into the water pretty much all the time. But I
found out that the vessel was not exactly a ship after all, but a sort
of half schooner, half brig,--what they call a brigantine, having two
masts, a mainmast and a foremast. On the former there was a sail running
fore and aft, just like the sail of the little yacht _Alice_, and on
the latter there was a foresail, a foretop-sail, a foretop-gallant-sail,
and a fore-royal-sail,--all of course square sails, that is, running
across the vessel, and fastened to what are called yards. The vessel was
painted jet-black on the outside, but inside the bulwarks the color was
a dirty sort of green.

"Such, as nearly I can remember, was the brigantine _Blackbird_, three
hundred and forty-two tons register. Brigantine is, however, too large a
word; so when we pay the _Blackbird_ the compliment of mentioning her,
we will call her a ship.

"Having picked up the name of the ship, I was tempted to pursue my
inquiries further, and it was not long before I had got quite a
respectable stock of seaman's knowledge, and hence I grew in favor. I
learned to distinguish between a 'halyard,' which is rope for pulling
the yards up and letting them down, from a 'brace,' which is used to
pull them around so as to 'trim the sails,' and a 'sheet,' which is a
rope for keeping the sails in their proper places. I found out that what
I called a floor the sailors called a 'deck'; a kitchen they called a
'galley'; a pot, a 'copper'; a pulley was a 'block'; a post was a
'stancheon'; to fall down was to 'heel over'; to climb up was to 'go
aloft'; and to walk straight, and keep one's balance when the ship was
pitching over the waves, was to 'get your sea legs on.' I found out,
too, that everything behind you was 'abaft,' and everything ahead was
'forwards,' or for'ad as the sailors say; that a large rope was a
'hawser,' and that every other rope was a 'line'; to make anything
temporarily secure was to 'belay' it; to make one thing fast to another
was to 'bend it on'; and when two things were close together, they were
'chock-a-block.' I learned, also, that the right-hand side of the vessel
was the 'starboard' side, while the left-hand side was the 'port' or
'larboard' side; that the lever which moves the rudder that steers the
ship was called the 'helm,' and that to steer the ship was to take 'a
trick at the wheel'; that to 'put the helm up' was to turn it in the
direction from which the wind was coming (windward),