afloat. But _Blow the man down_ is a
universal favourite.

_Solo_. Blow the man down, blow the man down,
_Chorus_. 'Way-ho! Blow the man down.
_Solo_. Blow the man down from Liverpool town;
_Chorus_. Give us some wind to blow the man down.

When every sail is set and every stitch is drawing, there is no finer
sight the sea can show. The towering masts; the canvas gleaming white,
with its lines of curving {114} beauty drawn by the touch of the wind;
the whole ship bounding forward as if just slipped from her leash--all
this makes a scene to stir the beholder then and for ever after. The
breeze pipes up. She's doing ten knots now; eleven, twelve; and later
on, fifteen. This puts the lee rail under; for she lays over on her
side so far that her deck is at a slope of forty-five. Her forefoot
cuts through the water like the slash of a scimitar; while her bows
throw out two seething waves, the windward one of which breaks into
volleying spray a-top and rattles down like hailstones on the fore-deck.

But next day the wind has hauled ahead, and she has to make her way by
tacking. She loses as little as possible on her zigzag course by
sailing close to the wind, that is, by pointing as nearly into it as
she can while still 'keeping a full on' every working sail. Presently
the skipper, having gone as far to one side of his straight course as
he thinks proper, gives the caution; whereupon the braces are taken off
the pins and coiled down on deck, all clear for running, while the
spanker-boom is hauled in amidships so that the spanker may feel the
wind and press the stern a-lee, which helps the bow to windward. Then
the 'old man' (called {115} so whatever his age may be) sings out at
the top of his voice, 'Ready, oh!' The helm is eased down on his
signal, so as not to lose way suddenly. When it is quite down he
shouts again, 'Helm's a-lee!' on which the fore and head sheets
(holding the sails attached to the foremast and bowsprit) are let go
and overhauled. The vessel swings round, the spanker pressing her
stern in one direction and the sails at the bows offering very little
resistance now their sheets are let go. The skipper's eye is on the
mainsail, which is the point of pivoting. Directly the wind is out of
it and it begins to shiver he yells, 'Raise tacks and sheets!' when,
except that the foretack is held a bit to prevent the foresail from
bellying aback, all the remaining ropes that held the s