ously said
about the hull, they will give a better general idea than if the reader
was asked to make a realizable whole out of a mazy bewilderment
embracing every single one of all the multitudinous parts.

'All hands make sail!' Up go some to loose the sails aloft, while
others stay on deck to haul the ropes that hoist the sails to the
utmost limit of the canvas. The jibs and spanker generally go up at
once, because they are useful as an aid to steering. The staysails
generally wait. The jibs and staysails are triangular, the spanker a
quadrangular {108} fore-and-after. The square sails made fast to
wide-spreading yards are the ones that take most hauling. But setting
the sails by no means ends the work at them. Trimming is quite as
important. Every time there is the slightest shift in the course or
wind there ought to be a corresponding shift of trim so as to catch
every breath the sail can hold. To effect this with the triangular
sails a sheet must be slacked away or hauled more in; while, in the
case of the square sails on the yards, a brace must be attended to.

Our Bluenose mate now thinks he can get more work from his canvas. His
voice rings out: 'Weather crossjack brace!' which means hauling the
lowest and aftermost square sail more to windward. 'Weather crossjack
brace!' sings out the timekeeper, whose duty it is to rouse the watch
as well as strike the bells that mark the hours and halves. The watch
tramp off and lay on to the weather brace, the A.B.'s (or able-bodied
seamen) leading and the O.S.'s (ordinary seamen) at the tail. Some one
slacks off the lee braces and sings out 'Haul away!' Then the watch
proceed to haul, with weird, wild cries in minor keys that rise and
fall and rise again, like the long-drawn soughing of the wind itself.
{109} _Eh--heigh--o--az_! _Eh--heigh--ee_! _Eh--hugh_! In comes the
brace till the trim suits the mate, when he calls out 'Turn the
crossjack brace!' which means making it fast on a belaying pin. The
other braces follow. By the time the topgallant braces are reached
only two hands are needed, as the higher yards are naturally much
lighter than the lower ones.

Sheets and braces are very dangerous things to handle in a gale of
wind. Every movement of the rope must be closely watched with one
vigilant eye, while the other must be looking out for washing seas.
The slightest inattention to the belaying of a mainsheet while men are
hanging on may mean that