I grasped her gunwale and held on as she turned bottom up, for I suddenly remembered that I could not swim.

Anyhow, a philosophical turn of thought now was not amiss, else one’s patience would have given out almost at the harbour entrance. The term of her probation was eight days.

To be taken into account were some years of schooling, where I studied with diligence Neptune’s laws, and these laws I tried to obey when I sailed overseas; it was worth the while.

They made a shrewd guess that I could give them some useful information, and they were the first to meet me. Some one said they came to arrest me, and – well, let it go at that.

My ship was also in better condition than when she sailed from Boston on her long voyage. She was still as sound as a nut, and as tight as the best ship afloat. She did not leak a drop – not one drop!

On this day there was soon wind enough and to spare. The same might have been said of the sea. The Spray was in the midst of the turbulent Gulf Stream itself. She was jumping like a porpoise over the uneasy waves.

To young men contemplating a voyage I would say go.

To young men contemplating a voyage I would say go. The tales of rough usage are for the most part exaggerations, as also are the tales of sea danger. To face the elements is, to be sure, no light matter when the sea is in its grandest mood. You must then know the sea, and know that you know it, and not forget that it was made to be sailed over.

But where, after all, would be the poetry of the sea were there no wild waves?

About midnight the fog shut down again denser than before. One could almost "stand on it." It continued so for a number of days, the wind increasing to a gale. The waves rose high, but I had a good ship. Still, in the dismal fog I felt myself drifting into loneliness, an insect on the straw in the midst of the elements.