Night Watch (Interlude)

Saturday Aug 27

Our night watch was absolutely fantastic.

As the afternoon progresed the sky got clearer and clearer and the wind became steady from the NW, perfect for our SSE course!

As we came on watch at 8:00pm we were till sailing along under all sails.
First business was taking in the Royals. I know they would have preferrred to leave them up as the conditions were perfect. But our watches are a bit short handed so prudence demands that the Royals come in so we could easily douse the t'gallants if needed.

Once that was done it was plain sailing.  A beautiful warm steady breeze, very reminiscent of the tradewinds, no engine or generator noise just the swish of the sea and the slow creak of the wheel.

When it was fully dark the sky was awash in stars with the Milky Way spanning across the whole sky.  With no lights on deck there was nothing to dim the intensity of the stars. The lights of the towns on the Magdeline Islands were on the Northern horizon. For a few minutes thay had some kind of fireworks display that could just be seen rising from the horizon. Best guess for why was "It's Saturday so why not" :-)

My turn at lookout was amazing. Apart from a band of darkness just above the horizon, caused by the density of the atmosphere at sea level and the temperature difference between the sea and the air, everywhere I looked there were stars.

Being on lookout is one of those times when introspection is impossible to avoid.  One developes a kind of alert but automatic scan of the hoirizon and the sea. My mind then quickly begins to do a kind of checklist wander through things of interest, worries, what ifs, plans, songs, existential musings, self critiques and all sorts of random bits of memory.

Last night, being under full sail in a gentle but steady wind, there was the added beauty of the towering masts and sails rising above me and swaying in front of the stars.

It was the last night on which we will be able to sail this fine ship, once through the control lock at Canso it will likely be motoring all the way to Lunenberg.  Knowing that I won't likely get to experience this for long time, if ever again, was bitter sweet.

 How can one fix such a moment in the mind?

My trick on the helm was also great. I was able to steer almost entirely by the stars!
So glad I've managed to get that to work. I can now steer by just standing beside the wheel, like many of my shipmates do, rather than  hunched over the wheel glued to the dimly lit swaying compass card.

The only break in the revery was cleaning part of the galley that hadn't been touched for a very long time. It was inhabited by lots of tiny cockroaches. The only ones I've seen, I guess the Atlantic Crossing was too cold for them.  Mark says that while they were in Toronto they had discovered a spot full of them which they had summarily dispatched but otherwise I've seen nothing but flies.

When "watch below" was called I stayed on deck for 10 minutes more just watching the sails, the stars, and the sea.  This one day and night makes up for all the labour I've done so far.

Is that why people go to sea?  To have those simple things to hang on to when the ship rolls and the ropes are taught and the decks are streaming.

I slept soundly indeed. I didn't even wake up when the engine was started around 4:00am and the 4-8 watch took in all our sails.

Thanks for reading.
KJ