of iron that came from the wreck that

drove ashore on the island the year before; these they put in the

bottom for ballast, and upon them, in order to make her as stiff as

possible, some heavy flint stones, worn smooth by the surf, which they

had picked up on the Great Bull.

 

Until this moment they had been unable to decide upon a name, but now

concluded to call her the “West Wind.”

 

They put the finishing touch to their work about three o’clock in the

afternoon, and, with a moderate south-west wind, made sail, and stood

out to sea, close-hauled.

 

All their hopes were now more than realized; loud and repeated were

their __EXPRESSION__s of delight as they saw how near she would lie to the

wind, and how well she worked. The moment the helm was put down, she

came rapidly up to the wind, the foresail gave one slat, and she was

about; then they tried her under foresail alone, and found she went

about easily, requiring no help.

 

“Isn’t she splendid?” asked John; “and ain’t you glad we built her?”

 

“Reckon I am: what will Fred say when he sees her? and won’t we three

have some nice times in her?”

 

“It was a good thing for us, Charlie, that we had Ben to cut the sails

and tell us where to put the masts.”

 

They avoided the main land, as they did not wish to attract notice till

they were thoroughly used to handling her, and knew her trim; and,

after sailing a while, hauled down the jib, kept away, and went back

“wing and wing.”

 

“Some time,” said Charlie, “we’ll go down among the canoes on the

fishing-ground, and when the fishermen are tugging away at their oars

with a head wind, go spanking by them, the spray flying right in the

wind’s eye.”

 

At length, feeling that they knew how to sail, they determined to go

over to the mill and exhibit her.

 

Notwithstanding their efforts to keep it secret, the report of their

proceedings had gone round among the young folks. Some boy saw John at

work upon the rudder-irons in Peter’s shop, though he plunged his work

into the forge trough the moment he saw that he was observed.

 

Little Bob Smullen also saw Charlie hauling down the spars with Isaac’s

oxen, and when he asked Charlie what they were for, he told him, “To

make little boys ask questions.”

 

The wind came fresh off the land, which suited their purpose, as they

wished to sail along shore on a wind, and desired to display the

perfections of their boat to the greatest advantage, and above all

show her superiority to the canoes, which could only go before the

wind, or a little quartering. The wind was not only fresh, but blew in

flaws; and as they could not think, upon such an occasion, of carrying

anything less than whole sail, they put in additional ballast, and

took a barrel of sap sugar, which Fred was to sell for them, and five bushels of corn, to be ground at the mill.