ivisions, to denote the half knots.

Two sand-glasses are used in connection with the log-line, as the old
quartermaster, who was our instructor in this branch of our nautical
education, explained, the one called "the long glass," which runs out in
twenty-eight seconds, while the other is a fourteen-second glass, which
is generally adopted at sea when the ship is going over five knots with
a fair wind.

The first mentioned is only used in light breezes; and, as Bob Ricketts
showed us by careful manipulation, reeling off bights of the line and
keeping the slack loosely in his hands, the thing to be particular about
is to heave the log-ship over the side clear of the ship, and see the
glass turned as soon as the bunting mark is reached, denoting that all
the "waste" has run out.

Then, whatever mark you can distinguish on the line nearest to your hand
at the expiration of the allotted twenty-eight or fourteen seconds, when
the man holding the glass sings out "Stop!" as the last grain of sand
empties itself out of the bulb, that will be the speed of the ship.

The division of knots on the log-line bear the same proportion to a
mile, as the twenty-eight or fourteen seconds of the glass does to an
hour of time; so, if the four-knot mark be to hand, and the "long" glass
be used, she is going four knots, or nautical miles, per hour. It will
be eight knots if the "short glass" be the standard of measurement; the
time the line has taken being only half the former, and the number of
the knots having to be doubled to keep the proportion between the length
of line and the space of time equal.

It did not take me long to master what the old quartermaster had to
teach me on this point; but some of the other cadets were awfully stupid
at first, I must say, particularly that brute Andrews, in spite of his
bumptiousness and conceit.

He gave old Ricketts a lot of trouble before he remembered to put in the
pin prior to pitching the log-ship overboard; though without this it
could not float upright, and was as good as useless to gauge our speed.

The ass could not be made to understand this, and omitted putting in the
pin time after time so persistently, that Ricketts had to tell the
commander that he "could make nothing out of him."

In addition to these details of 'boardship life, we were also instructed
in practical seamanship by one of the boatswain's mates.

He was an old hand who had been at sea so long that he seemed to s