stantly befriend the
mariners in these latitudes.

We have said that the "Sea Witch" was of peculiar model, and so indeed
she was. Contrary to the usual rig of what are called clipper ships, her
masts, instead of raking, were perfectly upright, for the purpose of
enabling her to carry more press of sail when need be, and to hold on
longer when speed should be of vital importance--that the straighter
construction of the masts furthers this object, is a fact long since
proven in naval architecture. She was very low, too, in her rigging,
having tremendous square yards; enabling the canvass to act more
immediately upon the hull, instead of operating as a lever aloft, and
keeping the ship constantly off an even keel. Though low in the waist,
yet her ends rose gracefully in a curve towards the terminations fore
and aft, making her very dry on either the quarter-deck or forecastle.
She might have numbered fifty men for her crew, and if you had looked in
board over her bulwarks you would have seen that her complement was made
up of men. There were none there but real able-bodied seamen--sea dogs,
who had roughed it in all weather, and on all sorts of allowance.

There was a quiet and orderly mien about the deck and among the watch,
that spoke of the silent yet potent arm of authority. The men spoke to
each other now and then, but it was in an under tone, and there was no
open levity. A few men were lounging about the heel of the bowsprit on
the forecastle, one or two were busy in the waist coiling cable; an
officer of second or third caste a quiet, but decided character, to
judge from his features, stood with folded arms just abaft the
mizzen-mast, and a youthful figure, almost too young seemingly for so
responsible a post, leaned idly against the monkey-rail, near the sage
old tar who was at the helm. At first you might have supposed him a
supercargo, an owner's son as passenger, or something of that sort, from
the quite-at-home air he exhibited; but now and then he cast one of
those searching and understanding glances aloft and fore and aft, taking
in the whole range of the ship's trim, and the way she did her duty,
that you realized at once the fact of his position; and you could not
mistake the fact that he was her commander.

He wore a glazed tarpaulin hat of coarse texture, and his dress was of
little better material than that of the crew he commanded, but it set it
somehow quite jauntily upon his fine, well-developed f